Doctors have long known that newborn babies benefit hugely from skin-to-skin contact with their mums. Not only is it great for forging that all-important bond, the parent's chest also helps to regulate the newborn's body temperature.
But skin-to-skin contact isn’t just for mothers, as this beautiful photo of a dad, his son and the family’s newborn twins reminds us.
As touching as it is to see a father doing something we normally associate with the mother, it’s the sight of the young boy emulating his father so sweetly that’s making our hearts melt.
While the original photo was shared last year on a Swedish Facebook page, it was only recently translated into English.
Since it was shared on the NINO Birth’s Facebook page, it’s gone viral. To date, both posts have been shared over a combined 34k times, and they’ve attracted tonnes of comments from parents around the world – some who benefited from skin-to-skin contact themselves, and others who regret not having had the opportunity to do so.
One mum wrote: “Spent two months with my son on my skin from morning until night. He was born 2 months too early. A beautiful experience!”
Another mum wrote about how she wished she had been able to get close to her preemie:
“Oh how I wish I could have been able to hold my son like this when he was born at 31 weeks at 2.5 lbs. I hated having to watch him in the incubator and desperately wanting to hold him. This makes so much more sense.”
View the post below.
