Comfort nursing in the older baby

[mrs.t]

My 8 mo DS will comfort nurse at night, long after the breast is drained. If I stay in place, he will continue to suckle on and off forever. Sometimes I need to go to the bathroom or something...so I break the suction and go do whatever, and he stays asleep. I wonder though, is this bad for my supply? Is the comfort nursing "putting in an order" for more milk? He is still nursing every 2-3 hours, day and night. He seems content enough, I would never pull away if he was still hungry or if I was still leaking milk. What do you think?

[sapphire_chan]

I think you'd be fine pulling away sooner. Even breaking the latch with a finger. If he really needs more nursing, he'll root himself right back onto the nipple, or squawk at you, but I'm betting he'll mostly just keep on sleeping.

My dd gets where she'll basically twiddle my nipple with her mouth in her sleep. She's not nursing at all, has no problems whatsoever when I break the latch, but she just won't let go by herself. With her, I can watch for long pauses between sucks and that's the sign that I can slip away.

The other thing I've noticed is that she ends up on just the nipple with no areola so there's no real stimulation for milk production going on.

I also think it's not a suckling need because she doesn't continue to try to suck things once the breast is gone.

[PatioGardener]

Mine (8 months) does the same thing.  I actually pulled away about 5 minutes ago to come and read MDC!