Is anyone else out there bothered by this terminology when it is applied to breastfeeding? I believe the origin might have been the "illness" model; when premies were being gavage fed, they were also given pacifiers to suck on ("non-nutritive" sucking) bec. digestion worked better when they sucked, even though no food was being obtained by the suck. Or, using a "wellness" model, bottlefed babies need to suck "non-nutritively" because they don't spend enough sucking time while feeding, since the feed is over too quickly. I don't think this applies to breastfeeding, and it may be confusing to some. Breastfeeding, nutrition and sucking all tied up in one neat package.... Pearl Shifer, M.Ed., IBCLC [log in to unmask]