[ThePhoebeFive]

Sooo...we're first time farmers with two first-time moms (Nigerian Dwarf). One mom (Rosie) took to it like a duck to water; the other (Juniper) needed convincing.

Juniper's babies seem to be doing OK. One is definitely more active than the other, but as far as I can tell, both are fine. The girl is a wee bit stupid about nursing, but I've watched her latch on a few times by herself. I'm not ENTIRELY sure that Juniper knows to stand up when the babies get whiny and headbutt-y, so they can nurse.

I keep checking on them, but I don't want to disturb them too much.

What's the balance and how do I know if babies are getting enough, and what's a quieter personality vs. what's a concern about a baby that's too sleepy.

Thanks!

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

OK, so most of the questions have resolved themselves with this set of babies. But I'd still like to have the opinions of anyone interested in sharing.

 

[Brooklyn]

I would suggest to weigh the kids if you haven’t already. a good thing is to weigh them when there first born and then weigh them through out the coming days. that way u can see how much weight they are gaining and ya so forth. another way to tell if ur kids are getting enough milk is by looking at there spinal cord, we had 2 kids die awhile back due to both being runts and not getting enough milk, you could clearly see it. There spinal cord was sticking kinda more up then some of the kids and u could feel it(not sure I am making since here) lol and with the quieter personality- so if a kid is just like laying around almost all day I would get a concern for it, but if it’s up and bouncing around some then it sounds like a normal kid to me!

 

[Brooklyn]

kids will definitely sleep more but as long as like I said still getting up and acting lively, then they are totally fine. also another thing with the momma there, make sure she is letting her kids drink some and make sure she’s not just pushing them away. but will naturally let them feed for a little while and then push them away.

 

[Katrina Anon]

Weigh the kids. If they are gaining weight all is ok. They gain a lot of weight at first.

We had one buckling that was not gaining weight. We fed him from a syringe for two weeks. Now he is fat 3 month old. Other than that he is a active 3 month old.

I am sure he need to be supplemented. 3 kids with the mom, so he might not have made it without supplementing his food. He is eating hay and grain and seems to be developing just fine. Luckily all three are to be adopted, or we would be looking at Ramadan 2024!

 

[ThePhoebeFive]

Thanks, y'all! Haven't weighed the babies (not sure how to get 'em to be still, haha), but they are active and I swear they're half again as big as when they were born 5 days ago. One of them has just passed her half-siblings who are 12 hours older. We've caught them nursing regularly; Juniper just doesn't seem to like to do it when she has an audience.

 

[Brooklyn]

ok perfect, sounds like there doing great and doing good on milk and gaining weight, I would still definitely weigh them tho! and your welcome!