Terry and Louise - I've seen tongue-sucking in babies of all shades!  I've
also seen two distinct variations - babies who do it before getting on to
the breast, and those who do it when they *seem* to be already well latched
(cheeks hollow in, no swallowing, mom can't feel anything - you can test for
this by slowly drawing the baby away from the breast, those little jaws keep
going up and down even with a l cm space between baby and breast, mom finds
it fascinating!) It seems to me there is more tongue-sucking in babies who
have had delays for some reason in the first breastfeed.  I teach the mom
how to suck-train before offering the breast, suggest spoon-feed EBM to keep
baby calm and happy and keep offering the breast (tickle baby's lower lip
with the nipple to bring the tongue down while he gapes) until he learns
what to do.  My observation is that if the mother provides continuous
contact with the nipple on the baby's lips the baby is more likely to
tongue-suck (he thinks he's already on the breast), whereas if she gives a
little tickle and holds the baby slightly *away* then this is more likely to
stimulate the gape - there's a small time-lag before the baby realizes the
breast is not there and he "looks" for it with a wide open mouth.  At this
point the rapid arm movement needs to be *very* rapid to catch that gape.  I
sometimes find that new mothers are a little hesitant so I place my hands
over the mother's (one hand behind the baby's shoulders, the other
supporting the breast) and show her how fast the r-a-m has to be.  Hope you
can "see" what I'm trying to describe!

Pamela, Zimbabwe