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Saira's story

When Saira gave birth to her second child, Aaisha, she held her skin-to-skin for five hours. Saira says it was a wonderful experience and gave her daughter a great start in life.

Mum’s experience:

Aaisha is my second daughter. When she was born, I held her skin-to-skin for five hours. As soon as she lay on me, I forgot about all the pain and worries I had during childbirth. Holding her so close made me feel calm and happy inside. She even breastfed twice while she was lying on me.

I had a c-section and I really believe that the skin-to-skin contact helped Aaisha and me cope better with everything. It was an amazing feeling that I find hard to describe, everyone should have the same experience. Because of our skin-to-skin contact, Aaisha settled very nicely and I haven’t had any problems with breastfeeding. Seven months later I am still happily breast feeding! 

I wish all mothers, especially the ones that have c-sections, could have skin-to-skin contact because it helped me recover faster and to breastfeed successfully.

When my first daughter was born, I didn’t have the chance to have skin-to-skin contact for as long. I think that might be the reason I had the ‘baby blues’ despite having my family all around me. When Aaisha was born, I was away from my home and my family, but I was fine. I am so grateful to the people who made this wonderful magical skin-to-skin contact happen. They helped me give Aaisha a great start in life.

Dad’s experience:

I had skin-to-skin contact with Aaisha, which I didn’t have with our first daughter. It was a wonderful experience. I felt the warmth of my baby, my own flesh and blood, when I held her to my chest. Having skin-to-skin contact with Aaisha is one of the best memories of my life. All dads should not miss the opportunity. I am thankful to the people who gave me such a fantastic experience.