A Baby's Nine Instinctive Stages at Birth

The Healthy Children Project recently published on their blog, The Magical Hour, the nine instinctive stages that occur as a baby progresses toward his or her first nursing session.  There are numerous advantages, both physical and psychological, that happen when a baby is held skin to skin with mama in the first hours after birth. "When a baby is in skin to skin contact after birth there are nine observable newborn stages, happening in a specific order, that are innate and instinctive for the baby. Within each of these stages, there are a variety of actions the baby may demonstrate.

Stage 1: The Birth Cry
The first stage is the birth cry. This distinctive cry occurs immediately after birth as the baby’s lungs expand.

Stage 2: Relaxation
The second stage is the relaxation stage. During the relaxation stage, the newborn exhibits no mouth movements and the hands are relaxed. This stage usually begins when the birth cry has stopped. The baby is skin to skin with the mother and covered with a warm, dry towel or blanket.

Stage 3: Awakening

The third stage is the awakening stage. During this stage the newborn exhibits small thrusts of movement in the head and shoulders. This stage usually begins about 3 minutes after birth. The newborn in the awakening stage may exhibit head movements, open his eyes, show some mouth activity and might move his shoulders.

Stage 4: Activity
The fourth stage is the activity stage. During this stage, the newborn begins to make increased mouthing and sucking movements as the rooting reflex becomes more obvious. This stage usually begins about 8 minutes after birth.

Stage 5: Rest
At any point, the baby may rest. The baby may have periods of resting between periods of activity throughout the first hour or so after birth.

Stage 6: Crawling
The sixth stage is the crawling stage. The baby approaches the breast during this stage with short periods of action that result in reaching the breast and nipple. This stage usually begins about 35 minutes after birth.

Stage 7: Familiarization
The seventh stage is called familiarization. During this stage, the newborn becomes acquainted with the mother by licking the nipple and touching and massaging her breast. This stage usually begins around 45 minutes after birth and could last for 20 minutes or more.

Stage 8: Suckling
The eighth stage is suckling. During this stage, the newborn takes the nipple, self attaches and suckles. This early experience of learning to breastfeed usually begins about an hour after birth. If the mother has had analgesia/anesthesia during labor, it may take more time with skin to skin for the baby to complete the stages and begin suckling.

Stage 9: Sleep
The final stage is sleep. The baby and sometimes the mother fall into a restful sleep. Babies usually fall asleep about 1½ to 2 hours after birth."

For more information, please visit: http://www.magicalhour.com/aboutus.html

Starting Solids

La Leche League, along with the World Health Organization, recommends that moms exclusively breastfeed for at least the first 6 months (or until baby is showing signs of readiness). By exclusive, we mean that baby should receive no solids or supplementation before then. Breastmilk has all the nourishment a baby needs. The signs of readiness include sitting up by him or herself, gag reflex is diminshed, pincer grasp is established, and showing an interest in solids. However, even after starting solids, La Leche League recommends that moms first nurse baby and then (if the baby is still hungry) offer solids. Until the first year, solids are just supplementing the breastmilk.

Once baby is ready for solids, feel free to offer family foods. Although it is common practice among many to give rice cereal to babies, there is absolutely no need to offer it. Rice cereal has no nutritional value; its popularity is due to it being known as an allergen free food. However, if baby has waited to start solids until six months, it is not necessary to offer rice cereal. A few good foods to begin with are sweet potatoes, cooked carrots, beans, and bananas. La Leche League recommends that moms wait at least three to five days before offering a new food; this way you can see if something is causing baby to have an allergic reaction.

This fantastic article outlines ten reasons to delay solids until at least six months of age.

Assessing your milk supply

Mothers frequently give up breastfeeding in the early days because they think they are not providing enough milk for their babies. If there is a medical need to supplement, you can use your own pumped milk first. You can feed the baby with the use of a finger feeder, cup, spoon, syringe, eye dropper, or a supplemental feeding system. Bottles and artificial nipples should be avoided until breastfeeding is well established.

The following are indications that the baby is receiving enough milk and does NOT need to be supplemented.

*Weight gain of at least 4 to 6 ounces per week

*Birth weight regained by 10 days to 2 weeks

*Frequent wet diapers after the first 3 days--at least 5 or more in 24 hours

*Meconium has cleared from baby's stool by day 3 to 4 and bowel movements are bright yellow, loose, unformed, and frequent (at least 3 in 24 hours)

*Baby's skin is soft and moist and baby shows no signs of dehydration

*Baby is awake, alert, and eager to breastfeed at least 8 to 12 times in 24 hours

*Baby seems satisfied after actively sucking for 10 to 20 minutes on one breast and is usually willing to continue feeding on the other side

*Baby can be observed swallowing regularly during feedings; normal sucking pattern at the breast is suck, suck, swallow. Listen for the slight "ka,ka,ka" sound as baby swallows and watch for a pause in jaw movements

*Mother may or may not observe signs of the milk let-down which can include a tingling feeling or leaking from the other breast

*Mother's breast may seem softer after milk transfer has occurred

Talk about overcoming obstacles!!

This is a story from one of our regular moms. If you would like to share your breastfeeding journey, please email me at pixielam@yahoo.com. Thank you Melissa for sharing your enduring journey.

While I was pregnant, I did what I could to prepare for breastfeeding my son. I read books, watched YouTube videos, and even practiced with a stuffed animal. I felt confident that I could breastfeed. My son came early, at 34 weeks. I had a couple weeks of pre-term labor, so I had received the betamethasone steroids to help his lungs, and they did their job. He came out screaming and was able to breathe just fine on his own. We faced several obstacles during our nursing relationship, and I hope that by sharing them with you it might help you if you come across the same issues.

Low birth weight – my son lost a whole pound while in the hospital; he was 5.5 pounds at discharge. During the next week we had several weight checks. During one of these checks, we saw a nurse practitioner instead of our usual doctor and the first thing she said was to supplement with formula. He was gaining weight – just slowly. I never did supplement, and he did gained weight, it just took him a little while. He was always in the 5th to 10th percentiles up until he was over a year old. He was healthy and growing, but was just on his own curve. My milk is “skim milk” – not whole.

Jaundice – when we left the hospital, his bilirubin levels were 11. Several days later, it was up to 18. We were set up with the light bed at home, and had to leave him in a diaper all day long and couldn’t hold him unless I was feeding him or changing his diaper. It took a week for his levels to go back to normal. It was hard work to continue breastfeeding. On top of the fact that nursing makes any baby sleepy, jaundice makes them even sleepier. It was very hard keeping him awake long enough to get a good feed in to wash out that bilirubin; but I knew that breastmilk was the best.

Surgery – There was a cyst detected in his abdomen at the 20 week ultrasound. We knew it would have to be surgically removed, but the doctors told us it’d be at least a year. By three weeks, it had tripled in size and was causing digestive problems. So at just 25 days old, he had surgery. The cyst was attached to his stomach, so the surgeon told me he couldn’t eat for several days until the stitches healed. I broke down and cried; how can a mother not feed her baby? I knew I would be okay, but he wouldn’t. Anytime I held him or even got near him he cried to be fed. It was heartbreaking hearing my baby cry and not able to do anything about it. Five days post-surgery, the doctor gave us the okay to feed him to see if he could tolerate it. I was so nervous, and afraid that he forgot how to breastfeed or would refuse the breast. To my surprise he latched right on like he didn’t miss a single day. I was so glad to have my nursing baby back.

Thrush – At his two month well baby check-up, the doctor said that he had thrush, and gave us a prescription. I was confused, because I have heard of thrush but I also heard how it hurt, and I never had any pain. We must have caught it in early, because two days later the pain started. It started out hurting just a little, and soon became toe-curling pain. I dreaded latching him on because I knew what was coming. He refused any and all bottles, so I wasn’t able to have that relief. Soothies helped a lot; they are gel pads you stick in the freezer and then right onto your breasts. Everything that touched either my nipples or his mouth had to be sterilized, and my bras/nursing tanks had to be washed in hot water or bleach. After 10 days, I starting to realize that the prescription wasn’t working, but within a few days on the new prescription I started to feel some relief. We had thrush for three weeks total. It was a huge confidence booster when we got through it. If I could get through thrush, I could get through anything!

Pregnancy – When my son was just seven months old, we learned we were expecting again. We weren’t planning on having another for a couple years. Aside from the normal concerns of having two under two, my biggest worry was breastfeeding. After looking at a few resources, I quickly realized that it was okay to continue breastfeeding. I never had any nipple pain or soreness in the first trimester. My milk started changing when I was around 15 weeks, and at 18 weeks it was purely colostrum, and he didn’t want to nurse anymore; he was working way too hard to get just a drop.

So even though my son was born early, didn’t gain weight quickly, had jaundice, went through surgery, got thrush, and though I got pregnant, we exclusively breastfed for six months, and weaned at 11.5 months. Throughout all our struggles, I trusted my body and knew I could do it without formula – and you can too!

~Melissa Wiles

Breastfeeding for the first time

In order to ensure breastfeeding gets off to a good start, it is recommended that you breastfeed within an hour after the birth and that you practice Kangaroo Care (skin-to-skin contact).  According to UNICEF (breastcrawl.org), "every newborn, when placed on the mother's abdomen, soon after birth, has the ability to find its mothers breast all on its own and to decide when to take the first breastfeed."  See for yourself:

Upcoming meeting- Dec 20, and some BIG news!

Our annual Holiday Party will be held December 20 at 6:00 at the Clarksville Library in conjunction with our forth meeting in the series, Nutrition and Weaning. We will be having a pot-luck, so please bring a dish to share with the other mamas. Bring a new mama as well. We will also have some great door prizes, including a 1-hour massage, breastfeeding advocacy t-shirts, and more. 

I would also like to announce that after 15 years, LLL of So. IN is making a big move!! LLL is so grateful to the library to have housed us for this long, but we feel a change can only improve our already awesome group! We will start off the new year in a new location. Our 2011 meetings will take place at Floyd Memorial Hospital (FMH) on the third Monday of each month from 6:30-7:45. FMH is located at 1850 State Street, New Albany, IN. We feel this change will help our group grow and expand in several ways. We will be listed in the FMH Health Scope, a health based magazine that lists all the classes the hospital offers, its distribution includes thousands of families. We will also not be limited on time, like at the library. If a mom needs more assistance, one of the leaders can stay after the meeting and work one-on-one with her. We can also have more time after the meetings for the moms to socialize with and support one another, which is a huge part of having a happy, healthy breastfeeding relationship. I will be posting the new schedule on the blog, so please pass it on to any interested or expecting mom. 

I look forward to seeing you at the holiday party, and starting out the new year in a new place for new growth for our group :)


Lisa M-T
LLL Leader

Getting Started

This is the first time I have ever written a blog, so I ask you all to bear with me. I also would like to say that this blog is about more than what the leaders of Southern Indiana have to say. This will be a place where updated breastfeeding information is posted, where memories of breastfeeding will be shared, and where you, the reader, can have a say on what you would like to see posted or discussed.

It will also be a place where you can find updates about our free monthly meetings, and where you can refer a friend in need of breastfeeding information, support, or encouragement.

Please feel free to pass this blog along. We are hoping that this will raise more awareness of our group and breastfeeding in general. Also, if you have any suggestions about this blog, please, please let me know!!

~Lisa M-T

LLL Leader since 2007