US hospital charges mum to hold her baby

The woman and her husband said while they had a positive experience in the delivery room, they were amused to be charged for "skin to skin" contact. Photo / Getty

A photo of a woman's hospital bill has outraged the internet after it was posted to Reddit, revealing that she was charged a $56 fee to hold her newborn following delivery.

The hospital bill shows a breakdown of her expenses, including delivery by C-section, and a fee for "skin to skin after c-section".

The woman's husband commented on the Reddit post, explaining: "During the C-section the nurse asked my wife if she would like to do skin-to-skin after the baby was born. Which of course anyone would say yes too [sic]. We just noticed it in the bill today."

The new parents were surprised to see a fee incurred for holding their baby. Photo / Reddit

He went on to say that the experience of holding their newborn was not a negative one, but they were amused about being charged for it.

"The nurse let me hold the baby on my wife's neck/chest. Even borrowed my camera to take a few pictures for us. Everyone involved in the process was great, and we had a positive experience. We just got a chuckle out of seeing that on the bill."

After the photo was shared, a US midwife commented that while she didn't realise holding a baby incurred a fee, she had experienced US hospitals bringing in an additional member of staff to assist if the baby was to be held in the operating room.

She commented: "We used to take all babies to the nursery once the NICU team made sure everything was okay."