new born guinea pigs

Question
our guinea pig gave birth for the first time to 3 pups about three hours ago and we have not yest seen them suckle. is there something we should do?

Answer
No, you do not want to intervene. When a sow delivers she will not suckle her babies until she has completed the 'cleaning out' process. She may have afterbirth still to be expelled and she knows not to nurse the babies until she is finished.

I have had sows that went many hours without nursing the babies and they all do fine. They can go as long as 12 hours without nursing. If you try to bottle feed the babies you may cause them to aspirate the milk and they will quickly die. Leave her alone and she will take over when she knows the time is right. So rest easy. This is a normal birthing process.