Skin-to-skin
Also called skin to skin, skin-to-skin contact, kangaroo care
Skin-to-skin means holding a baby naked, or in just a diaper, against a parent's bare skin, usually under a top or a blanket. Maternity staff offer it straight after birth, when it helps keep a baby warm and calm.
How it's said
I'm due in February and cannot wait for my precious skin-to-skin with no one interfering!
How old was your LO when you stopped doing skin-to-skin regularly?
...usually before bed we'd have a cuddle with just the nappy on for some skin-to-skin, till about 1.
Who says it
Where it came from
UNICEF UK's Baby Friendly Initiative made skin-to-skin a key part of its standards for hospitals, picturing a baby dried and laid on the mother's bare chest after birth, both under a warm blanket.
It sits close to kangaroo care, a method first presented in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1983 for premature babies, where incubator care was too scarce.