Preemies

Slow Nursers- Help!

I am bringing my twins home tomorrow from the NICU and am kinda nervous! Right now they get most of their feeds by bottle because I can only be there for 2 feeds a day to BF. But when I do BF, I feel like I totally mess them all up! They are great latchers and drink away but only for 20-30 min and then they still seem hungry. We almost always offer a bottle afterwards, of which they will take (maybe 15-30mL more). DS nursed for 50 min and then still took a bottle afterwards! When they just have a bottle, it is 60-70mL and it takes them about 20-30min to eat and they will last about 3-4 hours until they start to get hungry again. But when I BF them, they get hungrier sooner. I should mention that they don't really get frustrated at the breast. Maybe for the first minute while they wait for letdown but after that they are happy as clams but just fall asleep after 20-30 min on most occassions. I know they aren't emptying my breasts because I can always pump afterwards and get ~2 ounces from both sides. I know BFing is a lot of work for them, and harder than a bottle, so that is why i worry that I am just wearing them out since it seems to take so long to get all their food in! Will this get easier once they are older and have stronger sucks? I am worried that they won't gain enough weight. Also I am worried that I will spend all day nursing, then offering a bottle, then pumping, then repeat! I can't do all that when DH goes back to work. If you have any advice, please help! I SO want BFing to work!
Abigail Noelle, 8.29.09
Brady Phoenix, 8.29.09
Claire Zoe, 10.26.10

Re: Slow Nursers- Help!

  • The first 7 weeks (before going back to work) I spent a lot of time nursing, pumping, and giving a bottle...and once DS learned how to nurse efficiently (2 months adjusted) he showed bottle preference and would scream and scream if I tried to BF him until we gave in to the bottle.  He did learn to nurse though, and did it well, it just took a lot of patience and help from my DH! 

    I think DS would have gotten there if we hadn't switched to a level 2 nipple at about 1.5 months adjusted - which is really when he started to show a bottle preference.  We did this because he was barely gaining weight and taking an hour to eat.  

    There are some girls here that have done it successfully, so I hope they have some good advice!

  • I just wanted to say wow- breastfeeding preemie twins!  that's amazing-good job mommy!  I'm working on bfing with one now and am nervous about all the eventual nicu bottle feedings.  I will say that my ft baby always took forever to nurse and it seemed to help to massage my breast while nursing to express a bit of milk which stimulated him and helped him along.  although with twins, I'm not sure if you have a free hand?  GL
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  • I think all babies are slow nursers at first.  My FEer would take forever to nurse and he was just happy as can be.  While in the hospital, I had to constantly stimulate my preemie boy while eating so he wouldn't fall asleep.  But he was really efficient from the beginning, just sleepy.  Now he gets his fill in about 10-15 minutes, but he never empties a breast (and we have 2 you know) so I have to pump afterward.  It actually works better if I can see he is getting hungry and pump a little before, then he gets the hindmilk, which has all the fat in it!

    So with twins, I don't know if there is an easy answer, but I wanted you to know it does get better and my son went from 7 bottle/1 breast feeds to almost EBF, unless daddy feeds him or I time my pumpings wrong.  So kudos to you for BFing twins and good luck.

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