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

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

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Breast Feeding; Feeding Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Breast Crawling

Detailed Description

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).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 68
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Turkey
  • Sakarya, Turkey, 54050
    • Sakarya University
    • Contact: Kevser Çimen; Phone Number: 90 534 944 31 96; Email: kvsrcmn1@gmail.com

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 45 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Volunteer to participate in the research,
• Vaginal birth,
• Over 18 years old,
• Able to read and write
• Can speak Turkish,
• Having a full-term and healthy birth (38-42 weeks old, born 2500-4000gr, born with a 5th minute apgar of 7 and above, no known congenital disease),
• Does not have a disease that prevents breastfeeding

Exclusion Criteria:

• Not voluntarily to participate in the research,
• Cesarean delivery,
• Having a health problem in which the mother or baby is at risk,
• Those who have a disease that prevents breastfeeding.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Experimental group; Mothers in this group will begin their baby's first breastfeeding by crawling to the breast.	Behavioral: Breast Crawling; The mother's first breast-feeding of her baby is not routine biological breast-feeding, but as a cradle to the breast.
No Intervention: Control group; Mothers in this group will begin their baby's first breastfeeding with biological breastfeeding.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Breastfeeding success measurement	Determining the success of breastfeeding by getting a higher score on the LATCH Breastfeeding Diagnostic Scale in the experimental group, in which the first breast-feeding was applied by crawling to the breast compared to the control group.	2 years
Measuring mothers' feeding attitudes of their babies	In the experimental group in which the first breast-feeding was applied by crawling to the breast, the mothers' milk feeding behavior increased by getting a higher score on the "The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale" compared to the control group.	2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Sakarya University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Hym C, Forma V, Anderson DI, Provasi J, Granjon L, Huet V, Carpe E, Teulier C, Durand K, Schaal B, Barbu-Roth M. Newborn crawling and rooting in response to maternal breast odor. Dev Sci. 2021 May;24(3):e13061. doi: 10.1111/desc.13061. Epub 2020 Dec 5.
• Henderson A. Understanding the breast crawl: implications for nursing practice. Nurs Womens Health. 2011 Aug-Sep;15(4):296-307. doi: 10.1111/j.1751-486X.2011.01650.x. No abstract available.
• Heidarzadeh M, Hakimi S, Habibelahi A, Mohammadi M, Shahrak SP. Comparison of Breast Crawl Between Infants Delivered by Vaginal Delivery and Cesarean Section. Breastfeed Med. 2016 Aug;11(6):305-308. doi: 10.1089/bfm.2015.0168. Epub 2016 May 12.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): October 1, 2021
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): April 1, 2022
• Study Completion (Anticipated): June 1, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 13, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 20, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): September 28, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 28, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 20, 2021
• Last Verified: September 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Vaginal Delivery; Breast Crawling; Breastfeeding Success
• Other Study ID Numbers: 13092021

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Yes
• IPD Plan Description: The follow-up of the study data will be provided by both researchers.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: The data will be kept by the researchers until the study is reported. After the study is published, it will contribute to the literature.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: After the study is reported and published, it will be shared.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: Study Protocol; Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP); Informed Consent Form (ICF); Clinical Study Report (CSR); Analytic Code

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No