They’re using you as a dummy!

Breastfeeding is not just about nutrition. It’s also about closeness with your child, a time to connect with them. Babies enjoy the sensation of sucking and what better place to do it than held in the comfort and warmth of your arms. 

Comfort sucking calms babies and regulates their heart rate. Additionally sucking releases hormones, in both yourself and your baby, that result in a sleepy feeling. 

However it is useful to be able to identify comfort sucking (non-nutritive sucking) as opposed to when your baby is actively feeding (nutritive feeding). 

Nutritive sucking will generally involve 1 suckle per second whereas non-nutritive sucking 2 suckles per second, without regular swallowing. 

Do not confuse non-nutritive sucking with the fluttery sucking that is often seen towards the end of the feed. You can read more about the sucking and swallowing patterns of a feed in this post or see my videos in my online breastfeeding course.