I need advice on breast feeding and supplementing

CaliCarly77

OK I know its silly to have a plan at all, and that nothing is going to go according to plan, but:

My twins are basically due any day now.  I would LOVE to breastfeed for most of my feedings, but my husband has offered to do the first late night shifts (i.e. I go to bed at 9, he handles the twins till 2 a.m. then I get up and do the shifts after that, so we each get some good sleep - and both of us doing the 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. stuff) Obviously this wouldn't kick in when they are newborn and when we are in the cluster feed survival mode, but hopefully after the first few weeks when he has to go back to work. 

So if I breast feed, what do I do about the 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. feedings? Can my husband use formula?  Do I have to pump extra milk during the day to have this supply on hand or risk losing my milk? Do I have to get up to pump during that time or risk losing my milk? Will trying to sleep for 5 hours just land me with leaky or sore boobs? Would my body get used to it? 

I'm just confused as to how it works. My husband really wants this bonding time with the twins and I want to be prepared in every way to give it to him. THANKS!!!! 

LottaLattes

Your body will adjust, while you may wake up after 2 with VERY full breasts, it will eventually regulate. As long as you don't expect to sometimes breastfeed during that time it shouldn't bother your supply to give formula during that time. And if you start waking up for those feeds, your body will begin producing more again, it is very supply/demand based. And if you decide you'd rather feed them pumped milk, you can start pumping once during the day as well. Good luck!

jezebel57

awesome question! i've been wondering the same! 

24karat

You will still need to pump during the feedings that your DH does to maintain supply. This is especially critical during cluster feedings (which build supply) and in the early months of BF. You basically should plan to pump whenever you would normally feed. Missing a feeding here or there may not mess with supply, but it will if it becomes a regular thing. Then there's the sore/leaky boob issue. Early on it will likely happen more frequently till your body regulates your supply. It's great that your DH wants to have that bonding time and definitely encourage it! He can use the pumped milk or formula, your choice. If you have extra milk just freeze it for later use.

raraavis28

What PPs said! You will want to pump in the beginning anyway to help your supply, esp. if you are getting help w/ feedings. At the beginning I pumped for 20 minutes after every feeding (started out only nursing for about 10 mins at a time, though....you might not have the same situation). Giving pumped milk is great, and having a little formula on hand just in case is not a bad idea either, especially if it gives you peace of mind.

My DH helped out a lot with nighttime feedings (when they got down to just 2 feedings at night I took one and he took the other so we each got 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep) and it helped a TON.

GL and how exciting that you get to meet your babies soon!!

PurpleIris30

kjkarats03 said:

You will still need to pump during the feedings that your DH does to maintain supply. This is especially critical during cluster feedings (which build supply) and in the early months of BF. You basically should plan to pump whenever you would normally feed. Missing a feeding here or there may not mess with supply, but it will if it becomes a regular thing. Then there's the sore/leaky boob issue. Early on it will likely happen more frequently till your body regulates your supply. It's great that your DH wants to have that bonding time and definitely encourage it! He can use the pumped milk or formula, your choice. If you have extra milk just freeze it for later use.

I agree with all of this. You need to pump during those times if that's your daily schedule or it will impact your supply. If you don't mind consistently giving formula during those feeds every day, then it won't matter if it impacts your supply. Your body only produces as much milk as it is directed to by nursing or pumping. If you skip a feed or two, your body will stop producing that volume of milk.

After the twins are several months old, you'll have more flexibility. It's hard to skip feedings during the first couple of months during the newborn stage. I've found that right now, it's much less stressful for me personally to do all of their feeds by breast with any I pump going to a frozen stash. When they were first home from the nicu, they needed two bottles a day with extra calorie supplementation mixed with breast milk and it was stressful to have a specific volume I needed to pump at every session.

Keep in mind that my preference was to not supplement with formula unless necessary. It hasn't helped me to get more sleep to have my husband give a bottle, because I would still need to pump and that takes longer than just breast feeding. It has also been too hard trying to pump more during other times of the day while also breast feeding two- I just can't consistently pump the volumes they need.

TheDairyQueenx3

Really it's hard to say. I have breastfed all my children exclusively because if I missed a feeding I would become so engorged and end up with mastitis or a clogged duct and it's the absolutely worst feeling. So if DH did do a feed I would pump as he fed the baby (ies). And with my first even after a year I never regulated. The twins I have though. Also you may find the babies sleep better if you BF since formula (and BM but not as common) can cause reflux, colicky issues and over feeding.... I'm not FF bashing what so ever it's just some issues you may find to happen ad one more point to think over just like breast milk can digest in as little as 45 minutes so cluster feeds are more common and exhausting) Plus there is a component to BM that helps baby sleep better but I forget what it's called now. Some women don't respond to pumps either like they can only get an ounce or two at a time but it's no indication of what baby is actually getting a baby can pull a lot more than a pump so again can so for me that in turn caused clogged ducts the first few weeks. Best advice I can give is for the first few weeks feed on demand (can take up to 5 weeks for your full supply to become established as their little tummies get used to holding food) then slowly drop one feed at a time to adjust to giving them a bottle. When doing that pump just enough for your comfort so you don't become engorged. And then taper those off slowly. Breastfeeding is def. a learn curve but once you pass the hump it gets a lot easier! You will find your groove once they get here wether it be breast feeding, exclusively pumping, supplementing, or formula feeding. One thing though is always trust your body you can make enough for them and also tandem feeds help so much in getting more sleep! Also those first few weeks you will pretty much be nursing non stop so netflix, some easy snacks, and a huge glass of water will be your best friend. The breastfeeding board here too has a ton of great info!

CaliCarly77

LottaLattes said:

Your body will adjust, while you may wake up after 2 with VERY full breasts, it will eventually regulate. As long as you don't expect to sometimes breastfeed during that time it shouldn't bother your supply to give formula during that time. And if you start waking up for those feeds, your body will begin producing more again, it is very supply/demand based. And if you decide you'd rather feed them pumped milk, you can start pumping once during the day as well. Good luck!

Thank you for all of this - this exactly answers my questions!!

mellissalynay90 said:

Best advice I can give is for the first few weeks feed on demand (can take up to 5 weeks for your full supply to become established as their little tummies get used to holding food) then slowly drop one feed at a time to adjust to giving them a bottle. When doing that pump just enough for your comfort so you don't become engorged. And then taper those off slowly. ... Also those first few weeks you will pretty much be nursing non stop so netflix, some easy snacks, and a huge glass of water will be your best friend. 

Thank you so much for this info as well!! I had heard we have to feed on demand the first few weeks, so I am enjoying any good night of sleep I can get lately!! (Not many, but some!)

Thanks so much for the information!!!

LottaLattes

I will say, you can still kind of force the on demand to a certain extent and offer it up every time one wakes (otherwise you may quickly find you are literally not sleeping).

And just wanted to clarify one thing I said, it shouldn't impact your overall supply to eventually drop a night feed, but you will stop producing milk as much at that particular time as another poster said.

carrotcake06

Based on my experience, you're going to need help feeding them for quite some time, even if you EBF. I tandem bf almost all the time I am with them (I work, so they get bottles of pumped BM then). Anyway, it's a lot to do everything for twins by yourself MOTN.

Once your supply is established - minimally after the first 6w and definitely after the first 12w, you'll have a lot more flexibility in terms of skipping feedings, etc. but as has been said, if you consistently miss a feeding, your body will stop producing for that feeding.

By the time you get to 3m, you may find that you only have one or two MOTN feeds. Both my singleton and the twins stopped eating MOTN by 4mo. What I mean by that is they'd eat at 10-11pm and then not again until 6-7a. Everyone was/is EBF.

If/when someone wakes up MOTN, we take turns soothing them. If it's clear one of the babies won't be soothed, then I'll feed both of them but honestly, that doesn't happen that often.

Since I get a good stretch out of them, I usually wake up v engorged. I pump off a bit before feeding them so they don't get a firehose to the face and then again afterward.

The first three months are all survival. You'll find your groove after that.

PurpleIris30

One more thing to add - it's a huge help to me that my husband does all the motn changes and just hands the babies to me so that they can eat. I definitely get more sleep because of that. There are lots of ways to get help with sleep beyond the feedings themselves.

SWA80

My boys were in the NICU at first and the LC had me do one 5 hour chunk at night between pumps as long as I got in at least 8 per 24 hour period. I ended up with an oversupply. However, as PP said it is just hard to feed, change and get both back to sleep by yourself.

kbarn20

With my other three boys, I made the mistake of skipping pumping when my husband would supplement with formula. I never was able to get my supply going as a result. I knew better the last time, but gave up due to mastitis. This time around, I am bound and determined to make this work. I really don't want to spend the money on formula for two!

Mrs.Guz

I pump right before bed and usually have enough for the next couple feedings. The first several weeks though, my boobs would wake me up every 3 hours at most to pump.