Bottle babies, am I feeding enough

[Tmaxson]

I have two 8 day old bottle babies, the doe had birthing issues and we had to pull them. They did get three days on the mom so they got the necessary colostrum. They seem healthy and happy, and are just so adorable but they do seem hungry all the time and I'm wondering if we are feeding them enough. I am giving them whole cows milk 6 times a day

5:30am, 9:30am, 1:30pm, 5:30pm, 9:30pm 4oz for her 3 for him
7:30 they get a little over 1oz snack mostly because she is just screaming for food. They do sleep 8 hours at night without wanting food. She is getting a total of 21oz a day and he is getting 16oz a day.

He weighed 2.8lbs last Saturday when we left the vet (mom had to stay at the vet for almost a week) and she weighed 3.8lbs She now weighs 5lbs and he weighs 4lbs.

He seems satisfied at times but she just seems to want more and more. She is constantly looking for any and everything she can to suck on and he started looking under the dog for the udder yesterday. I do have hay available for them but he is the only one that is even interested in playing with it. He also tries to eat grass when we are outside. Next week I am going to introduce them to a little grain.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

My bottle baby ND boy is taking between 5-7 oz about 4 times a day. He drinks for a few minutes, takes a break and comes back for more. Then little sister takes an oz, then back to brother. Little sister is nursing off mom so no worries there. After about 3 or 4 short drinking spells, he sometimes acts like he is going to eat more, but doesn't actually suck. He is very active and runs and plays. They were born on the 8th. Last week... he was taking closer to 5 or 6 oz at a time, more in the first feeding, less on either the 3rd or 4th...depended on how hungry he was. I just let him eat until it is clear his belly is full and he is no longer obviously hungry.

 

[Tmaxson]

Thank you for replying. We were just worried about giving them too much. Over the next couple of days I will gradually work them up a couple more oz. They are gaining weight and are playing and active so I don't think we are starving them, but they probably could take a little more milk at one time now. My DH was very worried about it because when he was a kid he worked on a dairy farm and he over fed a calf because he didn't know any better and the calf ended up with bloat and died so he is a bit traumatized by it all.

 

[ragdollcatlady]

If they were on mom, they would be gradually eating a little more every few days. Of course on mom they would be nursing a few more times a day, but they just get the times I am out there to eat so I let him eat until he is full. I think it takes a few minutes to realize he isn't still hungry, but when I can tell his belly is close to full, I stand up and give him a 3 or 4 minute rest. It takes about 10 minutes to feed my little dude, with all the rests, but I enjoy it so we are good.

I am giving raw goats milk from mom so I don't now if that matters. I also am only giving it at room temp. I heat the bottle (glass) on the stove top in a pan of water til just over room temp and let it set for a minute til it is all the same temp. Shake it good and recheck how warm it is then give it. I did start out warm but decreased the temp over a week so now we are at room temp and that is much less worry about it being too hot. I bought regular glass baby bottles for sanitation reasons.

I think the biggest worry is a bacterial bloom and the CDT is supposed to help protect against some of that if they have had their vaxx. I made sure to give these guys theirs a few days ago for just that reason.

Also you can add probios or plain, live culture yogurt to boost the good bacterial action in the rumen. Since milk from the store is a cooked product I would personally add some to help keep things live in there . I would just mix in a tablespoon of yogurt in each bottle. I understand some also add a little baking soda to one bottle a day when supplementing with cows milk or another supplement.