Amazing video - Beautiful - I'm going to give this a go!

[anonymous85]

Breast Crawl

I didn't even try feeding until a few hours after birth with DD and that was with the midwife ramming her face into my boob and her terrified crying - it was so rough and stressful, I ended up asking her to leave. I did find attachment difficult, I had flat nipples, but was feeding by express and breast (which was painful each feed by breast) for 2 and a half months and my nipples are fine and come out normally now I'm looking forward to giving this a try. It's amazing, just so many minutes old and knows exactly what to do.

Has anyone on here done this? It really kicks off around the 2:30 mark.

That is so beautiful! I'm pregnant with my first and have heard about the importance of skin-to-skin importance but never heard about the breast crawl. Thanks for the link!

Wow! I'm struggling to see how i'd convince the midwives/docs to allow me to have baby without being washed, for an hour to try that out. Would they allow it? How hitleresque are they about taking it away for weighing and washing?

Am 27 weeks with DC1 and would love to try this!

Thank you anonymous85!

As long as your baby is healthy, then lots of hospitals actually encourage you to do this. A lot of mums don't know about the breast crawl but hopefully, it's becoming more widely known about now.
Also, even if you've had a section, you should still be able to give it a go, even if you need help positioning the baby.

Importantly, it still works a long time later so even if the baby is taken from you for some reason, later on, get naked and let the baby do the breast crawl. It's so beneficial and they really do latch themselves on and start suckling.

woowa don't know about your local hospital, but mine didn't take any of my DDs away for washing and weighing until I was ready for them to do so, thank you very much! (Well, except for DD1, but I was out cold with a general anaesthetic, so I really wasn't in a position to argue ). Actually, thinking about it, none of mine were washed as such, just rubbed over with a towel to remove any blood but leaving the vernix to protect their skin.

Woowa - when I had dd (now nearly 5), she was only taken away from me for about a minute while she was weighed. We were left together in the birthing pool for about 20 minutes before I delivered the placenta, (which was when she was weighed), and then she was given back to me. She didn't have a bath for about 48 hours.

Request skin to skin contact for as long as possible - wrap a blanket around the two of you if you are cold.

Good luck!

oh! I assumed baby was whisked off once born, thanks for the reasssurance. Will chat with MW at next checkup and see how the local hospital does things. How exciting!

good point LF - your body temp will regulate your baby's temp and your heartbeat, her heart beat. If skin to skin isn't possible with the mother though, it's equally as important that the father has skin to skin. Many dads now wrap his shirt around them and have good quality skin to skin.

31 weeks pg with DC3, would love to give this a go!

(have breastfed DD1 and 2 within minutes of being born, but positioned them on the nipple myself).

The pain relief (opiates) you have during labour can make a significant difference to how well they 'crawl' and attach. If you're really keen on this though, you can ask for pethedine earlier on and in lesser quantities for example.

Wow.

I think I have something in my eye.

Am now comparing that to the frantic beehive of activity when my 2 were born in hospital.
I was just holding ds in his first few minutes and the midwives were so anxious to know if he was a boy or a girl (I couldn't care less that that point, I was just happy to hold my darling baby) that one of them leaned right across me and hoiked his legs open to check. So intrusive.

That was a beautiful video.

I am also looking forward to trying this, despite my Mother/Sisters all being against breastfeeding and are convinced I won't be able to do it. I'm nearly 20 weeks with my first baby and can't wait to start breastfeeding....I'm trying to arm myself with as much info as possible.

Thanks for the link.

Yeah worth a try.

You would have to speak with midwives about your plan huh? Even type out what you request and give it to them??

Yeah I think it would depend too on the painkillers if you had taken any on the baby being very alert too.

We saw a video with similar idea at our NCT antenatal class.

Our teacher pointed out that one way to ensure that your baby isn't 'whisked away' after birth is to request a natural third stage of delivering the placenta. (Obviously is baby is healthy and no probs need to be seen to...) Takes maybe an hour she said and you can have lovely skin-to-skin/hopefully first feed with no danger of them leaving you...as they are still attached!

Also not cutting the cord until it stops 'pulsing' ensures all the nutrients and oxygen possible are delivered to the baby.

I know I am really lucky that the midwives where I'm giving birth are supportive of these things.

Thanks raggie - I didn't even know there was another way of the placenta - so that's you pushing it out with contractions?? Or about the cord thing too.