XP: advice/consolation

B&K706

I hope you all don't mind me posting one more time. I would love to post more, but my husband works 24s and I'm usually on my own with the babes.

Backstory: b/g twins born 34w6d
Dd: 4 lb 9 oz
DS: 5 lb

I started pumping/trying to nurse just after they were born. Because they were in the NICU, I was on a 3 hour schedule. Once they were home, I nursed and pumped, pumping after every feeding to try to up my supply. I just wasn't producing enough for both and they weren't strong enough for a full feeding at the breast.

2 month stats:
DD: 7 lb 12 oz
DS: 9 lb 6 oz
4 month stats
DD: 9 lb
DS: 10 lb 12 oz

At 3 months, we were finally able to stop supplementing and the babies seemed content and happy. As you can see, they both only gained a little over a lb in the two months between appts. Their ped is an IBCLC, but was obviously concerned about their weight gain. We decided to nurse constantly for a week and see what they did. There was no weight gain. So now we are back to supplementing after every feed. I have not been able to do a weighed feeding yet. The lady with the scale has been on vacation for 3 weeks and I was on vacation the 10 days prior to that (and didn't realize there was an issue). Our dr office scale only measures by the .2 of a lb, so it wouldn't be accurate to do a weighed feeding there.

I have tried every single thing I could to increase my supply (160+ oz of water, fenugreek, oatmeal, flaxseed, Increased calories, mothers milk tea, power pumping, even domperidone), but I guess I just can't keep up. Has anyone else been in this position? It kills me that so many women can successfully breastfeed their twins, but I can't. I would love to hear from others who were in this position or any suggestions or advice. I'm guessing this means there is no hope for EBF.

Sorry this got so long.

ncbelle

How frequently are you nursing/pumping?  The first thing to do when there's a concern about supply is to nurse more often.  If you've been doing a 3 hour schedule since the start, that may be the root of your problem.  Newborns really will be nursing more often - and if you are producing for twins, you definitely want more "demand."

I wouldn't say there is no hope - you are breastfeeding now!  And even if you do have to continue to supplement - that's still breastfeeding!!

I do think it's a good idea to follow up with weighed feedings to see what their milk transfer is like.  If they aren't transferring well, that's your problem right there and can likely be fixed.

B&K706

We have been nursing on demand since they came home, but it tends to be every 2 1/2-3 hours. I agree that it's probably the root of the problem, but I can't go back in time and change it and I'm not sure what to do about it now They are finally taking naps, so I don't know if I want to wake them after 15 min each time (it would be just after they fall asleep) to nurse then every two hours. I guess we'll see how much they transfer, but it seems like they transfer what is there quite well, just that they wish there was a greater volume there to transfer. They will work for further letdowns, but you can tell the volume isn't as much.

Thanks for the advice!

surpriseaddition

Just wanted to say you should be proud of yourself for doing as well as you have BF twins! I don't know how true your comment about "so many" women successfully EBF twins really is. Many moms who only have a singleton struggle with proving enough BM to one baby. It seems like you're doing everything you can, and the majority of their nutrition is coming from BM at four months, which is true for less than 1/2 of all babies in general. Be proud of what you're doing for your LOs!