The Effect of Breast Crawling After Vaginal Delivery on Breastfeeding Success and Mothers' Attitudes to Feeding 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.