kim huckaby

This will be my 4th litter of dachshunds. This female is in her 1st pregnancy, and not far off from birthing; I can feel the pup(s) moving. Her mammaries are huge and lumpy, but no milk yet. No, I don't think that she has mastitis; there are no symptoms of that and she seems to feel ok. Has the milk just not "come down"? Or maybe she is still not far enough along to squeeze the tit and get milk? I am a smalltime breeder still learning. The only other time that I have had this to happen, the dog was weaning. She got very hard and knotty, and I took her to the vet. He said this was normal and indeed she recovered well. It just looked so painful! But what about when the pups haven't arrived yet? I read earlier that the pups sucking can make the milk come down but also that they need to get it within the first couple of hours. ~Kim~