The Golden Hour: The benefits of keeping your baby close

The first hour after birth is often called the ‘Golden Hour’, and rightly so, as it is one of the most unforgettable times in your life as a new parent. You’ve just met your little human for the first time, and you are all they have known for 9 months. Therefore, being close to you is the thing they crave the most right now.

Also known as ‘the sensitive period’, the golden hour is the uninterrupted first 60 minutes after birth, where mother and baby remain skin-to-skin, with no unnecessary procedures or separations. Approaching the golden hour this way isn’t just a sentimental need, it’s also a biological one. It helps to regulate all of your baby’s physiological processes, including regulating blood sugar. In this short window, a cocktail of hormonal, physiological, and emotional processes unfold that help both mama and baby make the smoothest possible transition from pregnancy to the outside world. 

The 3 key practices linked to ‘Golden Hour’ research include: (a) direct, immediate skin-to- skin contact between a mother and her newborn, (b) delayed cord clamping, and (c) early initiation of breastfeeding. 

The theory of the golden hour originated with the work of Dr. R. Adams Cowley, a trauma researcher in the 1960s, and was applied to maternity care in the 1970s, when Michel Odent, a French obstetrician and maternity care pioneer, became aware that newborns instinctively seek out the maternal breast in the hour after birth. Odent is a true champion of the natural birthing process, also highlighting the appearance of mothers to be ‘in another world’ right after birth, and that the mother should remain in this state for as long as possible, while gazing at her baby, for maximum benefit to both mother and baby. His article ‘Don't wake the mother’ on MidwiferyToday.com goes into great detail about his research and recommendations for the first hour after birth. 

However, at the same time, in the late 1970’s the maternity services in the UK were advocating an approach pioneered in Ireland, called ‘Active Management of Labour’, with the main principles that no labour should last more than 12 hours from the time that the beginning of labour was ‘diagnosed’. Membranes were artificially ruptured to stimulate labour if they had not already broken. Then, if dilation of the cervix (neck of the womb) was not occurring at the speed of 1cm per hour, labour was stimulated by a drip of synthetic oxytocin (also known as induction) and along with this went continuous electronic monitoring and use of epidural anaesthesia, and the potential for further interventions was increased. This approach was then rolled out globally, and birth was converted to a timetable–driven mechanical process. It was an extreme medicalisation of birth, and was not adequately backed by proper research at the time, despite having a worldwide impact. 

This approach also impacted the protocols immediately after birth, and taking baby away to be left in a nursery became normalised. 

Fortunately, thanks to many pioneers championing a return to ‘nature knows best’ to protect mother and baby, keeping mother and baby together immediately after birth - also known as ‘rooming in’ - is becoming the preferred choice by parents once again. The environment is kept calm and quiet, and medical checks for baby are done on or near the mother, rather than in another room.

Yet in some hospitals and private clinics, babies are still routinely taken to newborn rooms for weighing, cleaning, to be given a vitamin K injection, and for observation, often before they’ve had the chance to truly meet their mother. Sometimes this can be helpful, if mum needs a break after a difficult labour, or needs to sleep or wants to shower, but medical caregivers should always ask your preference, rather than following routine protocol. In this situation, skin-to-skin care with baby’s father or siblings can be incredibly beneficial in mum’s place. This has even been documented on babies born via caesarean section where the mother was incapacitated for some time afterwards, and fathers held their babies skin-to-skin, showing a hugely positive effect on newborn crying and prefeeding behaviour. 

Although passing your baby around is not recommended until at least 2 hours after birth. 

It’s a personal choice whether you use the nursery. The purpose of this blog, however, is to highlight the benefits of keeping your baby by your side during this beautiful first 60 minutes (or more, ideally). Make sure you take time to understand the approach taken by your clinic or hospital, as you don’t want any surprises or to feel you have to fight to keep your baby with you once it’s born. Early separation disrupts processes that nature has fine-tuned over millions of years. 

One reason for moving babies to a nursery is cited as ‘it will regulate the baby’s temperature’ once born. However, this is actually unnecessary because nature has taken care of this need already, and it’s the reason why skin-to-skin contact is also referred to as ‘Kangaroo Care’, because holding your baby on your chest helps to keep its temperature stable. Research confirms that skin-to-skin contact helps newborns stabilise their breathing, heart rate, and temperature more effectively than an incubator for healthy, full-term babies. 

For preterm babies placed in an incubator, research also shows that skin-to-skin care is incredibly safe during periods of 90-minute intervals, ideally for an hour at a time, and has numerous benefits to the baby’s health, helping it to develop and stabilise more quickly. Particularly as incubator settings with an excess of sensory stimulation (lights/noise) can induce stress. 

However, unless you’ve been told this, you’re likely to just follow the protocol and not question why it’s happening. 

Your chest is literally designed to warm or cool by a degree or two to keep your baby at the right temperature. Wow, how incredible is that? Why would you mess with it? This is something machines can’t match with the same responsiveness. 

The smell, taste, and touch of your skin activates newborn feeding reflexes, while your oxytocin levels (the love hormone) peak to help release the hormone prolactin, which then turns on the milk cells, enabling your milk flow. 

Another big factor with skin-to-skin once the baby is born is that it stimulates suckling to support breastfeeding, as babies are more likely to latch successfully within the first hour. Especially if their birth was a physiological one, they will follow all the typical behaviour of rooting for your breast and trying to crawl towards it the minute they are born and placed on your tummy. 

Babies that have been born via induction or by caesarean section don’t always match this behaviour, and breastfeeding can be more challenging for them. Please remember this if you’ve undergone an intervention and you’re having any difficulties getting your baby to latch - you’ve done nothing wrong. The intervention may have simply created a temporary short circuit that can be a hurdle for some women. Often this link isn’t explained to women before they agree to an intervention, and having difficulty with their milk coming in and baby latching can lead to feelings of shame and a belief that their bodies are failing them. They aren’t. Nature just needs to follow a certain course and not be disrupted to be able to do its job most efficiently.

Check out this fascinating podcast by Dr Rachel Reed for a deep dive into the effect birthing interventions have on breastfeeding and successful lactation.

Boosts Immunity

Your skin carries beneficial bacteria that “seed” your baby’s gut microbiome — an essential part of immune system development. Separation delays this transfer, while early skin contact jump-starts it. A healthy gut microbiome in a newborn is crucial for a strong immune system, proper digestion and nutrient absorption, and healthy brain and nervous system development. This early gut health can protect against long-term health issues such as allergies, asthma, obesity, and even certain autoimmune diseases. Factors like breastfeeding, vaginal birth, and a diverse diet are key to establishing a beneficial gut microbiome from birth, which provides a strong foundation for lifelong well-being. 

Please don’t feel disheartened if you have to have a Cesarean section, as ‘Gentle Cesareans’ are now quite common, and you can ask your caregiver to provide this environment. The more gentle approach means your baby is exposed to your bacteria through immediate skin-to-skin and seeding the microbiome with the use of a vaginal swab or by wiping the baby’s face with a gauze that has been in mum’s vagina, so the baby doesn’t miss out on the colonisation of the gut by mum’s friendly bacteria. Cord clamping is also delayed, allowing the cord to go white, which ensures the baby receives all the blood it needs. In contrast, early clamping can lead to significant blood loss from the infant, as more blood remains in the placenta instead of transferring to the newborn, potentially increasing the risk of neonatal anemia and iron deficiency. 

Whereas delayed clamping allows for a greater placental transfusion, benefiting the infant by increasing red blood cell volume, oxygen transport, and iron stores, especially in preterm infants. By ‘walking’ the baby down using the hands, in the same way that the uterine muscles would naturally, this gives the baby a more gentle entry into the world. Dr Sara Wickham discussed the complex issue of microbiome seeding in this article which is definitely worth reading if you want to understand more about the pros and cons.

Reduces Stress for Both Mother and Baby

Birth is a huge transition for you and your baby, and it makes sense that nurturing touch will alleviate your baby’s stress in their new environment outside of the womb. Skin-to-skin:

• Lowers levels of cortisol (the stress hormone)

• Soothes baby as they can hear your heartbeat and find comfort in your smell

• Helps baby’s heart to beat well

• Increases oxytocin — supporting bonding, emotional calm, and uterine contractions to reduce postpartum bleeding

This also reduces the risk of postpartum depression, which has a negative knock-on effect for the baby too, including putting it at risk for difficulties in cognitive and socio-emotional development. 

Supports Bonding and Mental Health

The golden hour isn’t just physical; it’s emotional.

Babies who spend their first hour skin-to-skin are calmer and cry less. Mothers often describe feeling more confident, connected, and in tune with their baby’s needs.

In fact, research in the 1970’s demonstrated that babies who have only 15-20 minutes more of skin-to-skin contact were shown to cry less and smile more, further supporting the bonding process between mother and child, for a lasting closeness. It is undisputed across research that mothers build a better emotional bond with their baby if they spend the first hour solely focused on their baby, skin-to-skin, including talking gently to their baby, or gazing into their eyes. 

Other research on the impact of birth protocol on the mother and baby at day 4 after birth, shows that separation and swaddling at birth had negative effects on mother-infant interaction during a breastfeeding session at day 4. Unfortunately, there was less of a bond and the mothers studied significantly demonstrated more roughness in their behaviors with their infants at day 4. The differences in mother-baby connection up to 1 year later were also reviewed in another study, showing a marked increase in positive connection between mother and infant in the long-term, if skin-to-skin contact was supported during the first 25 minutes to 120 minutes immediately after birth. The same positive results were even observed 9 years after birth in a similar study. 

The WHO and Baby-Friendly Standards

The good news is that in 2023, 20 experts from all around the world came together to develop hospital guidelines that could be rolled out globally regarding skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth, endorsed by the WHO. The guidelines noted that skin-to-skin contact was recognised as an evidence-based best practice and an acknowledged contributor to improved short- and long-term health outcomes for babies, including decreased infant mortality. However, they also noted that the implementation and definition of skin-to-skin contact is inconsistent in practice, and thus their guidelines are intended to support a global change to this hospital protocol. 

The World Health Organization and UNICEF’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative recommend that:

• All healthy newborns be placed in immediate skin-to-skin contact with their mothers for at least an hour after birth.

• Routine procedures be delayed until after this time.

• Mothers and babies “room-in” together 24/7, rather than being separated into nurseries.

  
  

What You Can Do

If you’re giving birth in a hospital where nursery separation is routine:

1. Put it in your birth plan: “I request immediate, uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact for at least one hour after birth, unless medical reasons require otherwise. And in that case, I would like my birth partner to have skin-to-skin contact.

2. Discuss it with your care provider in advance — and get their agreement in writing if possible. For any issues, seek support regarding your birth rights from organisations such as birthrights.org.uk.

3. Have your partner or support person advocate for you if you are not able to speak up in the moment.

4. Ask for procedures to be done bedside — weighing, injections, and checks can almost always be done while your baby is in your arms.

Finally…

The golden hour is not a luxury. It is a biological necessity for the healthiest start to life.

Separating healthy babies from their mothers in those first precious minutes interrupts processes that protect health, establish feeding, and form emotional bonds.

Your body is your baby’s natural incubator, comforter, and food source. No nursery — however well-equipped — can replace that.

Protect that first hour. It’s a gift that you and your baby both deserve, and it is pure magic.