Barbara Wilson-Clay's post on LCs as change agents, juxtaposed in a digest
with Jacqui's post describing the formula pamphlet (still LOL from that one)
was a treat.

What is the practice where you work when babies are reunited with mothers
after CS?  Where I am, the baby is briefly shown to mother in the OR, and
then most likely taken to see her in recovery for another brief visit,
clothed from top to toe in at least one layer of cotton clothing PLUS
swaddled in a flannel sheet inside a waffle-weave cotton blanket.  Mother is
encumbered by all the equipment used to monitor her and keep her as comfy as
possible.

When she comes to the post partum ward, we sometimes don't even bring her
the baby until she asks, and then it is wheeled in, in its cot, still
clothed and wrapped.  Maybe we will lift it up to her, and the truly
conscientious will hook it up to the breast for her (!).

If you start simply matter-of-factly presenting the baby to the mother,
naked except for a diaper, and placing it on her bare chest, you will get
such a treat, watching them together, before you quietly withdraw to give
them some time in privacy.  Don't wait for mother to ask, and don't ask her
if it's all right.  Do make sure she has adequate analgesia first.  If she
had given birth the good old-fashioned way she wouldn't have had much choice
about touching the baby, and that is as it should be.   Half the time the
baby just snuggles, but the other half, it will find the breast and start
suckling.  Almost like being at the birth.  Try it, you'll like it, and the
mothers and babies LOVE it.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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