A picture of a US woman's hospital bill has gone viral thanks to one particular service fee: a charge for holding the baby after delivery.
In an photo posted on Reddit by said baby's father, the woman was charged for "skin-to-skin after c-sec" to the tune of US$39.95 ($64).
"During the C-section the nurse asked my wife if she would like to do skin-to-skin after the baby was born," the father wrote in the comments. "Which of course anyone would say yes too [sic]. We just noticed it in the bill today."
However, the new dad wanted to stress that their experience holding their baby was not bad, they just thought it was funny they were 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."
A representative from the Australian College of Midwives told Fairfax Media that skin-to-skin contact is recommended between mother and baby, even after c-section procedures.
The practice is standard in hospitals accredited by the UNICEF and World Health Organisation (WHO)'s Baby Friendly Health Initiative program, and no charge is made for this practice in Australian hospitals.
After the photo was posted, another Reddit user who had worked as a midwife in the US, commented that although she did not know holding a baby warranted an additional charge, she had experienced US hospitals requiring an additional staff member to be present to watch the baby if it is going to be held while still in the operating room.
"We used to take all babies to the nursery once the NICU team made sure everything was okay."
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