Questions on Pinkies

[Farmgirl9600]

Hello All. I have a sweet little Pinkie girl. My son does a lot of tree/yard work and found her this past Thursday. She was ony a few days old at best. Her umbilical cord was still attached but dried up. I am feeding her powdered esbilac formula and she seems to be digesting it well. No bloat and no diarrhea. I have a heating pad and she's staying warm and comfy.

My questions are:

1. Is there a better way to hold her for feedings? I'm making sure she is sitting up and watching her nose at all times to make sure nothing is coming out. But. She is SO wiggly! The last several feedings she hadn't really latched. It's been really hard to get 1ml of formula in her. I am feeding roughly every 2 1/2 hours with a 5 1/2 hour stretch in the middle of the night.

2. How much weight should she be gaining within 24 hours? She has gained 1 gram over 2 days. She hasn't lost any weight.

I'm sure I will have more questions as this goes on. Thank you for reading and for replies.

[island rehabber]

I LOVE pinkies!

Ok...to feed her best thing is to cut up some small (4" x 4", say) pieces of fleece and keep them right under her container between the heating pad and the container. These will be your pre-warmed pinky wraps: take one out when you're ready and wrap her up in it with just her little face showing. Now she's toasty warm as you hold her upright and feed her. I have to run to work but there is a lot of stuff on here about pinkies for you to refer to. Magic words in order of priority: WARMTH, HYDRATION, CONSISTENT FEEDING. Will check back with you later!

[Spanky]

1. Is there a better way to hold her for feedings? I'm making sure she is sitting up and watching her nose at all times to make sure nothing is coming out. But. She is SO wiggly! The last several feedings she hadn't really latched. It's been really hard to get 1ml of formula in her. I am feeding roughly every 2 1/2 hours with a 5 1/2 hour stretch in the middle of the night.

If she is overly wiggly, try potty-ing her... if they need to pee, this can cause them to wiggle and wriggle. Wrapping in fleece and keeping her warm (and the formula warm) during feeding is critical.


2. How much weight should she be gaining within 24 hours? She has gained 1 gram over 2 days. She hasn't lost any weight.

I'm sure I will have more questions as this goes on. Thank you for reading and for replies.

The most important thing with these tiny newborns is that they are gaining weight. Sometimes there is no or minimal weight gain the first day or 2 as they stabilize, but it is very important they are consistently gaining weight. It may be only one gram every day or two... and I have found some of those kitchen scales only register every 2 grams from 2 grams through 20 or 30grams. After about 20grams of weight, they will start to gain a gram every day and accelerate from there.

[KCullen]

Island Rehabber, that stored warm squares idea is genius! I usually tuck a couple of squares under my arm or pillow. Your idea is better! As for the squirmies, I second the potty urge issue. Mine was going nuts a couple of days ago, she took the biggest poo I've ever seen a pinky produce. Terrifying lol. Otherwise, once she understood the routine to get food, mine always settle down. If they're still squirmy, usually they need something else too. I set an alarm for mine in the night as I'm afraid to let them go longer than 3 hours at night when they're that young.

[Farmgirl9600]

If she is overly wiggly, try potty-ing her... if they need to pee, this can cause them to wiggle and wriggle. Wrapping in fleece and keeping her warm (and the formula warm) during feeding is critical.

Thank you! I tried this today and yes she did need to potty! She soaked both ends of the q-tip.

I think she may be the only one that's benefiting from my seemingly constant hot flashes 🤦*♀️ Keeping the formula warm has been more of a challenge. I started doing 0.5mls at a time and kerping the rest waiting in a bowl sitting in warm water. That helped too.



The most important thing with these tiny newborns is that they are gaining weight. Sometimes there is no or minimal weight gain the first day or 2 as they stabilize, but it is very important they are consistently gaining weight. It may be only one gram every day or two... and I have found some of those kitchen scales only register every 2 grams from 2 grams through 20 or 30grams. After about 20grams of weight, they will start to gain a gram every day and accelerate from there.

Ok. She hasn't lost any and she has gained one gram and I **think**she is close to gaining another. My scale went to 15 then back to 14. Hopefully tomorrow we hit that 15!!

[Farmgirl9600]

I LOVE pinkies!

Ok...to feed her best thing is to cut up some small (4" x 4", say) pieces of fleece and keep them right under her container between the heating pad and the container. These will be your pre-warmed pinky wraps: take one out when you're ready and wrap her up in it with just her little face showing. Now she's toasty warm as you hold her upright and feed her. I have to run to work but there is a lot of stuff on here about pinkies for you to refer to. Magic words in order of priority: WARMTH, HYDRATION, CONSISTENT FEEDING. Will check back with you later!

Great idea!! I didn't have fleece but had lots of flannel. I cut that into the squares.

Today she was super wiggly after a feeding. She had eaten well and went potty but wouldn't settle down. I bumped up her next feeding by 30 minutes and she was definitely hungry. Do they cluster feed?

[island rehabber]

Not really, so you want to keep them on that consistent schedule of every 2.5-3 hrs. Watch the milk line: when it is just slightly above the navel they're done.

[Farmgirl9600]

Not really, so you want to keep them on that consistent schedule of every 2.5-3 hrs. Watch the milk line: when it is just slightly above the navel they're done.

Thank you for the info on the milk line! That's great to know. I read that last night and have been watching since. I know when to stop now 🥰