Newborn babies instinctively have the ability to crawl to the breast when placed skin-to-skin on the mother's abdomen. New research indicates that a higher temperature around the mother's nipple with respect to the surrounding breast skin may facilitate this process.
"These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that a temperature gradient may support mother-infant thermal identification and communication in the process known as breast crawl," wrote the authors of the Acta Paediatrica study.
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Journal
Acta Paediatrica