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The Breast Crawl, an amazing act of nature!
- Apr 10, 2009 at 5:53 PM
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- Comments (33) Total Views (1088) Everyone can see this journal post.
edit to add: the fact of the matter is, this phenomenon is rarely seen in a hospital. this is NOT bashing a mother's choice to BIRTH in a hospital, but pointing out that because of hospital policy, OB intervention, or even a mother's choices (drugs/pitocin etc), this isn't witnessed often in hospital setting lol. I hope that clears things up, but it probably wont for some who see a *fight* in everything.
We all know that breastfeeding is a natural, beautiful act. The breast crawl is a truly miraculous, beautiful, and mesmerizing act infants *can* display after birth. Usually in hospital settings this wont be seen because the baby is violently brought into the world with fluorescent lights, cold latex gloves, the cord cut immediately, then whisked away to be checked and finally handed to the mother.
In a more calm and peaceful birth environment, drug free, we can see this miracle. I can only hope my baby does this, it is abosolutely amazing! (Pics are deleted because women on this site tend to be childish and would report the images of the women's breast lol). You can go to Youtube and there is an amazing video of the Breast Crawl!
Ever since the exciting
observations of the human infant’s ability to crawl to his or her
mother’s breast shortly after birth, latch on, and suckle all on its
own, mothers and fathers have been entranced by this amazing feat.
To
think that for many decades both caregivers and parents believed that
in order to breastfeed, a baby would not know what to do to feed and
was usually pushed onto the breast. The baby would just look and lick
and often balk at the intrusion. Actually at birth the infant may know
more than the mother.
We are now aware that a number of other
interventions also interfere with the infant’s natural ability to
explore, seek, and find the breast all on his or her own. Narcotic
medication either injected or as agents used in epidurals given to the
mother during labor can transfer via the placenta to the infant and
cause difficulty for the infant to latch on; and also the mother’s
discomfort from an episiotomy can interfere. Over hydration from
intravenous fluids may cause edema around the areola, and gastric
suction by catheter causes distress to the infant. Interestingly
suctioning is no longer recommended for 90% of babies who are
breathing, have good color, and no meconium at birth, since it is so
aversive to the baby’s comfort with sucking, and often with touching
the back of the throat causes a severe lowering of the heart rate. Even
the bulb suction is unnecessary and the nose and mouth can just be
wiped gently with a cloth.
What is especially important now is
to provide the information to parents and birth attendants so they can
create the quiet, calm unobtrusive environment to allow this event of
the “breast crawl” to occur.
There is something special about
the first hour of life. Parents have waited many months to see their
baby and surprisingly when the baby is born, he or she is in a special
state of alertness- called State Four, the quiet state of
consciousness, ready to meet its parents, and is especially interested
in the mother’s and father’s face.
In this special state, the
baby’s eyes are wide open, the baby is quiet. The baby has heard and
remembers the mother’s voice from uterine life and will distinguish her
voice from other women’s voices, and 80% of babies remember the
father’s voice. The baby is warmed by the mother’s chest and soothed by
the mother’s touch. This quiet time together helps the transition from
uterine life to the outside world.
This special state in the
infant lasts for 30 to 45 minutes or longer. All sorts of exchanges
between the mother and infant are going on. The baby is taking- in the
mother through many senses as is the mother learning about her baby.
The baby is becoming familiar with the mother’s smell and within a few
days will pick out his or her mother’s breast pad from other women’s
breast pads. This is related to the particular smell of one’s own
mother not her milk.
As the baby gazes in the mother’s face he
is recording a memory of her face so that if he is tested with a
picture of his mother’s face and other women’s faces four hours later,
he will choose his mother’s face over and over again.
The mother
is taking in her baby also, by touch, smell, as well as sight.
Curiously, if she is tested a few hours later to pick out her baby from
two others, she will know her baby by touch and smell within one day.
In
this early period of the first breastfeeding the baby and mother are
giving each other numerous other benefits. Oxytocin is secreted by both
the mother and baby. Oxytocin has many effects; it activates the
production of prolactin for the milk letdown; it helps production of
special GI hormones some of which are growth hormones and aid the
absorption of food by elongating the intestinal villae. Oxytocin raises
the pain threshold, creates calm in both the mother and baby, causes a
feeling of sleepiness, and draws them closer together since it is the
cuddle hormone, the hormone of love.
As
the baby pushes up on her little elbows, sucks on her hand to get the
taste of amniotic fluid, a property of which is similar to one secreted
by the breast, she uses smell and taste as an additional guide to the
nipple. Other benefits of this early breastfeeding experience include
helping the infant feel more secure, reducing infant mortality through
the numerous immunological properties of human milk, and encouraging a
longer period of breastfeeding.
Little behaviours that have been
rehearsed in utero are used here. The baby has an ability to reach at
birth, although reaching does not occur developmentally until four
months, and curiously this reaching behaviour touches the mother’s
breast, and massages and elongates the nipple for a good placement.
Each touch of the nipple creates a surge of oxytocin in both the
mother’s brain and baby’s brain. The stepping movements the infant
practiced as a foetus help the baby climb to the breast, and stepping
on the abdomen over the uterus helps the uterus clamp down, decreasing
the bleeding and expelling the placenta.
Many subtle events
occur in this early period and can be observed, but more would be
missed unless understood. In this special quiet time the mother and
baby are becoming acquainted, the baby hardly cries at all, and they
are laying the foundation of secure attachment on the baby’s part and
more confidence in the mother for her ability to nourish and nurture
her baby in the growing bond between them.
Dr. Prashant Gangal
and colleagues from BPNI Maharashtra with support from UNICEF and
Government of Maharashtra have created a beautiful video and one of
great importance to the health of India’s children.
| Phyllis Klaus MFT, LCSW | Marshall Klaus |
Tags: breastfeeding, breast crawl, natural, baby, beautiful!
Comments:
My sister was just telling me about her midwife friend in the Philippines that actually watched it happen! I was just thinking that is was so crazy.
Interesting. I've never heard of this.
Amazing!!! If this is possible in developing countries, why not in so-called developed countries??
Because, in countries similar to the US birth is an emergency, not an act of nature!
That was amazing.
I am in awe of the breast crawl.
I have seen this before and it is truly amazing and beautiful.
so freakin amazing, I can't wait to have a home birth. I remember back when my dd was a few months old I let her try and find my breast. But didn't know they could do it that soon. Thank you for posting!
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wow, I have never seen that before. How amazing is that. Makes me feel like I have been living in a box because I have never seen it. I just googled it and the videos are simply amazing.