Nursing mom not eating

My cat is a new mother (April 19th) and she is not eating. She eats only once a day, sometimes less, and for only a few seconds (literally) at a time.

She lays with ker kittens all day, which is a good thing I would assume, but I also am sure that she should be eating more than she normally would, and she's actually eating less than she use to.

The only time I ever see her move from her babies is once or twice a day when she'll get up and go get a drink of water or go to the bathroom.

I have been thinking that maybe it's the kitten food. She had kitten food all throughout her pregnancy (same brand as she is getting now), but it seems that the few times I have seen her get up to eat, she was trying to get out to where the normal cat food is set for my other cat. She walks right past her food and water dishes, which are only a few feet away from her and her babies, so that she can walk 20 feet out the door where the normal cat food is. I don't get it.

How much should she be eating, when feeding a litter of 5? Is it really that important that she has kitten food, or would it be okay to give her regular adult cat food?

Her babies are definitely seeming satisfied and all of them are nice and plump. Lucy is producing milk, but I worry about her not eating.

The mother cannot leave the babies for long as they cannot regulate their body temp. She goes to where she is used to her food supposed to be and this keeps others away from her kittens. Don't worry as the kittens get bigger she will come out more.

Teresa is right, I would feed momcat the normal catfood, and I would move her bowl closer to where the kittens are. I would also feed her small amounts about 5 times a day, and heat the food a few seconds in the microwave. Momcat won't want to leave her babies for long periods of time- but that too will change.

. also add a spoon full of meat babyfood to the wetfood - that usually does the trick!