Hi All, I"m a new user looking for advice. Fairly new breeder too. My family bred Golden Retrievers growing up, but this is my first time doing it on my own. I have a miniature dachshund, just had her first litter. She had 6 big pups in her. We did an emergency c-section Saturday morning, lost 3 pups in the process. I asked my vet to spay her while he had her open since she had so many problems and I didn't want to put her through this again.
She didn't see her pups until 2 hours after surgery, took to them right away, nursed the two healthiest ones, and basically has been an amazing mother through all of this. I have one male that I had to revive 3 times throughout the day on Saturday due to fluid in his lungs. I finally got all the junk cleared out and got him to start eating a little, he wouldn't take a bottle but if I stuck my little finger way back and used a dental syringe and the back of his throat he would suck and swallow a little of the milk. My vet has me supplementing with canned goat milk. I am watering it down since I did read that the evaporated form is too thick and will congeal in the stomach.
My two healthy ones have been nursing, but I am also supplementing every 4 to 6 hours. I finally got my weak boy to latch onto mom the first time this morning (it's Monday morning now). I was going to give a colostrum replacement but my vet said as long as I can get him to nurse within a couple of days he would still absorb the colostrum from her.
Now, I have two problems/questions. Sasha doesn't seem to be producing milk. I can express a little out of her, but nowhere near what I think she should be making. I know this is likely due to the trauma she has been through. She's been on quality puppy food for the last 4 weeks of pregnancy and still now. Vitamins the last month, calcium started the week before delivery and continued now. I have been mixing her up a little plain yogurt, condensed milk, wheat germ, hb egg, sprinkle of cheese, and puppy kibble warmed up the past two mornings and she's eating really well. She's drinking well, I keep a bown in the whelping box since she's so reluctant to leave the pups (I only leave the water in while supervised which is constantly, I take it out at night so no worries about the pups getting into the bowl, I know that was coming :-)). Anyhow, she seems to be recovering well, doesn't appear to be in pain, is a doting mother. I'm calling my vet this morning, but I'm also on here looking for opinions from those of you who have been there and done that, I know there's a lot of experience on here. Is there anything I can do, food, supplements, etc, that will help promote milk production. She had a shot of oxytocin prior to the c-section. When that didn't work is when we went into surgery. My vet has been wonderful with me through this whole pregnancy. Stayed up in the early hours with me on the phone when she went into labor, met me at the office on his day off to do the surgery.
Anyhow, here's my second question, and I'm sorry this is getting long winded, once again I'll have the vet's advice shortly when he calls me back, but looking for more opinions. This weak boy that I've been feeding has been crying incessantly. The only way I can comfort him is to hold and cuddle him. He doesn't appear bloated and I've been very careful not to overfeed him. He did suck on mom for about 5 minutes earlier (was already crying prior to that). Any suggestions on him other than what the vet tells me are greatly welcome right now, he's breaking my heart.
This has been a rough experience for all of us, despite all our efforts and everything I tried to do right, but I have been blessed with two boys and a little girl. Fabio and Marco have already been claimed and named by best friends with a contract that the pups will be returned to me if they ever need to part with them. Chloe is going to stay with me and have a forever home with her mommy. I don't know that I'll ever attempt this again. I know these problems are common in small breeds. I guess I had too many memories of golden retrievers going into textbook labor and having 11 beautiful puppies a few hours later with never a problem or a glitch all those years ago! Obviously that wasn't the case here. But I was prepared for what could go wrong thankfully and was able to save 3 of my babies and their mother...my angel. My only regret was that the vet had me wait just a bit longer trying to stimulate her on her own instead of going ahead and taking the pups, which is where I think we lost the 3. 2 were born dead (one was stuck in the canal) and the other one came out gasping but we were never able to get him breathing on his own after 30 minutes of trying. My weak boy took me 10 minutes of intermittent gasping to get him breathing.
Sorry, I'll stop now. If anyone read this far, I appreciate it.
Looking forward to your advice and opinions

My weak boy took me 10 minutes of intermittent gasping to get him breathing.
Sorry, I'll stop now. If anyone read this far, I appreciate it.
Looking forward to your advice and opinions[/QUOTE]

I really feel for you very much, I breed Labradors, and have had some unexplained and heartbreaking deaths, even though they whelp easily. It is never easy, and you seem to have had a particularly hard time with this one! Six is a really big litter for a dachsie though!!
I really hope that your little boy has made it and is on the road to health by now, it is almost a day since you posted here.
I have heard that Lucerne tablets, (homeopathic) are excellent for stimulating milk production, although I have not had the problem personally with my own bitches.
I usually give mine a custard that I make with whole milk, eggs, honey, gelatine and butter, and I give them a good cupful of it every day while they are nursing for as long as they want it. I find that that is usually for the first two to three weeks of nursing, and after that they prefer to just go back to their normal solid food.
Best of luck, dear, and don't give up, you sound like such a committed and responsible breeder that it would be a great shame to lose you to the fraternity.