Newborn babies who are laid on their mother’s bare tummies and left to their own devices after a natural childbirth can innately find their mother’s breast and latch on. This process is called “self-attachment” and was researched and documented on a video called “Delivery Self Attachment,” by a team of Swedish scientists in the 1990’s.
I hadn’t heard of self-attachment until recently. Yet I had both of my children within the past four years and my child birth practitioners were a team of midwives. Also, I am an active member of La Leche League and I read up on this subject a lot! Where have I been? Is this common knowledge? If so, why isn’t it being shared among new moms?
Self-Attachment 1o1:
When babies self-attach they usually have an excellent latch and moms report less breastfeeding problems such as sore nipples. When left to self-attach it takes an average of 50 minutes for the baby to crawl up its mother’s abdomen, find her nipple and start sucking.
Babies who have difficulty latching on or who are reluctant in the early hours can still self-attach, possibly even up to a couple of days later, as told by a La Leche League leader here.
For a successul self-attachment it is important that mom and baby are both relaxed and that baby is warm. When mom is stressed because her baby won’t latch, which can happen to anyone, taking a break, perhaps having a warm bath, and giving the baby the freedom to follow his insticts will often lead to the discovery of the nipple and the commencement of breastfeeding.
My story:
I birthed two babies with the assistance of midwives. The first was delivered by an unplanned cesarean, and the second was born at home, naturally, just the way I had intended my first birth.
After my cesarean birth my daughter was whisked away to an incubator for about an hour during which of course I didn’t get to hold her. When we were finally united, my midwife helped her to latch on. Luckily neither the drugs from the cesarean nor the time apart seemed to interfere with the success of the breastfeeding. Apart from a couple weeks of sore and cracked nipples from not having our positioning mastered, it was pretty smooth sailing from then on. I think we were lucky.
After my homebirth I was able to have immediate skin-to-skin contact. I remember thinking my daughter needed to be nursing within 30 minutes, and I really wanted to do it immediately. That was what I had read time and time again was the benchmark of success in the mother-baby breastfeeding relationship. Sorry, I don’t remember where I read this – it just seemed to be common knowledge. Yet now I read that rushing the baby with its own internally programmed practice may delay breastfeeding.
My daughter still hadn’t shown any interest in feeding after half an hour. I didn’t wan’t to force her, but I was feeling discouraged. I decided to take a break and have a quick bath. Just less than an hour had passed since her birth when I got out of the tub, and now she was ready. I cradled her in my arms, and I don’t remember if I helped her find my nipple or if she found it on her own, but I remember the excited rooting and searching around she did, her little head bobbing and twisting, her little mouth open like a baby bird, and I thought about how much we humans have in common with all the other creatures on this Earth who instinctively know where the food source is and how to get it. How bizarre it is to me that humankind in general doesn’t get this.
Birth is a natural process. Yet, society appears to be moving away from this, as cesarean rates continue to rise and doctors are no longer taught how to deliver breech babies. Some women are brave enough to do it unassisted, putting full trust in the power of their body’s design, but not many. (See this blog and this blog for a peek inside unassisted childbirth). More women are choosing midwives to help them birth their babies, either at home, or in the hospital, which has been shown to reduce the chance of having medical intervention when none is wanted and often not even required.
Breastfeeding is a natural process. Milk insufficiencies are rare. Babies who are latched on and positioned correctly and who feed on demand will gain weight. They know how much milk they need. They know when they are hungry and they know when they are full. We need to listen to our smart little babes.
I belatedly applaud these scientists who were able to share their findings with the world and in doing so educate child birth practitioners and mothers about the innate knowledge of babies. It’s funny, in a sad way, that as we grow up many of us lose the ability to live our lives by following our insticts. If more doctors could start remembering to trust in a body’s natural processes, maybe women would start trusting themselves too, and then more babies would be seen crawling up to their mom’s breast, giving testament to the beauty and power of human nature.
To read more about “self-attachment” I urge readers to click on the above links for excellent articles on this topic.
Did you like this post? Had you heard of self-attachment before reading this? Please leave a comment and let me know.
Related posts:
- Monday Musings: Becoming An Attachment Parent
- Not So Astonishing to Want to Breastfeed Octuplets
- The Things I Didn’t Expect When I Was Expecting
- Do Hormones Really Account for a Mom’s Ability to Breastfeed??
- You Don’t Have to Grin and Bear It
Tags: breech baby delivery, doula, homebirth, midwife, self-attachment, unassisted childbirth
I had heard of self-attachment, but did not discuss it with my midwives. I didn’t really think of it as an option. I would like to have. And I also didn’t realize that cutting your child’s umbilical cord yourself was an option. Sometimes you just don’t think of these things. I did cut my 3rd child’s umbilical cord, and that was after 2 days after it was completely dessicated. Gross? Perhaps to some. I did a Lotus birth. I had never heard of that either. I became interested in it because I had such a hard time delivering my placenta’s.
I really enjoyed reading this. I have heard of self-attachment, but always figured it was one of those one-time phenomenons they captured on film. Although I haven’t had any problems initiating breastfeeding with my two newborn babes, there are so many women who do. It makes me forget sometimes how natural and instinctual it can be, when I’m on the phone all the time explaining latch and positioning and how to “teach” your baby how to do this. But yes, I believe that the actual desire to find the nipple and eat from it should be ingrain in our species.
Thanks for this article. I have heard of self attachment but like you, I believe so strongly in breastfeeding immediately that I sort of forced the issue with both of my daughters rather than letting it happen naturally by letting them take the lead. As we know, they ALWAYS let us know when they are hungry, why not immediately at birth?
I had two self-attaching babies. I didn’t do the “crawling” thing, but the moment I had them in my arms, they latched on to my breast and began sucking like crazy…both before I’d even had the chance to guide them to my breast. We have the experience from my most recent birth (12 weeks ago) on film and everyone sitting in our family room erupts in laughter (quietly) at how Liza initiated that experience so quickly.
I have also seen how devastating it can be when your baby is so drugged from a medicated birth and simply does not even have the ability to suck. It took 4 days to have a successful breastfeeding session with my oldest daughter and 7 days for my milk to come in.
Point being, I agree with your post. Follow your instincts – let the natural process take place.
What an amazing article! I loved it! After all my births my babies were taken rather quickly to be weighed, measured and all that. Perhaps given the chance they may have self attached, but as you said in your comment to my article http://www.babysignswithelizabeth.blogspot.com the stress of nurses telling me I was starving my baby was a bit much. I just felt so calm with my third, I knew I could do it. And yes, once we were home in a calm, relaxing environment it was smooth sailing. When he did finally latch we never had a single latch or sore nipple issue, he was a natural
Thank you for the article!
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As a midwife in a BFHI hospital we practice this in about 70% of cases (being that we have c/s of 30%) most babies are placed on mother tummy – even if they have Meconium Liquor – then dried and left to get to know each other – obviously if baby needs some help with getting into breathing etc we take them to the resus table about 3 feet away and when everyone is happy they come back to the mothers tummy – skin to skin. They even hold their babies if they need stitches. I love to watch the newborn display its instincts to find the nipple – they ARE amazing creatures!! It is even better if mum has had no drugs…..
Wish there were better programmes for mums to bond with midwives BEFORE the birth so that they could have the courage and strength to birth without pain medications….it is amazing to see when they do….
[...] the Queen, “or ask to speak to the hospital’s lactation consultant. Or just relax and let the baby latch when he’s ready. That’s what I’m trying to do. This one is my third. They do catch on eventually. They [...]
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My baby was a preemie and born by c/s. While I held her in nicu she went for my nipple. She knew exactly what to do. Seems self-attachment can work even a couple of weeks after birth as long as they smell the milk
Another amazing article Mel!
My first was a C/S my baby quit moving at 39 weeks, & I couldn’t wake him up, my instinct was that something was wrong…. in the end all that mattered was that he made it safely into my arms. We had a great nurse that checked our latch & although I was so nervous that I wasn’t doing it right, the baby was (he knew), my milk came in within the day, despite the time delay, & we were a very successful little team.
My second was a natural birth, & he was placed on my tummy ~ he immediately started to squirm & wiggle his way to my breast, I was so proud of him & loved every moment. I was so amazed at how natural it was for him to find the breast & latch on, I remember thinking why doesn’t everyone know babies can do this???
Another reason why I love this site…. thanks Mel, your wealth of knowledge continues to inspire me ~ thank you!
oxo
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[...] so I could get it just right, but in retrospect I wished I’d just chilled out about it. Babies know instinctively what to do (most of the time) and I had my midwives there to ensure we got off to a good start no matter what [...]