Abstract:Objective To understand the expression of neonatal breast crawling behavior sequence, and to explore its application in clinical practice. Methods The observational study method was utilized, and the completeness and time of expression of each behavior sequence during breast crawl in 163 neonates were observed and recorded. Results The duration of neonatal skin exposure was 108 (101,112) min, despite 60-90 min in 16 neonates. The behavioral sequences of crying, relaxing, awakening, resting, and sleeping were fully expressed, while the expression of movement, crawling, familiarity and sucking were partially missing, of which the expression rate of four limbs substantial movement, raising head or turning around, hand-mouth movement, sticking out tongue, drooling and hand-mammary areola movement was 98.8%, 92.0%, 83.4%, 98.2%, 92.0% and 96.9%, and which was 96.9%, 92.6% and 57.7% for the other three behavior sequences. The time when newborns entered each behavioral sequence was as follows:birth crying 0 min, relaxing 3(2,4) min, awakening 4(8,12) min, activity 8(4,12) min, resting 21(16,38) min, crawling 27(21,35) min, familiarizing 50(41,56) min, sucking 55(46,64) min, and sleeping 133(108,156) min. The newborns raised their heads or turned around 6 (4,9) times, and they tried sucking 4 (2,5) times. Conclusion All neonates could express various behavioral sequences to different degrees, their behavioral sequences of crying, relaxing, awakening, resting, and sleeping are fully expressed, while some newborns could not fully express movement, crawling, familiarity and sucking, representing the feasibility of autonomous breast searching through breast crawling.