Labrador Retriever Forum
My girl Ruby had her second litter yesterday, via c-section. She really never tucked up again from her first litter, and her mammary tissue has been huge for weeks! She only had 4 pups, and I'm afraid she will have too much milk. Pups are nursing well, but she is very full. She is on cephalexin for the c-section which I'm hoping will help with preventing mastitis. I'm also worried about the pups stools because of the antibiotics and will give Ruby probiotics to help with that. I'm assuming that milk production will slow down somewhat due to the lack of stimulation, and I'm trying to rotate the pups but I thought I'd post here in case others had other ideas about this. Should I try to only use certain nipples? Stop worrying? Other thoughts?
TIA,
Susan 
For the first day or two there may be edema (fluid retention) which make the udder look and feel as if it's full of milk. It's not. It's the same hormone effect that makes my jeans too tight every month or so. 
After the edema subsides, watch carefully to make sure none of the glands stay full. There is more risk of mastitis if it stays full. They should nurse on all of the nipples, but you don't have to go crazy - just watch and feel the udder a couple of times a day after they nurse to make sure there are no hard areas. If there is a full gland, encourage a pup to use that nipple. In a few days, supply and demand will even everything out. Some of the nipples will probably end up producing little or no milk as time goes on. Milk production is all about supply and demand, but there is a slight lag between demand changes and supply, both increasing and decreasing.
Right now we have a small litter of five that will be two weeks old on Monday. We've had to watch each nipple carefully due to a few of them starting to harden up. 3x Daily we used warm moist towel compresses on her boobies, and made sure the hearty suckers got on those particular nipples. Great success in warding off Mastitis, but for a while there we were concerned. I have to watch out exactly just how much I feed Mommie too. Too much food, and her milk production is in overload for such a small litter. All pups are doing great.......and I've got Mommie eating plenty of smaller meals throughout the day. A good kibble, plus fresh steamed veggies, and boiled chicken breast. Just make sure you're rotating pups onto all the nipples, and have fun with your little ones. 
How much more are you feeding than what is normal for your girl when she doesn't have pups? How many meals a day? Usually I free feed after my girls have whelped, but that certainly doesn't make as much sense with a small litter.
Thanks,
Susan
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Replying to:
Right now we have a small litter of five that will be two weeks old on Monday. We've had to watch each nipple carefully due to a few of them starting to harden up. 3x Daily we used warm moist towel compresses on her boobies, and made sure the hearty suckers got on those particular nipples. Great success in warding off Mastitis, but for a while there we were concerned. I have to watch out exactly just how much I feed Mommie too. Too much food, and her milk production is in overload for such a small litter. All pups are doing great.......and I've got Mommie eating plenty of smaller meals throughout the day. A good kibble, plus fresh steamed veggies, and boiled chicken breast. Just make sure you're rotating pups onto all the nipples, and have fun with your little ones.
Our girls ribs were almost visable, so we've upped her food to about 4-5 cups a day, but spread out throughout the day. She's such a wonderful Mommie, and could care less about eating her kibble.....that's why we've included the steamed green beans, carrots, raw green peppers, and chicken breast. We would totally Free feed her with a bigger litter, but she likes the smaller specialty meals every 3-5 hours....and loves the ice cubes we've been putting in her water dish. Geesh, she's so spoiled when she's with her litter. 
It definitely helped putting the hungry eaters on her swollen boobies......no problems anymore. The pups are 12 days old now. Around 4-6 days we had to do the warm compresses.....and it worked great.
