Skin to Skin - Day and Night?

[@llli*tbirdie]

My daughter is 6 weeks old. For most feedings, I undress her down to the diaper to feed her. This used to be necessary to keep her awake, plus I just liked the bonding, but lately she has been staying more awake during feedings. Sometimes I just keep her dressed, especially if I'm exhausted or she is wanting to eat NOW. Is this a bad thing to do?

Does everyone undress their babes for nighttime feedings? I've been using kimono style onesies or zippered outfits to dress and undress her easily and without too much fuss, but I'm just wondering if everyone does skin to skin at nighttime or am I making things unnecessarily complicated?

I want to do whatever is best and if there is benefits to continuing the skin to skin feedings, I will not sacrifice them for ease.

On a random side note, I try to do skin to skin during the day as well, but our baby heats up and sweats so much with skin to skin contact... she's a little heat bucket. I wonder if she's not more uncomfortable than she would be cuddling in a onesie.

Thanks so much for your help!!

[@llli*molufs10]

I say do whatever works for you and baby!
I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mother so my dd when she was just born(shes 2 now) and i spent the entire first three months topless.
She stayed in just diapers and i stayed in just my nursing bra. obviously... I got a shirt ready for door bells and etc. Lol

[@llli*carm3]

I think it's fine to keep your baby dressed at this point. If you feel like bonding, go ahead and undress her. with PP, whatever works for you/baby!

[@llli*lllmeg]

Welcome and congratulations on your new baby!

I think skin to skin is great when it is comfortable for both mom and baby and/or, there is some breastfeeding problem, such as breast refusal, or, as in your case, early over-sleepiness, that may be helped by it. But I doubt it is actually necessary for bonding or facilitating good health in a healthy full term baby and mom pair for whom nursing is going well. Holding baby a lot, whether nursing or not, is typically necessary. But not necessarily skin to skin.

My understanding (please anyone, correct me if I am wrong, I can't look up the study right now) is that the research on it's importance for wellness and breastfeeding success is limited to premature and low weight babies, in the early weeks of life.

Interestingly, research by Suzanne Colson on breastfeeding positioning-and mothers posture- in the first weeks of life suggests that comfortable, biologically instinctive positioning is possibly much more important than skin to skin for facilitating 'successful' breastfeeding. I think her conclusions about this are in her book, rather than on her website, but if you have not seen info on biological nurturing aka, laid back breastfeeding, I suggest checking it out.

In other words, I think sometimes people make too big a thing of skin to skin, giving it powers and importance it does not have (or at least, is unproven) for full term, 'older' babies who are breastfeeding well. Some mothers are never really comfortable doing skin to skin for various reasons, and still bond great. And no, certainly not everyone undresses baby for any feedings. I agree, the delay in nursing caused by undressing baby would possibly make a baby very fussy and cause latch-on issues. Personally, while in the hospital post c-sections I always did skin to skin, I am way too sweaty to not have all my summer-born babies in onesies most of the time for nursing once home. Now it is winter and my baby needs to be fairly warmly dressed and there is no way I am undressing her to nurse. Way too much trouble. And bonding is just fine.

As long as nursing is going well, I suggest, just do whatever works best for you.