The first hour of life is sacred to the baby and his mother, so it is essential to remain skin to skin from minute zero. Among other benefits: it facilitates breastfeeding, keeps them warm and calm and strengthens the bond between the baby and his mother.
Most hospitals are committed to this practice, but until now it was difficult to achieve it if the baby is born urgently at home or on the way to the hospital .
Up to now. Thanks to a special safety device, a restraint belt, the mother and her newborn will travel skin-to-skin in the Madrid ambulances of the SUMMA 112.
A belt created to humanize childbirth
This new child safety device, presented yesterday by the Minister of Health of the Community of Madrid, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, will allow mothers to travel on the stretcher with their baby on their chest, perfectly anchored and protected , thanks to a retention element child that is incorporated into the seat belts of the mobile ICU stretcher of SUMMA 112, the Medical Emergency Service of the Community of Madrid.
This is an important measure of humanization of health care, since the separation of the baby generated significant stress for mothers after giving birth to the baby.
In addition, to facilitate this important human contact for the newborn, if the mother presents a complication and has to be transferred to a hospital in another resource for medical reasons, the father can also use this belt to make skin-to-skin contact with the baby.
Designed in the shape of a harness-sack into which the newborn is inserted, it is adjusted with five straps and an anchor-type closure that is easy to open by pressing a button. It allows to carry newborns from 1.6 to 5 kilograms.
As a pilot project, the SUMMA 112 has three neonatal anchoring devices, which can be installed in any of the 28 mobile ICUs in the region.
228 deliveries in 2019
It is the number of babies that were born outside the hospital, at home, on public roads or even during the journey to the hospital itself.
Both they and their mothers were cared for by health personnel and taken to the hospital, but separated for security reasons. A mobile ICU (advanced life support) transferred the baby, who was traveling in an incubator called ‘Baby Pod’, and the mother in an ambulance and without being able to be in contact with her baby.
From this month of January, mom and baby will no longer have to separate. If the delivery has been carried out without complications, the baby has made an optimal adaptation to the extrauterine environment and both are stable (there is no need for resuscitation, etc.), the SUMMA 112 will only activate a mobile resource, a mobile ICU, and in it The mother, father and baby will travel to the hospital for follow-up and postpartum check-ups.
The belt was tested for the first time last Friday, January 17, when after attending a home delivery, the ambulance took the mother and her baby in skin-to-skin contact, to the hospital.
Route and photos | SUMMA 112
In Babies and More | Do not separate the newborn from its mother: it interferes with breastfeeding and their emotional brain, Delaying the baby’s first bath at birth favors the establishment of breastfeeding
