Facilitating Skin-to-Skin Contact In the Postnatal Period

Maternal participants Inclusion Criteria: Women, non-binary and transgender participants. Aged 16+ years old. Vaginal birth, including ventouse, forceps and spontaneous vaginal birth. 28+ weeks pregnant. Body Mass Index of 18 to 30 inclusive. Births between 37 and 42 completed weeks of pregnancy. Women without any morbidities that will significantly impair their ability to independently parent their baby. Women planning to give birth on the labour ward, co-located birth centre, standalone birth centre or at home. Exclusion Criteria: Caesarean section births. High dependency Unit patients. Illiterate in English. Multiple pregnancies e.g. twins. Registered child protection concerns. Substance misusing women. Body Mass Index of less than 18 at booking appointment. Body Mass Index of more than 30 at booking appointment. Aged under 16 years old. Neonatal participants Inclusion criteria: Born 37 to 42 completed weeks gestation. Birth weight between 2500g and 4000g . Weight at six weeks of age less than 6000g. Neonates requiring blood glucose prefeed monitoring. From birth to six weeks of age. Exclusion criteria: Preterm neonates (less than 37 weeks gestation). Requirement for special or intensive neonatal care. Receiving phototherapy. Receiving intravenous antibiotics. Falling growth velocity of more than 2 centiles. Aged over 6 weeks old. Midwifery staff participants Inclusion Criteria: Working at the National Health Service Trust hosting the research. Working through the Hospital Bank. Registered midwife through the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Working on band 5, 6 or 7. Working within the hospital setting. Exclusion Criteria: Midwifery staff working in the community without rotating to the hospital wards.