On Monday I wrote about the importance of recognizing sucking and swallowing in figuring out what your baby is doing at the breast. It's how you can figure out if your baby is eating or nursing for comfort.* I think that this is more helpful than the common advice to wait until your baby comes off the breast on his or her own.
So, I thought I'd post two videos of a babies who are doing some of both.
In the first video you see a baby who taking several sucks and then a swallow, with some pauses. The sucks are the more rapid, shorter jaw movements. The swallows are the longer, slower jaw movements, with a tiny pause when the jaw gets to the bottom.
In the second video you see a baby who is doing solid swallowing, with very few sucks. I'm posting this one because you can really hear the swallows. Some babies are very noisy eaters, and I can hear the swallows from across the room. Others are so quiet I have to get my ear right up next to the baby's mouth. But either way, the sound of swallowing is good to recognize.
Both these videos were taken at the Jack Newman Breastfeeding Clinic and Institute in Toronto.
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*Please see Monday's post for some situations in which this wouldn't apply.
