This Is Why Some Babies Latch Onto Their Dad's Nipples

Sometimes babies just need a little comfort which can often be provided by latching on to their dad's nipples - despite there being no milk.

It is usually just recognised as female breasts that babies latch onto, but sometimes men also allow their babies to latch onto them, not for milk but for comfort.

Twitter user @SlimeBallDuke_ soon realised this when he posted a video on social media of his daughter latching on to his nipple.

He thought his daughter had got a bit confused and wrote: "Baby girl was OBVIOUSLY confused [sic]," with a few crying emojis, but it turns out babies sometimes do this just for comfort.

Some Twitter users informed the dad that although it might seem a bit strange, it is actually quite common and the babies aren't doing it to feed themselves as they just need a little bit of comfort and love.

One user wrote: "Sometimes babies don't find the nipple for food, sometimes they just want to latch for comfort [sic]."

Another added: "Someone said its a pacifier but yes she is comfort nursing. She know ain't no milk coming out."

It turns out though that dads have been confused about their babies latching on to them for a while, and this Reddit thread was posted by a dad asking if it was normal or whether he was just being 'weird'.

He said that he often tries it out of desperation when his baby won't stop crying. He joked that sometimes she doesn't want to latch on, putting it down to him being hairier than his wife.

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Fellow parents were encouraging of the dad in the comments, and one wrote: "I don't think it's very common, but really, whatever works, right? If it soothes her and you don't mind, I'm not going to judge [sic]."

One mum also said: "My husband was curious about it and let our two-week-old latch onto his nipple, and immediately yelped in pain hahaha.

"I don't think its that weird, kind of cute [sic]!"

However, some seemed more concerned about the body hair situation. One user wrote: "My nips are pretty hairy. I think the baby avoids them when I do skin to skin because of this."

Despite the idea of babies latching onto their dads not really taking off in the west, the men of the African Aka tribe will dry-nurse their babies while the women hunt.

Either way, as long as baby and parents are happy then it's best to do whatever suits you as a family.

Topics: Life News, Parenting, Real Life

Mark Cunliffe

Mark is a writer at LADbible with a creative writing background and a history working at some of Manchester's biggest agencies. He loves football and music that screams a lot.

@mark_cunliffe