letting baby self latch?

Al
Anyone tried this? My little guy is 5 days old & has had a lot of variety in our breastfeeding success. One thing he was doing was putting his hands between his mouth & nipple. I didnt wanna swaddle b/c he hates it. I was getting soooo frustrated but then I read that this is b/c he essentially wants to use his hand to find the breast, & that I should just set him on my abdomen w my breast in his face. He fussed for a few minutes, but then latched on all on his own.  Who knew!