Background <p>Despite the World Health Organization’s recommendation to start skin-to-skin contact (SSC) with a healthy full-term newborn immediately after birth, this practice is not a common practice in hospitals in Iran. This qualitative study aimed to identify factors influencing skin-to-skin contact practice.</p> Methods <p>Thirty-four care providers [including gynecologists (<i>n</i> = 2), neonatologists (<i>n</i> = 2), anesthesiologists (<i>n</i> = 2), resident gynecologists (<i>n</i> = 4), midwives (<i>n</i> = 14), nurses (<i>n</i> = 10)], and six mothers participated in the study from two teaching hospitals in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, Iran. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually and face-to-face. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using conventional content analysis.</p> Results <p>Four overarching categories and ten themes emerged from the content analysis of the interviews and observations. The overall categories were procedure (safety, feasibility, decision-making dilemma), individual (knowledge, attitude, behaviors), sociocultural context (social and cultural conditions) and organization (implementation and monitoring, providing executive infrastructure).</p> Conclusion <p>Care providers and recipients had different perceptions of the factors influencing the SSC implementation. These factors should be considered when implementing SSC.</p>