I. Skin-to-skin contact in the first hour isn’t just about love, it’s about biology!

In the first hour after birth, your baby is biologically primed to seek your face, your smell, and your warmth. Research consistently shows that uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact in the first hour helps regulate your newborn’s temperature, stabilizes their blood sugar, supports the first breastfeeding latch, and stimulates the hormones responsible for early bonding. While the care team in the delivery room has a lot of routine medical procedures to do in this first hour, such as weighing, measurements, and eye drops, they can be done with your baby on your chest or with only a brief pause, and it’s entirely appropriate to ask for your team to do it that way.

II. The first measurements of your baby’s first hours write the first sentence of their health story.

The Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes. The first temperature check. The vitamin K injection to prevent rare but serious bleeding disorders. The first hands-on examination of the hips, heart, spine, and palate. These are the first words of your baby’s health history, the start of a story that will be tracked, referenced, and built upon for decades. While it might feel like an interruption on your first day with your new baby, it’s really the beginning of your baby’s medical care. It not only lets your care team help your baby, but also lets them help you make the most of these crucial hours.

III. Feeling overwhelmed? It’s normal, and it means you’re paying attention.

The emotional reality of birth is rarely what expecting parents are prepared for. The joy is real… and so is a little uncertainty. The love is immediate and disorienting. So is the uncertainty about whether you know how to do any of this. Most new parents spend the first day switching between euphoria and a feeling that they are absolutely unqualified for what just happened. That’s normal! You’re at the beginning of one of the most important learning curves of your life, and the parents who feel most uncertain in the first hours are often the most thoughtful ones over the first year.