The First Hour Advantage: Impact of Breast Crawl on Maternal and Neonatal Wellbeing

Abstract

Background: One of nature's simplest and most powerful mechanisms to start breastfeeding is the "breast crawl"; a newborn's reflexive movement onto the breast after being placed skin-to-skin on the mother's abdomen. Although its physiological benefits are very well known, "breast crawling" is underused in many delivery settings worldwide. Aim and Objective: To evaluate the effect of breast-crawl practice on early maternal and neonatal outcomes and answer the following research question: "Does facilitating breast crawl immediately after birth improve maternal recovery and neonatal adaptation compared with routine care?" Materials and methods: It is a retrospective comparative study conducted in Karuna Medical College, Kerala, from January to June 2025, involving 100 mother–infant dyads: 50 in the breast-crawl group and 50 controls. Maternal and neonatal parameters were analyzed by using R Studio, with Shapiro–Wilk, Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis, χ², Fisher’s Exact, and logistic-regression tests. Results: Practice of breast-crawl significantly improved birth weight (2.83 ± 0.33 kg vs 2.41 ± 0.42 kg), reduced duration of third stage of labor (10.3 vs 12.3 min) and blood loss (222 vs 282 mL), and improved early initiation of breastfeeding (84 % vs 20 %, p < 0.001). Logistic regression showed that breast crawl was an independent predictor of early breastfeeding. Conclusion: Breast crawl is an inexpensive, evidence-based practice that hastens maternal recovery and enhances neonatal adaptation. Integration of this practice into the standard obstetric regimen has the potential to significantly raise the quality of post-partum care.