Did you have immediate skin-to-skin contact with your baby?

cuterusaurus

And do you feel like this had an impact with your bond?

ashie624

No and when I think back it makes me sad.

fieldpetal

I put yes...I don't know how immediate because I had to be sewn up, so it was about 15 min? I was happy with that.

fabk

Not within the first hour or so. We are super close so I don't think it affected our bond

jegoffin

No due to c/s. But our hospital is baby friendly and we had 2 uninterrupted hours of skin to skin within about 10 minutes. They do all the vitals and everything while baby is skin to skin.

jemasa33

Yes with Nico and no with Enzo. I preferred not having the skin to skin because I wanted them to take the boys to make sure they were okay before they gave them to me. I felt like Nico was so slippery, and I was so paranoid that he was going to slide off of me onto the floor.

[Deleted User]

Yes, and I don't think it did anything to our bond. I think it'd be the same for us either way.

ceechie

No. Dh and my sister got the babies first. I got to carry them from OR to recovery, but I was wearin a hospital gown, no skin to skin. And then I started to hemmorage and dh and my sister got to hold. So it was a while before I got actual skin to skin and breastfeeding time in.
No affect on us what-so-ever. Just happy we all got through it safe and happy. We had some scary moments and I'm thankful my ob was on top of it. Everything else seems so secondary now.

gutsymama

We have never done full-on skin-to-skin. 

I held him swaddled for a moment before they took him. And I held him again on the 4th day, and we started kangarooing on I think the 5th day. But I had to keep at least partially covered so he wouldn't try to nurse. 

I don't think that specifically affected our bond. Definitely not down the road. But I didn't feel a real bond for awhile because of the rest of the circumstances. 

andrea0418

No I had a c/s and was in recovery for almost 2hrs. I had to ask atleast 20 times before they would take me to my room. They kept forgetting about me. I remember being sooooo tired and kept almost falling asleep but I was afraid they would just let me sleep till I woke up and I wanted to see my baby!
No I don't think it affected our bond.

bumpuser794640

Our situation is totally different, but I think our bond is excellent, especially for only being 3 months on the making.

KKinATX

Yes with DD, no with DS.  Although my yes should have an asterisk because really she was on my gown and not my direct skin.  I was ok with that because I'm kind of weird of ickyness before she was cleaned off.  I don't know that it impacted my bond any differently than the bond I had with DS.  It was special to see her right away though and have those first few quiet minutes together.  My delivery with DD was so much more intimate than with DS, there were far fewer people in the room and I got to hold her immediately, I also only pushed through 2 contractions and she was out.  The experiences were like night and day.  I definitely prefer the second experience to the first but I think the bond was equally strong with both.

LauraB1016

I had skin to skin after birth however it didn't any affect on my bond. I struggled the first couple of month with my bond with Allison. I loved her but the skin to skin contact didn't give me that overwhelming love affect that everyone talks about.

Lelo2006

He had swallowed a lot of fluid so I didn't get to hold him for probably 10 minutes? I'm not sure if it affected our bond. I didn't feel that in love for a while.

martyn17

Yes, we did, but I have no idea if it affected our bond.  We still had tremendous difficulty breast feeding the first month although thanks to a great LC we did resolve the issue.

ETA: We had VERY brief immediate contact (I think I kissed her gross little head), and then she had to be checked out immediately due to the fact that she was removed via vacuum.  After about 10 minutes, she was given back to me, and we did skin to skin.  

KateJuly2013

No. I don't think it affected our bond at all though.

KikiCohen

No. I had a c/s. Given Ds' birthweight and associated concerns, I don't regret it. I don't feel that it has influenced our bond at all.

Bmore721

I was losing a lot of blood, so they rushed her away pretty quickly after delivery. From what I remember (which is kind of fuzzy), I did not get to hold LO for over an hour while they delivered the placenta and stitched up my lady bits. After I was finally allowed to hold her, we did skin-to-skin for a couple hours before being moved to the maternity ward room 6 hours after delivery.

[Deleted User]

Yes we had almost immediate skin to skin contact after they quickly wiped her down. It lasted about an hour. I don't think it had anything to do with our bond. I was very shocked that I had a baby and could not believe she was mine. I was disappointed because i thought she would have been cuter at birth and she was not. That is also when we found out she had Down Syndrome. The bond came several weeks later.

rondosa

Yes, he was basically out and quickly placed on my chest, goo and all. 

The nurses had me take my bra off when I got into the delivery room when they asked if I was doing skin to skin, and I said yes (it was all a blur...). I had a gown "on" but really it was just kinda over my shoulders and totally open in the front. Man, there was no shame when I think back  ">

I really enjoyed it - just having him close to snuggle etc, but I don't know how much it would have been different if we didn't do this. Your bond is always there, regardless of skin to skin at birth

:x

redrocksmama

I had a c-section so no. I think it was at least an hour before I got to hold him because I was in recovery for so long. I wouldn't say it affected our bond at all. But immediate skin to skin was something I looked forward to my whole pregnancy and it still makes me sad I didn't get to do that and there were so many other people who got to hold him before I did.

reallylongusername

simone711 said:

Speaking of skin to skin - while I was having skin to skin with Claire, she pooped meconium all over me!!! /:) Eta - wrong smiley

Penelope pooped on me the second she was over my stomach, as they were passing her to me for skin-to-skin.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Pink724

Not right away - she had meconium in her fluid so they had to deal with that. Then, while I was being stitched up, I was in so much pain that I had DH hold her. So he did skin to skin while they finished with me - probably 15-20 minutes. Then I had skin to skin with her for the next few hours. I'm not sure if/how it affected our bond as I'd say we are very close.

coco2787

Yes, and I was slow to bond.

danigirl7181

No I had a RCS. I got to see him the whole time they were stitching me up, when I went into recovery they did all the tests in him and then met us back in my room where I held him for the first time. I don't think it affected our bond at all, he's a mama's boy. We actually didn't do skin to skin at all.

saphires

I had a gown on so it wasn't quite skin to skin but I held him immediately after delivery while DH cut the cord then they took him away to do vitals. I think our bond would be the same had I not held him right away. 

notaffected1

Nope. C section and his sugar was low. I couldn't hold him for a few hours

KTZ17

DD was born by csection at 31 weeks. Luckily she was crying when she came out and got an apgar of 9. DH got to hold her and her neonatologist held her by my head for a bit before I felt sick. Then her breathing was a bit labored so they took her to the NICU. I didn't get to see her for over 24 hours after that, so no, I didn't get skin to skin. She was born on a Friday and I got to hold her on Monday night for the first time. Then I think after about a week we started doing kangaroo care. But those first couple days I felt like I wasn't really her mother. It's not that I wasn't bonded to her, just that I wasn't allowed to do anything. I think it definitely affected my milk supply, but not our bond. We're very bonded.

EagleWife

No, it was almost 40 minutes before I could hold her on my chest. I don't feel like it had any affect on our ability to bond at all. 

Caitable25

Yes we did immediately. DH cut the cord while he was lying on me. Sprayed blood all over us. Hot. They had to take him away after a few mins and give him to daddy because I started going into shock losing too much blood. I don't think it had any bearing on our bond at all. It was such a crazy day. The weeks following had more if an impact on our bonding.

emmanemm

Nope because they couldn't control my bleeding. We were up in our room before I got to have skin to skin with her.

Lelo2006

ramy3695 said:

Both of my babies were put on my chest immediately after I pushed them out.

Regarding bonding: While I do think skin to skin is hugely beneficial to bonding, breastfeeding, etc. I know from experience it doesn't always work.

I didn't feel a strong bond to DS until he was 3.5 months old. I did all the "right" things to encourage bonding and it just didn't happen.

My bond with Iris was instant.

And by the way, the beginnings may have been different, but I love each of my children exactly the same.

That's around when I felt a bond with James. For about 3-4 months I was like, I just can't believe that's my baby. I really want the love at first sight bond. I hope it happens next time. It made me feel really guilty to not have that immediate bond.

PrimRoseMama

I did with both babies. I feel it helped me feel closer to them. However, I know many NICU moms who did not & felt that their bond didn't suffer.

thegoodpotato

Not with my first, yes with my second. 

Marnie literally came firing out like a cannonball. Literally. There was no 'deliver the head then the rest of the body'. She nearly fired right off the table because the doctor was unprepared for her to come out is quickly and wasn't prepared to 'catch'. Again, in the most literal of interpretations. They took her away to weigh and measure, and I haemorrhaged quite badly, so they wrapped her up and gave her to my mom while they took care of that. Then it was about 45minutes of repair work to my nether region. 

I got to hold her for about 5 minutes after that, wrapped up.  Then I went into shock and started shaking so badly I couldn't hold her anymore. So she stayed with my H or in the bassinet for the next few hours while I slept. 

I don't think that in particular stopped me from bonding with her. Due to everything at work, I had a really hard time not feeling some resentment towards her. I had really bad PPD/PPA, we had a really hard time nursing.... Pretty much all the bad feelings you can have, and all the trouble with those 'bonding moments'. I had to write an exam for an interview two days after she was born.

With Amanda, we had skin-to-skin immediately (while we were still attached via umbilical), but only for a moment or two before she went to the weighing table. 

I honestly don't think the skin-to-skin had much to do with our bond. Although she was a surprise pregnancy, I had reconciled myself to the ongoing loss of my career. I had decided that during my mat leave I had the opportunity to find a new job, so I took some control and decided to quit worrying about work and just be happy that I was getting this time off.

My attitude going into the having a kid thing had way much more to do with the initial bonding.

And I feel just as strongly about both my babies, even if I had a rocky start with the first one.

SMac85

DS2 they put on me right away but DS1 they did not because he had a complicated birth. I felt the same bond with both of them

thegoodpotato

@butternut87 Marnie was never a snugly baby. She hated hugging until about 2.5yo.  She would 'air kiss' and 'air hug' from across the room. I think it's just a personality thing. 

She totally loves cuddles now, though.

lancomechica

I said no because it wasn't right away because of meconium in my fluid. I was very upset and still am. I got him after what felt like eternity but it was like maybe 3-5 minutes. My whole body was shaking wanting him back. I worry that it affected my milk.
I think about it a lot.

heyhaylee

Nope. Had cs and baby had other things going on. Plus I had just been hurriedly put to sleep with no pain meds, so when I woke up I was in extreme pain, and then my bed broke when I asked them to sit me up, and I feel back down. So needless to say, I'm ashamed to say that I didn't think about holding her. I asked about her, but my Dh also lost my glasses so I couldn't see her anyway.
I don't think it affected our bond at all though.

JTA2426

No, I had 34 weekers and a C/S. I didn't even get to touch them until 3-4 hours after they were born, then not again until they were about 40ish hours old. It makes me sad, but I think that bond would have taken a bit to develop anyway.