<< Also, it's been my experience that tongue suckers are almost always
 black.  Rarely do I see the behavior in white or oriental babes.  Any
 ideas why?? >>

Not in my experience.  I've seen tongue suckers in all sorts of babies.  I
encourage mom & dad to have the baby suck on their fingers -- first pinkie,
then middle, then thumb then graduate to dad's pinkie, middle, thumb (if his
hands are bigger).  The problem with pacifiers (among myriad others) is that
although they may have a big bulb on them, they taper to a small stem, so the
baby's mouth is still around something tiny, rather than something larger.
 (I hope that made sense).  I also use a lot of verbal reinforcement -- open,
open, wider, wider.  (Except for the one Chinese baby I had -- I figured he
didn't know English, so we worked with him in Chinese).

Jan B