Maternal separation stresses the baby

[Potemkin]

http://www.labspaces.net/114870/Mate...esses_the_baby


Maternal separation stresses the baby
Wednesday, November 2, 2011


A woman goes into labor, and gives birth. The newborn is swaddled and placed to sleep in a nearby bassinet, or taken to the hospital nursery so that the mother can rest. Despite this common practice, new research published in Biological Psychiatry provides new evidence that separating infants from their mothers is stressful to the baby.

It is standard practice in a hospital setting, particularly among Western cultures, to separate mothers and their newborns. Separation is also common for babies under medical distress or premature babies, who may be placed in an incubator. In addition, the American Academy of Pediatrics specifically recommends against co-sleeping with an infant, due to its association with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS.

Humans are the only mammals who practice such maternal-neonate separation, but its physiological impact on the baby has been unknown until now. Researchers measured heart rate variability in 2-day-old sleeping babies for one hour each during skin-to-skin contact with mother and alone in a cot next to mother's bed. Neonatal autonomic activity was 176% higher and quiet sleep 86% lower during maternal separation compared to skin-to-skin contact

[Arianwen]

We co-sleep, he was in a bassinet connected to our bed, which has since been put into playyard mode. When he wakes up to nurse, he ends up beside me in bed.

Sadly, I tried to keep him with me at all times when I was in the hospital, but they coerced me into letting them take him to the nursery, as I needed to "rest" from the surgery.

Also, they did not let me see him directly after the surgery (I had general anesthetic) I woke up asking where he was / was he OK etc. I had some breathing trouble coming out of the drugs, too, I think that would have been lessened if I'd had my son near me.

Argh.

eta: he sleeps beside me far more than he is in the co-sleeper at night. He falls asleep earlier than we do, so I place him in the play yard so he will be safe. I cannot put him on our bed or he will fall off of it. I do not wake him in order to bring him into our bed - I wait for him to wake, then get him, he cuddles beside me, nurses and falls back asleep.

When he was a newborn, I did a lot of baby-wearing etc. I find now, he does not nap as well if I wear him - too much excitement etc.