Breast Crawl... what is the point?

[*Efjay*]

This is a real question as I just don't get it.
I understand the concept behind the breast crawl but what I have trouble understanding is this..

We as humans instinctively ( I assume) pick our baby up. cuddle it & give it warmth etc. It seems so un-natural to me to leave the baby to make its own way to the breast.
I personally feel it is much more natural to scoop my baby up & snuggle with this new child while placing him/her at the breast.
I can understand the breast crawl in animals like dogs & cats. But even they bring their new being a little closer to the teat when they lick & remove the sac etc. Then the pup/kitten finds its way to the teat. But as humans we have hands & nice long arms to cradle our new baby in.

So can some one please explain the point behind the breast crawl?

[Lolli]

I'm quite interested to know the answer to this too...

[Willow]

That's a really good point actually FJ. I looked into it before DS was born and have watched lots of videos etc but to be honest, I wasn't feeling well enough after his birth to try it. He pretty much attached beautifully with very little help from me and we never looked back.

But reading your post, I really agree that just leaving a new baby there to 'do it's thing' ...I dunno, I think I'd feel weird and would want to snuggle too

[*Efjay*]

Part of me kinda gets it in regards to say a csection but really even then im not 100% sure.

I know the idea of the baby finding the breast help for a better attachment etc but I just don't understand how it really applies to a species that is capable of picking up a newborn.

[briggsy's girl]

i can see both points i guess

the urge to snuggle your baby and help it to find it's way is a natural instinctive desire - you're a mum - you do what you can to make life easy for baby asap

on the other hand, my understanding is that by allowingbaby to find it's own way to the breast, IT's natural instinct to feed will take over. it will seek out the scent of the breast without being overwhelmed by having it forced on them kwim? not that i think helping your baby is a bad thing!!!! from what i've read though, it's more that, baby finding the breast in it's own time means it's instincts take over rather than trying to do something it's not ready for at that point...

i initially wanted to have the breast crawl as part of our birth plan - and still intend to work on establishing breast feeding asap - but i'm not sure if i have the patience to NOT cuddle my precious newborn as soon as it arrives!

[*Efjay*]

i
on the other hand, my understanding is that by allowingbaby to find it's own way to the breast, IT's natural instinct to feed will take over. it will seek out the scent of the breast without being overwhelmed by having it forced on them kwim? not that i think helping your baby is a bad thing!!!! from what i've read though, it's more that, baby finding the breast in it's own time means it's instincts take over rather than trying to do something it's not ready for at that point...

Hmmm now that makes sence LOL. I hadn't really thought about the baby's instinct..

I went to give you rep point BG but I gotta spread the lurrrve

[briggsy's girl]

glad it made sense cos DAMN it's hard to get them thoughts in order sometimes! i knew what i was trying to say, but the words just wouldn't come!

i think it's something to do with the baby experiencing a lot during the birth as well, and immediately after that it may not be ready to actually feed yet - needs time to find that relaxed mind set where feeding is going to be most effective...

[*Efjay*]

I guess that can still be achieved while cuddling your bub. I guess holding them close on your chest rather then in a cradled position would give you those first cuddles & give the baby time to find himself also.

[Lolli]

I wish I'd had a lot more skin contact with ds when he was born... I was wearing a t-shirt when they put him on my chest, straight after birth, and next thing I knew they took him to weigh him and handed him back to me all snugged up in blankets like a little burrito We had attachment problems and he gets excema, sometimes I wonder if both those oculd have been avoided with a little skin on skin...

[Jennifer13]

I'd be guessing this is a more evolutionary capability thing than 100% necessary. There would have been numerous times in our history when an exhausted mother giving birth would have not had the strength or assistance to pick up her baby, at which point the baby's instinct to get to the breast for the sake of its own survival would have been vital.

I guess I see it as something a baby is capable of doing, but like you FJ, don't see that it's necessary for it to occur to establish a good bfing relationship. More a survival instinct than anything else.

[Bathsheba]

Great explanation BG It makes sense if you put yourself in the baby's position... you've just been through an extremely physically demanding experience and then before you you know it you're having a meal shoved in your face. It would be like completing a marathon and then being told to sit down to a meal straight away. Ugh!

I didn't do breast crawls... I wish i had though... but I don't think I actually shoved my nipple into my babies faces too soon after birth... I vaguely recall at the end of my last labour I just held him near my breast and watched to see if he started "rooting" around in that my direction... he did, no problems.

ETA: Maybe there is something to be said about allowing hunger chemicals to register in the baby's brain... it could be the start of a life-time of actually learning to listen to your bodys hunger signals rather than just eating because it's "time" or due to another's prompting (eg a tv advert for a burger). Maybe a whole range of eating disorders could be improved if people learned to listen to what their bodies require and maybe it does start with a good BF relationship... *just musing*

[briggsy's girl]

i think as long as bub is given the opportunity to find the breast on it's own, whether they are laying on your chest or being cradled, it would be much the same. i've read of hospital policies being "having the baby on the breast within 30 mins" - to me this seems to be pushing something that the baby itself may not be ready for - and i wonder if forcing it would lead to BF problems (poor attachment etc) - i've only watched one clip about it, where the baby took almost an hour on mum's chest to find the breast, and then attached beautifully. i wonder if this might start mumma feeling negative about BF if baby doesn't attach properly within the pre-designated time frame...

i think my aim (and i'm still a while off, so i'm only "thinking") is to not let time be a huge constraint - i'm not sure if we'll do full breast crawl or something similar to what you had with your last birth Bath and cradle baby skin to skin until IT is ready to seek out the breast...

[Jennifer13]

Newborn babies can also 'swim' pretty effectively and I don't think any of us would be chucking our babies into a pool to check!

[Beach Mama]

FJ - with Izzy I had the whole cram babies face into the boob experience- not too calm or nice really, but with James I wanted to have it very much baby led. I didn't do the whole breastcrawl thing because I wanted skin to skin cuddles and it just didn't work out that way but I was lying on my side - tricky one hour after a c/s! and we snuggled for ages and he just sort of licked and sniffed his way around for about 30 mins before latching on with a tiny bit of midwife assistance. It was so beautiful and was much more "natural" than with Izzy. I love thinking back to that first feed and seeing him all nudie there on me. I tend to agree that the natural instinct is to cuddle and snuggle and the way we naturally hold babies tends to be in a breastfeeding position too.

[visitor1]

This is going to sound stupid...but how does a newborn know what a breast smells like in order to go find it?

Ive never done the crawl with eaither children...middy has always grabbed their heads and shoved them on to the nipple.

[Cassius2]

my DD was born looking for the breast!! so funny when they held her up to put her on my chest and there she was rooting around for it! LOL!

what we did was have her lie on my chest for skin to skin (somewhere during transition i ripped all my clothes off...dont remember doing it but there you go!) and she lay there in a bit of perplexed shock, i seriously think she was saying 'WTF just happened ppl??!!'. after awhile i noticed that she started moving her head like i had seen in the b/f video shown at the b/f class and so we sat up and i gently showed her the breast to get a smell of it and she clamped straight on. DH took a pic cause it was amazing how she knew what to do (i had very little idea LOL!).

so although we didnt do a breast crawl i would like to think that she found her own way there and there was certainly no rush to get there. ITH.

[maz]

I had c/s with my amigo's and remember being in recovery wsith Vy and the midwife just said..let her find her way..she took about 20 mins of sniffing and latched on perfectly.

Id like to know HOW c/s woman do the breast crawl....id be scared ****less to have the baby sink their feet into the opening IFYKWIM

Veryy good thread FIONA...must spread the love to a few people

[Salsa]

my DD was born looking for the breast!! so funny when they held her up to put her on my chest and there she was rooting around for it! LOL!
.

DS was born last week and was placed on my tummy and they reminded me to lift my shirt up to give us skin to skin. He almost straight away was looking round to attach. He was making quite an effort, but I wasnt able to put him on. I should have maybe asked for some help to do it, but I had to lye there for about up to 60mins while they stitched and checked me etc (placenta took a while to come out too). I was not lying in a posistion that felt like I could put him on even though he wanted to and I feel a bit bad about it, especially as he was making such an effort. My doula said it was fine, as his sniffy and wriggling round was all good for him too - but i dunno?