01/01/2025
I’m a Newborn, Sleep & Breastfeeding Expert (IBCLC) and here’s my biggest piece of advice to help you establish breastfeeding from birth ✨
Allow your newborn to participate in breastfeeding. How? Through something magical called The Breast Crawl - and in my experience, no one’s teaching new parents about this! 🤯
Your newborn arrives with powerful primal reflexes designed for breastfeeding. When placed skin-to-skin, these instincts activate, and something incredible happens: your baby uses their entire sensory system - smell, touch, and movement - to literally crawl their way to your breast.
After an unmedicated birth, this journey typically takes about 50 minutes, with your baby moving through 9 fascinating stages of movement, each one bringing them closer to feeding.
Here’s what I really want you to know: if you don’t get skin-to-skin at birth, that’s okay! 💗
Your baby maintains these crawling instincts for approximately 12 weeks after birth.If you missed this first opportunity - You can still experience this beautiful process as soon as you have your baby in your arms - and as often as you’d like.
How to honour your baby’s natural abilities:
* Keep your chest bare during skin-to-skin
* Support but don’t direct - baby knows the way
* Create a calm, quiet space
* Trust the process - every tiny movement matters
*You’re not teaching them to feed, you’re allowing them to show you what they already know💫
Want to learn more about supporting your baby’s natural abilities? I’ve got you! 🤍
DM me “BLOOM” to learn about preparing for your confident start to motherhood ✨
