Looking for breastfeeding tips for twins

ericaley98

Hi!  This is my first psot on the bump in about 2.5 years!  I posted on my birth month page with I was pregnant with my son until we starte a FB group and haven't been back since.  I'm not almost 17 weeks pregnant with twins and starting to research breastfeding multiples.  I had a great experience breastfeeding my (now) 2 year old for 14 months and I'd really like to breastfeed these twins as well.  Anyone have any tips to share?

Wishing35

I wound up formula feeding due to other circumstances, but I would say have a lactation consultant come by the house. Even though you've breast fed before they have lots of tip and tricks, mine even told me of a mom if triplets who ebf so it can be done!

raraavis28

Learn to tandem feed! It saves a ton of time and is a great way to keep both babies on the same feeding schedule. Also invest in a good nursing pillow. I loved the My Brest Friend twin pillow....it's a monster but it was what made tandem feeding possible for me.

Good luck! There are lots of ladies on here who successfully BF their twins. They have a check-in every Monday if you want to lurk there for stories and tips.

shaunah816

@xoexpat (I think that's her bump name!) has had a great experience breastfeeding her now 13 month old twins, and has blogged about it extensively: https://projectprocrastinot.blogspot.co.uk/p/breastfeeding.html

SWA80

It is hard at first, especially if you have preemies, but it gets SO much easier. I have had lots of negative reactions from other twin parents telling me I won't last at bf twins or that I'll have to supplement but so far so good. Ignore the negatives, it CAN be done as so many in this group can attest to.

jessican08

• Tandem nurse if you can - HUGE time saver
• A good pillow (I liked the mybreastfriend twins pillow)
• Watch some youtube videos on strategies. It's really intimidating tandem nursing alone for the first time but there are some great tips out there. Two boppies or two RnPs as an extra set of hands was a must for me.
• Meet with a LC as much as you can
• Rent a hospital grade pump as a back up

24karat

My Brest Friend Twins Deluxe Pillow.

Best.Thing.Ever.

Momof8inSC

What about a Twin Z pillow? Better or worse than my Brest Friend twin pillow?

xoexpat

Wow, I've been away from these boards for awhile so I didn't even know you could tag people in posts!  I need to get back in the loop!

As far as advice goes, you will hear loads of contradicting things.  Pillows are good, pillows are bad, tandem feed, feed on schedule, on demand, etc.  

Simply put, here are my tidbits to add, mostly just seconding what PPs have said.

1) Try to nurse ASAP, and get as much help from the LCs in hospital as you can

2) Set small goals then adjust (i.e., EBF for one month, then reevaluate).  This is what I did even though in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to go for at least a year.  But I kept asking myself, is it worth it…and it has been.

3)Rent the hospital pump for back up.  Great idea.  Also, have someone else feed the babies from a bottle, not you.  

4) Live it.  We can tell you all our experiences, and you can have your mind made up about how to do it before the babies even arrive, but in my experience it doesn't really matter--you still have to go through it yourself and it is likely that what you thought you'd do doesn't fit with the reality.  So you have to adjust again and again. 

Congrats on your previous successful BFing relationship, I think that will be a lot of help.  It's a lot of work but like I said, worth it.  Good luck!