Early skin-to-skin contact with full-term newborns: The personal experience of first-time parents

Introduction: Early skin-to-skin contact (SSC) is recommended for all healthy full-term newborns.
Background: Very few studies have looked specifically at the personal experience of first-time parents when their full-term baby is born.
Objectives: To describe the experience of first-time parents who engaged in early SSC with their full-term newborn, and their perception of the contribution and the role of nurses in the success of this practice.
Method: This descriptive phenomenological study was carried out in a medical center in the Quebec region. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with ten parents.
Results: Parents reported experiencing a series of moments filled with emotion, happiness, comfort, closeness, and intimacy. The results appear to show that an enhanced attachment bond is formed. Parents consider the contribution and the role of nurses to be essential to the success of early SSC.
Discussion: It is important to strengthen, encourage, and expand the practice of early SSC among new mothers and to provide a greater opportunity for fathers to carry out this practice with their newborn in the immediate postnatal period.
Conclusion: Early SSC has positive effects for both first-time parents and the newborn.