Every newborn, when placed on the mother's abdomen, soon after birth, has the ability to find its mother's breast all on its own and to decide when to take the first breastfeed. This is called the 'Breast Crawl'. Ever since the exciting observations of the human infant's ability to crawl to his or her mother's breast shortly after birth, latch on, and suckle all on its own, mothers and fathers have been entranced by this amazing feat. To think that for many decades both caregivers and parents believed that in order to breastfeed, a baby would not know what to do to feed and was usually pushed onto the breast. The baby would just look and lick and often balk at the intrusion. Actually at birth the infant may know more than the mother. We are now aware that a number of other interventions also interfere with the infant's natural ability to explore, seek, and find the breast all on his or her own. Narcotic medication either injected or as agents used in epidurals given to the mother during labor can transfer via the placenta to the infant and cause difficulty for the infant to latch on; and also the mother's discomfort from an episiotomy can interfere. Over hydration from intravenous fluids may cause edema around the areola, and gastric suction by catheter causes distress to the infant. Interestingly suctioning is no longer recommended for 90% of babies who are breathing, have good color, and no meconium at birth, since it is so aversive to the baby's comfort with sucking ...
Chicken Marsala Emeril Get It Now!
No comments:
Post a Comment