Do you wake the baby to eat or wait til it wakes on its own?

[Grace2017]

Grace is 6 weeks and I don't know whether to wake her to feed her to wait until she wakes up. Thanks in advance!

[Grinderhead]

You will want to keep on your schedule so yes wake her up to eat.

[UDoWhat]

Welcome to TSB. :Welcome so glad you found us.


Grinerhead is exactly right. :thumbsup Depending on how old you baby is, your baby needs to be feed 2,3,4,5,or 6 times a day. They do best when they are fed on the appropriate schedule or you will not be able to get enough nutrition or calories in for the day that they need to grow as they should.

I have some question that would help us to help you with your baby. Please ask any questions you have. We are here to help babies.

We love pictures. It helps us to figure out age and many other conditions if you need help. How old is your baby? What formula are you feeding? What are you using to feed with? How much does your baby weigh? Feeding is based on weight so you need to know what your baby weighs to be able to feed the correct amount. Babies should be fed 5-7% of their weight. They can get into trouble if fed too little or too much. Do you have a way to get meds if you need them. We can help you know what you need and how to dose it.

Remember we love pictures!! :Love_Icon

[Grace2017]

Thank you both. As stated in my question, Grace is 6 weeks. She is on Esbilac (2-1)using a syringe with silicone mothering nipples. We began feeding her every 3 hours and now are at every 4. I do not know what she weighs as right now I have no scale nor the extra cash to purchase one. Grace is the second one I have raised. Pip passed Thanksgiving week and she was brought to our door at 2 days old. She was 4.8 years when she passed. It was too cold to release her by time she stopped taking formula and by time it got warm enough I was unsure if she would know how to survive so unfortunately she was inside with us all her life. I am afraid this is going to happen with this one too since it is already September and she is so young.



Welcome to TSB. :Welcome so glad you found us.


Grinerhead is exactly right. :thumbsup Depending on how old you baby is, your baby needs to be feed 2,3,4,5,or 6 times a day. They do best when they are fed on the appropriate schedule or you will not be able to get enough nutrition or calories in for the day that they need to grow as they should.

I have some question that would help us to help you with your baby. Please ask any questions you have. We are here to help babies.

We love pictures. It helps us to figure out age and many other conditions if you need help. How old is your baby? What formula are you feeding? What are you using to feed with? How much does your baby weigh? Feeding is based on weight so you need to know what your baby weighs to be able to feed the correct amount. Babies should be fed 5-7% of their weight. They can get into trouble if fed too little or too much. Do you have a way to get meds if you need them. We can help you know what you need and how to dose it.

Remember we love pictures!! :Love_Icon

[UDoWhat]

You sound like you are doing great. :Love_Icon Your fears are correct, she will need to be over wintered. Since she is 6 weeks old I would start putting in rodent block while she is still nursing. You can get Kaytee rat and mouse block at a pet store like PetCo or Petsmart. There are other brands but Kaytee is easy to find. Have you used block before? It should be the first food they get to nibble on while they are still nursing. Don't give any others solid foods until she is eating rat block readily. Since she will be an overwinter baby rat block will guard against MBD. MBD is the # 1 killer of captive squirrels. MBD can happen quickly after they are weaned. Rat block should to be 80% of her diet and veggies, fruit, and nuts make up the other 20 %.

Please as as soon as you can try to get a kitchen gram scale. It is the most important tool a rehabiltator can have. You can get one at WalMart for under $20. Since feeding and med dosing are based on weight it is important to have a scale. I have raised 100's of babies in the 18 years that I have been a rehabiltator. I could not have provided the accurate amount of formula or needed meds without it. Every med is dosed differently and by weight. You cannot guess about meds.

Good luck with you little one and ask any questions you have. There are a ton of experienced rehabbers here to help. :Love_Icon

[stosh2010]

If you are confused regarding the process to post photos...you can e-mail any of your pics to me...and I will be glad to post them on YOUR thread.

vesuviusguy@aol.com

Write : TSB photos in the message line....so that it doesn't go to the spam folder.

[Whitney9988]

I feed my babies every 4 hours from 4 am to 8 pm. They don't do well for feeding between 8 pm and 4 am because they are to sleepy, the oldest gets so crabby if I try to wake her at night it's funny.