Adult nursing is a **paraphilia in which pleasure is experienced from lactation, breastfeeding, and suckling. Many people feel it is one of the few "female centered" fetishes, though some resist the term fetish, thinking the word has negative connotations.

**In psychology and sexology, paraphilia (in Greek para παρά = besides and '-philia' φιλία = love) is a term that describes sexual arousal.  Paraphilia may also be used to imply non-mainstream sexual practices without necessarily implying any dysfunction or moral deviance

Interest in adult breastfeeding sometimes occurs during the post-partum weaning period. During this period, some women may miss the pleasurable feelings they get from breast feeding infants. The behavior is sometimes increased after a partner communicates being aroused and contented during breast feeding. Other times, couples find that lactating breasts are an issue when recommencing sexual relations after pregnancy, and may incorporate it into their sexual practices. Some women, who have never had children, become interested in adult breastfeeding to experience the sensations associated with breastfeeding. Men may discover that pleasure is received when trying to relieve a woman of the discomfort of an excess of milk in her breasts. Some men report a desire to experience adult nursing because of not being breastfed as infants, while others claim it is because they were breastfed for several years as children. 

A complaint of practitioners is that adult nursing has almost no presence in publishing when compared to other sexual practices or paraphilia.  

While some couples feel the need to nurse is purely sexual, others take comfort in a view that the act is loving and romantic. Women sometimes report feeling pleasant uterine contractions. Some may even attain an orgasm from the suckling of their nipples.

Though most freely admit it is at least partly a sexual practice, many say it is far more than just sexual given the necessary closeness needed to maintain flow. The level of interdependency needed in such a relationship is, according to practitioners, a necessary condition, and a consequence of, including lactation in a partnered relationship. Couples who engage in adult breast feeding report that it leads to a very close, and mutually dependent, relationship because a frequent schedule of breast feeding is needed to keep milk flowing, and to prevent too much milk in the woman's breasts. Those couples who find the pleasure purely from the quiet intimacy may refer to themselves as purists in adult nursing.

Some women report that breast feeding in an adult relationship invoke more feelings of intimacy and fulfillment, helps make them feel more feminine, and may even cause experiences similar to the higher state of consciousness achieved in yoga or meditation. These feelings may be attributed to a change in the balance of a woman's body chemistry, particularly in the balance of chemical neurotransmitters in her brain. The oxytocin released by lactation is sometimes referred to as the bonding hormone and may promote a sexual response in women. The prolactin hormone that is stimulated by lactation suppresses the sex drive, though the effects of the hormonal change differ among women.

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