Pumping & Nursing schedule with twins

paileycarroll

Hi mommas! I'm due with fraternal twins in April and was wondering what your pumping&nursing schedule was for your little ones? My son was an every two hour start time for six months, even through the night. My approach this time, obviously barring any medical needs they may have, is if they re sleeping at night, not to wake them. My real question is if a twin woke up at night to eat did you wake up the other twin or let them sleep through if they weren't waking up? And, during the day how did you balance nursing and pumping for two! Thank you ladies

bellebaby221

I wouldn't wake up one twin just because the other woke up to eat, but mine never presented that as an option, LOL!  They're usual routine would be for one to wake and by the time he was changed, fed and put back to bed, the other would be up and ready to go.  When they were little and eating every 2-3 hours, there were times it was just a continuous feeding cycle.  I tried pumping so we'd have nighttime bottles and DH would do one rotation so I could at least get a few hours of sleep.  Eventually we started supplementing with formula because I couldn't make enough to feed them during the day and pump extra for at night.  While I was on maternity leave, I could usually feed one on each side, then pumped to get any remaining milk for storage.  At work I just pumped multiple times a day to get as much for bottles as possible.  By the time they were 6 months, we were doing 1/2 of their bottles as breast milk and 1/2 as formula to send to daycare.  I couldn't pump enough to have 12 bottles of breast milk for daycare!

I would say that waking them or not is going to be more dependent on how well they are gaining.  If it looks like they're not putting on weight like they should, you're going to have to find a way to introduce more feedings, whether that's waking them at night or more often during the day.

Best of luck to you!

wabash15

@paileycarroll initally if they are still getting up in the night to eat I would wake the other up to feed so that they are on the same schedule and you don't just fall back asleep to then have to feed the other one.... but once they get to the point they are sleeping through the night I would let them sleep. even though they are twins they are different kiddos and have different needs. One of my twins was an eater and the other was a sleeper. My eater didnt sleep through the night till 18 months because he wanted to eat but my sleeper started sleeping though the night at 4 months.  As for feeding I tried to have them on an 3 hour schedule.  initially i had to triple feed... nurse, bottle, pump... but my supply did come up and I was eventually able just to nurse. (that and my kiddos and I finally worked through a lot of latch/nursing issues.) I will say I also pumped every 3 hours around the clock (even if they were sleeping to keep up with their bottle needs at daycare) till they were 9-10 months old.  If I did it again I would give myself more permission to supplement with formula and sleep more.... you will figure out what works for you, but having them on a schedule was super helpful for us and also made it easier to get out of the house.... also twins are a team sport. Your SO might have slept while you took care of the night feedings with a singleton but you need both of you when the twins come. he would do diapers and I would feed, if we were giving formula or pumped milk he would do one and I would do the other.