Five experiments were designed to investigate factors affecting the creep feeding of suckling piglets and a preliminary method to monitor the creep feeding of suckling piglets was developed. In experiment 1, neonatal viability and creep feeding behaviour on d 14-15 were monitored. Birth weight rather than birth order affected the neonatal viability in terms of cumulative suck number (P< 0.01). The lighter piglets at birth went to contact the feeder faster (P< 0.10), but tended to touch the food slower (P< 0.10) on dl4 when creep food was introduced. Neither birth weight or birth order affected the creep feeding behaviour over 24 hours on d 14-15. The relationship between neonatal viability and creep feeding behaviour was not consistent and clear. In Experiment 2 and 3 the effect of hunger was studied after piglets were made hungry by preventing nursing twice. The hungry piglets showed more foraging behaviour (P< 0.05) and more general activity (P< 0.05) when they first encountered creep food in the test pen on dl7. More of the hungry piglets in Experiment 2 ate creep food in the test pen than those not hungry (P< 0.05). However these effects were not repeated on the following day. Food type did not affect any foraging behaviour and general activity in Experiment 3. In the Experiments 2 and 3, after the test until the weaning day on d28, creep food intake varied between litters but neither feeding time nor growth of piglets varied amongst treatments. There was no clear correlation between the foraging behaviour in the test pen and the creep feeding behaviour in the home pen.