Instructions
Wash off the mother goat's udder. This is not necessary for the baby's health but will make things easier for you as you try to help the newborn goat to nurse.
Check the newborn goat, called a kid, to see if it can stand. Sometimes when a goat can't nurse, the problem is not with it being able to nurse but with it being able to stand. If it is unable to stand, look for an obvious reason. It may just be weak from the birthing process, or it may have a physical problem or deformity. If it just seems weak, help it to stand. If it has other problems, consult a veterinarian for help.
Show the kid its mother's udder. Sometimes a newborn is just a bit confused, and a little direction is all it needs.
Squeeze a drop or two of milk from the mother's teat so that the baby can smell it, hopefully, taste it. If it gets into the newborn's mouth, the kid will likely begin to suck. Help it to latch on to its mother, after which it will usually be okay.
Get some milk on your fingers, and put your fingers in the kid's mouth. It will normally start sucking. Once it does, guide it to its mother's udder, and exchange your fingers for one of her teats.
Milk out the udder if the teats are very large. It may be that the kid cannot get its mouth around a very large, swollen teat and this can prevent it from nursing. Once the teat is made smaller by milking it out partway, the kid can be introduced to it and should be able to start nursing.
How to Get Newborn Goats to Nurse
Most of the time when animals are born there is no problem with them figuring out how to nurse. They latch on to their mothers and start eating right away. This is important to their ultimate health because the mother's first milk, called colostrum, is filled with important antibodies that protect the newborn animals and get them off to a good start in life. If a newborn animal has problems at first, it is important to help it start nursing as quickly as possible, since the mother's colostrum is only present for a short time.