<But I do think they could be receiving their own mother's milk, even just trickled into the corner of their mouth so you're doing nothing to mess up their suck. This protects the lactation (my original aim) and keeps the baby in good condition without unduly harming him.> Denise, Tell us more. As this thread is starting to develop, I find myself thinking of those actions that cupfeeding a newborn stimulates. A mom is usually thrilled to see that "there is something there". Even if that one drop of colostrum dried on the nipple, it might still have an odor and taste that would stimulate the baby to lick eventually. Even this would be teaching him/her that extending the tongue might bring some kind of reward. All this could be "killing two birds with one stone" in that more moms would learn fingertip extraction (versus waiting till breast is full enough to massage and leak with MER's, which is what I recently saw labeled "hand expression" on a highly advertised training video for HCP's.). It would also give the mother a chance to practice it and be expert before she leaves, which, if done regularly and frequently, as you say, would tend to protect the lactation, partly because it helps to stimulate MER's, moving milk forward out of the alveoli, which favors production. I would like to see how many others, at least in the hospital/first 24-48 hours are using this idea, and perhaps encourage others to try it out and discuss their experience. Jean ********* K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC Dayton, Ohio USA *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html