During the first seconds after birth, the child is almost completely immobilized, does not perceive sound and light, does not respond to painful stimuli, his muscles are devoid of tone, and no reflexes are caused. This state is called "birth catharsis", which in Greek means "purification". This happens because of the colossal amount of a wide variety of sensations and stimuli that fall on the child in the last moments of childbirth. A protective mechanism is triggered to prevent information shock. The fetus, which has been in the womb for nine months, suddenly finds itself in completely different conditions. Instead of a constant temperature of 37 ° C - the temperature of the room, which seems very low to the child, and one must adapt to it. Instead of the aquatic environment that constantly surrounded him, there was air that he had to learn to breathe. Instead of weightlessness - the force of the earth's gravity, to which one must get accustomed. It was dark - and now there is a bright light around! It was quiet - and now a flurry of the most diverse sounds! In those seconds that pass between birth and the first cry, the baby is in a special state.

In order to protect the tiny newborn creature from shock, evolution created this protective state - the state of not responding to external stimuli. The birth catharsis lasts a very short time and ends at the moment of crossing the umbilical cord. At the moment when the obstetrician's hand cuts this channel that connected mother and child, his life begins as an independent organism. As soon as the blood flow through the vessels of the umbilical cord is interrupted, the child takes his first breath. This is facilitated by the fact that during the last minutes of childbirth, the proportion of carbon dioxide in the blood of the fetus increases, and the concentration of oxygen decreases significantly, which has an irritating effect on the respiratory center located in the brain of the child. . A powerful impulse comes from this center, signaling a growing hypoxia (lack of oxygen), and the child screams loudly, taking the first breath in his life. His lungs, filled with liquid throughout the entire period of intrauterine development, straighten out, fill with air and begin to carry out one of the main life-supporting functions - breathing.

At the same moment, the pulmonary circulation begins to function, which, due to its uselessness, did not work for all nine months. Its purpose is to carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart and carbon dioxide rich blood from the heart to the lungs. Since the lungs of the fetus are inactive during intrauterine life, the pulmonary circulation does not function either. Instead, there are channels (shunts) characteristic exclusively for the fetal circulation - an oval window between the right and left atrium, an arterial duct between the aorta and the pulmonary artery. These shunts stop functioning gradually over several hours and sometimes days. But their existence no longer plays any role in blood circulation. Their presence is one of the manifestations of the transitional state from intrauterine life to extrauterine existence. It is their presence that can explain the bluish coloration of the extremities of a newborn in the first hours after birth.

In the first thirty minutes of life, the child is in a state of maximum tension of adaptive reactions. There is a cardinal restructuring of the respiratory and circulatory systems, which was mentioned above. During this period, the child is in a state of excitement, he almost constantly screams loudly (this is necessary for the complete expansion of the lung tissue), he is active, his pupils are dilated, muscle tone, which was practically absent in the first seconds of life, increases significantly .

Why is it necessary to put the baby to the breast after childbirth

Being closely connected with the mother for 40 weeks of intrauterine life, the baby is used to constantly feeling the rhythm of her heart. Now, when the umbilical cord is cut, he suddenly finds himself excommunicated from this rhythm, from the familiar warmth. But contact with the mother's skin returns to the child a sense of security; this also applies to the voice that the baby has heard over the past four to five weeks of intrauterine development. There is an assumption that the child is able to recognize the mother by the rhythm of her heart, which he feels when he is in close proximity to her. Moreover, with an increase in the mother's pulse, the child begins to worry and, it would seem, to cry for no reason. Conversely, when the mother's pulse is even, calm, the baby is content and sleepy. Therefore, your peace of mind after childbirth is the basis of your baby's peace of mind.

Laying the baby on the mother's stomach is the logical conclusion of childbirth. It signals to the mother and baby that the stressful situation ended successfully, that both of them did their best and emerged victorious. Skin-to-skin contact is necessary because the tactile analyzer is the leading one in newborns and is most developed in the mother's womb. It is known that mammals not only and not so much wash their babies when they are licked, but rather create a powerful stream of impulses that enter the brain and make all body systems work.

Of particular importance is the attachment of the baby to the breast immediately after birth. It contributes to the speedy completion of childbirth - the separation of the placenta as a result of reflex contraction of the uterus. Early application (in the first half hour after childbirth) also contributes to an increase in the amount of milk and the duration of the lactation period. Even if the child does not suck, but only licks the nipple, then at least a few drops of colostrum will get into his mouth. Thus, early attachment to the breast is a "passive immunization" of the child, that is, a kind of vaccination against many diseases, since protective antibodies enter the baby's body along with colostrum. Early application also reduces the likelihood of bilirubin toxicity causing jaundice in newborns; it contributes to the formation of a healthy microflora in a child. The intestines, skin and mucous membranes of the newborn are sterile. During the first contacts with the outside world, they are colonized by microorganisms. Microorganisms from the skin of the mother take root better than others in the child.

Deprived of this support, the child becomes defenseless against the onslaught of the outside world. But, fortunately, almost always the birth of a baby is a long-awaited and happy moment, the mother is next to him, he knows that he is already loved and remembers this feeling, which is an indispensable condition for the harmonious development of his psyche.

Joint stay of mother and baby after childbirth

In the next six hours of a child's life, a period of relative stabilization of all the main body systems begins. Those successes in primary adaptation that were achieved in the first minutes of his life are fixed, and the baby is resting. If he successfully coped with the first tasks set before him by life, he falls asleep. The heart rate slows down, breathing becomes less deep, muscle tone decreases. During these hours, there is a decrease in body temperature for two main reasons. First, the body of a newborn, placed in a much cooler environment, cools rapidly due to heat transfer and moisture evaporation. And secondly, during this period, the level of metabolism decreases and, accordingly, the production of heat. In addition, all newborns have a relative functional immaturity of the thermoregulation system, it is difficult for them to maintain a constant body temperature. The child needs additional heating, otherwise he may get a so-called cold injury or, conversely, overheat if the baby is overwrapped, which is also undesirable for him. This is especially true for children born before term, in whom this borderline condition, like everyone else, manifests itself more acutely, often moving from a physiological state to the initial stage of the disease.

Another very important moment of adaptation is immunological. Being in the mother's womb, the fetus is in sterile conditions. The mother's placenta is permeable to some immunoglobulins - protective antibodies, and the fetus receives from her antibodies to those microbes with which her immune system is familiar. This immunity is called transplacental. The own immunity of the newborn is very imperfect, although it is quite mature. In particular, there is a very low content of class A immunoglobulins, which are responsible for protecting the body from the penetration of pathogens through the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, stomach, as well as an insufficient content of interferons - substances that protect against viral infections. In any case, a child is born in a state of immunodeficiency. This condition is aggravated by such pathology of pregnancy as intrauterine growth retardation, intrauterine hypoxia, birth asphyxia, intrauterine infection. Once in a new environment, a newborn is surrounded by countless microorganisms that literally attack his immune system. His skin, mucous membranes immediately begin to be populated by bacteria that will accompany him for a very long period of time. Therefore, it is very important for someone that these microorganisms pass to him from his mother. Therefore, direct contact of the skin of the child with the skin of the mother in the first minutes after birth is so desirable.

Faced with our by no means sterile world, the child begins to develop its own antibodies. Otherwise, every bacterium that entered his body would threaten to become the cause of an infectious disease. But the attack is too powerful, and the forces are unequal. Therefore, a newborn baby is very vulnerable to a potential infection, which is why he is surrounded within the walls of the maternity hospital with such sterility, which is why the requirements for the regimen in the children's departments of maternity hospitals are so strict. Immunity will train, strengthen literally every day. Active production of antibodies will begin. But this does not happen immediately, but only by the middle of the first month of a child's life. With this in mind, take care of yourself and him.

Considering all that has been said, I would like to emphasize once again the importance of the joint stay of mother and baby after childbirth. Having the mother and baby in the same room after childbirth helps both the woman and the child to get through this difficult period more easily, to effectively establish breastfeeding, because when staying together, the mother usually feeds the baby on demand, and not by the hour.