Staff at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are delighted to promote the importance of breast feeding and skin to skin contact throughout Breastfeeding Celebration Week this week alongside Public Health England.
The theme for Breastfeeding Celebration Week this year centres around promoting the benefits of skin to skin contact both immediately after birth and throughout the early weeks of life.
There are many benefits to both mother and baby when enjoying undisturbed skin to skin contact in the time immediately following birth. These benefits include being calming and relaxing for both, supporting the development of a close loving relationship, regulating the baby’s temperature and stimulating the release of hormones to support breastfeeding and mothering.
Recommendations by the World Health Organisation and NICE Guidelines suggest that skin-to-skin care should take place as soon as possible after birth, and this should be undisturbed for at least an hour, and until after the first feed.
Laura Hoskin, Specialist Midwife in Infant Feeding at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “For women who want to breastfeed, it is important we ensure they have all the help and support required to enable them to breastfeed for their intended duration.”
“As an organisation, we want to use this week to thank and celebrate all of the people within our organisation who provide support to our mothers and their families to begin their breastfeeding journeys and facilitate skin to skin contact. This includes our elective section team, anaesthetists and theatre staff, nursery nurses, housekeepers and maternity support workers, obstetric doctors, neonatology doctors, advanced nurse practitioners and neonatal nurses, and all of our midwives.”
Follow the activity for Breastfeeding Celebration Week on social media using the hashtag #CelebrateBreastfeeding.