Have you seen Unicef’s breast crawl Video ? In last August 2007, a group of caregivers and community volunteers in Nandurbar District of India witnessed a demonstration of a newborn performing a breast crawl.

The video demonstrates how a newborn baby, when placed on the mother’s chest, will use a breast crawl to self-initiate breastfeeding within 30-60 minutes. In this particular case, you can watch as it takes the newborn just 10 minutes to locate the nipple and latch on with a perfect latch.

The biggest advantage of this method is that it ensures better mother-infant bonding, an immeasurable long-term benefit for both mother and child. It’s also helps to keep the baby warm. Dr. Prashant Gangal of the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India said, the baby starts getting colostrums [first milk], which have high concentration of antibodies. This offers protection against infections and is important for the baby’s survival.
“Mothers are benefited as well,” Dr. Gangal continued. Breast crawl helps uterine contraction and faster expulsion of the placenta, reduces maternal blood loss and prevents anaemia.

This method contrary to the belief that a newborn is not able to do anything on his or her own. “The baby is alert soon after birth,” says UNICEF Child Development and Nutrition Officer Rajlakshmi Nair. Soon after delivery, breastfeeding can be initiated. Breast crawl is a simple method to achieve this.

Beautifull isn’t it ? So, How about you ? Did your baby do breast crawl when he/she delivered ? Share your experince here !

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