trouble nursing after a week

Annabelle, a second time mom,  has had triplets! 1 girl & 2 boys. They are perfect, she had them while we were at work with no problems. Now its been over a week and a half and things were going great. As of yesterday, she has no interest in letting the babies nurse. She kicks them away, runs away, etc. They are thriving so they must be nursing when I'm not looking (I hope!). I go out a few times a day and gently reassure her and hold her still so they can nurse.  They are very active in trying to get milk.  What could be the problem? Thanks!

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  • OK. Thanks, Deborah.    Now on to the Election. 

  • Separating them like that would be a very bad idea, especially if they are going to be disbudded tomorrow. If their scent changes and they're separated for any length of time, you are asking for trouble as she may not recognize them. It sounds like everything is just fine. Relax, mama! :)

  • Her teats look perfectly fine...maybe she just needs an hour alone? Maybe I'll let her graze without them tagging behind for a while tomorrow.

  • her udder is not big and firm, its soft.  Its just worrisome that I can't watch them nurse, its one of my favorite things to see!

  • I'm not talking about mastitis. I'm saying that if the kids are not nursing, her udder will fill up. If you've nursed your own babies, then you know what I'm talking about -- when they would oversleep or you would go somewhere for a few hours, you'd get overly full and sometimes even start leaking. Same thing happens to does after a few hours. Pictures you see on website usually have at least 12 hours of milk in those big udders. They are usually much smaller when they're empty, and triplets will keep a doe's udder empty. She'd have to be producing at least 1.5 quarts a day for those kids to be thriving at this age, so if the kids were not nursing, her udder would be big and firm.

    I've never seen a doe get sore teats or a sore udder at this point. Sometimes a newborn doesn't nurse correctly, and the doe will not let it nurse for more than a few sucks because it hurts. But in that case, you might also see that the skin doesn't look good on the teat. I'd say it's pretty darn close to impossible that all three kids would suddenly start nursing incorrectly after this much time.

  • She has a beautiful udder.  I felt it and it isn't rock hard (I've had 3 kids, I don't think its mastitis).  I have held her gently and helped the babies nurse, so I have seen them doing so then.  But I haven't seen her allow them freely to nurse for 2 days.  It is hopefully happening when I'm not around.   I'm wondering if they are really draining her and her udder is sore from their excited nursing?  

  • I am trying to understand exactly what you mean when you say that you haven't seen them nurse. Some people see a kid nurse for 15 seconds and don't count that, but that can be totally normal for some goats because they'll nurse every 20 minutes all day long. If you are indeed saying that you just haven't seen them nurse in the last 24 hours, then you have missed it, OR the doe would have a very large, firm udder. If her udder is small and soft, then the kids are nursing. Goats don't dry up overnight unless they are extremely sick and dieing.

  • And does she look like she is being drained or is she filling up with milk? You really need to know if they are not nursing at all or if she is just stopping them after a few seconds. They could be nursing fine and you just aren't seeing them and then sometimes when you are around she makes them stop because she just doesn't want to let them at that particular time. I have a doe who did that. I thought that maybe she wasn't letting them nurse, especially her buck, but it turned out that they were apparently nursing plenty enough she just didn't let them nurse every time they wanted to for as long as they may want. I guess she just didn't want to be bothered with them at certain times. So if you can just determine if she is allowing them to nurse only for a few seconds or if she won't let them nurse any then it will be easier to get to the bottom of what is going on with her.

  • I haven't witnessed it, but they seem healthy! I put my fingers in their mouths and they are warm.

  • Is she not letting them nurse AT ALL, or is she walking away after 30 seconds?

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