Lame... sometimes it just takes the right person. I've had experience people spend an hour on my arms before resorting to fingersticks, and had others just walk right up and find it on the first try.

I don't know if this is the same for babies (probably not) but I actually have worse luck with the butterfly needles than I do with the tree-trunks. They think that a smaller needle hurts less, but for some reason it also makes the vein roll more, if they are prone to that.

And what hurts less, having a more painful stick for a short period of time, or have someone try to play the violin on my veins for half an hour trying to *find* the vein... I go with the bigger needle.