Babies delivered by Caesarean cry less and fall asleep more quickly if they have a cuddle with their father straight after being born.
Researchers have shown that infants who had skin-to-skin contact with their fathers just after birth stopped crying within 15 minutes and became drowsy in one hour, nearly half the time it took for babies left in cots on their own.
The study, published in the journal Birth, shows that dads may have a crucial role to play in bonding with newborns who can't have immediate contact with their mother. It's common pracice now to let babies born after a vaginal delivery spend a few minutes with the mother. Experts believe this helps establish a bond and soothes the baby's nerves. However with a Caesarean section, it is less common for a mother to get the chance to hold her baby, especially if she has just had a general anaesthetic.
Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden wanted to see if dads could be a suitable substitute for mum and so recruited 29 men whose children were due to be surgically delivered. Fourteen just sat beside their baby's cot. The others were allowed to cuddle their new arrival. Tests showed the cuddled babies cried for an average of 13 seconds per five-minute period, compared with 33 seconds in the cot group. They fell asleep at around 60 minutes, compared with 110 minutes in the cot babies.
July 2007
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