The Golden Hour: Why the first 60 minutes after birth are so critical for mom and baby.

Have you heard the term the “Golden Hour”? It’s that 60 or more minutes shortly after a mom births her baby where mom, dad, and baby bond together in this little bubble of love – no matter where they give birth.

It’s a lovely thought and when I have prenatal meetings with moms this is something we talk about and work toward because it’s beautiful, and needed … and different than I originally thought it might be.

When I learned about the Golden Hour in my training I pictured this lovely time with mom, with baby on her chest, skin to skin, dad next to or in the bed with them, lights dimmed, soft music, NO interruptions – just beautiful bonding time together. Nope. Honestly that rarely happens. Now at a home birth it potentially could, although depending on the midwife team, there’s a lot of action happening in that hour post birth – managing bleeding, checking vitals to make sure mom and baby are well, torturing mom with fundal massage, charting, etc.

While, yes, the cocoon of three is there, there’s not the quiet alone picture I had in mind, and think would be better. Most of the hospital births have had maybe about 15 minutes where the room empties, mom, dad, and baby are alone together (I slip out too so they can really be alone) and then all the action starts up again for the transfer from the L&D room to the Mom and Baby unit.

Why is this Golden hour even a thing? Why is this what some would call a “critical” time for mom and baby especially? (Sorry dads, it’s important to you too, of course, but there are some physical/mental/emotional and hormonal reasons this is a key time for mom and baby.)

1. Skin to skin – Obviously you can have skin to skin happening even with a bunch of action going on around you, but this is really the #1 thing to be doing in that first hour (and the first week or more) post birth. Babies have spent 9 months co-regulating with mom. In their minds, they are still one person with mom. Separating them (even for weight checks, a quick trip to the warmer, or whatever) disrupts that regulation.
2. Nursing – with baby on mom, baby can do the breast crawl (more on that in another post) or have the freedom to start nursing. Nursing not only gets baby that beautiful colostrum, it helps moms breasts to get into a rhythm so the transition to regular breast milk will begin.
3. Reduced bleeding – both the skin to skin contact and the nursing will help mom’s uterus to contract back down to pre-pregnancy size and help stop the bleeding post-birth
4. Bonding – that closeness helps to reduce the chance of postpartum depression.
5. Body temperature regulation – having baby naked on mom’s bare chest helps the baby to maintain the perfect body temperature. If the hospital staff are concerned about the baby’s temperature, ask for a warming blanket to put over mom and baby rather than having baby whisked off to the warmer.
6. Babies who get a golden hour cry less and have better sleep patterns. A definite plus.

If mom needs some additional care post birth, dad can definitely be the one to do skin to skin with baby while all that happens. Rip off your shirt, put the naked baby on your chest, cover with a blanket, and stay close to your bride. Talk to baby (EVERY baby I’ve supported has stopped crying and or changed facial expression the second they hear their daddy’s voice) and mom just like you did when that baby was still growing inside. If mom can talk, have her talk to baby too so baby hears her and smells her.

Can you do a golden hour after a c-section? You bet you can! With a “gentle c-section) the doctor will place baby on your chest just like with a vaginal birth and you can connect while they continue to work on you. Dad can get in close and talk to baby too. Ask for quiet in the room and ask if you can dim all the lights not needed for the surgeon to work. Then when you’re in recovery, keep on with the skin-to-skin, nursing, etc.

Annette Yen, with Oma Doula Birth Services, is a Christian birth and bereavement doula as well as a Perinatal Patient Advocate in the McHenry County area of Illinois, serving families looking for natural, physiologic birth at home, birth center, and hospitals. You can follow her online at www.omadoula.com or on Instagram at @omabirthdoula.