Observing a newborn instinctively crawl towards the breast to latch is truly a remarkable experience. This natural phenomenon, known as the breast crawl, allows most healthy infants to maneuver on their own. All a mother needs to do is position her newborn on her chest or abdomen and patiently wait. Eventually, the baby will wriggle and inch its way to the breast, self-latching without assistance.
When my second child was born, I was fortunate enough to witness this firsthand. Despite being well-informed about the process, I was initially skeptical about whether my newborn would instinctively know what to do. However, after a few moments of resting together, he pressed his tiny foot against my abdomen and began to make his way towards my breast. Within moments, he was licking my nipple and attempting to suck.
For those who haven’t experienced this awe-inspiring event in person, there’s a video available for viewing here. You might find it quite astonishing! You might be wondering how babies instinctively know to do this. Various theories suggest that a baby’s sense of smell, taste, vision, and innate instincts all contribute to guiding them to the breast.
The Role of Body Temperature in the Breast Crawl
A noteworthy study from 2017 provides compelling evidence on this topic, focusing on the role of body temperature. The research revealed that a mother’s nipples heat up, creating a warm beacon for her baby, while the baby’s body temperature drops, making the mother’s nipples appear even warmer by comparison.
Published in Acta Paediatrica, this study analyzed 41 mothers who gave birth in a hospital in Italy between January and February 2015. All mothers intended to breastfeed and were categorized as low-risk pregnancies. After giving birth, their infants were placed on their chests for a minimum of 15 minutes to allow them to crawl and latch.
The researchers measured the mothers’ temperatures at three intervals: around six hours prior to delivery and one and two days postpartum, examining both the nipple and surrounding skin temperatures. Impressively, even before labor, mothers’ nipple temperatures were 0.4 degrees higher than their surrounding skin. On delivery day, this difference increased to 0.9 degrees, and by the second day postpartum, it reached 1.1 degrees.
Additionally, the researchers measured the infants’ lips and foreheads. They found that during the first two days after birth, the babies’ lips were cooler than their foreheads by 2.2 degrees on the first day and 1.8 degrees on the second day. This created a significant temperature contrast of 3 degrees between the warm nipples and the cool lips, suggesting that the babies were naturally drawn towards the warmth of their mothers.
The study concludes that this temperature gradient may facilitate a thermal identification and communication process during the breast crawl, underscoring the beautiful interplay of biology that guides infants toward their mothers. As the researchers noted, the warmth of a mother’s nipple likely enhances the scent cues that babies instinctively respond to at birth.
Encouraging the Breast Crawl
While not every mother may choose to try the breast crawl, I encourage those who can to consider it. It fosters a unique bond with your baby, promotes successful breastfeeding, and showcases the incredible capabilities of human biology. For more insights into pregnancy and related topics, you can visit this excellent resource on infertility from the CDC.
Conclusion
In summary, the breast crawl is a fascinating biological process where infants utilize natural cues, including temperature differences, to find their mothers’ breasts for nursing, highlighting the remarkable design of human biology.