How to help the newborn adapt 2026

Inside the womb, the baby has all its needs covered: the umbilical cord provides food and oxygen and the amniotic fluid provides warmth and protection. Live in the most serene, safe and comforting environment we can imagine. But suddenly, one day, everything changes. He begins to feel strong contractions that oppress him and force him to go through a very narrow tunnel, after which he finds himself in a new world, totally different from the one he knew.

From calm to maelstrom

The lights in the delivery room are not bright, but they still dazzle him, because his eyes only know darkness. The voices of the doctors and the noises of the surgical equipment stun him. The temperature of the delivery room, although around 24º C, is very low. He is used to the 36º C temperature of mom's body, so he is shivering from the cold.

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Furthermore, the force of gravity begins to pull him (something that did not happen inside the uterus, because he was surrounded by amniotic fluid) and the world around him no longer has limits (in the maternal womb, space was increasingly limited). "In addition," midwife María Suárez de Lezo tells us, "some strange hands touch him (the pediatrician does his first checkup), he has to start breathing on his own and stops receiving food through the cord. With this scenario, how can the baby not be scared when he is born?"

A little stress is good!

But not everything is going to be difficult. Studies by Vivette Glover, an expert in perinatal psychology at Imperial College London, show that childbirth stress, at medium levels, keeps the baby alert and pushes him to create bonds of attachment with his mother, which give him the security he needs to get used to the outside: her warm arms, her sweet voice, her smell...

An explosion of hormones full of love

• After the expulsion of the placenta, the mother reaches the highest peak of production of oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which induces her to care for and protect her baby.
• Laprolactin helps initiate lactation and also reaches its highest level during childbirth. "That's why we now try to put the baby to the breast as soon as possible, to take advantage of this maternal predisposition," explains the midwife. "Nipple sucking calms the baby a lot because of the intimate skin-to-skin contact it maintains with its mother, even if it doesn't get any milk yet. In addition, it perceives its smell and taste very intensely. All of this contributes to the newborn feeling less scared in its new environment."
• Endorphins, secreted by the baby, have a relaxing effect and create bonds of love and dependence between the two.
• Adrenaline (also produced by the baby) causes the child to quickly recover from the lack of oxygen inherent to birth and the mother knows, intuitively, how to care for her child even if she does not have the slightest experience with newborns.

Towards a more humanized birth

Various research has shown that the greater or lesser segregation of these hormones depends, to a large extent, on the environment. If the baby is born in a pleasant, quiet and warm environment, production increases and with it, its positive effect. That is why today attempts are made to make births more and more humanized. Among other measures:

Prepared mothers, happy babies

Various studies show that the information that pregnant women receive in childbirth preparation classes gives them greater serenity and confidence during the dilation phase. These feelings are transmitted to the baby through the cord and help the baby to be born with the right level of stress (neither too high nor too low), so that it can adapt without difficulty to life outside the womb. Another reason to attend!

How good it is about mom!

María Suárez de Lezo explains that "there is an increasing tendency to enjoy the arrival of the baby because it is an unrepeatable experience. Therefore, instead of acting in the rush of before, the midwife picks up the little one very slowly so as not to scare him, and places him on the mother's bare chest. This way he hears her voice and the beats of her heart (which calm him because they are familiar) and feels her caresses and her warmth." This intimate contact relaxes both and provides security for the newborn.

United by the cord

Another gesture that helps soften the baby's arrival into the world is to wait for the umbilical cord to stop beating before cutting it. "In this way, he is assured of the oxygen supply he needs in those moments when he has to start breathing on his own," explains the midwife. "All actions that are not essential at that moment, such as weighing, dressing, cleaning or vaccinating, are also delayed as much as possible."

And in the company of dad!

If the father is in labor, he can caress his child's back and sing lullabies, whisper affectionate words in his ear or play (very softly) the music that mom listened to during pregnancy.

To make you feel good at home:

• Treat him when he cries. If you let him cry without holding him for fear of spoiling him, he will feel abandoned and cry more.
• Put him to sleep in a bassinet. He will be able to feel the limits of where he is, as he did in the womb, and he will feel more secure.
• Gently wrap him with a thin sheet, except for his head. His usual uncontrolled movements startle you.
• Carry him in a baby carrier as long as you can. Feeling close to you will give him confidence and reduce the feeling of vertigo he was born with.
• Always move him very slowly and very gently, holding his head well and preventing his arms and legs from hanging: there is nothing that bothers a baby more than feeling like he is "floating around."
• Notify him of your presence. Approach him little by little, whispering to let him know of your arrival. Take him slowly so he doesn't get scared.
• Play the music you listened to during pregnancy often. It will remind him of his peaceful life inside you and will help him feel great outside as well.

And above all, the baby needs the love of his parents to adapt to the new life: to be rocked in their arms, to look into his eyes, to be caressed, to satisfy all his needs... "The pampering of dad and mom will help him feel in this world as happy as in the womb," concludes midwife María Suárez de Lezo. Advisor: María Suárez de Lezo, midwife at home from Call the Midwife (www.llamaalacomadrona.es).