twins nursing one side

[sawfish99]

Yesterday evening, we had our fist kidding: twin Oberhasli doelings. The kids and dam are all doing well, however, both doelings have chosen to nurse on the left side. By this morning, the right udder was very full relative to the left. I have tried to get both doelings to latch on the right, but they refuse. To relieve the right side, I milked the dam this morning. The right udder is definitely harder than normal, so I also spent some time massaging it.

Are there any other tricks to getting 1 kid to switch sides, or should we just start milking the dam 2-3 times a day. Milking is fine with us, but I am just concerned about both kids getting enough from the other side of the udder. Could the double nursing one side plus milking the other actually boost milk production?

 

[heathen]

Every time I have had twins favor one side (as long as there is no issues with the other udder) they fix as they grow and will nurse off of both sides. The only times I have not had them change is when the problem is mastitis or the doe has a sore on that nipple and pushes the kids to the one side. With that breed I wouldnt worry about them not getting enough milk and as long as there is no sore or udder issue as they get larger and hungrier they will nurse both sides. I have argued with people telling me that with twins each kid will pick one uder and only nurse off of that one. I have personally never had this be true. If you are more concerned later on or the kids show signs of not being heavy enough then you can always supplement with a bottle.

 

[20kidsonhill]

every time I have had twins nursing one side, I have milked the other side for 2 or 3 days, to get the pressure off and eventually the kids have fixed the problem on their own. I have never had one do this the entire time, Although I have heard of it happening on rare occasion, from a good milking dairy doe. In that case, you will get to milk her a couple times a day, and have lots of milk.

 

[kayzee]

Our ND doe had an uneven udder for five years because her first kids had a strong preference for one side over the other--I don't know what was done or not done to correct it, since we did not get her until this year. Before she was dried off for this kidding, I milked the low-producing side even though there was very little there, and with this kidding the formerly low-producing side filled up much bigger than the other, formerly high-producing side. Her triplets are nursing from both sides and growing like gangbusters, so it seems the problem has resolved itself, but she was lopsided for a long time.

 

[sawfish99]

Thanks for the feedback. When I checked a little while ago, they appear to be nursing both sides because the udder is balanced. I think maybe the one teat was just engorged and so much larger that it was just too big to get in their mouths. After I milked that side, it may have been small enough to let them nurse.