Postpartum care

Your postpartum hospital stay is a time for us to help you learn to care for your baby and make sure you and your baby are healthy before going home. Your provider, whether you chose traditional obstetrics or midwifery care, will work with our postpartum staff to ensure a healthy recovery. If you opt for doula services during labor and delivery, your doula may also be present for the start of your postpartum care.

After your baby is born, our experienced nursing staff and medical professionals help you:

• Bond with your baby
• Recover from childbirth
• Begin breastfeeding, if desired
• Learn the basics of newborn care
• Begin the transition home

Infant and parent skin-to-skin contact

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that, when possible, all babies spend time skin-to-skin right after birth. Skin-to-skin contact can be a key element in helping you and your partner bond with baby after labor and delivery. This bond is important because it increases the success rate of breastfeeding and offers additional benefits, such as:

• Exposes baby to the normal bacteria on mom's skin, which may prevent them from getting sick
• Gives baby the best start for breastfeeding
• Helps baby breastfeed better and longer while encouraging milk production
• Helps keep baby's temperature, heart rate and breathing rate stable and more normalized
• Reduces baby’s level of stress hormones and crying

The teams in our postpartum care center will work with you to help make skin-to-skin contact a beautiful and beneficial experience. To begin this bonding, your baby is placed directly on your chest after birth, and additional sessions will be encouraged throughout your stay.

Lactation support

Breastfeeding has many benefits for both mom and baby. If you choose to breastfeed your baby, the lactation consultants and nurses within our postpartum units can help you learn successful techniques.

Benefits of breastfeeding for baby include:

• Digests more easily in baby's stomach
• Helps the development of baby’s immune system
• Reduces the number and duration of baby's illnesses
• Reduces the risk of baby experiencing sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), obesity, diabetes, hypertension, asthma and other chronic diseases

Benefits of breastfeeding for you include:

• Less preparation because breast milk is ready for baby at just the right temperature
• Decreases the risk of breast and ovarian cancers
• Increases the rate of post-pregnancy weight loss in most mothers

Maternal mental health services

Your postpartum emotional health is incredibly important, and it's normal to need extra support. In fact, many women experience postpartum depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions after giving birth. Our health system provides care tailored to women experiencing these conditions as well as pregnancy-related mood fluctuations. We offer outpatient mental health services and weekly mom's mood support group.

Support for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)

NAS is a group of drug withdrawal symptoms that can affect a baby’s nervous system, breathing and stomach after the baby is born. Our childbirth teams are experienced in caring for babies with NAS, and they provide compassionate, judgement-free support for both you and your baby.

Symptoms of NAS

It is common to start seeing withdrawal symptoms anywhere from one to five days after the baby is born. Some signs that your baby may have NAS include:

• Diarrhea that causes severe diaper rash
• Fever
• Quick breathing
• Repeat sneezes
• Tightened muscles
• Trouble eating
• Trouble sleeping

Some methadone- or opiate-exposed infants need medication to treat their withdrawal symptoms. If your baby has symptoms of NAS, we can evaluate them and help determine the most appropriate way to treat their symptoms.

Newborn’s records assistance

During your time in the postpartum care unit, you may begin the process of applying for a birth certificate and social security number for your newborn baby. We have dedicated staff that help you navigate these processes so you can focus on your new infant.

Birth certificate

Colorado state law requires that a birth certificate be filed with the state registrar within 10 days after birth, so it is helpful if you decide your baby's name and spelling before we request this information.

After your baby's birth certificate application has been completed, the hospital will send it to the state registrar's office, where your baby's birth will be legally registered. While you are in the hospital, we will explain how you can obtain a copy of the birth certificate.

If you are not married, but both you and your partner would like to have their name and information added to your baby's birth certificate, this can be done by both parties signing a special form.

Social Security number (SSN)

While in the hospital, you may also begin the paperwork process of obtaining an SSN through Colorado's vital records office. You should receive a Social Security card for your baby approximately four to six weeks after filing.