correct amount to feed.....

[ljhpsauce]

:wave123 hi,my 5-6week old baby squirrel"Flower" has had her eyes open a week now and is getting cheekier by the day:Love_Icon :monkey :wiggle i am just"slowly" trying her out on her 1st solid foods...she has her top & bottom teeth coming through and she tends to 1st suck,then nibble and then spit most of it out at the moment but having said that, today she did have a good go at eating an almond,and some rye bread.Anyway what i wanted to ask was that whenever i read articles about feeding the say not to "Overfeed" but Flower is "Bottle" fed and she is quite greedy she will easily drink 15mls(=2 teaspoons)of formula milk and more if she could in fact yesterday she woofed down 25mls!!!..:shakehead .but having said that her feed was very overdue by about 1 and 1/2, to 2 hours....is she greedy because she needs to be on "more" solids?:thinking as i only try her on nibbles about "once" a day,(when my son was a baby and he was a greedy baby too,this seemed to be the problem!!:Love_Icon )...as i say she is about 6 weeks old now and i last weighed her a "good" week ago and she was 6oz,but i hav'nt weighed her recently( i will 1st thing though!)she loves her milk formula, she is on a mix of 1/2 esbilac & 1/2 goats milk with goats cream added,she seems to be doing really well:Love_Icon :squirrel1 .any way please can anyone give me some advice on this subject and tell me am i doing the right thing ??:thinking :thumbsup :thankyou lol Lisa.x(aka.ljhpsauce)

[Mars]

Okay - rule of thumb in feeding the baby is 5% of the baby's weight measured in grams = ml. So if your baby weights 100 grams feed about 5ml per feeding. Baby should still act hungry but have a nice round full belly but not firm or tight. It is better to feed more often than to over feed. There is a disconnect between mouth and tummy. Baby will soon realize he/she is full. Gently rub her back to burb her. When she is ready to move down to just three feedings a day you can generally increase the ammount fed to 7%. Introduce solid foods slowly - one at a time. Baby will be shredding and doing a good job of making a mess but not getting much food into them for a bit yet - it is more teething than eating at this age. :D

[Critter_Queen]

I second everything Mars said, and would add only that you should leave solids available, as well as a shallow dish of water, in the cage for her so she can snack in between feedings. :thumbsup

[TexanSquirrel]

Don't forget to post pics!

[ljhpsauce]

Okay - rule of thumb in feeding the baby is 5% of the baby's weight measured in grams = ml. So if your baby weights 100 grams feed about 5ml per feeding. Baby should still act hungry but have a nice round full belly but not firm or tight. It is better to feed more often than to over feed. There is a disconnect between mouth and tummy. Baby will soon realize he/she is full. Gently rub her back to burb her. When she is ready to move down to just three feedings a day you can generally increase the amount fed to 7%. Introduce solid foods slowly - one at a time. Baby will be shredding and doing a good job of making a mess but not getting much food into them for a bit yet - it is more teething than eating at this age. :D OK yes,she does seem to be making more of a mess than actual "eating" her solids at the moment,and she does have a nice round firm belly(not tight) after her bottle too,just wanted to know though ..if its not to silly:thinking question...How would i know i f i was feeding to much,i mean in any side effects sense/or illness this may cause?????,because as i say she seems to be happily content a comfortably full on a 15 to 20 ml feeding 4 times a day at the moment,i will weigh her L8r too but she was 6 oz but that was NEARLY 2 weeks ago and then she was only on about 5 to 8 ml,but as she is growing her appitite is growing too!!! .:dono Thanks for your advice,:thumbsup lol Lisa (aka.ljhpsauce)

[ljhpsauce]

Okay - rule of thumb in feeding the baby is 5% of the baby's weight measured in grams = ml. So if your baby weights 100 grams feed about 5ml per feeding. Baby should still act hungry but have a nice round full belly but not firm or tight. It is better to feed more often than to over feed. There is a disconnect between mouth and tummy. Baby will soon realize he/she is full. Gently rub her back to burb her. When she is ready to move down to just three feedings a day you can generally increase the ammount fed to 7%. Introduce solid foods slowly - one at a time. Baby will be shredding and doing a good job of making a mess but not getting much food into them for a bit yet - it is more teething than eating at this age. :Dthanks for your advice:thumbsup
But she is STILL only in her pet carryier (pretent Drey!!) not a cage just yet, as she sleeps mostly,but with a little play just b4 or after her feed,and thats generaly done on me,or my bed etc...but i am planning to put her in a cage over the next few days though.:D :thankyou

[Critter_Queen]

just wanted to know though ..if its not to silly:thinking question...How would i know i f i was feeding to much,i mean in any side effects sense/or illness this may cause?????,because as i say she seems to be happily content a comfortably full on a 15 to 20 ml feeding 4 times a day at the moment,i will weigh her L8r too but she was 6 oz but that was NEARLY 2 weeks ago and then she was only on about 5 to 8 ml,but as she is growing her appitite is growing too!!! .:dono Thanks for your advice,:thumbsup lol Lisa (aka.ljhpsauce)

You can tell if you're overfeeding by her stools. They should be pelleted and golden-mustard-brown-yellow. If they are pale in color or soft (not pelleted but more of a "log" lol) you are overfeeding. If her stools are liquid, you are seriously overfeeding or she has some other problem.

Hope that helps! :)

[ljhpsauce]

You can tell if you're overfeeding by her stools. They should be pelleted and golden-mustard-brown-yellow. If they are pale in color or soft (not pelleted but more of a "log" lol) you are overfeeding. If her stools are liquid, you are seriously overfeeding or she has some other problem.

Hope that helps! :):thumbsup Ah,OK,Great,that really does help,thanks....her Stools are as you say they should be that is "a golden-mustard-brown-yellow & also pelleted,so i am very reassured now i will just carry on as i am, as i say she has her feeds every 4 to 5 hours and she has about 4 to 5 feeds a day (although it is only since she has been trying solids, over the last day or so, that i have reduced the feeds to the 4 feeds a day as opposed to the 5 feeds a day and it depends if she has managed to actually eat some solid food properly or not and if not then hungry) So :thankyou i guess i am being an over protective mom!!:crybaby :Love_Icon :Squirrel :Love_Icon Luv Lisa.x

[ljhpsauce]

thanks for your advice:thumbsup
But she is STILL only in her pet carryier (pretend Drey!!) not a cage just yet, as she sleeps mostly,but with a little play just b4 or after her feed,and thats generaly done on me,or my bed etc...but i am planning to put her in a cage over the next few days though.:D :thankyou :thumbsup i spoke too soon she has now over the last day began to be more active:wiggle and awake,:multi so she will be moving into her new bigger premises 1st thing tomoz :toung3 :Love_Icon :squirrel1:Love_Icon :crazy !!!....LoL Lisa.x