I named mama Frances, after the redoubtable Frances McDormand. She put up with being kidnapped and confined, sensing that she and the babies were safe. I left her alone. Didn't try to handle them for several days.
As the weeks went by, she stopped trying to put the hurt on me when I came in to change her bedding, her water, etc. At about four weeks the babies started eating solid food. Took quite a burden off Frances....
They didn't just start eating: after looking up into fur for a nipple, a pile of stuff on the floor did not impress.
It's a process, putting a bit into their mouths, then having them lick it off your finger, convincing them not to bite your finger, lowering finger slowly to bowl...takes time. Of course they still nursed as well.
Frances adopted two, Johnetta Lewis and Tuxedo Ted, who had lost their mother. Stellar feline, she!
Frances has gone out a few times. By herself, then with the babies. However, Frances seems to want them to go under the house. I don't. ( I once had a mother who tried to convince her babies to mistrust humans, to be 'wild') Frances led them there; at least they wound up there together...fortunately, the babies came when I called them. Now Frances and babies go out at different times. Babies have not since gone around and under the house.
Frances lets me pet her now. She rubs her face on my hand. And I'm wondering, since mother has been here so long, if she wants to go home...certainly not till the other kittens have been adopted. Nothing has to be decided right this minute...