Linda said: I remind them that baby has been sucking on his fingers for nearly 9 months and they are a source of comfort and pleasure. This may be a plus or minus in the parent's mind...they DON'T want babies to get "in the habit" of finger sucking for comfort or pleasure - so hand mits discussed in this context may actually ENCOURAGE their use rather than discourage it. I usually explain the importance of all senses for the baby - they need to feel with their hands, and need to feel that when they touch their own face it feels different (two places of contact, hand and face) vs. when they touch mom's breast. All this being entered into their brains making different connections. Experimentation is better if all the tools are available rather than if you cover one (I even have compared it to covering baby's eyes - as that seems to be a big deal to us all - we WANT our babies to look at us. Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC California *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html