BREASTFEEDING starts right on the theatre table after caesarean delivery. It ensures the newborn enjoys breast milk, the healthiest option for feeding in the first hour after birth.
But Mrs Adekemi Haruna found it strange when the nurse placed her naked baby on her bare chest in the operating room for the baby to have skin-to-skin contact with her to provide warmth and to crawl unaided towards the mother’s nipple and latch correctly to her breast.
“I was worried she might fall off or that the pain medications given before the surgical operation may affect my baby. But when she was placed on my chest, I felt an overwhelming joy that I cannot explain,” Mrs Haruna said.
Many mothers question breastfeeding immediately after a C-section. Many women are concerned about how to hold and breast feed the baby in the lying position. Pain from the incision site and after pain from the womb contracting back down in size can make it very uncomfortable to breastfeed.
However, breastfeeding after a C-section is recommended and beneficial for both parent and child. Dr Khadijat Alarape, the project coordinator for the Oyo State Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project, said that the initiation of breastfeeding in the operating room within the first 30 minutes of the newborn’s life ensures that a sensory signal is sent to the brain within an hour to make lactation easier for the mother and for the cognitive development of the child.
She declared, “Some women complain that days after caesarean delivery they are not lactating. It is because the process of allowing the baby to crawl unaided towards the mother’s nipple and latch correctly to her breast was not well established to ensure milk production was not delayed.
“The odour of the amniotic fluid, from where the baby is coming from, is similar to the odour of breast milk. So, the baby is able to crawl unaided towards the mother’s nipple and latch correctly to her breast.”
Dr Alarape spoke at the opening of a four-day training for health workers to implement the Baby Friendly Hospital initiative in the nine local government areas across the state that was organised by the Oyo State Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project in Ibadan.
She, however, said ensuring early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding of babies in their first six months of life starts before the baby is born when pregnant women are counselled on the importance of adequate breast feeding during antenatal care.
“If the mother is not informed, she could feel somehow when the nurse places her naked baby on her bare chest in the operating room for the baby to have skin-to-skin contact with her and to initiate breastfeeding,” she added.
One of its ten steps to successful breastfeeding is to facilitate immediate and uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact as soon as possible after birth. The ideal time to initiate this is within the first 30 minutes of the newborn’s life, even during caesarean sections.
The benefits of skin-to-skin contact during caesarean sections have even motivated the modernisation of surgical birth protocols in different countries.
Mrs Taiwo Opatumbi, the chief nursing officer, recounted: “At Adeoyo Maternity Hospital, we practice this because most of the caesarean delivery is not done under full sedation, so the woman is awake and alert throughout. Due to this, the baby can be allowed to breastfeed if there are no complications with the surgery.
“When I had my three children through caesarean births, they were not put to breast immediately because of the pain, and I was still recovering from anaesthesia. But things have changed. Now, women have been psychologically prepared for what to expect in the operating room. The joy of citing their baby and having skin-to-skin contact with their baby really helps them.”
In current times, allowing a baby to seek the breast and begin to suck in the first hour right after caesarean birth, Dr Olufemi Adesanya, a consultant obstetrician and gynecologists, also said it helps to release a hormone that ensures the contraction of the womb to expel the placenta and bring it back to its normal size.
If the womb does not contract after delivery, the woman may bleed to death. This is the cause of death for many women following childbirth.
Adesanya, the director of medical services for Oyo State, added, “Doing this is also important to let the woman be conscious and know the importance of immediately breastfeeding her baby.”
Studies have found that those who deliver through c-section are more likely to delay breastfeeding initiation and that delays in initiating breastfeeding after a c-section are associated with maternal/infant separation, reduced suckling ability, decreased infant receptivity, and insufficient milk supply.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months after birth and continued breastfeeding for up to two years. Whether the delivery is by caesarean section or natural childbirth, breastfeeding is the healthiest option for feeding most newborns.
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