I would be worried if she were mine! Concerned, anyway. My advice is
to not give up on bottle feeding. We use Pritchard nipples, and
sometimes it does take quite a bit of time for the baby to learn to
use it and to accept it. If you dam truly has no milk, if the cria is
to live, she must learn to take the bottle. And, if mama truly
doesn't have any milk, she will do so.
I can't comment on other's recipes, but ours for newborns is 4 oz
heavy whipping cream in a quart sized container and fill with whole
milk. You can use cow milk, we do, or if you prefer, use certified
Johne's disease free goat milk. I don't know if CL is transmitted via
milk, but you might want to check on that too, if you choose to use
goat milk. We also add 2 oz of live yogurt for the first month or so
for the probiotics. I wouldn't add Karo syrup to the formula
especially, but it is definitely something to consider to give her a
dab on the tongue to get her energy levels up, so she can nurse, even
if it is from the bottle. We like to only make up enough formula for
one day's use, especially when we use yogurt, since the live yogurt
will start to culture the rest of the milk and baby won't take it.
Or, just add the yogurt to each bottle as you get it ready for
feeding. Newborn crias usually don't take more than 3 or 4 ounces at
a feeding, at first. Once they get the hang of it, they will increase
their intake. And, newborns should be fed at least 4-6 times a day.
Our bottle baby is now 4 months old and is down to 3 feedings per day.
Also, we don't heat our bottle in a double boiler, we just put the
bottle in larger container full of hot tap water and let it sit until
warm enough.
Crias do go from one nipple to another while nursing. That is
perfectly normal.
Oh, consider getting some dairy quality alfalfa hay for your dam and
feed about 1 lb per day to her. That can sometimes help milk production.
I used to havea dam who had very low milk production. She made barely
enough to keep her crias going! They were all very skinny compared to
the other crias, and the all refused to take a bottle because they
were getting some from mom. So I supplemented with weekly doses of
ADEB paste. Another reason I prefer paste to injections is that the
ADEB paste provides some more calories and often, some probiotics as
well. We get ours from Valleyvet.com
Oh, nursemate for goats or kids is definitely something to give to
your cria. It's available also at Valley Vet, and most feed stores
will carry it or something like it.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
Heather
On Jan 4, 2009, at 1:29 PM, houckj@aol.com wrote:
> I have noticed that mama doesn't seem to stand still long enough for
> baby to get a good drink; the first several days she did, she would
> stand for long periods of time. I have tried not to be a worry wart
> and
> figure they know what they are doing. But today, day 6, I saw Merry
> laying out in the hay, where she often is laying while the others are
> eating, but something made me walk out there to check on her. Mama and
> everyone else were standing around eating. Merry did not lift her
> head,
> nor try to stand when I approached (and she is very skittish). I
> petted
> her and it took a few seconds for her to alert and stand up. Perhaps
> she was just sound asleep? But I was concerned enough, since I had
> weighed her this morning and she hasn't gained any weight (but I
> have a
> very old bathroom scale and so can only get a general idea). I checked
> mama's teats and there was no milk when I squeezed each of them (but I
> did get 2 good full spits to the face and head). My dtr had told me
> the
> other day that she was worried that Merry was not getting enough to
> drink as mama always walked away or laid down while baby was trying to
> nurse. But baby seems to be thriving so I didn't worry too much about
> it. Now today I am getting no milk from mama when I squeeze. So in I
> came to look up the posts I had saved a while back when we were
> discussing formulas for feeding crias. Didn't find the ones I
> thought I
> remembered but found one that said milk, half and half, a dab of whole
> yogurt and a little lite Karo syrup. I don't have any half and half on
> hand but had everything else. Mixed it up, heated in double boiler to
> 105 and have spent the past 2 hrs trying to get some of it Merry. She
> wouldn't suck on the pritchard nipple, she wouldn't take it from a
> syringe - 2 different types, and she wouldn't take it from an enlarged
> baby bottle nipple. I had mama and baby in an enclosed area. In
> between fussing around with all this stuff she tried to nurse a few
> times but mama laid down. We haltered her and tried to get her to stay
> up and still, but she struggled against us. Baby did nurse a bit after
> I finished with all my paraphanalia and I heard what sounds to me like
> liquid being taken, the same sound I have heard each time I have
> listened from the very beginning. But she constantly roots from nipple
> to nipple and I fear she is not getting enough or *any*? I gave up and
> released them thinking that was enough stress for right now. Merry
> seems active and keeps right up with mama, sticking right by her side.
> I have not seen her running and leaping about like I did the first few
> days; but then I am not out there all the time, tho I do a sight check
> every hour or so from the window, I don't walk out there.
>
> Should I be worried? What should I do, if anything? She is about
> 18-20# and has been from birth, and active as she has been from birth.
> Does mama sound dried up? I am thinking that if baby was really
> hungry she would have been more interested in the bottle? She did
> swallow some but not willingly. they both seem to be crying/humming
> all
> the time. Baby hums when she wants to nurse, mama seems to be stress
> humming, at least when I am around and doing stuff. I also noticed
> baby's tail was not up when she was nursing as I have seen the others
> do. Her tail goes up when she *wants* to nurse and approaches mama,
> but
> while we had them in the enclosed area and she was nursing her tail
> was
> not up at all; don't know if that is significant or not?
>
> I am on digest and won't get the next digest till in the morning. If
> anyone has any suggestions or thoughts that I should do something
> today,
> please cc me privately; or even just to tell me not to worry would
> be a
> relief. Or if there is anything I should get from the feed store in
> the
> AM, please let me know. Nursemate was mentioned in several posts from
> when we were having this discussion earlier this year and I looked for
> it, but neither of my feed stores carries it.
>
> Thanks! Janice in GA where it is warm today (in the 60s) but will be
> back to freezing again by the end of the week. Should I take her coat
> off for now - it is 40s at night; high 50s and 60s in the day for the
> next several days, but rain off an on predicted.
>
>
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