# uneven milk bag...normal?



## fmizula (Feb 20, 2012)

my first time freshener a nubian-lamacha is has a nice full milk bag. one side is sooooo full that i have to milk it out twice a day and get  alot out each time maby two cups or more each time. and the other is milked out by baby. i think she is favoring this smaller side. the nipple itself is smaller than the one with lots of milk. the first night she kidded i did not milk her out assuming that baby would be drinking from her and alternating sides. she was not and by the morning she was sooo full and swollen and reddened nipple. it was warm and a bit lumpy. i thought mastitis or some form of congested udder. so i milked out three times a day for two days and massaged peppermint oil onto it. it it acting perfictly normal now except that it was very full and needs twice day milking.  i am wondering if this is a normal thing? will she even out maby next year? i tryed milking the other side and just about none came out but im pretty sure baby is drinking from that side alone. just never seen this in a doe and wondering what you think????


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## ksalvagno (Feb 20, 2012)

This doe just had one kid, right? Kids tend to favor one side over the other so you do need to milk her daily.


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## fmizula (Feb 20, 2012)

yes she did. lovely black and white with blue eyed doe!!  ok, i was thinking favoring of one side was normal. is uneven nipples normal. the one i need to milk is at least double in size of the other one.


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## Queen Mum (Feb 20, 2012)

It is probably double in size because it is stretching from being full.  Don't worry, the other side will catch up.  If you want to reduce the fullness, just don't completely strip it.   When you are nearly done, put the baby up there on the milk stand and have the baby do it for you.


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## Cara Peachick (Feb 20, 2012)

I would suggest taping the nipple on the favored side for some time each day to force the kid to nurse the less favored side.  When I've had this situation in the past, the very large side that you are now milking will gradually make less and less milk over time because you won't milk the doe as consistently as the kid will.  If you can encourage baby to more evenly nurse, you'll get more milk in the long run.

Let me also say, if it's not too weird, that I nursed 3 children myself and all three favored one side (right side every time) over the other.  It took me until the third child to learn to always start with the left (less favored) side to even out my milk supply (as well as my appearance, lol).


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## Queen Mum (Feb 20, 2012)

Cara Peachick said:
			
		

> I would suggest taping the nipple on the favored side for some time each day to force the kid to nurse the less favored side.  When I've had this situation in the past, the very large side that you are now milking will gradually make less and less milk over time because you won't milk the doe as consistently as the kid will.  If you can encourage baby to more evenly nurse, you'll get more milk in the long run.
> 
> Let me also say, if it's not too weird, that I nursed 3 children myself and all three favored one side (right side every time) over the other.  It took me until the third child to learn to always start with the left (less favored) side to even out my milk supply (as well as my appearance, lol).


Why would nursing your own kids be wierd?   If we let our goats nurse their babies, we certainly shouldn't be wierded out by nursing our own kids.  Golly!  I nursed my boys.  AND I'm proud of it.  Now bottle feeding human babies.  I think THAT is wierd when you've got perfectly functional breasts to do the job for them.


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## fmizula (Feb 21, 2012)

Queen Mum said:
			
		

> Cara Peachick said:
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> 
> 
> ...


i think she ment that her children prefering one side was not to weird. that is how i inturpereted it,


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## Queen Mum (Feb 21, 2012)

Oh, in the famous words of Emily Litella, (Gilda Radner)  "never mind".


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## Cara Peachick (Feb 21, 2012)

I actually meant that some people may think that mentioning using my own experience nursing to learn about goats was weird.  However, I'm also very happy I nursed my human kids.  I have 3 kids, and I was pregnant and/or nursing or both for 10 years of my life, so I really feel for these mamma goats!  

But seriously, there must be something about my right breast that produces milk more easily, so I had to make those babies work for their milk, lol.


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## Mamaboid (Feb 21, 2012)

Ain't Mother Nature a hoot.


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