Bonnie, I think the 2 most important components of fingerfeeding are the correct positioning of the stimulus at the junction of the hard and soft palate (most bottle nipples are too short) and the precise match of flow to the baby's sucking effort - many babies can effortlessly get milk from a bottle, but fingerfeeding, done properly, delivers milk when the baby sucks and not between sucks. I like a 5 french feeding tube on a 30cc syringe for fingerfeeding because it is easy to match the fluid delivery to the baby's suck pattern. I agree that the finger is also a discrete shape. I prefer having parents stimulate the baby's lip and tonguetip with either the finger or bottle nipple to encourage the baby to draw them into the mouth, rather than shove a preformed shape into the mouth. I suspect the way the feeding implement is presented is as important as what it is... -- Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC NYC [log in to unmask]