
Golden Hour Magic: The Incredible Benefits of Immediate Skin-to-Skin After Birth
Feb 03, 2025As a certified lactation counselor, when it comes to helping moms prepare for breastfeeding an important topic I cover is the "Golden Hour". The Golden Hour is known as the first hour (or two) after birth when, ideally, a mother has uninterrupted, skin-to-skin (S2S) contact with her baby. S2S promotes:
-
decreased rate of postpartum hemorrhage- by releasing oxytocin in mom which helps contract the uterus and facilitate faster expulsion of placenta which helps reduce likelihood of hemorrhage.
-
less crying from baby
-
keeps baby warmer- newborns are unable to regulate their own body temperature but by keeping baby S2S on your chest your breasts actually increase or decrease to just the right temperature to regulate baby's temp.
- encourages early suckling- by keeping your baby S2S this helps support his/her innate feeding reflexes such as the "breast crawl". Check out the mom and baby in this video. It's incredible to see how much a newborn baby can move when left uninterrupted. (Fast forward to minute 7:00 to see the magic happen). Early initiation of breastfeeding during The Golden Hour is also linked to better ongoing milk production.
After the delivery of your placenta there is a big drop in the hormone progesterone. The placenta produces progesterone during pregnancy to maintain the uterine lining for your developing baby so once you deliver your placenta the need for high levels of progesterone decreases.
It is this drop in progesterone that also allows for an essential breastfeeding hormone, prolactin, to take precedence. Prior to delivery of the placenta the hormone progesterone is the primary hormone present inside the mammary alveolar cells (where breastmilk is produced). As progesterone levels drop you want prolactin to take over to help prime your cells to start paying attention to it.
What's important for moms planning to breastfeed to understand is early suckling and initiation of breastfeeding during the golden hour after birth will increase prolactin levels faster and influence an up-regulation of prolactin receptors on the milk making cells.. If there is a delay in breastfeeding this can impact how many prolactin receptors are present inside the those cells, which can impact long term milk supply.
*If your baby is born preterm (<37 weeks) know that research shows initiation of milk expression before 1 hour supports better long term milk production.
On average, you can expect to deliver your placenta within 30-60 minutes after your baby is born. While you and your baby are relaxing, meeting one another and enjoying skin to skin the nurses, doctor, or midwife are able to assess your baby right from your chest and wait to get any formal assessments like weight and height until a little later. The Golden Hour is also a great topic to talk to your provider about before baby is born to get an idea of how they typically handle the first 1-2 hours after birth and how they will support you and your baby.
Let's review the "optimal" scenario again..
1. Birth your baby
2. Immediate Skin to Skin
3. Deliver Placenta
4. Relax, enjoy those newborn snuggles and watch for signs of hunger cues in your baby
5. Initiate breastfeeding within the first 1 hour to support better long term milk production
But what if....
Let's chat about how you can be prepared to handle other real-life scenarios and still support yourself, your baby and your milk supply.
- If you or baby require any support after delivery and you're unable to initiate breastfeeding together during the first 1-2 hours you will want to start hand expression during that time to stimulate milk production.
You can hand express your colostrum into a small medicine cup, into a colostrum collector syringe like these, into a Silverette Nursing Cup, or even onto a clean spoon. You can then ask your nurses to help you provide that colostrum to your baby and/or save it for later use.
You will continue to hand express a minimum of every 2-3 hours, from both breasts until you are able to latch baby. Remember to store your colostrum according to the CDC Milk Storage Guidelines.
Don't hesitate to ask your nurse, doctor, midwife and/or doula for support. They are there to support you and can help! Depending on your comfort level this is also something your spouse or partner can help with.
If you're not familiar with hand expression...just know this is a temporary solution to supporting your milk supply. During that initial 24 hours hand expression is the recommendation vs pumping because colostrum is INTENTIONALLY low in quantity but VERY high in quality. It's also quite sticky which means it can get stuck along the inside of your breast pump..and I'd hate to have you waste any of it! Hand Expression is truly an invaluable skill to be able to do as a breastfeeding mom.
- Pain while breastfeeding- there are several reasons you may experience pain, but a suboptimal latch is a common cause. Did you know your baby is born with reflexes that support his/her ability to feed? Understanding how to support those reflexes is an essential step in preventing a painful latch. Latching is also a learned skill that takes lots of practicing for both you and your baby. Understanding how to hand express is an invaluable skill to have in order to provide your baby with colostrum and support your milk production.
Watch my FREE workshop on Reflexive Latching & Hand Expression here.
- If you have a labor induction or receive pain medications during labor...if your baby doesn't seem to be showing an interest in nursing during that first hour it's helpful to be aware that medications like pitocin or pain medications can have a temporary impact on your baby's ability to latch and suckle. The length of time this impact lasts has been found to be directly correlated to how much medication was administered. Pain medications administered during labor can also cause a delay in the onset of lactation >3 days. Latching to breast may take up to 2 hours.
research article1, research article2
Skin to Skin is extremely beneficial during this time and your baby may require gentle assistance with locating your breast. It's not recommended to force baby onto your breast as this could cause distress. Focus on guidance but baby led attachment. Hand expressing during the first hour and trying again during hour two can be a great way to support both your milk supply and your baby. You can also hand express a little colostrum and leave it on your nipple as a way to entice your baby.
- If you have a planned or unplanned cesarean section: Talk with your doctor about their current policies and procedures and discuss your desire to have immediate skin to skin (reference the video below). Having immediate, and ideally uninterrupted, skin to skin for the first 1-2 hours with your baby helps promote the release of oxytocin which is an essential hormone for breastfeeding and it facilitates the activation of your baby’s innate reflexes that assist with breastfeeding.
Further discuss your need to be supported by being able to breastfeed within that first 1-2 hours. Suckling within the first 1-2 hours after delivery is directly related to better long term milk production. I also want to add here if you are having a scheduled c-section for medical reasons and you know your baby will be considered preterm at time of delivery - the critical window for initiating milk expression for optimal milk production is within the first hour for preterm infants.
I've attached a great article by Evidence Based Births on the Benefits of Skin-to-Skin After Caesarean as well as a video showing a mom and baby being supported to have skin-to-skin post C-section.
Have questions? Reach on IG @nurture.motherhood