The first hour after birth is extraordinary in a baby’s life, demonstrating how mother nature educates an infant in the mother’s womb. As other animal babies handle their needs shortly after birth, human neonates are also intuitively designed to do so. Only the man infant is more reliant on his elders.

The infant screams as his environment transitions from his mother’s safe womb to this harsh globe. The infant gradually adapts to the outer world, whether born vaginally or through cesarean section. 

Unless the infant has an anomaly, Mother Nature will ensure a smooth transition to life outside the uterus.

The infant’s mouth and nose are suctioned in the first hour after birth, and the body is washed and dried. This aids the newborn’s first efforts at breathing. The baby’s back is gently stroked to do this, and their feet are stimulated.

• Skin-to-skin contact helps stabilize a baby’s heart rate and blood sugar levels.
• Babies are born with a “rooting reflex,” making them turn toward touch on their cheek, searching for the breast.
• The amniotic fluid smell on a baby’s hands helps guide them to the mother’s nipple.
• Oxytocin release during breastfeeding supports uterine contractions to reduce postpartum bleeding.
• Newborns have an innate ability to mimic facial expressions within hours of birth.
• Babies can distinguish between sweet and bitter tastes at birth, preferring sweet.

It has been established that direct skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the newborn is helpful after delivery. Skin-to-skin contact should ideally begin early to support breastfeeding. Oxytocin levels in the mother increase in the first hour after delivery, and this surge has been linked to the establishment of the mother-infant relationship. 

Because the placenta is removed from the body early, the woman has less bleeding, gains confidence in her ability to nurse, and experiences less stress. Because of these benefits, the newborn will have fewer episodes of crying, increased thermoregulation, and reduced maternal stress. 

The baby mechanically performs a predetermined sequence of the nine steps. These steps are preceded without any assistance from you.

Every parent anxiously awaits the sound of their child’s first cry. The cry is the announcement from the baby’s side that “Look, I am here too.” Parents are excited about the first cry, especially with the first child. 

Immediately after delivery, when your baby takes their first breath, their lungs expand, allowing them to breathe more. The newborn’s movements during the “birth scream” are motivated by preserving its viability. 

The newborn may use their hands to defend their airway from a suction catheter, or bulb introduced into the birth canal during this moment of heightened awareness. 

The second stage is relaxation. The majority of newborns can calm themselves immediately after their first scream. You can lay your newborn directly on your chest, skin-to-skin, and cover them with a blanket. 

While covering, the head of the newborn should be kept open in any way. Your infant will be in complete relaxation and will not move at all.

After washing the child, it is customary to dry the newborn’s head and body with a clean towel to maintain a comfortable temperature for the newborn. Turning the baby’s head to one side allows for easier access to the airway and closer monitoring of the baby’s breathing. It will give the feeling of the same protection and coziness as of a mother’s womb.

After a few minutes, you see that your infant is moving their head and shoulders and opening his eyes. This is the awakening stage when the infant starts realizing something odd happened to it. 

But it recognizes the mother’s scent, which keeps it comfortable and secure. It also starts looking at the mother. 

The youngster wiggles its little fingers with delight. The soft waves that flow down the arms and into the fingers begin with the head, face, and shoulders. The newborn’s lips twitch extremely slowly and hardly perceptibly. 

Babies will open their eyes slowly at this point, blinking rapidly until their eyes become focused and steady on their surroundings.

An infant’s activity is something a mother knows from when it was inside her. Mothers always enjoy the kicks and other movements which babies make inside them. 

After approximately five minutes of birth, the movements get more powerful. Almost all kids at this stage utter suctioning sounds_ preplanned by nature. When the child makes suction or sucking, it will also start probing and rooting motions. The baby needs something to get into its mouth!

Initially curled into fists, a baby’s fingers may quickly begin massaging, passing flavors from hand to nipple to mouth, grabbing the nipple, and exploring the mother’s chest.

During the first hour of life, it is normal for your infant to move into active states for short periods and then revert to a resting condition. Especially babies delivered through the vagina have undergone labor exertion and become tired. Such babies may take rest for some longer periods. 

The fact that your youngster is nodding off does not imply that the first hour was a waste of time or that the work was done. Unfortunately, parents and medical specialists have misunderstood this period, resulting in prematurely removing a baby from their mother’s skin. 

Allowing the newborn child to rest often throughout the first hour or two without being disturbed or isolated from the rest of the family is critical. 

Considering that this stage is naturally interspersed with others, this is something to consider.

Crawling is the fifth and final stage of development, beginning around 35 minutes after your baby is born. At this point, your baby will rest on you and make movements that resemble crawling with arms and legs. It already had struggled to look for the nipple and shows the achievement by moving closer to the breast and nipple.

When a baby crawls to its mother’s breast, the so-called stepping reflex will have fulfilled its evolutionary function, which will be clear to the child. 

There is evidence that rhythmic stomping of feet on the mother’s uterus during skin-to-skin contact helps the mother deliver more quickly, accelerates placenta ejection, reduces blood loss, and speeds up uterine contractions.

Your baby will feed and become habituated to sucking on the breast in the following 30 minutes. The baby will recognize your face and body. Your baby may mouth, suck, or press against your breast. 

To gain used to breastfeeding, the infant sucks the mother’s nipple and areola. Twenty minutes might go by. Licking the breast stimulates the production of oxytocin and forms the nipple. The baby’s sense of smell and taste increases, and their early activities grow stronger and more synchronized. 

Newborns lick above and below the nipple to prepare for eating. During this time, the baby’s lips and mouth may smack. Cuddling and nursing aid in developing the newborn’s breasts and nipples. 

Before feeding, babies clean their mouths, breast, and nipple.

At some point, the infant will latch on straight to the breast. Once your newborn has successfully latched onto your breast, it will feed. This normally happens around an hour after the baby is born. 

All of nature’s species, human and nonhuman, and of all ages, have been bestowed with excellent thinking skills by their creator.

Even a newborn is intelligent enough to recognize its mother and forecast how she will feed it. Because drugs are transmitted via the placenta, your child will have received any medications you received during delivery. 

As a result, your infant may want more skin-to-skin contact before they’re ready to suck.

The third stage, which typically occurs anywhere from one to two hours following delivery, is when your child will settle into a deep slumber. The child is fully contented to have safety and love. 

By that time, you may also be ready for sleep. The emotional attachment and the weariness of labor induce sleep in both mother and child.

Infants are born with a variety of reflexes that enable them to move in the first hour after birth. These reflexes are cultivated by nature and encouraged to develop naturally. However, contemporarily the child is treated as though it cannot do anything by itself.

Following nature’s way and letting children explore and identify their capacities makes them mentally and physically active and excellent. 

Parenting is a natural phenomenon, and taking it seriously makes both the parents and child successful.