Babies are definitely hardwired to be attracted by the contrast of skin / areola on the female breast. Once they have targeted this contrast, they will do a very typical (also hardwired) "search" for the nipple: they come very close to the breast, open their mouth, do exploratory sucking via fast breathing, and quickly move their head left and right until they have "docked" on the breast. They start doing this minutes after birth (they are also hardwired to search for the breast when placed on the mother right after birth), and stop once their sensory systems are fully developed and they have learned how mom looks, how mom smells, and where mom's breast is (after 1-2 months). On my own child, I even noticed how it once mistook the snout of a teddy bear for a female breast.
The "will suck at anything" instinct is IMHO a fall-back mechanism if for some reason a female breast is not available.
Here's a source for the above claim that I found after looking this up:
>During pregnancy, the nipple has become more pigmented 68 and is easy for the newborn infant to discover (Fig. 1C). We have observed that soon after birth, the areola expands and takes a bulb-like shape (Fig. 1G). The Montgomery glands also become more pronounced (Fig. 1G). The scent of areolar secretions has been linked to behavioural responses, such as head turning 69 and directional crawling in newborn infants 70. This release of the breast odour by the Montgomery glands is known to help the newborn infant find the nipple 17, 27, 69. The newborn infant recognises the scent of the mother's breast from the amniotic fluid 71, touches the breast and transmits the taste of the breast to the mouth (hand-to-breast-mouth movements) 17. This stimulates rooting and crawling movements in the newborn infant to reach the nipple. The connection between the taste of amniotic fluid and the scent of the breast from the Montgomery glands highlights a biological survival mechanism – a pathway of flavour with lifelong consequences. (Fig. 3) (17, 71-80) When knowing of this sensitive odour-dependent mechanism, it might be wise not to interfere with unfamiliar hands.[0]
lqet|1 year ago
The "will suck at anything" instinct is IMHO a fall-back mechanism if for some reason a female breast is not available.
fngjdflmdflg|1 year ago
>During pregnancy, the nipple has become more pigmented 68 and is easy for the newborn infant to discover (Fig. 1C). We have observed that soon after birth, the areola expands and takes a bulb-like shape (Fig. 1G). The Montgomery glands also become more pronounced (Fig. 1G). The scent of areolar secretions has been linked to behavioural responses, such as head turning 69 and directional crawling in newborn infants 70. This release of the breast odour by the Montgomery glands is known to help the newborn infant find the nipple 17, 27, 69. The newborn infant recognises the scent of the mother's breast from the amniotic fluid 71, touches the breast and transmits the taste of the breast to the mouth (hand-to-breast-mouth movements) 17. This stimulates rooting and crawling movements in the newborn infant to reach the nipple. The connection between the taste of amniotic fluid and the scent of the breast from the Montgomery glands highlights a biological survival mechanism – a pathway of flavour with lifelong consequences. (Fig. 3) (17, 71-80) When knowing of this sensitive odour-dependent mechanism, it might be wise not to interfere with unfamiliar hands.[0]
[0] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apa.14754
viraptor|1 year ago