Others holding breastfed baby...

[Tee25]

Sometimes when other people hold my dd she starts to kind of root near their breast. I'm sure at those times she may be getting hungry but doesn't she know the difference in smells between me and other people? Will she always do this? And why do other people start to freak out when the baby does that? lol Just curious.

btw: My dd is 3 months old.

[Gentle~Mommy :)]

My sons (both of them) did this, most people thought it was adorable and quickly handed them back lol

[Marlet]

Saw this on new posts.

Both my kiddos only did it with people SIMILAR to me...whether that was smell or warmth or breast size. My girls REALLY loved my mom for that reason...they would start out with rooting, realize it wasn't me, and then genuinely cuddle in. Those suckers must be like the snuggli blankets you can buy. :

It stopped around 6ish months though if I remember right. Generally right around that truely alert phase when personalities start coming out and they know people (i.e when you'd stop calling them a newborn/infant and start saying baby).

[ASusan]

If it bothers them or you, you can suggest they hold DC in a position other than the classic nursing cradle.

[1stBabyAt39]

My 2.5 month old DD has done that to both my husband and his (also male) cousin! She left little spit marks on their shirts. Heh heh.

[Rivka5]

My 7-month-old thrust his hand inside my friend's shirt at a party on Saturday. Fortunately, she just laughed it off and told him she didn't have any of what he was looking for.

[LadyCatherine185]

they do it because when they are hungry, their biological reaction is to root and suck to get food.

[justKate]

DD's rooting on other people seemed to peak around 3-4 mos, when she figured out that she could actively seek out food but still didn't realize that I was the only one giving it to her.

Now at seven months she still explores peoples' shirts, but I think it is because she thinks its okay from always exploring mine and Daddy's. She will root on others when she's tired and looking to comfort nurse, and will sometimes comfort nurse on Daddy's belly when he's rocking her.

[asoulunbound]

I personally think babies have a pretty good sense of their mom/dads etc pretty early on. Especially their smell.
I think my dd still does this on a rare occasion w her daddy- she's 10.5 mths. Your dd won't always root anytime anywhere lol.

I think it tends to freak out people who aren't as comfortable/familiar w breastfeeding and babies in general. My husband works on cars and when his friends stopped by when dd was super tiny, she'd try to latch on to everyone who came through the doors it seemed, and it freaked out the guys who'd never ever seen a baby that tiny irl the most. But their gfs (or the guys who had been around babies) didn't seem as bothered by it. We encouraged those who we thought might be bothered by it to not hold her close to their chest. You know, like hold her facing out or something. Just a thought.

[paquerette]

Mine have pulled people's shirts down!

[prothyraia]

Infants can definitely tell who their mother is by sense of smell.

But a boob is a boob, and if you're hungry and one is right there, why be picky?

Back in the olden days before formula, if a lactating female friend or relative was holding your baby while you went off to have a pee or something, and the baby was hungry, she probably just fed the baby.

[catters]

One of my friend's twins did this to me when I was holding her. She was just over five months and her mother had stopped BFing them. I was still nursing my son who was the same age, so I guess she could smell me. I was almost overwhelmed with the urge to nurse her!! LOL

[*Erin*]

another "my babies did that too" comment here
my little ds, 20 months, just the other day, put a hand on my mom's boob and smiled up at her and said, "mi-mi"-she laughed so hard...and told him hers were merely decoy mi-mis..
lmao

[viviensmama]

Heh, I think all babies must do this. Mine only does it when held in the positions wee use for nursing. It doesn't seem to matter if she is anywhere near an actual breast though. If she is stretched out on her boppy in my lap she'll root around on my tummy.

[ursusarctos]

Haha! My DP's sister's newborn did that to me and it was adorable. I then quickly handed him back to his mother so he could get what he was looking for