i start letting my babies "mess' around with food when they start trying to eat their mothers food. The age is usually about 4-5 weeks. What I do is make a slurry of Gerber baby rice, karo syrup and puppy supplement. Mess is usually all they do at this stage. Then if they truly seem hungry after three or four days, I go to another slurry of wet puppy food and supplement. I use Esbalic. Keep baby wipes handy to clean faces, belly and feet when you remove the food. Then after all this, I start grinding up dry food and put it in a big flat pan where they still make a mess. i have puppy food all over the x-pen. Then I just gradually stop the grinding. I leave mama right in with them until they are eight weeks old, then I take her out during the day and put her back in at night. In just a few days, I will hear her snapping at them. This means she is trying to wean them. Hope this helps. |