BFing Questions...

lpp09

Hi Ladies!

My twins are almost 6 weeks old, and although I feel like we have the bf-ing thing down pretty pat I am still having some frustrating moments...

1. Sometimes one or both babies seem like such angry eaters -- crying, grunting, pulling and pushing at my breast, won't latch for more than a few seconds at a time -- what is all this about?!?!  I know my milk supply is fine because I can see it gushing out of their mouths when they unlatch constantly.

2. I had them on a schedule, but I feel like that has just gone to hell lately.  Now, I am letting them tell me when they are hungry, and when one is ready I wake the other to feed -- whether it's day or night.  Their weights are GREAT, so the pedi told me I don't need to worry about that anymore.  My question here is what is your feeding "schedule" like? And, is it normal for it to be so inconsistent at this point?  Should I still be waking them during the day?

3.  The past two nights have been horrendous!  It seems like they are satisfied and done feeding but as soon as I put them back in their crib they start acting like they are starving or sometimes just seem to want to be held.  I will go 3+ hours of not being able to get them settled!  What is going on?!?! Growth spurts?

4. Lastly, how much were/are your twins sleeping during the day and night at this point?  Are you able to do many activities with them?  I feel like they still sleep a lot and I want to make sure that I'm not neglecting them. ;(  

Sorry for the length.  I would love any advice that you ladies have to share!

Thank you!!!!

-- New MoM  

ProwdMommy

lpp09:

Hi Ladies!

My twins are almost 6 weeks old, and although I feel like we have the bf-ing thing down pretty pat I am still having some frustrating moments...

1. Sometimes one or both babies seem like such angry eaters -- crying, grunting, pulling and pushing at my breast, won't latch for more than a few seconds at a time -- what is all this about?!?!  I know my milk supply is fine because I can see it gushing out of their mouths when they unlatch constantly.

mine to this too and I think that they are doing this when they are waiting on another let down, but I am not positive

2. I had them on a schedule, but I feel like that has just gone to hell lately.  Now, I am letting them tell me when they are hungry, and when one is ready I wake the other to feed -- whether it's day or night.  Their weights are GREAT, so the pedi told me I don't need to worry about that anymore.  My question here is what is your feeding "schedule" like? And, is it normal for it to be so inconsistent at this point?  Should I still be waking them during the day?

Mine are waking every 3-4 hours to eat pretty consistently.  I have fed both of them at the same time or one after the other since they were born.

3.  The past two nights have been horrendous!  It seems like they are satisfied and done feeding but as soon as I put them back in their crib they start acting like they are starving or sometimes just seem to want to be held.  I will go 3+ hours of not being able to get them settled!  What is going on?!?! Growth spurts?

Mine do this too and I just give them a bit more either with formula or pumped milk and this always helps.  I don't know if it is because they are still hungry or if it is just comforting.

4. Lastly, how much were/are your twins sleeping during the day and night at this point?  Are you able to do many activities with them?  I feel like they still sleep a lot and I want to make sure that I'm not neglecting them. ;(  

No activities here but when they are awake I try to spend time interacting with them as much as possible.  Mine are awake for about 15-20 minutes a couple of times a day I would say.

I am interested to see what others may have for answers though.

GSwans

At that age we were on a 2-hour feeding schedule during the day (mine were EATERS) and at night, we were doing an 8p bedtime, and they would go for a long stretch then (4-6 hours), wake to feed around 1-2ish, feed, back to sleep for 3 more hours, wake to eat at 4-5ish, and then back to bed once more for about 2 hours. 

Mine went through a crazy 6 week growth spurt where they would sometimes eat every hour, hour and a half, so don't worry about that weird behavior.  It will pass.  Daytime still included SO MUCH napping, we didn't do a lot of "activity" until more like 8 weeks...and even then, it was short!  They get very easily overstimulated, so just try to do singing, waling around the house and talking, maybe activity mat or bouncy seats. 

Hope that helps!

jdancer5

Hi Ladies - I've only posted once before cuz I'm usually reading the boards on my iPhone while I pump and that darn phone won't let me reply. But... I had to respond to this one.

My boys are 7 weeks and doing the SAME THINGS. I certainly don't think I have any answers but its comforting to know that I'm not the only one going through this right now - maybe that would be a comfort to you too.

 1 - When my boys are unlatching, I burp them and put them back on. Sometimes they spit up quite a bit when that happens so I wonder if the flow is a little fast for them...?

 2 - SAME THING. We were on this beautiful 3h schedule, and yes I would always wake the other when one would wake (always at 3h like an alarm clock). Lately, it's been so erratic. Every 2h today since 3am uugghh!! Sometimes it's even been 1 or 1.5h. I thought maybe growth spurt, but we're on day 6 of this, so I don't know. Will be interested to see other posts/opinions.

 3 - When my boys do this (and I KNOW they were done eating), I figure they're saying "Where's my booby? I had this beautiful booby, but I lost it!" So, I give them the binky to replace the comfort sucking and rock them each a little before putting them back in the cosleeper (2-3min). They have been going down great like that.

4 - I made a big mistake on this one when I read that more awake time during the day would help them differentiate between day and night. With the hope of encouraging better sleep overnight, I started having long tummy times, reading stories, singing with them during the day, etc. We had fun but then the "witching hour" turned into a fussy, needy, hot mess! I realized that HSHHT recommends 14.5-15h of sleep a day at this age and they weren't anywhere close. I'm backpedaling now trying to limit awake time to 15-30 min after feeds maybe once or twice a day.

Very curious what veteran MoMs say about these issues. I feel for you New MoM and figure that we're surviving the roughest patch right now and every moment we're getting through it and managing to enjoy our LOs at the same time, that's success!

 ((hugs)) Johanna

amanda31H

lpp09:

Hi Ladies!

My twins are almost 6 weeks old, and although I feel like we have the bf-ing thing down pretty pat I am still having some frustrating moments...

1. Sometimes one or both babies seem like such angry eaters -- crying, grunting, pulling and pushing at my breast, won't latch for more than a few seconds at a time -- what is all this about?!?!  I know my milk supply is fine because I can see it gushing out of their mouths when they unlatch constantly.

Hmmmm..maybe your let down is strong?  Not sure there.

2. I had them on a schedule, but I feel like that has just gone to hell lately.  Now, I am letting them tell me when they are hungry, and when one is ready I wake the other to feed -- whether it's day or night.  Their weights are GREAT, so the pedi told me I don't need to worry about that anymore.  My question here is what is your feeding "schedule" like? And, is it normal for it to be so inconsistent at this point?  Should I still be waking them during the day?

At 6 weeks we were on a three hour schedule.  "Bed time" was 11 pm and right before 7 weeks we would let them sleep as long as they wanted after 11 pm.  They were sleeping 7 hour stretches at 9 weeks.  Definitely keep feeding the other baby if the first is hungry, etc.

3.  The past two nights have been horrendous!  It seems like they are satisfied and done feeding but as soon as I put them back in their crib they start acting like they are starving or sometimes just seem to want to be held.  I will go 3+ hours of not being able to get them settled!  What is going on?!?! Growth spurts?

Sound like a growth spurt....are they waking to eat, you feed them, and then they won't go back to sleep for 3 hours?  (Want to make sure I read that right)...that does seem like a long time to settle the baby down.

4. Lastly, how much were/are your twins sleeping during the day and night at this point?  Are you able to do many activities with them?  I feel like they still sleep a lot and I want to make sure that I'm not neglecting them. ;(  

We were on a 3 hour schedule of eat/play/sleep.  They do sleep a lot at this age- you are NOT neglecting them!  My girls would eat, "play" which was just awake time at this point for about 15 minutes, then fall asleep.  You're doing just fine.

Sorry for the length.  I would love any advice that you ladies have to share!

Thank you!!!!

-- New MoM  

lpp09

THANK YOU for taking the time to read and respond to my questions!!!  It is comforting to know that I'm not alone with these struggles.  I appreciate the suggestions as well.  

Last night was actually a great night, so I'm regaining some sanity! Haha!

 

MaygenDL0ve

Hey, I wish I had time to answer all of these, but I see one of the babies starting to get sleepy so I only have time to answer one, which I think is the most important one (#1).  It really sounds like you have a forceful let-down.  Type this in the search bar on Kellymom.com, and you will probably find the symtoms are similar to how your babies are acting.  I had this pretty bad, and had to assign a breast to each baby full-time to regulate the breasts.  The left breast is still pretty forceful, but not as bad anymore.  I gave that breast to the more efficient eater (the smaller baby, the one who had to work harder to survive!!@!)  At that age, I was also able to nurse standing up, one at a time, with the baby kinda being snuggled against my belly w/ his head tilted up towards the breast, so he is basically in a standing position.  This helped him swallow that fast let down easier.  Had to do a lot of squirting out milk a minute into feedings to make the flow easier, too.

 

GOOD LUCK!!  Post more, please!!    Love to hear from other EBFers... hardest thing I've ever done, but totally worth it.