Kittens suckling on one another

I sure hope this is the right place to put this.

Hi all! It's the crazy cat lady from Brazil with 5 new additions that we got dropped off by our gate. Back story: In a little box outside our gate were 4 little kittens that we estimate weren't more than a month old. This was Dec. 1. They are very healthy and happy, playful and rambunctious. We have no idea who left them or where the mother is. We've vet checked them and all are doing well. Fast forward to last Friday when we go to my gf's parents and they have 1 little siamese kitten (Azul) whose mother was run over by a car in front of their place. She is approximately the same age as our new ones. So, they ask us to bring her home to live with ours and have other kitties around her. We do and she actually fit right in. No problems in the least. Now, our problem...

The kitties that we had previously are suckling on the new baby. I realize that they didn't get a chance to wean at all, but it's just her that they've chosen. I'm very worried about her skin and I know they shouldn't be doing it in any case. They are eating kitten kibble and also the occasional wet food. So they aren't hungry, it's more of a comfort thing, but Azul doesn't do it to anyone else. Is there anything I can do to deter them from this? I worry about the outcome if they continue. Azul will more than likely have some hair loss and the babies won't be properly weaned. Any advice?

Thank you so very much in advance and a happy holidays to all my friends old and new!

Usually if they are suckling one, they are suckling others. The males are usually the target. It is unhealthy and can cause some bad problems so they need to be separated. They generally will suckle on each other at night when you are sleeping and don't know they are doing it. But it can cause toxins to build up in their body as urine and stool are sucreted as the body responds to the actions.

www.kitten-rescue.com addresses this issue and please do separate them. I have seen a lot of grief come from litters when people allow their kittens to suckle each other

I thank you for your reply. It is going to be extremely hard to separate them as they are approaching 2 months old and are entirely mobile. If they were small I would take the advice of the site you gave me and put them in a container with partitions. This is not possible at this stage. My vet today gave me a topical ointment that is meant to taste bad, but is non-toxic, made for situations such as these. They are already avoiding suckling her and actually have no interest in doing so with each other in the interim. I'm a chronic insomniac, so I only sleep for around 2 hours a night and my gf is up when I'm catching those moments of shut eye, so they are watched consistently. We will see how this goes with the ointment. It's akin to bitter apple, but is something from here in Brazil.

Again, I thank you for your reply and the link to the website. I'm sure it will come in handy as there are so many kittens that seem to come through our door down here.