Breast Crawling,Breastfeeding Success and Mothers' Attitudes to Feeding Their Babies

Overview

It has been clearly demonstrated by the literature that the way of initiation of breastfeeding is highly correlated with the success and continuation of breastfeeding and the level of breastfeeding intention. Crawling to the breast is the reflex of seeking the breast by smelling the breastmilk of the newborn as the first form of breastfeeding. Although crawling to the breast is a studied subject in the international literature, it has remained only in the compilation stage in the national literature. The fact that research on breast crawling has not yet been conducted in our country constitutes the original value of this study. This study was planned to examine the effect of crawling to the breast after vaginal delivery compared to biological breastfeeding on breastfeeding success and mothers' attitude to feed their babies.

Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. Breast milk is the ideal food for babies. It is safe and clean. It contains antibodies that help protect against many common childhood diseases. Breast milk provides all the energy and nutrients a baby needs in the first months of life. However, about 2 out of 3 babies cannot be exclusively breastfed for the recommended 6 months. WHO and UNICEF, * early start of breastfeeding within 1 hour after birth, * exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life * Providing nutritionally sufficient and safe complementary (solid) foods in the 6th month, It recommends continuing breastfeeding up to 2 years of age. Early initiation of breastfeeding within 1 hour after birth protects the newborn from infection and reduces neonatal mortality. However, many infants and children do not receive optimal nutrition. For example, only about 44% of infants aged 0-6 months worldwide were exclusively breastfed during the 2015-2020 period. Breastfeeding Success The most important reason for breastfeeding failure is the inability to start breastfeeding. For this reason, it is necessary to provide the necessary comfort of the mother in order to ensure breastfeeding success. In order to initiate and maintain a successful breastfeeding, mothers should be educated about being physically and mentally healthy, have a balanced diet, and be able to give breast milk with the right technique during pregnancy and the period following birth. Many mothers need help, especially when starting to breastfeed their first baby. A good start to breastfeeding affects the mother's determination to continue breastfeeding. However, difficulties encountered in breastfeeding during this period may lead to anxiety, causing mothers to lose their self-confidence and thus to a decrease in breastfeeding. Therefore, if the mother and baby are suitable, it is very important to initiate the first breastfeeding in this period called the 1st Stage (1st Reactive Period) after the birth. Odent talked about the ability of a newborn to search for the breast for "that important first sucking action" within the first hour of opening his eyes to the world and to use the search reflex to find it. Widström et al. Crawling to the breast is defined as an organized, spontaneous behavior sequence of newborns to seek and move towards the nipple and initiate breastfeeding. In order to find the breast, newborns first use the stepping reflex to climb into the mother's belly, and then the search reflex to find the nipple, catch and suck. This is called newborn attachment or crawling to the breast. They stated that this behavior of the newborn can be observed in its most intact form within the first few hours of its birth. The study was planned as a randomized controlled and experimental study in order to evaluate the effect of crawling on the breast after vaginal delivery on breastfeeding success and mothers' attitude to feed their babies. Women who had vaginal delivery between October 2021 and April 2022 in the delivery room of S.B.Ü Darıca Farabi Training and Research Hospital will be included in the study. The population of the research will be women who gave vaginal birth in the delivery room of S.B.Ü Darıca Farabi Training and Research Hospital between T October 2021 and April 2022, and the sample will be 68 women (34 control/34 experiment-intervention).