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Friday, July 03, 2009

Re: [AlpacaTalk] Bottle baby



Thanks Heather! The Evans book isn't very specific about when and how much past the early part of cria-hood. I'd love to get her to higher amounts less frequently, but....like you, don't want her going hungry and trying to see how much she can get Mom to produce. Her IgG was very low, but she had 12 oz of bovine colostrum, so I'm hoping that was enough to do the trick -- and from all appearances now, it looks like she's doing fine. I'll be able to watch a little closer beginning this afternoon since my daughter and her family have been here for over a week. I just haven't had time to sit and watch, but several days ago, I'd catch baby on Mm nearly every time I went out to the barn/pasture. I think she's doing her part, but I'm concerned that Mom's 'fat' status has impacted her milk supply. Then again, her mother didn't milk so well with her, but the 2 babies since she's been a good producer. Keep your fingers crossed for us! At least this baby sucks the bottles down without any fight or fuss....she comes running when she sees come into the pasture -- it takes longer to heat the milk, put some yogurt in and walk out there than for her drink it........so feeding is easy -- not going to complain!
 
thanks again!
Susan
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, July 03, 2009 12:04 AM
Subject: Re: [AlpacaTalk] Bottle baby

Well, my bottle baby refuses to nurse from mama, even though mama has tons of milk. Ever heard of a baby rejecting the mother?


Mine is also 2 weeks old, tomorrow. She's up to  over 1/2 gallon of milk replacer and gaining almost 1/2 lb a day. I feed her every two hours, and she drinks till her belly is about to pop. In fact, I put a hernia belt on her because she was stretching her belly so much, it was stretching the umbilical opening. It might be ok to take it off tomorrow.

That is a fine balancing act, with a baby and a mom with low milk production. You don't want baby to go without, but you also want to make baby nurse from mama to stimulate as much milk production as possible. You can try to cut back either volume or intervals, and continue to weigh her daily. I wouldn't let her weight gain drop below 1/4 lb per day while you're trying to get mama's milk production ramped up. And you may have to do it for a few to several days. By then you should know if you need to go back to higher amounts of bottle feeding or if mama can handle it from there. :)


Best of luck!
Heather




On Jul 2, 2009, at 8:31 PM, Susan Forman wrote:




Hi Folks:
I have my first bottle baby -- oh yeah.....NOT! She will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and is taking a total of about 36 oz. from me daily. She's been gaining roughly 1/2 lb a day, but that varies. I'm currently giving her about 5 oz milk and about 1 of yogurt every 3 hours during the day, but would really love to get her to feedings every 6 hours as soon as possible. She does nurse from Mom, but clearly not getting much from her. I've given Mom a bag of herbal supplement, but she's been overweight, is a maiden and I'm just not sure she's going to have milk for this baby. So, at 2 weeks of age, what would the recommendation be for intervals of feeding and amounts? Would it be okay to try dropping the amount she gets and hoping Mom fills in the rest? She's been doing well and I don't want to upset things, but 3 hourly feedings are starting to get old!........but of course, I'll do whatever it takes.
Thanks,
susan
 
Susan Forman
Dewey Morning Alpacas
Washington Court House, OH 43160
740-636-1899
http://www.alpacanation.com/deweymorning.asp
Home of Huey, Louie, and Dewey!

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posted by Chaddo at 4:37 AM

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