Skin-to-skin: Is it time to prioritise the needs of babies born by C-section?

Toni Harman
9 min readNov 17, 2022

Skin-to-skin DURING C-section is evidence-based, it’s free and relatively easy-to-do with a tweak of hospital procedures. And most importantly, it’s really beneficial for the mother/baby dyad. Opinion piece commentary by Toni Harman asking why aren’t ALL parents routinely supported to have skin-to-skin DURING a C-section? What would it take for all parents to be offered this as a fully supported option?

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Parenting: Is it time to priortise the needs of babies born by C-section by enabling skin-to-skin contact? http://microbiomecourses.com
Skin-to-skin: Is it time to priortise the needs of babies born by C-section? Commentary by Toni Harman — November 2022. http://microbiomecourses.com

My baby was born by C-section. I didn’t hold my baby until 30–45 mins after the surgery. Even then, my baby was presented to me, wrapped up in a towel like a burrito, whilst I was in the recovery room.

There was no support for skin-to-skin. No support to initiate breastfeeding.

Talking to other parents and other health professionals, this is a very familiar story.

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Toni Harman
Toni Harman

Written by Toni Harman

I help parents and health professionals better understand the science of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and the microbiome. https://linktr.ee/toniharman

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