My pups are now 5 weeks of age, thriving, very happy, outgoing friendly little guys. They're currently on Arden Grange puppy food made into a bit of porridge with some puppy milk and also have a little bit of minced tripe/fish/chicken aswell. Also the odd bit of scrambled egg goes down a treat too ;-)

My question really relates to mum. From about when the pups were 3 weeks she started spending more and more time away from them, although she always had access to them, whether to feed them or just to keep an eye on them, now they are 5 weeks, she doesn't really seem to want to let them feed off her, if she does go into them, she'll now stand there for them, and after a 5 mins will wander off, although yesterday she was reluctant to let them feed at all, i.e. as soon as they started making a beeline for the milk bar, she wandered off. So I guessing she's saying she's had enough of them. I have trimmed their nails, and I know they now have quite sharp teeth, but I don't think that has anything to do with it. I'm quite happy for her to not feed them now, but her breasts are quite full and firm and do leak. It must be a bit uncomfortable for her, so do I just leave her so the milk starts to go away? Or should I be asking my vet for some Galastop (sp) ?

Don't worry, ths is perfectly normal. I've found that mine have been very reluctant to allow their pups to suckle for long at about 5 weeks, because of the sharp teeth tugging - and because they're usually feeding standing up at this stage (natural weaning) and the pups are still quite small they have to hang on hard! So a couple of minutes suckling is all they're allowed and then mum will leap away and leave them. Invariably after a week or so, when they've grown a bit more, it's less painful and she'll allow them to take off the excess milk, which has lessened anyway from the reduced suckling. By 7 or 8 weeks she's almost completely dry and no interference has been needed.

Ditto JG, also of course being a bit harder on them at this stage is encouraging weaning and the milk to lessen and then she will be happier to be with them again in a week or so once they have the message that the milk bar is no longer 'on demand' but by permission only.

Sadly this is the stage many bitch owners who have the facilities take the bitch away, thinking she is no longer needed by them, and they miss out on the important learning and play that goes on from 6 weeks plus.

Thanks JG & Brainless, so I guess then I should carry on as I am, allowing her as much access as she wants with them

Definitely; she knows best. :-)

Hi sorry to hijack your post but just read it and I'm in pretty much same stage of whelping, but my pups are 4 weeks. My girl still lays down with the pups at night but once they've fed she's in her own bed.
My question is should I now reduce my girls food intake? Obviously if she's not making loads of milk now she won't need feeding as much?

Play it by ear, they are still giving a large proportion of the pups nutrition, even if the feeds seem quick.

check your bitches body condition.  with my girls (medium size breed with around 6 pup average)they are generally on around 4 times their normal rations or sometimes more. 

By five weeks if they seem rather stout I may drop it to 3 times and see what difference it makes. 

By 6 weeks it's usually twice normal rations and once pups are gone, if they aren't actually overweight I continue with 1 1/2 times normal rations as they will need more food not to loose condition when they drop their coats, and of course to repair their bodies.

With my first litter I cut my bitch to normal rations by 10 weeks and found she lost condition during the heavy post partum moult and took longer to get back into good body and coat condition.

Thanks Brainless, she's a medium size with 7 pups, she's on roughly 4 times as much as usual but still skinnier than she is normally, she's just starting to lose her coat now so looking a bit tatty, I'll just keep on feeding her as much as she will eat.
Thanks again, brilliant forum I've read it avidly since pups.