For those feeding 4 times a day...

[Christie189]

What kind of time schedule are you on? Do you go all night w/o a feed?

My little guy (who still has no name! lol) has been eating anywhere between 4-6 ccs every 4 hours. It seems like that is a lot, but I could be wrong. I'd like to get into an easier feeding schedule as getting up twice a night is exhausting me! :D My son (Kyle) is 3 (will be 4 in September) and it's been a few years since I've had to do this! He is as snug as a bug in bed all night long and I've grown used to that. :rotfl

Thanks in advance! :bowdown

[Gabe]

Christie you could go ahead and feed four times a day. Stop the night feedings. Try to space the feedings evenly. 4-6 cc per feeding is fine. I would start some finger foods. Even though his eyes are closed, his teeth are in.

[acorniv]

Hi - cute little guy you've got there! Is that a recent photos? If so, yours is much younger than mine when I got her and I'm new at this myself ( 2 weeks) so not your best source of informaiton. Since nobody else seems to be up yet, I'll tell you what my mom gut says though.

How frantic for food is he when you get up at night? Could you stretch it to five hours one night and see how it goes, and then to 6 the next? When we frst got ours, I slept next to her so I"d hear her, and she let me sleep longer than I'd have let myself. She was emaciated though, so even though her eyes were open I wanted to take advantage of any opportunity to feed her.

Once he has a few teeth you can leave busy food in for him - this is not things he will actually consume, but that he will shred while teething. He will get a sample of food that way, and it can buy you an hour.

Best of luck. And I sympathize with the Mom fatigue. Mine turned 12 and 16 this month, so I'm definately out of practice!

Laurel

[acorniv]

Or, go with Gabe's much more experienced reply :D

You will LOVE age 4 with your little boy BTW. Just sweetness and curiosity - all the angst of 3 will be behind him.

Laurel

[Secret Squirrel]

Christie...how much does the baby weigh ?? :dono There is a feeding guide and it's based on how much the baby weighs .

[Christie189]

Thanks so much everyone!

I was just curious what times others were awake and feeding there little ones! And if he really needed to be fed through the night, or if he was OK to go until morning...

Now, when I look in his mouth, he only has bottom teeth. Is he supposed to have top teeth as well? I don't see ANY. I can try and snap a picture to share. I am getting ready to feed him. He last ate at 5:30 am and it's now 10:30 am. He is rooting around and sucking on his rice buddy. LOL

I got a feeding schedule, through PM and that will come in super handy. :D

[island rehabber]

Christie if you're feeding him at 5:30am you can make his last feeding at 11:30pm and he should be fine. In a week to 10 days he'll be able to go a decent 7-8 hrs at night so you can sleep. It's only the little-littles (pinkies) that really need to have two night feedings. :)

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

I feed my squirrel at 5:15 AM, 3:00 PM, 8:00 PM, and 1:00 AM. They can go through the night. I have to get up and feed mine during the night though because I work from 6:00 AM-2:30 PM. I just switch their nights and days on them, so going all day is like going all night for them.
I would try to get a feeding schedule going for your little guy as soon as you can, so he knows when to expect food. If you want to feed him during the day with the first feeding at 5:30, I would feed him 5:30, 11:30, 5:30, and 11:30 or somewhere around those times. He will be just fine from 11:30 to 5:30. If you need more sleep than that you could even make the last feeding at 9:30 or 10:00 and he should be fine.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Love that picture of the little guy. He sure is sweet!

[Christie189]

Thank you! :D I can't thank you all enough!

That helps. I guess I'll make his feeding schedule somewhere around 5:30am, 11:30am, 5:30pm and 10:30pm. I don't like to sway much later than 10:30pm because my husband works days, he gets up at 5:15am and he needs his sleep, it's more important than mine so we usually head to bed around 10:30 pm, sometimes 11:00pm. I'm a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) but boy, being tired and dealing with a toddler is hard, especially one who wakes anywhere between 6:00am-7:00am! :shakehead It works out well at those times, then I get to see my husband off to work, which rarely happens when I don't have a reason to be out of bed. (lol)

Now, I am a tad worried. Someone said he should have his teeth. I've looked and looked. He only has 2 bottom incisors right now. Is this normal? I haven't fed him anything solid, but I did let him sniff an apple yesterday. He sniffed and sniffed and then licked it. That is about all.

[drakkonia]

Hello! I have no experience as a rehabber, but there is a manual on this website that says upper incisors erupt at 5-6 weeks old. Hope that helps.

[Critter_Queen]

Thank you! :D I can't thank you all enough!

That helps. I guess I'll make his feeding schedule somewhere around 5:30am, 11:30am, 5:30pm and 10:30pm. I don't like to sway much later than 10:30pm because my husband works days, he gets up at 5:15am and he needs his sleep, it's more important than mine so we usually head to bed around 10:30 pm, sometimes 11:00pm. I'm a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) but boy, being tired and dealing with a toddler is hard, especially one who wakes anywhere between 6:00am-7:00am! :shakehead It works out well at those times, then I get to see my husband off to work, which rarely happens when I don't have a reason to be out of bed. (lol)

Now, I am a tad worried. Someone said he should have his teeth. I've looked and looked. He only has 2 bottom incisors right now. Is this normal? I haven't fed him anything solid, but I did let him sniff an apple yesterday. He sniffed and sniffed and then licked it. That is about all.

Hi There! I feed mine every so many hours rather than how many times per day. Like now, I feed them at 2am, 6am, 10am, 2 pm, 5 or 6pm, and 10pm. I drop the 2am feeding when eyes open, and when they start eating solids (not just tasting/playing with them) I modify the schedule to 7am, 12:30, 5pm, and 10 pm. I continue to reduce feedings based on desire of the critter and milestones until the squirrel weans himself or he reaches 14 weeks, whichever comes first. :)

As far as teeth, it's ok that his top ones aren't in yet. :)

:Welcome to TSB!:wave123

ETA: That if we were talking pinkies I would be feeding every 2-2.5 hours rather than every 3-4 like I am. :)

[Christie189]

Thank you! That does help, I never thought to look there. *doh*

His eyes aren't even open yet, so we assumed (from the chart here on SB) and other sites that this little guy was about 4 weeks old when we found him. So I suppose that soon his little eyes will open and his upper incisors will come soon after. Ah, no more worries. THANKS! :D

[TexanSquirrel]

:Love_Icon :Love_Icon :Love_Icon What a face. I still like Reese!:rotfl

[Christie189]

LOL, I like that name as well. I wish my husband would hurry and name him. I get tired of "little man" or "little guy" - he was thinking about Bonzo, as in the drummer. That was his nickname, I believe his real name is John Henry Bonham. I might be wrong. My husband is a drummer (as a hobby, more like obsession), so it fits. But he still isn't decided... *sigh* The pic in my siggy is my favorite. He is sooooooo cute! :Love_Icon

[acorniv]

Christie, mine is having some feeding problems, so even though she is twice as old as yours I'm needing to feed her mroe often. If you were able to have a set schedule wiht your son, lucky you - and if not, you'll know what I am talking about. Babies that get acid reflux or any sort of digestive problems develop anxiety from feeding, because they are hungry but know it will hurt later. If you want to see what that was like for Miss Hickory, visit my thread whcih is called "Why doesn't she want to eat?" Today she is back to eating but is still very anxious about it. If it isn't *just right* she runs frantically all over me until she gets so worked up she can't settle and nurse. I fed her at 7, 12 and 3, because she was beginning to get frantic each time. I was surprised she asked to feed at 3, but have been trying to fed ehr every 5 hours anyway, except at night when I stretch it to 7 or 8, if I can.

Get to know his smell. If he begns to smell; sour, or like a bat cave, or the bottom of a parrot's cage, then hhe has too much acid in her stomach. He may or may not get diarrhea - mine didn't, so it was just bad enough to hurt, not bad enough to make a mess. Mars was a huge help to me with remedying the acid balance, and hopefully we're good to go now.

Anyway not all babies are alike and it always makes me a little concerned to automatically put one on a schedule. I've seen some really sad cases where that was done with children. I'd rather become a squirrel whisperer, myself:D

Laurel

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

How much does the little guy weigh today? My suggesstion would be to put him on the 4 times a day schedule and see how his weight is doing. If he is drinking 5-6 cc per feeding and gaining weight, I am sure that the 4 times a day schedule will work out just fine. I have never had any trouble with squirrels not gaining weight on the 4 times a day schedule once they are 4 weeks old or older. If they are a little younger than that they may need 5-6 feedings, but after they are furry and about ready to open their eyes, 4 times should be plenty.
Don't worry about the upper incisors, Zippy doesn't have hers either yet (she just has the bottom teeth like your squirrel).