Your baby was born with innate reflexes and behaviours that mean they will, if the environment allows, seek out your breast to feed! Aren't babies amazing! I recently watched an online lecture showing a baby born prematurely at 28 weeks, placed immediately skin-to-skin with his mother, find the breast, latch and suckle. But how?

Babies are born with 3 key reflexes:

1. Rooting - when a baby feels something rub against their cheek, they will turn their head towards it, opening and closing their mouth…your finger, the hairy arm of your partner, but most importantly: a nipple!

2. Sucking - when something touches the roof of baby's mouth, he will automatically begin to suck (again…a finger…a nipple!) 

3. Swallowing - given enough liquid has collected in their mouth, your new-born will automatically swallow 

These 3 reflexes mean your baby, minutes old, is primed to breastfeed as long as the environment and baby's gestational age allows (some premature babies may not show these reflexes so early 

These reflexes are also the reason why:

• Your baby who has just fed and is a little unsettled might accept a bottle,  rooting and beginning to suck when the teat enters their mouth, when they've just fed. This does not necessarily imply they are still hungry and didn't get enough from the breast. It may simply be their reflexes in action, rooting, sucking and swallowing when additional milk is offered.

• You can't really test if your baby is hungry by offering your finger or the teat and taking their sucking on it as a sign of hunger - it's simply them responding reflexively to something entering their mouth. Consider other signals they may be offering you to communicate their needs.