The Golden Hour & the Newborn Crawl: Why You Don’t Want to Skip These Precious First Moments
- Ashley Strengholt
- Aug 17
- 4 min read
When your baby is born, the first hour after birth is unlike any other time in their life—or yours. Known as The Golden Hour, this period is filled with physical, emotional, and hormonal magic that helps both you and your newborn transition from pregnancy to life together outside the womb. One of the most fascinating—and often overlooked—parts of this time is the Newborn Crawl (also called the “breast crawl”), a natural instinct that allows your baby to find your breast and begin nursing without help.
Sadly, routine hospital procedures can sometimes interrupt these moments, but research shows there are powerful benefits to letting nature take its course. Here’s why you don’t want to skip them.
What is the Golden Hour?
The Golden Hour refers to the first 60 minutes after birth when mother and baby are kept together, skin-to-skin, without unnecessary interruptions. Instead of whisking the baby away for weighing, bathing, or routine procedures, the newborn stays on the mother’s chest, warm and secure.
During this time, your body and your baby’s body communicate in incredible ways:
Regulating temperature and breathing – Your chest actually changes temperature to warm or cool your baby as needed.
Stabilizing heart rate and blood sugar – Skin-to-skin contact helps your baby adjust to life outside the womb.
Reducing stress – Oxytocin, the “love hormone,” floods both your system and your baby’s, lowering stress and promoting bonding.
Supporting breastfeeding – Being close helps baby latch sooner and more effectively.
The Newborn Crawl: Nature’s Breastfeeding Blueprint
If your baby is placed belly-down on your bare chest immediately after birth and left undisturbed, something amazing happens: they will wiggle, scoot, and inch their way toward your breast, guided by instinct, smell, and touch. This is called the breast crawl, first documented in detail by Swedish researchers in 1987 (Widström et al., 1987).
Here’s what happens during the crawl:
Quiet Alertness – Your baby rests, wide-eyed, taking in your voice, scent, and warmth.
Mouthing and Rooting – They begin moving their mouth and turning their head toward your scent.
Mini Push-Ups – Using their legs and arms, they slowly push upward toward the nipple.
Self-Attachment – Without guidance, they latch onto the breast and begin to nurse.
This isn’t just adorable, it’s biologically important. Babies who self-latch during the crawl often have better breastfeeding outcomes and fewer latch problems later.
Why You Don’t Want to Skip These Moments
1. Boosts Breastfeeding Success
Studies show that immediate skin-to-skin contact and allowing the newborn crawl significantly increases the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding and longer breastfeeding duration (Moore et al., 2016). Early self-latching helps baby learn the correct technique and stimulates your milk production right away.
2. Strengthens Bonding
The Golden Hour floods both mom and baby with oxytocin, deepening emotional connection. This can also reduce the risk of postpartum depression (Handlin et al., 2009).
3. Improves Baby’s Health
Babies held skin-to-skin after birth have more stable body temperatures, heart rates, and blood sugars. They also cry less—a sign that their transition to the outside world is calmer and less stressful (Bergman, 2013).
4. Supports Mother’s Recovery
Skin-to-skin contact helps the uterus contract, reducing postpartum bleeding. It also stimulates let-down reflexes for easier breastfeeding.
How to Protect the Golden Hour & Newborn Crawl
Unfortunately, in some birth settings, routine procedures can disrupt these moments. The key is to plan ahead and communicate your wishes.
Here are a few tips:
Add it to your birth plan – Clearly state you want uninterrupted skin-to-skin for the first hour unless medical concerns arise.
Ask for delayed cord clamping – This supports newborn transition and allows baby to stay on your chest.
Delay routine procedures – Weighing, bathing, and newborn exams can wait until after the Golden Hour.
Choose a supportive birth team – Midwives, nurses, and doulas who value these practices can help you protect them.
When It Might Need to Wait
Sometimes medical needs—such as breathing support for the baby or urgent care for the mother—mean the Golden Hour can’t happen immediately. That doesn’t mean you’ve missed your chance. Skin-to-skin contact and the breast crawl can still be offered once you and your baby are stable. Even hours—or days—later, these practices remain powerful.
The Bottom Line
The Golden Hour and the Newborn Crawl aren’t just sweet moments for photos, they are critical biological processes that set the stage for your baby’s health, your recovery, and your breastfeeding journey. Protecting this time can have lifelong benefits, and it’s worth making it a priority in your birth plan.
When possible, keep your baby on your chest, let them lead the way to the breast, and soak in those precious first moments. You’ve both waited months for this, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime beginning.
References
Widström, A. M., Ransjö-Arvidson, A. B., Christensson, K., Matthiesen, A. S., Winberg, J., & Uvnäs-Moberg, K. (1987). Gastric suction in healthy newborn infants. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica, 76(4), 566–572.
Moore, E. R., Bergman, N., Anderson, G. C., & Medley, N. (2016). Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (11), CD003519.
Handlin, L., Jonas, W., Petersson, M., Ejdebäck, M., Ransjö-Arvidson, A. B., & Uvnäs-Moberg, K. (2009). Effects of sucking and skin-to-skin contact on maternal ACTH and cortisol levels during the second day postpartum—Influence of epidural analgesia and oxytocin in the perinatal period. Breastfeeding Medicine, 4(4), 207–220.
Bergman, N. J. (2013). The neuroscience of birth—and the case for Zero Separation. Curationis, 36(1).
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