After birth procedures to know (hospital birth)

Let's discuss what happens during your baby’s first hour of life in a hospital setting and the choices you can make when planning newborn care.

So let's get started:

Your Baby is Born…

First comes the rubbing and suctioning:

Usually, your nurse will suction and vigorously rub baby immediately after birth. This is to stimulate baby and get them to cry. Crying facilitates deep breathing for baby and signals the newborns ability to breathe on their own.

While this is typically standard, if your baby is born with clear fluid and begins breathing on their own the WHO recommends against routine suction. The WHO also recommends against routine suction if the baby was born through meconium if they start breathing independently. You can read the WHO's recommendations on suctioning here.

Next comes cord clamping and cutting:

At most hospitals, it is standard to do delayed cord clamping which is defined as, "60 seconds after the birth of the baby's head". This follows the WHO guidelines for cord clamping. The other option is to request delaying cord clamping until the cord stops pulsating. I recommend popping over and reading the American College of Nurse Midwives' Position Statement on Delayed Cord Clamping as well as reading DONA’s evidence resource for doulas on delayed cord clamping.

Routine Newborn Care Procedures:

Next, it’s time for routine newborn care procedures. These include weighing and body measurements, APGAR testing, administration of eye ointment, vitamin k shot, newborn screening, and hepatitis b vaccination.

Most of these procedures can be done right on your bed if you prefer!

If the baby has breathing issues, there was meconium present, or you had prolonged water rupture, your provider might require that baby go to the warming table to be assessed. However, you can ask that after the baby is assessed, they are immediately returned to you, and all other procedures are delayed until after the first 1-1.5 hours. This is called "The Golden Hour".

Meanwhile, if all is well with the baby, you can request to delay all newborn procedures until right before you go to your postpartum room (usually 1.5-2 hours after birth). You can also consent to have all Newborn Care Procedures completed immediately.

The choice is truly yours!

Check out THIS post for reasons to delay the first bath!