A Baby's 9 Instinctive Stages After Birth

I attended a course to get my Certified Lactation Counselor certification. One of the topics we learned about were the baby's instincts. It was such an amazing topic that I thought I would share because I feel it is something every mother who intends to breastfeed should know.

For those of you who have breastfed, did you ever let your precious newborn find their way to your breast naturally? Or did the nurse wrap your baby up and help "screw" the baby onto your nipple? In my case, I had the most beautiful delivery experience. Both my husband and I had the awesome privilege of pulling (yes, pulling) out our son at the very end of the delivery. I got my first tearful, happy minute with my son before they took him away to record all of his vitals and do all of the necessary procedures. Then he was handed back to me maybe 10 minutes later wrapped up and the nurse helped me to attach my son.

Is it possible for the baby to instinctively find their way to the breast without any intervention? It most certainly is. They go through 9 stages within an hour after birth.

• Stage One: The Birth Cry
• We all know this stage! This is that moment we all wait for when our precious little babies first arrive in the world. The distinctive cry is what brings us mothers to tears and makes us forget all the pain we just had to endure.

• Stage Two: Relaxation
• During this stage the birth cry has stopped and the baby is usually skin-to-skin with the mother covered with a warm towel or blanket. The baby makes no mouth movements and their hands are relaxed.  

• Stage Three: Awakening
•  Within 3 minutes after birth, the baby will start to make some movements. These movements can range from head and shoulder movement, opening their eyes, and even moving their mouths.

• Stage Four: Activity
• At this stage mouth movements and sucking movements can be observed. The rooting reflex becomes more obvious. Rooting is when the baby will turn their head toward the stimulus when their lip or cheek is touched. During this reflex they make sucking movements with their mouth. This stage occurs 8 minutes after birth.

• Stage Five: Rest
• At any point during this process the baby will take rest periods. Instinctively finding their way to the breast can be exhausting! It is important that you let the baby rest. Do not interrupt this process, or it can start all the way back down to Stage Two.

• Stage Six: Crawling
• Yes, you read it right. A newborn has the ability to crawl to the breast. I have seen it and it is astounding. It is not a continuous crawl like we observe with our much older babies, but they use their little legs and arms to "shimmy" up to the breast. This stage occurs about 35 minutes after birth.

• Stage Seven: Familiarization
• This stage can take a while. Sometimes up to 20 minutes or longer. Once the baby approaches the breast they familiarize themselves with it by licking the nipple and even massaging the breast. This stage is optimal for milk production. Licking the nipple stimulates the hormone called Prolactin, which produces the milk. Massaging the breast stimulates the hormone oxytocin, which releases milk.

• Stage Eight: Suckling
• This is the moment where the baby actually learns to self-attach themselves to the breast and suckle their first meal. The moment when the baby latches and starts suckling usually occurs within the first hour after birth. When a mother has had anesthesia it may take longer for the baby to get to this stage.

• Stage Nine: Sleep
• Once the baby has finished their first meal, they fall fast asleep. This can occur 1.5-2 hours after birth.

One hour of uninterrupted skin-to-skin with the mother and baby can have many benefits to the baby.

• The baby's heart rate and body temperature are regulated with skin-to-skin contact.

• Because of this early breastfeeding initiation, milk supply can be improved.

• As a benefit to the mother, this early initiation of breastfeeding can help the baby to learn a proper latch. Which can save the mother from painful nipples.  

Some healthcare professionals may claim that this is hard to do with a newborn because they have certain procedures they need to follow with the newborn. The teacher of my certification course brought up two good points.

• They can quickly take the baby immediately after the birth and do the assessments (which should take no longer than 5 minutes) and immediately give the baby back to the mother to initiate the skin-to-skin and let the baby go through the 9 stages without any interruptions.
• Most of the assessments can be done while the baby is skin-to-skin with the mother. Assessing heart rate and other vitals, the heel stick, and other assessments. The only thing that cannot be assessed is the weight.

I wish I had the actual video that I saw during my class, but luckily the program I took the course through gives me an option to purchase the DVD. Once I purchase it, I will gladly post it on my blog just to show you how amazing this is.  The only thing that comes sort of close is this video here.

If you would like to learn more about these stages check out this page. This is the same organization I took the certification course with. Information on The Magical Hour.