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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Non-nutritive sucking for breastfed on demand babies/children?

30 replies

hunkermunker · 02/02/2006 22:47

I've seen various comments about how babies breastfed on demand don't "need" dummies or thumb/finger-sucking - in your experience, is this true?

DS1 was breastfed on demand and from about four months old used to unlatch, suck his fingers for a few seconds, then latch back on again.

OP posts:

Miaou · 02/02/2006 22:55

Hmmm - dd2 is a confirmed thumbsucker, and although she was only breastfed for a couple of months () she had already started sucking her thumb before then! Ds sucked his thumb from birth and I thought he would be the same, but he seems to have grown out of it (already). I don't breastfeed on demand any more though.

Not sure whether that supports or disproves your theory, hunker!!

oops · 02/02/2006 23:01

Message withdrawn

oops · 02/02/2006 23:03

Message withdrawn

moondog · 02/02/2006 23:06

'non nutritive sucking'
Hunker,that is a well weird expression!

As you know my feelings about b/feeding (!) I note that dd sucked her fingers for about three years and ds has been an avid thmb sucker from the word go.
(The sweetest thing is when I strap him,sucking furiously,into the car seat in the morning,he often disengages thumb to grunt at something,and aformentioned tiny appendage steams in the cold.......)

Spidermama · 02/02/2006 23:08

DD1 was breastfed on demand from the word go but she sucked her thumb until age five. One of the first things she learned to do as a baby was suck her thumb.

tamum · 02/02/2006 23:09

Mine were fed on demand and neither used a dummy or sucked their thumbs, ever. Not sure n=2 is very thorough though

SorenLorensen · 02/02/2006 23:12

I fink its bollox (she says, articulately).

I was breast-fed and was an inveterate thumb sucker from birth 'til I went to secondary school (I was not breast-fed til secondary school...ooh we were sooo conventional )

Ds1 was exclusively breast-fed til 12 months and was so desperate to suck constantly that the MWs in hospital fashioned him a 'dummy' out of a bottle teat stuffed with cotton wool so I could get some rest. I guess he didn't 'need' a dummy - he would have been happy to use me as one.

Twiga · 02/02/2006 23:13

Dd is bf on demand and loves sucking her thumb, fingers and toes at every opportunity - I think it's a comfort thing as she's teething and also just a developmental thing ie exploring things with her mouth.

Original poster

hunkermunker · 02/02/2006 23:14

What got me was that DS used to pull away from me to suck his fingers (then wipe milky dribble on me!). Pic on the Bear has landed thread of him still sucking his fingers, btw!

LOL at steamy thumb, MD

OP posts:

Flossam · 02/02/2006 23:16

DS has sucked his thumb from quite early on while he was still BF. I was BF and I sucked my thumb. So I claim it is genetic.

Blondeinlondon · 02/02/2006 23:22

Breastfed on demand and thumb sucking here

Feistybird · 02/02/2006 23:33

DD1 - bottle fed, no thumb/dummy sucking.

DD2 - b/f on demand - ardent thumb sucker and only now at 3 has been persuaded to give it up.

bobbybobbobbingalong · 03/02/2006 02:59

ds sucked his knuckles - I think babies just like to suck stuff.

LucyJu · 03/02/2006 13:42

Dd1 - breastfed. Never sucked her thumb, but a very slow feeder.
Dd2- also breastfed. A fast feeder - but she sucks her thumb. Started at about 10 weeks, I would say.

Mummyvicky · 03/02/2006 14:12

My DD was breastfed until 7 months and self weaned.(other two were much much longer!) she has sucked her middle & forefinger from 6 weeks old, and is now 2. whenever she wants comfort, or is tired the fingers get sucked- I thinks its so sweet and best of all it stops her from crying !!

blueshoes · 03/02/2006 14:21

Only have limited experience with dd - ardent breast and comfort feeder. She vigorously rejected dummies and bottles, even though I was desparate for her to take them. Never sucked thumb or fingers. Never formed attachments to loveys either. Just mummy mummy mummy.

Now she drinks from a bottle and asks for a dummy for fun - to pretend she is a baby. Also has a doggie she brings to sleep with her. Sheesh. Still does not suck thumb.

NotQuiteCockney · 03/02/2006 14:23

DS1 - bf on demand, slow feeder, thumb sucker, still, now at 4. Loves his thumb.

DS2 - bf on demand, fast feeder, no thumb or dummy, now at 16 months. Presumably won't start now?

hoxtonchick · 03/02/2006 14:23

both of mine breastfed on demand. both sucked their thumbs for a few months but stopped of their own accord.

Rach69 · 03/02/2006 14:54

Hmm I just don't know - all my babies have been breasfed on demand but I think they still need to comfort suck - I suppose some people would say that is 'nipples on demand' too? Depends how much you are/you can (!) be a mummy dummy. (Not easy with other kids to give attention to). I think some of it is down to their 'personality/temprament'. I have always encouraged them to suck their fingers/thumbs in preference to a bit of plastic but it's not as easy as that!

DS1 - Had dummy from 2 weeks to 3 years, also rubbed Mickey Mouse's ears under his nose/fingers.

DS2 - Refused dummy, used to wrap a cellular blanket round his head! (still sleeps with it now!)

DD - Sucked her thumb in utero (on scans) and from birth and stopped of her own accord aged about 18months.

DS3 - (2 weeks old) wants to feed/suck/or be held constantly - am trying with a dummy...

allyco · 03/02/2006 15:02

my four also bf on demand until they wanted to wean:

DD1: sucked thumb (furiously) until about 7 or 8 years

DD2: never sucked thumb

DD3: another thumb-sucker. 8 years now and still does it [blush

DD4: and another sucker. Only 17 months yet though so won't worry unduly for another few years about what it's doing to her!

and the unborn one is most probably sucking away right this minute...

Piffle · 03/02/2006 15:02

not true here -dd would feed and then use her thumb for comfort. She never lingered over a feed, preferred her thumb from day dot.
My ds however has not been a thumbsucker and I had a job to detach him from the breast for the first 15 mths.

evansmummy · 03/02/2006 17:58

Ds was bf on demand up til 4 months (at which point we became GF fans and bf pretty much every four hours udring the day), and had a dummy from about two weeks old. Desperately needed it to go to sleep but would never fall asleep on the boob. So no, not in my experience!

Jasnem · 03/02/2006 18:21

Both of mine breast fed until 8 months.
DD1 sucked the tip of her tongue for comfort (still does at 6 when very tired, and thinks no-one is looking)
DD2 is very tactile and needs physical comfort. Sucked thumb from 8 months (started within days of stopping BF), but also likes to twiddle hair, stroke, touch, and generally be in constant contact with me (DS or her dad will do at a push). She is 5.

Aloha · 03/02/2006 18:22

Not true at all in ds's case. He would actually get upset that he was still getting milk if put to the breast. He just wanted to suck, presumably as he had done in the womb.

Hausfrau · 03/02/2006 18:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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