From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsucklingsuck‧ling /ˈsʌklɪŋ/ noun [countable] literaryHBHHBA a young human or animal still taking milk from its mother
Examples from the Corpus
suckling• While females are reproducing and suckling, males remain programmed to hunt and to defend their patch against predators.• The young are visited by the alpha female only for suckling.• Their tails wiggle furiously like suckling piglets in their effort to hold against a current many times bigger than them.• Her eyes flutter against closed lids, and her mouth opens and closes as she dreams of suckling.• If left untreated, they stop suckling and quickly get weakened.• The suckling pup may also be infected by ingestion of L3 in the milk during the first three weeks of lactation.• Kittens first purr while suckling when they are a few days old.Origin suckling (1200-1300) suck 