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The phrase “breast crawl” refers to what a baby does instinctively after birth. Put on their mother’s lower abdomen the baby initiates a natural crawl process where - with time - the baby moves their body up toward mom’s breasts. Given skin-to-skin contact with their mothers almost all babies can get up to the breasts and start to nurse on their own in 20-60+ minutes. The time for skin-to-skin should be immediately after birth, and babies should be given the time they need to find the breast. 

The breast crawl is the best way to promote breastfeeding! Within the first few hours after birth, most healthy newborns instinctively move to their mother’s breast and latch on and attach independently. They are using all their senses to feel/touch, taste, smell, hear and even see their mother. You will see varied pushing of feet and legs, as well as arm movements, as they scoot toward the breasts. They baby salivates and mouths their hands. (In fact, opening their mouth, salivating and protruding the tongue to lick mother's salty skin actually prepares them for opening their mouth when breastfeeding.) Babies may rest along the way but will keep maneuvering toward her nipples.

This early breastfeeding initiation is vital for any new mothers and babies for varied reasons. Being with their mother creates a sensory experience for a baby who fulfills their innate agenda to survive being close to mom to eat.

What is the breast crawl?

It is the journey of a newborn baby, placed tummy down on their mother (facing mom), to crawl up toward the breasts using their primitive reflex patterns to begin nursing. This is about survival and the baby’s instincts to survive. The breast crawl is part of nature's design to successful breastfeeding. This process happens with skin-to-skin contact between a mother and her infant! So putting a newborn on their mother’s belly and allowing them to make their own choices – without any interference from others outside – is best. They are capable of locating the nipple and of self-attaching to take their first feeding. They will stay to eat and complete their first feeding cycle!

How to encourage a breast crawl?

All we need to do is let the baby be in the place they want to be in most. Healthy babies do breast crawl on their own over time. It is just that adults have come to notice details to appreciate the value more. In 1993, Ann-Marie Widström, through observation and study, described “the innate sequence of the human mammal at birth” or “the nine stages of newborn instinctual behavior”. She said these stages led the newborn to self-regulate and successfully find the breast for the first time to breastfeed. Later, in 1998, neonatologist Dr. Marshall Klaus [was on BWI Board of Advisors] introduced the “breast crawl’ concept to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) recommending that allowing babies to “breast crawl” as the preferred method for mothers to begin breastfeeding. Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends healthy infants have skin contact with their mothers immediately after delivery until the first feeding. We know that the breast crawl promotes breastfeeding, so in almost all cases, it is best practice. Putting a baby on their mother's belly and then leaving them alone without any interference from others, allows them to find the life-giving nipple, self-attaching, and feeding.

What are the best ways to support the baby’s breast crawl?

Here are useful guidelines:

  1. Ask everyone to stay quiet and turn off cell phones for these precious first couple hours, so you can completely enjoy the wisdom your baby was born with to find the breast.
  2. Set up for skin-to-skin, immediately after birth. (Place the baby right away on the mother’s bare abdomen and just dry their back by patting it with a dry, cotton cloth. This means delaying procedures for at least one hour (ideally more) and even then they can be done with the mom having the baby with her.
  3. If the family needs to move to a different room (or the baby is taken away for some reason), as soon as possible settle the baby back on the mother skin-to-skin.
  4. Know that if the birth was normal - with no medications or interventions- and the baby is healthy, the baby is fine to do this.
  5. Trust that this process will happen all on its own! Let mom and baby be - undisturbed and without interference. Do not help the baby attach or press their head, as it will inhibit the process of natural learning. Just observe the baby, and send love and kindness.
  6. Delay bathing the baby for one day as this first day with more is essential for optimal bonding, health, and happiness.

If there are interventions or the baby is too sleepy or struggling, professional support for parents can help them make the best decisions. In all cases, being with the mother is best because the mother's skin is the baby's safe place. Also, it is key to try to optimize the baby’s health by continually feeding only breastmilk. Even for a low-weight and premie baby, skin-to-skin early on and mostly, as well as breast milk (even if fed from a cup) is the best.? 

How do I know if my baby is preparing to breast crawl?

It will be . You can expect to see – baby salivating and mouthing hands, moving in the direction of the breast, pushing with their feet and leg movements, smaller hand and arm movements, and their head gently moving side-to-side. You will see all of these if you give the baby undisturbed time. In current understanding of this magical process, the breast crawl sequence has nine distinct stages: birth cry, relaxation, awakening, activity, resting, crawling, familiarization, sucking, and sleeping. All of these are essential for newborn survival behavior!

When just a newborn, it is best to just place the baby on the mother, with their head lower than her nipples (since for newborns forward movements are easiest). They go gradually up to the mother’s breast using little movements, and pushing with feet and leg movements. You may notice they alternate being active and stopping to rest (or even sleep) as they move up. After they awaken, with eyes open, they become very alert and active! They will crawl up to find the nipple - on their own! [Please note: if mothers took medications for induction or pain or had an epidural, then their baby receives those drugs which can interfere with the baby’s ability to fulfill this agenda.]

How does this phenomenon work? 

Sensory integration is key to the breast crawl - that is why skin-to-skin matters! The baby uses multiple senses to figure out what to do to scoot up to the right place. Their sense of smell is very well-developed. (Best advice is - don’t wash a baby’s hands or the mother’s breasts.) In the womb, the baby smelled and tasted amniotic fluid. This smell is still on their hands and will help them find the nipples. Watching carefully, there are feeding signals - baby explores hand with mouth and sucks on their thumb. After they use their arms and legs, maybe in a way that seems like they are stepping, they eventually get up near the breasts. Maybe they “play” a bit - moving their head side-to-side and rubbing a cheek on her skin. Despite having limited vision, a baby may look up toward mom’s face. They will bring their tongue fwd to explore the nipple, and try to grasp it with their hands and mouth. They will find it on their own! Once attached, the baby will eat until they are finished. Then the baby (and mother too) will fall into a very restful sleep. 

How does a successful breast crawl benefit the mother and benefit the baby?

It benefits both of them! In some ways, it is hard to distinguish between the two in terms of the good that happens when allowing the breast crawl to occur naturally with no assistance or rush. 

Breast Crawl Benefits for Mom:

  • Helps with uterine contractions - so the placenta is birthed more quickly, meaning less bleeding postpartum and support to prevent anemia
  • Stimulates her nurturing instincts (from a place of trusting her baby’s competence)
  • Earlier and better latch means less soreness and hopefully no pain
  • Her milk will come in earlier, saving so much worry, trouble, and potentially cost
  • Seeing the baby alert and eating in the first hour(s) helps her relax, trust and rest better

Breast Crawl Benefits for Baby:

  • Having the perfect body temperature maintained by mom’s body
  • Excellent nutritional benefits from colostrum (early first milk) - with cord blood (if not cut before it stops pulsing) - for all that is needed to rest and recover the first days after birth
  • Optimal brain and nervous system development if with mom and bonded to mom
  • Breastfeeding will be more natural by allowing the baby to tap into a neonatal instincts to autonomously find milk 
  • Gives the baby the optimal health start

Breast Crawl Benefits both Mom and Baby: 

Earlier breastfeeding initiation often means prolonged duration of the first feed and increased newborn milk intake. This capability of the baby to obtain the first breast milk leads to improved rates of neonatal breastfeeding in the baby's early days of life. Baby feels satisfied, safe, and relaxed. Mothers also then are calmer and happier. Less energy goes into learning to latch or learning to attend to a fussy, crying baby. Both mother and baby are learning together in the best way for early attachment, and both can be in states where hormones work for them and their parasympathetic nervous systems are active (this means they are calm and centered, so not in fight/flight/freeze mode). They are set up from the start.

How is a baby’s breast crawl related to the “golden hour” concept?

The breast crawl happens during what is termed the “golden hour”. Please note that BWI teaches that more than one hour matters most - because research shows it is the first two hours up to six hours which are the most significant time for the mother and baby. It is these golden hours that are best for the development of attachment of mother and baby, as well as optimal brain and nervous system development for the newborn. If intrigued, read more: What is the Golden Hour After Birth?

Does a breast crawl always work? If not, when and why not?

The biggest factor that limits this instinctive behavior and significant process is lack of/interrupted skin-to-skin contact. Sometimes the baby must be taken from the mother for medical reasons. Unless there is an urgent need, it is not ideal if a baby is taken away (for non-medical reasons or to prioritize hospital procedures) or given to the mom after being dried off (or worse, bathed and wrapped). Often babies are not given time to crawl up - like maybe someone wants to weigh and measure them. Some people believe in just one (1) golden “hour” so the baby is taken away after just one hour.

Also, in some cases, a mother is not able to tolerate the weight of their baby because of abdominal pain (often due to cesarean surgeries and pressure on her surgical scar). If a mother has a cesarean, so can’t tolerate the pressure - make sure she is told not to worry. Her partner can hold the baby skin-to-skin part of the time. Also, a mother's love connects with her baby when she is able to have them skin-to-skin later, and their bonding happens in time whatever the situation.

The breast crawl is a big accomplishment for the baby! It ensures they keep their innate abilities which means ideal brain development - integration of the brain hemispheres and learning from their sensations. Brain firing (neurons) is the brain wiring (neuron pathways), so assuring the breast crawl happens - in the baby’s time - is best.

What are steps to ensure that the breast crawl can happen?

Childbirth educators and midwives are key to educating parents about protecting this valuable behavior. Midwives and birth doulas can provide valuable opportunities for the newborn’s breast crawl by setting up circumstances to promote this innate behavior. Depending on the hospital, medical staff may or may not know about the newborn breast crawl. Even if they do, they may not understand it well, and/or typical procedures and policies may not prioritize it being allowed to happen best. Some may encourage routine mother-infant skin contact as the main method but do not know the ability of newborns to find their way. They may put the baby up near the breasts right away, so the newborn passively holds and sucks the nipple, but does not give them time to crawl and trust their instinctive behavior.

What is important to know and what does research show about the breast crawl?

There is an important distinction between the baby’s ability to independently seek milk compared to the outcome when the mother tries to get the baby to start breastfeeding. (When she sees behaviors in the baby that show interest, she does not need to move the baby or do anything.) Often babies, who are allowed to do their breast crawl, latch easier and that early learning means they latch better over time.

We can always learn more - but some research shows the earlier the breast crawl, the longer the first feeding. Current research also shows that long labor, intervention (even rupturing the membranes to induce labor), or medications to induce labor or for pain reduction, can all slow the breast crawl. These things may likely delay the first feeding by some minutes (because the baby is more tired or less alert with medication in their system), so also educating on the value of immediate skin-to-skin and the importance of the early hours (not just golden hour) together assure benefits for these babies.

We also know that the mother holding her baby skin-to-skin and relaxing to observe the baby initiates a hormonal flow of increased oxytocin (the hormone of love) and impacts prolactin - which impacts initiation of lactation and milk production. Educating parents about the importance of these concepts is key. It is also great for them to know this early on, to understand the value for the baby and mother’s health in the long-term too. They may need to explain the benefits of advocating for this to their providers in hospitals. So, the sooner they know more, in ways they can articulate it themselves, the better.

Skin-to-skin is the best for baby and mom, as much as possible. Baby can learn to feed and the mother's milk supply will come in to perfectly meet their needs, and is vital for the baby’s health.

In the weeks after birth, educate and encourage mothers to feed breast milk exclusively for at least six months, ideally two years or even longer. 

For more about how to best support these exceptionally important moments just after birth for the baby, read more about Newborn Specialist care or consider being trained in one of our Kangaroula Trainings.