Breast Crawl... what is the point?

[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!

[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

[briggsy's girl]

Kim - apparently the colostrum you produce smells very much like amniotic fluid - in a true breast crawl, the baby is cleaned to a degree, but the amniotic fluid is left on the hands, so as baby is moving around (jerky newborn hand movements) it will smell the amniotic fluid on it's hands, and will be drawn to the similar smell of the breast milk...

Kelly (ages ago) posted a breast crawl vid on here with a convo about it - it peaked my interest so i went looking! will see if i can find the thread

[Olive]

kim i think there is something in the amniotic fluid that resembles the smell of brest milk......will go check for you!

here tis :

unborn babies detect subtle changes int the 'flavour' of amniotic fluid. it is believed this fluid acts as a flavour bridge to their mothers breast milk

[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?

[Shanti]

Did you girls know that our nipples darken in pregnancy and aereola gets larger and even some women get the linea nigra line, because this makes it easier for newborns to find mum's nipples!! They know where to look.... they see these two big dark things! And the line helps direct bub up towards the nipples...... so amazing isnt' it..... read about it as i always wondered why our nipples get darker!!

I would like to try the breastcrawl, will see how i go. It's not on my birth plan however I will see how I feel at the time but will definitely want to get bub gently to the nipples and not forced by a midwife!!!!

[pollyanna]

I must admit with my third baby that i have just had i am a lot more relaxed and was happier to let this baby set his own pace. Mind you he was a nicu baby and requiring oxygen and gavage feeding;but after that i just wanted to hold him and smell him and feel him next to me. Funny but when the opportunity finally arose to be able to have him skin to skin there happened to be a lactation consultant in the room and she was able to identify the things he was doing (subtle things)that i otherwise would've missed. The way as i was cuddling him he was licking my skin, my arm my collarbone and smelling me. Then he tipped/leaned himself over. I was like"WHoooAA"whats he doing"?She said just watch;don't prop him back up straight-he has put himself in that position because he is seeking the breast. He knows instinctively how to find the soft tender breast and be led to the milk. Sure enough he started tonguing my breast and then my nipple and then he latched on and suckled.I have to admit it was the most primal and instinctual things i have ever seen and it made me overcome with raw emotion. It is a beautiful thing to take the time. SMELL THE ROSES!!or in bubbas case the BOOBIES

[Gigi]

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?

congrataulations Salsa on your lovely new bub!
how beautiful that sounds to me!

i had the plan, to have baby placed on my chest immed, but so many things went wrong, (ambulance, hospy, two epidurals, emerg c-section, bandl's ring, bilby not breathing) that we got no skin to skin, no chance for rooting naturally. it sounds so beautiful to me.

[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.

[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.