Young Writers Society

Hey, all. Fire here with a couple of scientific inquiries.

First of all, about how long do women nurse their babies for? And second, is there any way to force an unconscious person to nurse? Or if not, what are some ways of getting the right nutrition into that person?

The reason I ask is I just found some writing from "The Touch" and want to revise it so as to be as accurate as possible.

That depends on how much milk they are producing, a female can keep going as long as there is something left, and babies are always hungry, as for how long each session goes for depends on the baby, but I believe doctors suggest you stop at 20 minutes (and spread out between a period of 2-4 or more hours between each feeding), and often babies will start and stop from anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes of suckling.

If they are producing milk, yes, those things don't only fire on command when the owner is aware and willing, they are constantly producing and just like any other animal, simple pressure can push it out. Of it you mean make a sleeping baby nurse, I recall it said suckling is a reflexive action, so it may be possible when the baby is asleep, if not, there are many ways to force liquids and foods down a human, the easy way is a tube, one hard way is to encourage the swallowing reflex humans all have.

Thanks, Zolen. You've given me quite a bit to think about.

Zolen's correct on length of time. Also, if you want to know what age the child is when the mother stops, the average is anywhere between six months and two years.

A sleeping baby will nurse. An unconscious baby will not (there's a difference!). To feed an unconscious baby, doctors will use an IV drip in the hand, or syringes to shoot it down the baby's throat (generally, I think this method is far less preferred, and I'm not even sure if it's practiced anymore by medical professionals) If your story takes places before IV drips were invented, they'd coax it into the baby's mouth and rub its throat to induce a swallowing reflex. Chances are, though, that the baby won't survive.

Actually the character in question is a teenager. I just wanted to know if the story was feasible, supposing they find a mother who just lost her child (that would be Kalen).

As in, if milk production continues when the person with milk producing breasts is unconscious?