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5 reasons why 'comfort suckling' is beneficial for mother and baby

Allowing your baby to suckle happily at your breast until satisfied is not just a sign of your ever growing affection, but also a beneficial activity to enhance bonding between the two.

Written by Debjani Arora | Updated : March 20, 2015 6:01 PM IST

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It Develops Trust And Faith

You might sometimes notice your baby suckling on his little fingers. This indicates his need to suckle. If you have already fed your baby and still notice this suckling offer a feed again. Because suckling on the mother’s skin rather than his own little fingers would provide baby with the trust that the mother is always there to check on his needs. Responding to such a need also helps your baby to interact well with you from a very early age.

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It Initiates Sound Sleep

It is very common that mothers find it easier to put the baby to sleep feeding a little longer than required. It is also a comfort factor for babies to feel asleep at the breast. Though nighttime feeding isn’t a good idea, but comfort suckling can help babies lull into sleep during those initial days when sleep cycle is not established in a baby. Read more about Know the perils of prolonged night time feed. Even though comfort suckling might be tiring and time consuming for the mother but it definitely has hidden benefits. Don’t be tempted to use a pacifier to do the job for you. In this way you would be missing on the bonding time with your baby and this could probably make your baby take less feed from the breast.

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Comfort Suckling Is Breastfeeding At Its Best

Breastfeeding is important for your baby. But at times some babies tend to suckle more than the usual, even if their hunger is satisfied. Many term this prolonged suckling as comfort suckling or comfort nursing. Comfort nursing is often noticed during the initial days after the birth. Just like breastfeeding helps your baby to get all the vital nutrients and food, comfort suckling helps your baby to receive all the emotional support needed to feel secure out of the womb. There are good reasons that say why comfort suckling is as important as quenching your baby’s hunger. Also Read - Glaucoma in India: Silent thief of sight, risk factors, early detection and treatment options

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It Helps In Development Of The Facial Muscles

Though this can be achieved by breastfeeding alone, but more suckling at the breast helps in better mouth and jaw development.

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It Establishes The Mother Baby Bond

Idle sucking is not all that bad. It helps in more skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the baby and hence helps to bond better. This in turn also helps in better breastfeeding and boasts immunity. That’s also why a breast crawl helps an infant to connect with the mother. Read more about to know how a breast crawl helps.  Also Read - Sonia Gandhi Health News LIVE: Congress leader hospitalised with severe infection, son Rahul Gandhi cancels Kerala visit | Key highlights