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| |    Thumb-sucking In Breast-fed Babies by Dr. Benjamin Spock reviewed and revised by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. I have the impression that breast-fed babies are less apt to be thumb-suckers. This is probably true because mothers are inclined to let them go on nursing as long as they want to. The breast is never completely empty, so the mother leaves it up to the baby. When a baby finishes a bottle, it's done. He stops because he doesn't like to suck air or because his parent takes away the bottle. The first question, then, about a breast-fed baby who is trying to suck his thumb is this: Would he nurse longer if allowed to? If so, let him nurse for 30 or even 40 minutes at times if this is convenient for you. (To go beyond 40 minutes is too time-consuming.) A baby gets most of the milk from a breast in the first 10 to 15 minutes. The rest of the time he's satisfying his craving to suck, lured on by a small trickle of milk. In other words, if he nurses for 35 minutes, he gets only slightly more milk than if he had nursed for 20. A breast-fed baby, allowed to nurse as long as he wants, may vary surprisingly. He may be satisfied with 10 minutes at one feeding and want as much as 40 minutes at another. This is an example of how breast-feeding is adaptable to a baby's individual needs. If a baby being nursed on one breast at each feeding doesn't want to nurse any longer, there's nothing that you can do to make him. But if he is getting both breasts at each feeding and begins to suck his thumb, you can try two methods to make him nurse longer. See if he can be satisfied with one breast at each feeding, nursing as long as he will. If his hunger can't be satisfied that way, then at least let him nurse longer at the first breast. Instead of taking him off in 10 minutes, let him stay on for 20, if he will. Then put him to the second breast for as long as he wants.
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