A lot happens in the first few minutes of a newborn baby’s life.
There’s the first cry, first glimpse at their face – first hug.
But some mums are choosing to do something else entirely the first time they meet their child.
Some mums are choosing to lick their newborns.
Yep, lick them – on their forehead, like a cat would.
One mother in particular had this somewhat primal reaction to meeting her baby and it was captured in an award-winning photograph.
Taken by Ludy Siqueira of Senhoritas Fotografia the photo shows a woman licking her baby’s head.
Some may be disgusted by the idea, while others may be intrigued.
But as it turns out, it’s something humans used to do a long time ago – just like animals.
Birth Doula Flor Cruz told mumsgrapevine that there are a number of reasons why animals lick and clean their young upon birth, including removing the scent to ward off predators, to begin socialising the newborn and to bond with the baby.
She added: “Mammals still lick their newborns and eat the afterbirth. Except for most humans. But humans at one point in time used to exhibit all of these same behaviours.
"We have evolved since then and do not feel the need anymore to keep predators away. We stimulate baby in other forms and have other ways to do all the things we once worried about that triggered us to lick our babies so instinctively.
"Two cultures today can still be seen licking their newborns, the Tibetans and Inuit.”
Why are mums licking their newborns?
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Flor said many mothers today may still have an urge to lick their baby, but most are usually able to resist and instead smell them, kiss them or hold them close.
But others are sometimes unable to resist, she described this as "a calling from ancestors".
"Some mothers still have the strong urge to lick their newborns. And they do just that. A physiological necessity. A calling from ancestors. Instinctual acts of love and ensuring the survival of young," she said.
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