OK everyone, here, open to be sat upon....

So, what is wrong with the term non-nutritive sucking?  In my practice, I try
to describe to the moms the difference between the baby breastfeeding, as in
"I'm hungry, let's do lunch" and nursing, as in "This is the most wonderful
place in the world to be, and I just want to hang out for awhile."  Moms need
to understand that there is a difference; one results in milk transfer, the
other doesn't.  Not all 'being at the breast' is eating, and just because a
baby wants to go to the breast frequently and stay there for a long time
means she doesn't have enough milk.  Babies go to the breast for three
reasons:  1 - "Mommy, I'm hungry, I need to eat."  2 - "Mommy, I'm thirsty, I
need a drink", and 3 - "Mommy, I'm tired, lonely, upset, confused,
happy...and I just want to be with you.  Or, I need to nurse to center
down...or, I'm homesick for you, and this is the closest I can get to be back
in the womb, or, Don't put me in that crib, I want to be with you...."

All three reasons are perfectly valid, and all can be satisfied by putting
the baby to the breast.  But that doesn't negate the fact that there is
non-nutritive sucking.  A woman who is told that her baby must "breastfeed"
for 10 minutes on each side, and who has a baby that breastfeeds for 3
minutes & hangs out for 7 has fulfilled the 'letter of the law' -- the baby
has been on the breast for 10 minutes, but has he breastfed, or has he
nursed?  Has there been milk transfer?  What about a baby who is at the
breast for an hour, and mom ends up supplementing because "he ate for an hour
and was still hungry"  Perhaps he isn't 'eating.'  If a baby is getting
plenty of milk and pooping and peeing and doing all he should, it really
doesn't matter what is happening at the breast as long as mom & baby are
happy.  But a baby that is at the breast for an hour at a time and isn't
effecting milk transfer needs to be looked into.  And mom needs to know the
difference.... and they really need to know it is perfectly OK for a baby to
"hang out."  (And I hate the term 'use me as a pacifier' because I agree
there are lots of things going on when a baby is nursing -- I do tell them,
"better that than the baby using the pacifier as a mom.")

Jan B -- getting off her 102nd soapbox, and who believes in non-nutritive
sucking and that it is perfectly OK.  Or is it a matter of defining our
terms???