You've waited months to meet that special little person you've been carrying inside. Then labor day finally arrives and, after hours of anticipation and effort, your baby is finally in your arms. You look down at your newborn to find wide eyes in a small, expressive face looking up at you. You softly speak a welcome and those wide eyes lock with your own, as you learn that this least mature and newest member of your family already recognizes your voice.

But there is no time to enjoy more than a moment of quiet for making this new acquaintance. After all, there are grandparents, new aunts and uncles, and heck what about all those friends, just waiting in the wings to come greet, congratulate, and get their hands on the new baby.

So the staff obligingly swaddle baby and place a warm cap over baby's head so the newborn can maintain body heat while being passed from one admirer to another. When the baby begins to fuss, one of the ecstatic relatives bounces the baby until the little cries stop and the baby drifts to sleep. Several hours later, everyone is concerned because the new baby is still sleepy and hasn't yet breastfed.

As a hospital-based lactation consultant, I know the story above is one that is repeated over and over in many maternity hospitals today. In other hospitals, though, the story is different. Rewind the scenario to the moment when baby recognizes mother's voice and seeks to make eye contact. Before anyone other than Dad is welcomed into the room, the newborn is placed prone between Mother's breasts ”“ naked chest to naked chest ”“ mom in a reclining to semi-reclining position. As they lie skin-to-skin, Mother's body helps the baby regulate body temperature in addition to other benefits, but a light blanket is brought up to cover exposed skin surface. Pillows are placed to support mother's arms and add to her comfort.

If any relatives or friends are invited to share this special time with baby and mother, they have been instructed to speak quietly and look ”“ but not touch ”“ the newest member of the family. Even the hospital staff respects this time by quietly handling routine checks of mother or baby without separating one from the other. Nothing and nobody is to come between the newborn and mother as they get to know each other, because this skin-to-skin time is simply the first step leading to the newborn's first meal at the breast.

After a quiet 15-45 minutes when a newborn and mother seem to literally melt into one another, the baby begins to explore. The baby uses a stepping motion to push against the mother's abdomen to help move toward one of mother's breasts. Some call this the breast crawl.

Feeding cues, such as licking, smacking, rooting, and sucking hands, are noticed as the newborn nears the breast. Soon the baby latches, or attaches, on to the breast without help. Within an hour of birth, the newborn is suckling contentedly and getting that small tummy filled with antibody-rich colostrum before drifting into a sleep that may last several hours. Mother has enjoyed a special period of bonding with her new baby, gained confidence in her own and baby's breastfeeding abilities, while natural surges of oxytocin help contract her uterus.

For those babies and mothers who missed this special period during the first one to two hours after birth, it is possible to recreate it! Using a more reclined position for mother while placing baby prone on mother's chest and completely in contact with mother's chest can help recreate the first hours, days or weeks later. In what Suzanne Colson, PhD, calls her Recipe for Nurturing, the mother and baby can be skin-to skin or lightly clothed, but her research found mothers reported the reclining position made it easier to learn and feel comfortable with breastfeeding than more “typical” positions.

Pediatrician and lactation consultant Christina Smillie, MD, promotes Baby-led Latching, a technique that incorporates the positioning noted above but also emphasizes mother-baby skin-to-skin contact. She calls this mother-baby activity “rebooting the baby” ”“ a term that perfectly captures the interaction. It can't be rushed, as the baby is in charge! Many of us have found that babies learn to breastfeed best when allowed to lead whether within an hour of birth, days later after a slow start, and even weeks later after a preterm birth.

When it comes to giving a baby the best start, a mother's touch beats high-tech every time!