To follow on the comments of Jan Barger, Denise Bulpitt, and others, on this 
thread:

Treating skin-to-skin (s2s) as standard procedure gets it accepted. So does 
having it mentioned in ante-natal classes as an advantage of birthing in the 
particular hospital. Mothers then expect it. It can also be presented as a 
"reward" for the mother, having her baby close to her after all her hard 
work and all the medical stuff.

It's crazy that they are being asked in some facilities, as if s2s is an 
option of an intrusive nature.  I wonder if these same hospitals take the 
same attitude if mothers intend to breastfeed - but a staff member plugs a 
bottle in their mouths and administers artificial baby milk, because it's 
"always" been done or "to give the mother a rest".

Virginia
In Brisbane, QLD, Australia

On Fri, 3 May 2013, Denise Bulpitt wrote:Subject:

Yes Jan,

That's exactly right, we don't ask..we do.  It's a standard of practice in 
our hospital.  More than 90% of our babies go s2s immediately after a NSVD 
and 60+% in the OR for a c/s (we've bench marked at 80% and thought we 
weren't going to reach it...but you know what?  I think we are!),90+ in 
recovery. It has been a journey and taken a few years, but we're there!!

And for the record?  I work in an urban city hospital with approximately 68% 
of my pts receiving WIC and MULTIPLE diverse cultural backgrounds.

We don't ask, we do.

And we have worked tirelessly to get all of our colleagues on the same page 
(OB, Peds, Anesthesia).  Our clinical educator and I will be presenting that 
at AWHONN this year "Skin to Skin in the OR: It takes a Village"
We also submitted our journey to Advance for nurses and were named Runner Up 
for Nursing Team 2013.

(sorry...just had to brag...a little)

So it may be a challenge, but honestly when you just put them s2s as the 
standard of practice they just accept it.
Who knew? :)

Denise Bulpitt RN BSN IBCLC
St. Vincent's Medical Center
Bridgeport, Ct.

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