The breast crawl.

This is my all time favorite breastfeeding video, and I'm so glad that someone posted it on You Tube.  You may want to turn off the volume, since it's narrated in another language and that's a little distracting.

These film clips show newborn babies, moments after birth.  You probably know that babies can't crawl until they're well past 6 months old.  But the first baby shown in this film, whose mother had a unmedicated labor and who was not separated after the birth, is able to actually crawl up the mother's body, find the breast, and latch on.  The baby's eyes are closed, so this he or she is navigating through touch and smell. 

The next set of babies were separated from their mothers after the birth and/or were born to mothers who had medication during their labors.  They show less of these reflexes. 

Last month at a breastfeeding conference I attended one of the pioneers of the concept that mothers and babies benefit by staying close together after birth (sometimes called skin-to-skin or kangaroo care), showed images of his dog's newborn puppies and a human baby.  It was amazing to see that they both did the same thing:  kicked, rooted, found the breast, and latched on.

Some of you may have been lucky enough to see this reflex with your own babies.  If so, tell me about it!

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Comments

[Brenda Z.]

Well I don't remember my son specifically crawling- but he had a very natural easy first latch on. I had a hospital birth- w/ epidural- but a fairly smooth birthing process, but once he was born, after I held him for a minute or so as hospitals allow usually, once he was cleaned off a little and they did his apgar, the nurse said that his color and breathing was not as great as she'd like- she said they were gonna keep an eye on it and maybe have to put him on oxygen if he didn't improve. Well I said-" um okay- can't I nurse him? I'm pretty sure I can fix it:-)" We laid skin to skin and he latched on immediately and nursed for about 30 minutes and the nurse said "I guess you were right. He looks great." He never looked back:-) He weaned after 13 months, but I look forward to possibly having another baby so I can enjoy those first amazing moments together again!

[amygeekgrl]

i also love this video. i remember watching it in my hypnobirthing class before ava was born.

i always wanted to try this with my kids but then never remembered.

might need to snag this for my blog too. :) thanks for finding it.

[Beth]

I love this video!!

My first birth was medicated and my daughter didn't latch on right away, nor for the first couple of hours. When she did latch, she latched well, but was sleepy for a couple of days.

My second labor & birth was unmedicated. My son didn't crawl to my breast (I was too eager to hold him close!) but he did latch right away and nursed for 3 hours straight. He continued to nurse almost constantly for the next 36-48 hours(I clearly remember 2 eight hour stretches!) until my milk started coming in.

For me, there was an obvious difference in how my babies breastfed right after birth. If there is a next baby in my future, I'll definitely give him/her a chance to crawl to my breast...and have the video camera ready to capture such an amazing event!

[Anna Gratzl]

I really want to see this video but can't seem to access it here. Searched for it on utube but cannot find it.... can you email it to me?

[tanya@motherwearblog]

If anyone else can't see it, try either switching to Explorer watching it on You Tube here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QvWg4TKKWuw

- Tanya

[Elise]

I think it's from a Swedish study that examined precisely this phenomenon, which is much more common in unmedicated births. My completely unmedicated baby crawled right up and wiggled around to find that nipple. In all fairness, I know some medicated babies who did the same thing-- drugs can't stop some determined little babies' instincts!

[Trina]

Elise, did you have your baby in a traditional hospital? My first was born via c-sect. due to complications. He was very lethargic for 2-3 days. He never did latch on correctly which was very disapointing and stressful. I would love to try this technique next time around, but am afraid traditional hospitals will frown upon it. You know they have to weigh the baby and such immediately

[jennifer.]

I did this with my fourth baby (current youngest). We didn't cut the cord till after she'd latched on.. And she went to town! I'd nursed #3 through the pregnancy, so #4 never knew 'dry' breasts. I handed her off for a min to husband so I could pass the placenta and then let her nurse again.

She wasn't weighed till she was about 3 hours old!

[John S]

The video is no longer available.