There are lots of opinions about how often a baby should breastfeed. You lot might hear that information technology is quite normal for babies to breastfeed all the time, or conversely, that frequent feeds mean your baby is comfort nursing and shouldn't be allowed to utilize yous every bit a dummy (pacifier). If your baby isn't gaining much weight there volition be more than conflicting advice… offer both breasts or stay on ane breast per feed, top upwards ordon't superlative upwardly, use breast compressions to continue baby feeding actively or "look for the flutter sucks". How can parents tell when a babe is breastfeeding well and where do "flutter sucking" and "condolement nursing" fit into it?

This article

This article answers oftentimes asked questions about flutter sucking and condolement nursing. It's a companion article to Is My Babe Getting Enough Milk?, 1 Chest or Two Per Feed? and Breastfeeding to Sleep.

What is comfort nursing or comfort sucking?

Babies breastfeed for reasons other than but for food or to quench their thirst. Babies breastfeed to experience safe, to calm down, to warm up, for reassurance, to connect with mother, for pain relief, to fall asleep and because they love to suck. Reasons to breastfeed other than to eat or beverage are sometimes called breastfeeding for comfort, comfort nursing, comfort sucking, "non nutritive" sucking or even "using the breast every bit a dummy".

baby comfort nursing

Non nutritive?

"Non nutritive" means not providing any nourishment (calories), nevertheless, breasts have a habit of releasing milk whenever a baby latches so babies will often go a trivial extra breast milk while they are condolement nursing. Even and so-chosen "non nutritive sucking" therefore offers an opportunity to snack between meals. Snacking between meals and eating a lot of the time is a good way to gain weight and babies are looking to double their weight in the first 4 to vi months.

Is condolement nursing expert or bad?

Comfort nursing is a normal role of breastfeeding. Whether for hunger or comfort, breastfeeding is usually the answer to whatever is troubling your baby with the added bonus of some actress calories and slumber inducing hormones built in forth the mode. Withal, sometimes condolement nursing is portrayed negatively by wellness intendance workers, friends or relatives because some people seem to think a baby uses it as a fashion of manipulating the mother with unreasonable sucking demands (meet below).

Is my babe using me equally a dummy or pacifier?

You may hear that condolement nursing should be express to avoid "spoiling" your piffling i. After all, goes the statement, babies need to learn some patience, and the old favourite: to "self-soothe". This is nonsense. Babies volition larn these things when they are biologically prepare just they are not capable of wilfully manipulating a parent or problem solving for themselves. Those who complain that a infant is "using y'all as a dummy" don't usually seem to mind the baby having an actual dummy or sucking their thumb or fingers. If a babe needs to suck, and mother is bachelor, why not offer them the biological original rather than a homo made silicone substitute? Condolement nursing to calm a fractious baby is a natural part of mothering through breastfeeding and makes for good for you brain evolution and well adapted, well fed, securely attached children.

Growth spurts

Sometimes a baby may feed more often than usual because they are having a growth spurt. If they are hungry or having a growth spurt, refusing to breastfeed on cue for fear of baby using the breast as a dummy could miss hunger cues and forbid a baby from regulating their milk intake.

Is comfort nursing ever a problem?

Every mother and baby are unique and although comfort nursing is normal babe behaviour for a babe who is breastfeeding well and growing accordingly, occasionally information technology could indicate an underlying problem with breastfeeding. For example, if a baby is "feeding all the time" so that one breastfeed merges into some other and particularly if they are not gaining much weight, this could exist a sign that they are non breastfeeding effectively and are comfort nursing because they are hungry. If a baby is not breastfeeding effectively—with a large mouthful of chest tissue as well as the nipple—a milk supply tin can quickly drib. With less milk bachelor, a baby'south free energy levels go down giving less energy to feed actively causing lower milk intake, lower energy, then on in a downwardly screw. Left unchecked, breastfeeding can become long sessions of flutter sucking with very little milk swallowed. If you're worried that your baby is spending a lot of time breastfeeding but is non gaining much weight run across Baby Non Gaining Weight and contact an IBCLC lactation consultant to help you get feeding dorsum on track. If supplements are needed, see Supplementing an Underweight Baby.

mother holds sleeping baby

What is flutter sucking?

Flutter sucking describes the blazon of slow, sleepy sucking babies practise at the end of a breastfeed. During a breastfeed babies tend to move through three sucking stages:

  1. Stimulating the let downwardly. Babies start a breastfeed with some quick strong sucks to initiate the let down. Their tongue cups the breast and you will see the baby's lower jaw moving upwards and down every bit it opens and closes on the breast. Breastfeeding hormones are released when nerves close to the nipple are triggered, and milk volition usually begin to flow within a minute or two.
  2. Active feeding. One time the milk lets downward (milk ejection reflex), sucking will exist interspersed with swallows of milk while babies are actively feeding. You will run across the lower jaw moving up and down rhythmically and you might hear a pattern of ane suck per swallow or a few sucks followed by a consume of milk. A baby may take a break during active feeding, they might hold the breast in their mouth for a minute or ii without moving their jaw and then offset to suck and consume once again.
  3. Flutter sucking. Towards the end of the feed, sucking slows downward, the jaw movements get less pronounced, there are fewer and fewer swallows, and infant may autumn comatose or let go of the chest when they are full. Some people phone call the fluttery, quivery sucking movements at the end of the feed "flutter sucking". This means dissimilar things to different people so some mothers are getting confused whether flutter sucking is particularly important nutritionally or whether it is a type of comfort sucking.

Is flutter sucking the aforementioned as condolement nursing?

Palpitate sucking is a form of comfort nursing but tends to be used to describe a baby who is sucking lightly without many swallows and is falling comatose at the breast. Some breastfeeding helpers are confusing flutter sucking with active feeding and are encouraging mothers to feed from i breast per feed with the idea that the longer a baby stays flutter sucking on one breast, the more than loftier calorie milk (hindmilk) baby will swallow and the more weight they will gain. This is misleading for parents because flutter sucking is not active feeding and staying on one breast equally a full general dominion is a way to reduce a milk supply. See How to Brand More than Chest Milk and Ane Breast or Two Per Feed? for information on how breasts work, and Forget About Foremilk and Hindmilk explains why you don't need to worry about foremilk and hindmilk.

Is palpitate sucking babe getting hindmilk?

Your babe volition not be getting very much hindmilk when they are flutter sucking, because, past definition, flutter sucking is non active feeding. And at the terminate of a breastfeed, although the milk might be slightly higher calorie, there is non very much of it once the breast has been drained. Unless you can see your infant'southward jaw moving actively and hear your baby swallowing they are unlikely to be getting much milk. However, there are always exceptions, if y'all have another allow down of milk while your babe is sleeping at the breast, your baby might start sucking and swallowing again.

Do I demand to look for flutter sucks at every feed?

Not really, if you're worried almost milk intake, it's better to await out for agile feeding rather than flutter sucks. Active sucking and swallowing are how your baby gets milk and empties the breasts. And efficient breast drainage is the key to making more than milk. This is why chest compressions and switching breasts can exist useful to simulate some other let down and become a baby sucking actively over again if he has fallen comatose before he has taken a full feed. At that place are lots of means to increase your milk supply but waiting around for fluttery sucks while staying on 1 chest for set periods of fourth dimension isn't i of them.

Breastfeeding on need and letting your baby terminate the first chest on his own before offer the second side is how your baby regulates his milk supply. And flutter sucking is a natural part of the sequence of feeding and falling asleep contentedly at the breast. It is simplyif your baby is not gaining much or any weight, that it is important to exist aware that when sucking slows right downwards to "flutter sucks" a babe is not swallowing much milk. Not hindmilk, not foremilk, not any milk. If your infant is spending a large portion of every feed flutter sucking, and is not gaining weight cheque in with your health professional person and a breastfeeding specialist and see Baby Not Gaining Weight.

Is babe asleep when he is flutter sucking?

Once sucking slows down and in that location are hardly any swallows and your infant's eyes have closed, your infant has fallen asleep. Lots of babies like to sleep with the chest in their mouth subsequently they take finished feeding. The shallow movements of a infant flutter sucking without swallows indicate a baby who is dreaming about sucking. Some babies do go on to feed well in their sleep, but in that example, their mouths volition be moving more deeply than tiny shallow quivers and y'all will hear swallows. For more information on the pros and cons of sleeping at the chest encounter Breastfeeding to Slumber.

Video clips of babies flutter sucking

The first clip shows a baby making the aforementioned fluttery rima oris movements in their sleep they might make at the finish of a breastfeed while notwithstanding latched to the breast.

In the second clip yous can see the tongue making light fluttery movements

How tin I tell if my baby is getting enough milk?

At that place are several means to tell if your infant is getting plenty milk even though y'all can't physically come across what has been drunk. Is My Baby Getting Enough Milk? discusses these in more detail and includes a video clip that shows a baby who is feeding actively. If yous're not sure whether your baby is feeding actively or has a "adept latch", contact an IBCLC lactation consultant for a feeding cess.

Baby not gaining weight

If your baby is not gaining much weight, and your baby's medico has checked there are no underlying health issues causing depression proceeds, contact an IBCLC lactation consultant. The latter will be able to appraise a breastfeed, take a full history and brand suggestions to proceed your infant well fed while you lot build your milk supply. For helpful farther reading see Babe Not Gaining Weight, Understanding Your Babe'due south Weight Chart, Supplementing an Underweight Baby and How to Make More than Breast Milk.

My baby's jaw sometimes trembles is that the same as a flutter suck?

A jaw or tongue tremor is different from flutter sucking. It looks more than as if the jaw or tongue are trembling or shaking. There are unlike explanations for this such equally an young nervous system, neurological disorder or muscle fatigue due to a tongue-tie. In Supporting Sucking Skills in Breastfeeding Infants 2017, Cathy Watson Genna, IBCLC explains:

Tremors associated with neurological bug tend to be seen at the start of a feed and will be frequent and persistent, whereas fatigue tremors in tongue-tied infants are more probable to occur later in the course of the feeding (p.366)

Always contact your infant's doctor and a breastfeeding specialist for a thorough assessment if you take any concerns about any unusual behaviours, tremors or noises while your babe is feeding.

Summary

Comfort nursing is the name sometimes used to describe breastfeeding for reasons other than for food such as breastfeeding a baby to sleep, calming a crying infant or because baby enjoys sucking. Babies will nevertheless get a petty milk while they are condolement nursing and it'southward a bully mothering tool. Flutter sucking is a form of comfort nursing only is a term usually reserved for the pattern of calorie-free fluttery sucking with few swallows seen at the stop of a breastfeed. Some mothers are existence told that flutter sucking is when their baby is getting all the college fat milk. This is misleading as there is very trivial milk transfer going on during palpitate sucking compared with active feeding. Babies who are not gaining weight well and who spend a lot of time sleeping and flutter sucking at the breast tin can be encouraged to feed more than actively by using breast compressions and switching breasts whenever sucking slows.