As I look at tweets about Skin to Skin I thought about my practice as a midwife . I facilitate it and talk about its benefits at birth and after but what does it mean to me ?.

I whisper to baby and mum ” you are safe ” . This is because I believe that it is a safe space for both baby and mother . It is as JennyTheM says ” a first loving embrace” . When you see it , you can feel the love and the calm it instills . We know birth can be disturbed , interventions and it has the potential to be full of fear . Yet , the safe space of skin to skin can be restorative , peaceful,  beautiful and human .

I watch as the mother and baby become 1 again . They match , they breathe together , they close their eyes and happiness fills the room.

If we talk about Skin to Skin we hold the safe space – we protect this special never forgotten moments in time between a mother and her baby . There is time for every other task , time for talk , time for weighing and labelling , for dressing and movement of the mother . I hope I can continue to keep skin to skin the safe space of every baby in my care .

Thanks to Jenny the M xxx