The Golden Hour: The 9 Stages After Birth

You just birthed your baby! Well done and congratulations! Now begins the first hour of your baby’s life outside the womb. The first hour after birth is often called The Golden Hour because of how special it is for mother and baby. You’re exhausted but look at that beautiful baby of yours. They’re going through a lot in that first hour of life. Every baby goes through 9 stages after birth, no matter when in gestation they are born. Premature babies even go through the same 9 stages, although at a much slower rate sometimes taking weeks or months to complete. Here's a little bit more about each of those stages.

The first stage is well known from media portrayals and that’s the birth cry. This cry helps transition your baby to breathing and helps expel any liquid left in their lungs. 

Next is relaxation. Your baby will do this best if you are skin to skin with each other because your baby's temperature, heart rate, and breathing will be able to regulate when laid on top of you. Fun fact: your breasts increase slightly in temperature to let your baby know where they are so they can start feeding! Being laid skin to skin is much more effective at keeping your baby the right temperature than any machine would be able to do for them. Your baby will also be exposed to your personal microbiome (healthy bacteria on your skin) which is especially helpful for the babies born via cesarean section. Microbiome is necessary for the development of their immune system. 

After regulation and relaxation, your baby will start to wake up a bit for the stage called awakening. They might start to look around or make small mouth movements. This will slowly start to lead to stage four called activity. Several different movements might be seen during this like sucking on fingers, shoulder and arm movements, or legs kicking. Their head will often start going back and forth looking for the breast. The fifth stage can actually be seen at any time during this 9 stage process and that is rest. It’s normal for babies to rest in between any of these stages and it’s expected since birth is also a physically taxing event for them as well as you. 

Now the next stage is one that has always fascinated me and that’s the breast crawl. Babies are born with a stepping reflex which allows them to push off from your stomach and move upwards towards your breast. This stepping reflex will diminish and be gone somewhere in the 2-3 month mark but will come back later when they’re ready to learn to walk. Finding the breast may seem difficult but like I’ve mentioned previously, breasts will increase in temperature so that your baby can find them easier. Babies do not have great eyesight (hello increase in areola size) but they do have a great sense of smell from the beginning. They can smell the milk and are innately programmed to find it. The stepping reflex helps them get up there to start the next stage. 

Once they get up to your breast, there’s another stage that might seem like resting but it’s actually familiarization. This will look like them sticking their tongues out to lick at the breast, massaging the breast which stimulates oxytocin (oxytocin is what helps milk start to flow), and they will bring their hands to their mouths after touching your breast so they can learn your taste and smell better. Your baby might be here for a while learning about you and your breasts. 

The second to last stage is suckling. This is not going to be like most breastfeeding sessions. You don’t need to worry about the “perfect” latch or the “correct” position for this first little feed. What matters most is the practice and the contact with the breast. Your baby will likely latch on and off repeatedly in this first try. That’s okay and to be expected! During this first hour, your placenta will be dispelled and that will trigger prolactin (milk making hormone) to start increasing and help release the colostrum for your baby at this time. I have a whole post about colostrum and if you want to know more about it! 

Lastly, there is sleep. After all of this excitement and many changes for you and your baby, it is time for sleep. Sleep is where our bodies regenerate and it’s essential after the marathon you both just went through. Rest well with your baby so that you can be prepared for everything that’s ahead! 

And there you have it. The 9 stages of your baby’s first hour of life. 

1. The Birth Cry

2. Relaxation 

3. Awakening

4. Activity

5. Rest

6. Breast Crawl

7. Familiarization

8. Suckling

9. Sleep

If you have questions or need to book an appointment, fill out the form at the bottom of the page or book an initial consultation with me. I’m more than happy to help you in any way possible.