The First Year Breastfeeding Mini Series: The Breast Crawl

Welcome to this week's edition of The First Year: Breastfeeding Mini Series!  

If you’re pregnant or hope to breastfeed future children, this post is for you. Today, I’d like to share with you a breastfeeding secret.  

This one tip can help facilitate a successful nursing experience from the time your baby is born.

What is this secret?

Let your baby do the breast crawl.

The what?

I had never heard of the breast crawl with my first daughter. And I didn’t blink an eye when the nurses whisked her away to be weighed and measured and pricked and prodded as soon as I delivered her. (No wonder it took my milk 5 days to arrive!)

But, thankfully, I had a wonderful doula that prepared me for the breast crawl during my most recent pregnancy.

All the breast crawl entails is requesting that your baby (barring no health emergencies) be permitted to lie on your chest as soon as possible after delivery.

When I birthed my second baby last October, my midwife actually let me pull her out.

That’s right.

Once Baby Girl’s head and torso were visible, my midwife said: “Give me your hands.I want YOU to finish delivering YOUR baby.”

And that’s what I did. I pulled my sweet girl from inside of me right up onto my chest.

“Try the breast crawl!” my doula exclaimed.

So instead of nudging her to take the breast, I let her find it herself, latch on and start nursing.

Yes, without medications and given the environment to do so, it can be that instinctive.

And it was wonderful.

Want to try the breast crawl? Tell your doctor and/or doula and note it on your birth plan.

Here’s a little video that shows a newborn doing the breast crawl (this is not me):

Had you ever heard of the breast crawl? Did you do it with your children? Why or why not?

If you liked this post, you may also like my post on lactation cookies, Why? Breastfeed & The Best Advice Ever, Before Baby Arrives and The First Two Weeks. Check out the series introduction here. 

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