What can parents do to help their newborns adjust to life outside the womb?

Question

Dr. Gabrielle Manto, DC · Answer

What can parents do to help their newborns adjust to life outside of the womb? Such a great question. So first and foremost, it's going to be skin-to-skin time. So whether you've had that golden hour after birth or not, moms and dads have this beautiful superpower to help regulate baby. So mom especially has a superpower that can help regulate baby's temperature, baby's heart rate, baby's breath. Mom also has certain scents that baby is able to smell that smells like the womb. So this helps baby to adjust to this new life on the outside. Secondly is, hey mom, hey dad, hey parents, what are you doing to adjust to this new life? So babies act as a hitchhiker on your nervous system, both mom and dad, but especially mom. So if there are things that help mom stay calm and relaxed and well-adjusted and well-regulated, that is also going to help baby as well. So do we have a small circle of support that's helping mom? Do we have a larger support of providers that's helping mom? Do we have people who are cleaning and tending to her, making sure that she can get showered and that she's eating? Because if mom is feeling anxious and is not well-regulated, baby's going to feed right off of that. So the biggest thing we can do as parents is to regulate our own selves, and then this transcends into the newborn. And then again, that skin-to-skin time is going to be huge, especially making sure that baby feels calm and comfortable and adjusting to the life outside of the womb.

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"What can parents do to help their newborns adjust to life outside the womb?"