I don't know if Daisy is drying up, or if she simply cannot meet the demand for milk. Although the pups have not been fussy at all, I was concerned they were not getting enough to eat. Sure enough, for the last two days nobody has really gained any weight. So we're back to the bottle. Bottle feeding all these pups is going to drain the life right out of me. 

The weird thing is, they LOOK bigger every day. And everyone is so healthy. But the scale doesn't lie.

So does anyone have any advice on helping my Daisy make enough milk?  I have been assured time and again that the supply would meet the demand, but her milk bags felt empty all day today.  She's eating like a hog, and drinking enough water to drown!

Hi you really should put pups on to mum before you bottle feed as this is the only way you will get mum to produce milk ive the pups a good half an hour on mum.

They have been on her for 8 days.  And they nurse for an hour at a time.  She's simply drying up for some reason.

How many pups does she have (sorry if i've missed earlier postings)?

If it is any consolation my current bitch went very light with her milk flow at around 7 - 10 days, but pups continued putting weight on (on the graph it is noticeable that the weightgain slowed on these days - and physically you could see she didn't have much milk there).  Now she back milking for Ireland, and pups are growing as you watch them.  It was as if she had a flush of milk when the pups were first born, suddenly the body realised there were only three pups to feed, and the blip in milkflow was the body trying to stabilise the production...if you know what I mean...?

Hopefully it is the same in your case and she'll pick up again, but do keep the pups nursiong on her or she will dry up.

Caroline

So they seem to be trying to feed constantly?  This happened when my bitch had her puppies and I felt as though she was just getting exhausted feeding constantly so we let them latch on for half an hour or so until they were content and then moved them into a heated box which stayed within the whelping box.  This gave Holly a rest and it seemed (although this may have been an illusion) that she built up her milk supply so two or three hours later when they started to wake she was ready for them.  They also stayed asleep longer as they couldn't smell Holly and try to feed when they stirred.  It took a day or two for the routine to settle (and unfortunately it had to be done during the night) but it seemed to improve the milk flow. 

I worked on the assumption it was similar to the human milk process where once baby has emptied it takes a little while to replenish.  Once in a proper routine babies are satisfied until the next feed by which time enough milk has come in to satisfy again.

This is how I felt it worked, however, it maybe complete biological crap!

There are 14 pups.  Right now I am only bottle feeding the one or two who become fussy while nursing.  That's what I don't understand...nobody is really fussing!  If they were hungry, they would fuss, right???  Well They aren't fussing at all, yet their weight is very troublesome.  Being so many pups, I didn't even entertain the idea of them doubling in the first week, but I had hoped for some significant wieght gain, and we just don't have it.  My husband is convinced the scale we have is worthless and is bringing home a postage scale from work....  Sure would be nice if for once my husband was right ;)

Daisy leaves the pups alone on her own for 2-3 hours at a time, and yet I saw little improvement on her milk building up in this time.  You're right though, it is the only time anyone gets any real sleep!  If she is in the box with them, they are trying to nurse, no matter how long she is in there.  Well, she just nursed them and I fed 2 of them and now she's in the living room with me.  i will keep her out here for a few hours and see what happens.  Another problem with this schedule is that she has 14 pups, and only 11 nipples (yes, she grew and extra).  So if all 14 are hungry, 3 go without.  :(

Maybe I shouldn't worry so much, at least not yet?  They are very quiet and seem content.  Nobody looks sickly.  Everyone just huddles together and the only noise I hear is the occasional happy "coo" that I just love to hear....

Might you need to supplement more with so many puppies? Even when I had a litter of 9 I found I had to supplement as she couldn't feed them all at once (she only had 7 "active" teats).  I think I would try rotating the pups each feed and hand feeding 5 or 6 (different ones each time). Hard work but will ensure they get enough food. Also rotate them on the teats - some are usually more productive than others. She has a hell of a job with 14 - and so do you! :) Good luck with them.
Janet

We've been avoiding supplement feeding as much as possible.  With milk supply meeting demand, we'd like for her to make the milk herself.  What we do is check bellies after nursing...when someone isn't full, we finish them off with a bottle feeding.  We only have a few pups who will even accept the bottle, so we focus more on them and let the others nurse.  The good news is today she seems to be filling up with milk again.  Maybe a temporary dry spell? 

Hello, I'm new, but I just wanted to mention that when my lab had 11 pups, she just couldn't keep up with demand. Three times a day we separated her for about an hour , then let her back in to nurse for about 1/2hr or until she was ready for a break, and topped up ALL the pups afterwards with milk substitute. It worked wonderfully and we weren't left guessing which ones weren't getting enough. Good luck !!!