1511cf66_all_To_Action_on_Breastfeeding__Topic
[ID] 9 [Interest Areas] Breastfeeding Coalition Representative Concerned Citizen Health Care Provider Lactation Professional Nonprofit Organization Other Areas: WIC Program [Comment] Post delivery practices in many, if not most, hospitals are strongly anti-bonding and anti-breastfeeding. A baby needs to be with its mother after birth and the mother needs to be with her baby. Eyedrops, weighing, measuring, and bathing do not need to be done right after birth. Many procedures can be done while the baby is lying on the mother's chest. Wrapping the baby up like a cigar with even its little hands cocooned inside the blanket is an exercise in sensory deprivation - the baby should remain connected with the mother - able to feel, touch and smell her. Studies have shown that many of the reasons given for separating the baby from the mother are actually caused or made worse by the separation itself. A baby kept warm on its mother's chest with the help of her body heat and a blanket maintains its body temperature quite well and babies put to the breast immediately after birth and kept close to their mothers tend to have more stable blood sugar than babies kept apart. Even the way babies are suctioned after birth interferes with nursing as the rather rough (sometimes almost brutal) way the doctor shoves the syringe down the babies throat can abrade the tissues. Let's make the baby as important a patient as the mother and tend to its needs. I love the motto from one organization: It's my birthday; give me a hug! [Topic] 
Maternal and Infant Care Practices: Prenatal, Hospital, and Post-Delivery Care
Call To Action on Breastfeeding
Topic