Breastfeeding Support

Why Babies Don’t Swallow the Entire Time They’re Breastfeeding

At some point early on, most families I’ve worked with have been told…

Baby latched and suckling at the breast during breastfeeding

“Your baby should be actively sucking and swallowing the entire time they are breastfeeding.”
“Your baby is being lazy at the breast when they’re just suckling and not swallowing.”
“Your baby is not really doing anything if they aren’t doing big sucks and swallows.”
“If they’re sleeping while suckling at the breast then they’re not taking any milk out.”
“Your baby is just using you as a pacifier.”

And therefore, they should just take baby off the breast if they’re not actually drinking.

Let me be very clear…

ALL of these are normal and expected infant behaviors while breastfeeding.

Let’s talk about how breasts function to allow baby access to milk to better understand why the above happens due to the breasts and not because baby is doing something wrong.

Many people assume that once baby is latched on, they automatically have access to the milk and continuous flow the entire time. If that were true, breastfeeding mothers would be constantly leaking, day and night, for years – during pregnancy, post birth, and long after weaning.

Luckily, it doesn’t work that way.

Why babies suckle but aren’t swallowing

Baby must latch and begin suckling to start the flow. This stimulates nerves in the nipple and areola areas, which sends a message to mom’s brain that baby is on the breast (“Oh, I should do something about this!”).

This then triggers the release of the hormone oxytocin from the posterior pituitary gland into mom’s bloodstream, which makes its way to the breast tissue. Once there, the oxytocin signals the smooth muscles that surround the milk glands and line the milk ducts to contract. This is what squeezes the milk through the ducts so baby can now suck and swallow.

As an IBCLC, we call this the Milk Ejection Reflex (MER), but most parents are familiar with the term “the let-down”.

Now, you may be saying “I’ve already heard this”, but rarely do families I work with know this next part…

The let-down is not a faucet or a tap that once baby turns on, it stays on

Newborn breastfeeding peacefully during a milk let-down

Baby does not have constant access to milk while breastfeeding. After that burst of oxytocin is out of the bloodstream, the milk stops flowing. When this happens, baby goes back to the smaller suckling action, triggering another burst of oxytocin from the brain, leading to another let-down. This process repeats and repeats and repeats until baby is full.

Think of it less like an on-and-off light switch and more like a motion-sensor light – these require movement to turn on, stay on briefly, then need new movement to retrigger the lights to turn on again. Breastfeeding is a cycle that requires stimulation to activate milk flow. As long as baby is suckling, they’re trying to trigger another let-down of milk.

Let baby stay on the breast!
Suckling = stimulation
Swallowing = milk flow

What about when baby falls asleep at the breast?

This is also normal and expected behavior! Remember, newborns need tons of sleep so they may doze off. But so long as baby is still suckling, let them stay on the breast. When baby is full, they will either let the nipple fall out of their mouth or stop suckling for 2-3 minutes (once suckling stops for longer than a minute, milk flow will also stop).

Remember, your baby is not lazy, not worn out, and not using you like a pacifier. Baby just can’t swallow if there’s no milk coming out, so they must stay latched on and keep suckling until they are full.

So, enjoy these sweet moments with your little one cuddled up, nursing the day away as they should. 😊