Something is changing in the breastfeeding world. Have you noticed? Breastfeeding books and pamphlets everywhere have always emphasized what I call the "mom and baby have no idea what they are doing" philosophy. Basically, you as a mother have no instinct or ability to breastfeed until we teach you how to breastfeed. Your baby? Well, of course your baby has no idea how to breastfeed either. I mean, he or she was just born an hour ago! So books were filled with every minute little detail that us birthworkers were supposed to arm new moms with. Hold here, flip this, check the chin, are the ears moving? Does the baby have a "good" latch or a "bad" latch? What shape is your nipple when you pull it out of the baby's mouth? Where is the baby's tongue? I know you can't actually see inside the mouth but could you make a guesstimate? You have to TEACH your baby how to breastfeed. You are both learning, neither one of you yet knows how to do it. With all this information, it certainly seems like if you plan on breastfeeding, you might as well go get a PhD in it because you are going to need some technical information!
Thankfully a lot of research has recently brought to light the fact that babies DO know how to breastfeed and moms DO know how to help them. Instead of what we've been doing with only poor to moderate success that could best be described as "mother-led breastfeeding" is giving way to "baby-led breastfeeding." If you've never heard of this, you are in for a treat!
Did you know that a newborn baby when placed low on his or her mother's abdomen can actually crawl up the belly, over to a breast, and achieve a perfect latch-on? It is really quite amazing but true. After a couple of minutes (or sometimes after a nap!) the baby will begin stepping motions that actually press on the mother's uterus which helps to deliver the placenta, and reduces her postpartum bleeding. The mother instinctively uses her hands as a push off point for the baby to assist the baby is getting to the breast. The baby visualizes the target which is the by now very dark areola (area around the nipple) and moves towards that point. This is actually the reason behind the "linea negra" or the black line of hair that grows up the belly during pregnancy for some women. It's a long black line pointing the way to the food! Along the way, the baby often stops and sucks on their hand for a bit before crawling again. The baby's hand tastes and smells like amniotic fluid which also smells like the mother's nipple. As the baby gets closer, he or she makes eye contact with the mother and the mother instinctly opens her mouth wide when cooing to show the baby what to do next. "Ooooooo, hi Baaaaaaaaby!!" she says with an open mouth in the perfect nursing position, unknowingly demonstrating the perfect latch on! The baby reaches out to the nipple in a massaging movement. This not only protracts the nipple and makes it more prominent, but also floods your body with the bonding love hormone, oxytocin. The baby then simply imitates mom's open mouth and latches to the breast. I've noticed that this first feeding is longer when babies breast crawl, usually 45 minutes to an hour. In traditional breastfeeding, babies often latch and re-latch several times before losing interest.
Another huge change I've noticed since I started having babies do the breast crawl is the way mothers react and relate to breastfeeding. I always felt so helpless before, even though I was armed with an arsenal of information on helping a mother get her baby latched. Inevitably, the mom would feel as though she couldn't get comfortable, couldn't get the baby in the right position, couldn't figure out how to manuver the baby's head, etc, etc. It always bothered me that women who 30 minutes before had been glorious and empowered as they pushed their babies out were suddenly completely without confidence in their own ability to feed their baby. Birth after birth I remember the mother looking at me with pleading eyes saying "I'm not doing it right. I can't seem to get it. Can you help me please?" With the breast crawl, women feel empowered by their babies. How awesome is it to realize that your baby is strong enough right after birth to crawl to your breast and attach the proper way? Thankfully, that "good" latch on that babies achieve by breast crawling also significantly reduces or eliminates nipple soreness.
I know the first question I had when I first heard about this amazing ability is why would you want to make a newborn baby work so hard? The truth is, it is innate and necessary. Your baby is literally mapping your body and your breast and connections are being made beyond what we can even comprehend. Doing the breast crawl provides optimal natural stimulation to the various sensory organs and the brain. In short, babies have better sensory-neural development. If you've ever seen kittens born, you've likely seen the breast crawl at work. Even with fused eyelids, the newborn kittens crawl along the mother's abdomen and root around looking for a nipple. The breast crawl is a natural part of our instinctive selves and interupting a natural process is rarely, if ever, beneficial. Aside from all of that, babies seem to love being on their mama's belly working towards a goal. I've never seen one cry and become frustrated. At most they stop and take a short nap before resuming their journey.
The breast crawl is so important that UNICEF is getting into the game. They are using the breast crawl as a way to initiate breastfeeding because it works and it keeps moms breatfeeding for longer. As they themselves say, the breast crawl saves lives. That's a pretty strong endorsement! Here are some other advantages of the breast crawl from UNICEF:
Thankfully a lot of research has recently brought to light the fact that babies DO know how to breastfeed and moms DO know how to help them. Instead of what we've been doing with only poor to moderate success that could best be described as "mother-led breastfeeding" is giving way to "baby-led breastfeeding." If you've never heard of this, you are in for a treat!
Did you know that a newborn baby when placed low on his or her mother's abdomen can actually crawl up the belly, over to a breast, and achieve a perfect latch-on? It is really quite amazing but true. After a couple of minutes (or sometimes after a nap!) the baby will begin stepping motions that actually press on the mother's uterus which helps to deliver the placenta, and reduces her postpartum bleeding. The mother instinctively uses her hands as a push off point for the baby to assist the baby is getting to the breast. The baby visualizes the target which is the by now very dark areola (area around the nipple) and moves towards that point. This is actually the reason behind the "linea negra" or the black line of hair that grows up the belly during pregnancy for some women. It's a long black line pointing the way to the food! Along the way, the baby often stops and sucks on their hand for a bit before crawling again. The baby's hand tastes and smells like amniotic fluid which also smells like the mother's nipple. As the baby gets closer, he or she makes eye contact with the mother and the mother instinctly opens her mouth wide when cooing to show the baby what to do next. "Ooooooo, hi Baaaaaaaaby!!" she says with an open mouth in the perfect nursing position, unknowingly demonstrating the perfect latch on! The baby reaches out to the nipple in a massaging movement. This not only protracts the nipple and makes it more prominent, but also floods your body with the bonding love hormone, oxytocin. The baby then simply imitates mom's open mouth and latches to the breast. I've noticed that this first feeding is longer when babies breast crawl, usually 45 minutes to an hour. In traditional breastfeeding, babies often latch and re-latch several times before losing interest.
Another huge change I've noticed since I started having babies do the breast crawl is the way mothers react and relate to breastfeeding. I always felt so helpless before, even though I was armed with an arsenal of information on helping a mother get her baby latched. Inevitably, the mom would feel as though she couldn't get comfortable, couldn't get the baby in the right position, couldn't figure out how to manuver the baby's head, etc, etc. It always bothered me that women who 30 minutes before had been glorious and empowered as they pushed their babies out were suddenly completely without confidence in their own ability to feed their baby. Birth after birth I remember the mother looking at me with pleading eyes saying "I'm not doing it right. I can't seem to get it. Can you help me please?" With the breast crawl, women feel empowered by their babies. How awesome is it to realize that your baby is strong enough right after birth to crawl to your breast and attach the proper way? Thankfully, that "good" latch on that babies achieve by breast crawling also significantly reduces or eliminates nipple soreness.
I know the first question I had when I first heard about this amazing ability is why would you want to make a newborn baby work so hard? The truth is, it is innate and necessary. Your baby is literally mapping your body and your breast and connections are being made beyond what we can even comprehend. Doing the breast crawl provides optimal natural stimulation to the various sensory organs and the brain. In short, babies have better sensory-neural development. If you've ever seen kittens born, you've likely seen the breast crawl at work. Even with fused eyelids, the newborn kittens crawl along the mother's abdomen and root around looking for a nipple. The breast crawl is a natural part of our instinctive selves and interupting a natural process is rarely, if ever, beneficial. Aside from all of that, babies seem to love being on their mama's belly working towards a goal. I've never seen one cry and become frustrated. At most they stop and take a short nap before resuming their journey.
The breast crawl is so important that UNICEF is getting into the game. They are using the breast crawl as a way to initiate breastfeeding because it works and it keeps moms breatfeeding for longer. As they themselves say, the breast crawl saves lives. That's a pretty strong endorsement! Here are some other advantages of the breast crawl from UNICEF:
- Helps to keep the baby warm
- Leads to faster and effective achievement of feeding skills by the baby
- The baby starts getting colostrum as the first feed. Colostrum has high concentration of antibodies (immunity). Baby starts getting colonized by safe germs (bacterial flora) from the mother. Both these offer protection against infections and hence are important for the baby's survival.
- Helps uterine contraction, faster expulsion of the placenta, reduces maternal blood loss and prevents anaemia.
- Leads to better sugar levels and other biochemical parameters in the first few hours of birth.
- Earlier passage of meconium (first blackish-green stool) and hence decreased intensity of normal (physiological) newborn jaundice.
- Early and long term breastfeeding success.
- Better mother-infant bonding.
- May have a role in boosting development of baby's nervous system.
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