Breastfeeding Review vol 11 number 1 2003: Implementing the baby 
friendly hospital initiative, the role of fingerfeeding (Oddy and Glenn).

They substituted fingerfeeding for bottle supplements for bf preterm 
infants who were unable to meet all their nutritional needs at breast, 
and the percentage of infants discharged exclusively bf increased 
substantially. Small samples (less than 20 infants in each group) but 
not ridiculously small.
It's a start.

There are also several articles that show improved feeding after oral 
digital stimulation (finger in mouth exercises) in hospitalized and 
preterm infants that allow us to extrapolate that fingerfeeding is a 
reasonable thing to do for infants who need the proprioceptive input or 
help with tongue movements.
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC

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