While mothers often have their newborns placed directly onto their bare chests after birth, it appears to be less common for dads (at least in the U.S.) to be encouraged to do the same.

However, a 2018 study showed that dads who held their newborns in the first two days after they were born showed elevated cortisol levels.

While cortisol is also known as the “stress hormone” and can make people feel on high alert (and, frankly, having a newborn does require a certain amount of vigilance), the short-term spike actually correlated to those dads being more involved in their infants’ lives 4 months later.

Even more significant is research by Dr. Nils Bergman who examined not just holding but skin-to-skin contact – sometimes known as “kangaroo care” – between newborns and their fathers.

His findings suggested that just 30 minutes of skin-to-skin time with their babies caused a rise in the hormones dopamine and oxytocin in new fathers. These hormones help create a positive association with babies in their brains and could help fathers kickstart their parenting instincts.

Research suggesting that skin-to-skin contact between newborns – especially preemies – and family members is often exemplified by one viral photo posted back in 2016. In it, a father and son give mom some time to recover while each holds one of the family’s newborn twins.

The photo was taken at Hvidovre Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark, likely in 2015 when it was originally posted on the Facebook page of the Danish family advocacy organization called Forældre og Fødsel. It wasn’t until a year later that the English-speaking world saw it after it was shared and translated by the South Africa-based Facebook page NINO Birth.

The caption notes that researchers in Sweden have long believed in this kind of contact for premature babies and that a Swedish Professor by the name of Uwe Ewald came to Hvidovre Hospital to help institute the practice for babies born up to three months premature.

This contact, he says, is far better than leaving them alone in an incubator and can speed up their development or healing processes.

While there are no links to research to back up the claims, the caption also says:

“Skin to skin contact helps the baby to breathe better. The child becomes more calm and gains weight faster. Research shows that parents bacterial flora – compared with hospital bacteria – reduces the risk of serious infections in these delicate children.”

In the comment section, dozens of parents attested to the power of skin to skin contact on their preemies.

Many hospitals in the U.S. are now advocating for this type of care, especially in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) and nurses or volunteers will sometimes provide skin-to-skin contact to babies who are alone.

While many are still critical of childbirth practices in the U.S. and the medicalization of a natural process, the fact is that in many places around the country things are changing. And it’s making parents feel more closely bonded to their babies as well as helping vulnerable newborns – no matter what their age – bond with their parents as well.

Be sure to scroll down to see the English-language version of the Facebook post.

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Source: ScienceDaily, BellyBelly.au, HuffPost