Why is the first hour after birth so special?
A mother who gives birth prematurely, and whose baby spends months in NICU, can fall in love with her baby and breastfeed. She needs lots of practical advice and encouragement to do so. Months of separation and loosing skin-to-skin contact in the first hour after birth make breastfeeding recovery challenging and sometimes difficult.
A baby that has never latched-on can be coaxed to the breast. Dr, Tina Smillie’s lovely DVD, Baby Dance, shows how this is possible. It does take a lot of time and work from the mother for breastfeeding to recover from separation and disruption, and it is possible. Thank goodness!
So what is the big deal about the first hour after birth?
The reason the first hour is so magical is that it is the time after the placenta has been expelled, and the hormones that foster breastfeeding and attachment are in an unusual balance. This special hormonal situation can not be re-created as the mother will never again deliver another placenta for that baby..
Mothers and babies need to take advantage of the special time after the placenta is birthed to connect with each other because breastfeeding will never be easier than during the Magical Hour.
