Research by Nyquist and colleagues suggests
that infants are able to root, latch, and
have effective areolar grasp as early as 28
weeks when they have had maximal exposure
time to the breast.59 Infants in this study responded
on the first occasion of contact with
the mother’s breast with rooting and sucking
behavior regardless of birth gestational
age or postmenstrual age. These researchers
noted nutritive sucking from about 30 weeks
gestation and repeated bursts of more than
10 sucks and maximum bursts of more than
30 sucks at 32 weeks.