HELP I'm worried about how I'll manage to get 3 hours of skin to skin time

[L3tsD0Th1S2020]

The hospital's policy is to move me into the postnatal ward 1.5 hours after giving birth. After an hour they expect you to take a shower etc and essentially get ready to move. Theyll weigh the baby etc.

After doing my hypnobirthing course which I loved by the way and a course on breast feeding theyve both said to protect this precious skin to skin time as itll help your milk to come in.

How do i achieve this?

I've mentioned it in my birth plan but will hospital policy make it impossible for me to secure this time for me and baby?

Did you manage it or find a workaround?

I had about 2 hours of skin to skin with DD2. To be honest by then I was quite keen to have a shower and something to eat, also DH wanted to hold the baby. DD was feeding more or less that whole time so definitely started breastfeeding off well for us.

But if you want to have 3 hours of skin to skin, that is your choice. The midwives can suggest that you want a shower, but they won't physically manhandle you to do so or take the baby away. Just working on saying what you want and sticking to your guns. Also make sure your birth partner knows your wishes and can back you up.

You can just refuse a shower if you don't want it yet, or take a quick shower and get straight back into bed with baby. 10 mins won't matter. And I've never heard of a set in stone 3 hours of skin to skin, it's just as much as possible when you can.

You can keep on with skin to skin in postnatal, and onwards for the first few weeks it's important to keep it up.

There will be plenty of time, don't worry.

Remember your dp can have some skin to skin while you have a shower (when you’re ready) and you can resume the skin to skin on the pn ward.

Yes, you can have skin to skin literally any time you want - just pop that baby on your chest.

I've heard of the golden hour but not the golden three hours! And remember - you might not be ready to be moved after an hour and a half. I had an epidural and they were stitching me up for ages so I definitely wasn't gone to postnatal after an hour and a half! I had my baby the whole time so plenty of skin to skin

I had my baby at 1.30am and didn't go onto the ward until about 7/8am but maybe that was because I'd wake the other mums in the night if they moved me up there at that time? Not sure. I didn't feel pressured to have a shower but after 42 hours labour I wanted one.

In reality they'll be at least one occasion when skin to skin will be interrupted whilst you are on Labour Ward: for weighing and the initial newborn check. I'd aim to have a quick shower (if you are mobile and tbh it's much nicer to do so there as you'll have your own en suite facilities, often bathrooms are shared on the PN Ward) once the midwife has done this. You can resume skin to skin afterwards including during your transfer to the Ward and continue it there.

I would wait to see how you feel at the time before getting worried in advance now. The only thing that typically happens with birth plans is that what happens doesn’t go accordingly to your wishes.

Get as much akin to skin as you can and then when you are home, continue doing so. Remember, your baby will enjoy skin to skin with your DH as well who can do so whilst you are showering.

I wanted a shower so much after both my labours. DH did skin to skin both while I was being stitched and for my much needed shower. Both fed easily...

You really don't need a magic fixed amount of time. Again, I've heard of the golden hour but not a set 3 hours. Neither time have I felt rushed in anyway post birth - and first time round my BP sky rocketed and I was moved to a ward relatively quickly for monitoring.
In fact, I needed tears stitching both times and I handed my babies to my husband at that point having a had a lovely amount of skin to skin but nowhere near 3 hours.
I loved hypnobirthing and it helped me enormously in both my labours but try not to be too rigid in your expectations of how you want it all to go. Both of my labours threw curveballs at different points and it helps to be flexible with what you want and expect. I was actually very shaky after a very fast delivery second time round and I needed to give my baby to my husband while my body settled.

Same hear DH took over so I could get myself sorted out. No issues feeding or getting milk to come in. It carried on like that for a few days at home it was lovely.

when I had my dc I had skin to skin whilst the medical team made repairs to my undercarriage. dc were checked over on my chest, apart from weighing them. that took well more than on hour. dh then dressed them whilst I cleaned myself up.

This isn't a rule set in stone and so many things will be out of your control that you can't get hung up on little things like this. DC1 wasn't breathing when she was born and I'd had an episisotomy so the most important things were to get her breathing and me stitched up. Once she was breathing strongly, she was given to DH wrapped in a towel and I have a feeling she was in a babygro before I got a hold. She was ebf until 6 mths and still bf'ing at 15 mths.
DS was born within minutes of arriving at hospital and then there were issues with the placenta and I went into some sort of shock (which, amongst other things, meant I'd puked all over myself a couple of times and couldn't stop shaking) so he was dumped in the goldfish bowl crib thing (again, wrapped in a towel) whilst they sorted me out and DH went off to park the car. I didn't really get to hold him until I'd had a shower and was puke free. Again, ebf until 6 mths and bf'ed until 9mths.
To be honest, in both situations, the last thing I wanted was to be given a baby to hold. I would have quite like to have disappeared to a luxury hotel in the Caribbean for a couple of weeks!

Please try not to worry .

I didn't get to hold my baby for about 15 hours. Was still able to breastfeed and we are as close as close can be now (my baby is 20 years old by the way!).

Don't worry too much, I had about 10mins skin to skin with my baby before I had to go for surgery and I didn't hold him again for about 7 hours. No issues bonding or breast feeding.

Please don’t put pressure on yourself. I had suspected preeclampsia and was on some super strong medication during labour. She was born by ventouse and tiny. When the paediatricians were done with her, they offered to let me hold her but I still had my feet in stirrups and felt all wobbly from the medication so my DH did skin to skin while I was stitched up. After that I held her but I was THRILLED to have a bath after half an hour or so. DH also held her on the way up to the ward as I still felt super wobbly. We did lots of skin to skin the next day when I felt more human!

That's some really rigid advice from both sides.
Regarding hospital guidance it very rare that they are able to stick to those timings.When I had my DD not long ago,I was left on my own for 4 hours as there was no space available to transfer us.When I was working myself in Maternity Department it was exactly the same issue,usually extremely busy wards and transferring patients wasn't as swift as it seems.So please,do not worry about it.Evem if they have spaces,there is no way they will try to force you to have a shower etc.Just be very clear from beginning,perhaps attach a printed Birth Plan to your mat records with your plans regarding undisturbed skin-to-skin for x amount of time(in bold and underlined if that will make it more visible).
When it comes to your hypnobirthing guide,I think it's a bit excessive to advise on 3 hours of uninterrupted skin-to-skin.Obviously,it is highly recommended but any amount of time that you or your DP/DH will spend doing S2S is very beneficial,regardless if it's 30 minutes or 4 hours.Even with tiny breaks for weighing etc., it will be fine altough the staff can easily wait for 2 hours to do that.
If you are really worried about S2S and breastfeeding I can assure you that even without S2S many women breastfed their babies succesfully,it is not a determinig factor.

Also, I had my last baby in September and I found that the midwives were fairly slow to move me to a ward to maximise the time I could spent with my husband.

I couldn't hold my ds until he was 4 days old, for various reasons. He also had a tongue tie. I breastfed him until he was 12 months old.

Most important thing is to try to breastfeed immediately after birth, I was recommended within 5 mins but obviously this is subject to your babies health. I fed whilst they stitched! After that I handed dd to my then h and had a bath. Try not to worry about strict "rules" you need to be a bit flexible as every birth is different and you may feel different

Our babies all enjoyed skin-to-chest hair with Daddy. It's important for them to bond too.

I put on my birth plan I didn’t want baby washed after the birth or any non essential checks done. Also stated I wanted maximum skin to skin and to be helped to feed within the first hour after birth. My plan said at the top that baby and my safety of course came first at all times and I would be guided by their advice at all times.

The hospital really respected my wishes and facilitated skin to skin. I was offered the chance to have a quick shower after a bit, which I took. Dp did skin to skin during that time. But otherwise I held dd and fed and fed and all was well.

Thank you everyone for your detailed responses. These are very reassuring. I appreciate it

With DD1 I had hours of skin to skin, she was born by emcs and for various reasons bf didn’t work for us. DD2 I had an hour when I think she feed them DH did skin to skin for the next two hours while I was in surgery and recovery. I’m still bf her now at 19 months.

With my first I had about 5 mins skin to skin before I passed out as I was unwell post birth. My husband did all the skin to skin and dressed her etc. Yes it was a bit sad that I missed that but I breastfed her until she was 2.5 and we are very close! I also didn't get a shower until the next day due to me being too wobbly on my feet and I felt disgusting! I'll be prioritising a shower this time while husband is still around to hold baby!