Breast crawl technique

[Caubabatko]

Questions for mums - did you have midwife/birth partner place the newborn on your tummy immediately after birth so it can crawl up and latch on to your breast? Did it help with breastfeeding, placenta expulsion and your uterus returning to its pre-pregnancy state?

There are some scientific papers talking about the efficacy of breast crawl, but I haven't heard stories from new mums about it yet.

We did lots of skin to skin but baby was knackered after forceps delivery so didn't attempt to crawl. Had to help her latch first time.

One of mine certainly managed it unprompted and without any specific name for it -- but as all my kids are now over 20, I'm afraid the details are lost in the mists of time.

I do remember that he swarmed up there pretty vigorously before anyone had even cut the cord, thus getting two meals at once.

@2mumlife Thanks for sharing - forceps sounds painful to you and the baby. Hope she's gained strengths quickly after.

@WhyHuntSnails Great to hear it has happened to you, I'm assuming it was in a space where you can be unclad - watching the Our Stories - Midwives series made me wonder whether it'll be practical to try it in a hospital, or maybe I'll be so immersed in the labour I won't care! And I can always try to deliver at home first.

@Caubabatko I had a problem with my bladder after birth and had to have a catheter in for week (luckily everything resolved). My DD had some quite substantial bruising around her face and a scar by her eye, which is now barely visible at 19 months. We did have a hard start to our breastfeeding journey as she wasn’t regaining birth weight and wouldn’t feed from one side (flat nipple, wouldn’t take a nipple shield) so we ended up “topping up” so the formula. However by 4 months I had her back to EBF on 1 side and she’s still BFing at 19 months despite me being 16 weeks pregnant and supply dropping