Midwife participation in shaping the emotional bond between mother and child during labour

The beginning of an emotional mother–baby bond formation reaches a prenatal period, so the childbirth is the next step in develop of this bond, in which a midwife takes an active participation. The mother–baby bond during the labour is being created on the basis of satisfying the baby’s needs, which are: breast sucking, ensuring a proper temperature and protection against stimuli such as: bright light, noise and rapid touch. An immediate “skin to skin” postpartumcontact is a situation that allows mother and child to interact and results in satisfying the newborn’s needs. Presence of postpartum “skin to skin” contact along with an accompanying person presence, a labour traumatisation are an important determinats of emotional bond formation. A midwife by performing her occupational duties — marked in the Regulation of the Minister of Health dated on 20th of September 2012 regarding the standards of conduct and the medical procedures in the provision of health services in the field of perinatal care to a women in physiological pregnancy, physiological childbirth, perineum and taking care of the newborn — affects the development of the emotional bond between mother and child during childbirth.

Nursing Topics 2015; 23 (1): 99–103