Editorial

Mother-, baby-, and family-
centered cesarean delivery:
It is possible

The clinical processes at cesarean delivery can be refocused to enhance
early maternal–infant bonding and improve the mother’s experience
of the surgery

Director, Obstetric Anesthesiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Chair, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
Boston, Massachusetts
rbarbieri@frontlinemedcom.com

The authors report no financial relationships relevant to this article.

Cesarean delivery is both a major surgical procedure and a momentous and miraculous event in the life of a family. Historically, the medical rituals and processes common to major surgical procedures have dominated the cesarean birth process. In most obstetric units, babies born by cesarean delivery are brought to a newborn resuscitation unit, examined, cleaned, banded, administered medications, weighed, and swaddled before being introduced to the mother. In cesarean deliveries early skin to skin (STS) contact and early initiation of breastfeeding are not common.¹ In contrast, for vaginal delivery, many obstetric units have developed mother-, baby- and family-centered birth processes that emphasize immediate STS contact and the early initiation of breastfeeding.^2,3