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Candice

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New filly having trouble nursing. She's not grasping the nipples. She's trying to suckle everything but that. She's almost 3 hrs and I've never had one take this long. She's made brief contact twice, but I don't think its enough. Mom has lots of milk and is being very cooperative. I've tried guiding her. She's more interested in me than Mom. I've never had one do this and I'm not sure at this point what to do.
 
You can smear a little milk on the end of her nipples to get the taste their but what I would do is milk some out and put it into a clean syringe. Feed it to the baby but very slowly and carefully. I put my finger in the mouth so they suckle at it as I squeeze the milk into her mouth so it doesn't go down the wrong pipe and get into her lungs. I'd go at least 15- 20 cc's, once it gets a good taste of the milk, she'll try harder to find that nipple, and this little bit of colostrum will make her much stronger. Theirs times I do this anyway if for any reason, I just don't want to sit in the stall and wait for the baby to figure it out. I find that if you try to push their head down their, they just push back on your hand anyway, this little easy trick works every time for me. Good luck and let us know how she's doing.

Edited to say, just stick your little finger in the corner of her mouth and she'll start the sucking reflex going, it's actually real easy to do, easy to get the milk into her that way. And the reason I do this quite often is because then I know how much colostrum they get into them, you can do it more than once too. Sometimes they can suck at the nipple and not get any or much, this is a for sure thing.

Milk it into a cup and then pour it into the syringe and yes, just relieving the milk in the mares bag, taking the pressure off will sometimes make the nipples a little bigger and easier to find.
 
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I had that problem last yr with my Cremello colt - he just couldnt seem to latch on and the mare was bursting with milk - that was half the problem so to make sure he got some colostrum I syringed him. I then milked the mare and the vet came out because he was also very wet from being left in the sack when I found him so he was tubed. I then milked her throughout the night to soften her udder and helped gude him to the teats using the milk as a lure. He nailed drinking throughout the night and just gots stronger over the following 24 hrs

This yr the foal was more interested in learning to walk then suck or find the milk bar so again milked a drop and syringed some into him and tried luring him to the bar but he didnt quite get it. So I milked the mare and put about 3 fl oz in a baby bottle got him to drink it near the mares udder and he was full after 2 fl oz. I always try to make sure they have the colostrum within the first hr just to get them going. He figured it out after a couple of hrs but its vital to get that colostrum into them.

I use a 20 ml syringe as my mare breast pump a tip given to me by a good friend. Cut the end off where the needle normally goes. Then pull out the plunger and stick it in the cut end and ta da you have a little pump. You put the end up with the ears (for want of a better word) up to the teat and draw down with the plunger and the milk flies out with the suction. My mare is usually very relieved to ease some of that pressure.
 
Does she have a good suck reflex?

If you syringe milk into her, be sure she is upright with her chest to the ground vs. on her side (as it can go into her lungs that way).

We had a filly born w/ little suck reflex and she had to have a feeding tube put in through her nose by the vet at first (and responded very quickly to the tube feeding and is a spitfire now @ 5wks old).

Good luck with your baby!
 
Candice-

I have nothing to add, but have to say good luck. You'll get her going.

Barbie
 
How's your new girl this morning? I am hoping you were able to get her to nurse. I know exactly how frustrating it is!! Congratulations on your new filly!
 
Candice,

Give us an update when you can........

Just wanted to add that I'm also one who recommends syringing some colostrum to the newborn. And yes, smearing some on the mare's teats helps too.

Make sure the foal is warm enough, as being cold can sap his strength and he'll lose interest in looking for the milk bar.
 
Thankyou everyone. I had expressed milk and got her to suck off my fingers. Right after I posted this I got a cc into her via a syringe. I then decided to back off and watch from camera. By 3 1/2 hrs. she was getting the hang of it and now she has it down pat. She's nursing great now. She's bright and alert. A little sleepy but good. Doc will be here in a little while to look her over. I'll get a picture of her up in a few minutes.

Thankyou for the advice. I learn something new everyday with these guys!!
 
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Now we need pics!
 

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