Breast Feeding

mavargo

Hi, I am almost 19 weeks pregnant with twins. It is my plan to breast feed. I was just wondering what worked best for everyone.  Did you have a feeding and pumping schedule you used. I think I would like to feed both at once to save time, so I don't always feel like I am feeding them or pumping and I don't have a child screaming while I am feeding the other one. What helped you out? Thanks for the advice.

jessican08

The PP gave great advice. It was really frustrating nursing both at the same time at first. DS never latched really well and they would both fall asleep on me after 4-5 minutes. It's gotten much better though!

I started out with plans to EBF until I returned to work but my DD was hospitalized at 3 days old for what turned out to be a virus. When they told me she was dehydrated, I freaked and started supplementing them both with formula. I still pumped but I wanted to bottle feed to make sure they were getting enough.

Once the dust settled and we were back home, I started nursing again but I still continue to bottle feed BM and F as well. Our schedule right now looks like this:

7am/8am - tandem nurse - I pump afterwards

10am/11am - bottle feed BM - I pump

1pm/2pm - Formula - I pump

4pm/5pm - bottle feed BM - I pump

7pm/8pm - Formula - I pump

Then babies go down for the night and I tandem nurse them whenever they wake which is once or twice (usually twice).

ETA - get yourself a good BF pillow designed for twins! I use the mybreastfrie.nd twin pillow and it works pretty well. Being comfortable can make all the difference in the world!

 

srbmvp

Congratulations! BFing twins can be a little tricky, but is totally doable. My boys are 8 months now and we are still going strong!

I highly recommend the book Mother Multiples, it has a lot of great advice on BFing, especially if your babies come early and need NICU time. Also, get in touch with a lactation consultant at your hospital and get to know them now, they will be a life saver in those early days when you are sleep deprived and second guessing your every move.

I did a mixture of feeding on demand and feeding on a schedule. Basically I fed on demand, unless I felt like they were going too long between feedings, so I kept an eye on the clock at the start of each feeding. Be forwarned, during the first 6 weeks of so, it will feel like all you do is feed them. This is NORMAL! They are teaching your body what they need, to help your supply come up to meet their needs. Don't let anyone tell you something is wrong or you aren't making enough milk. You won't make enough milk unless you let your babies send those signals to your body through nursing.

alice2Bcheshire

You've gotten some good advice here. Like sing4mysavior, I highly recommend tandem feeding, especially at first when the babies will take for.ev.er to nurse. We were able to tandem feed from the start, beginning in my recovery room after my c/s. It can be difficult to get the hang of at first, and I think it helped that I'd already BF my older son, but it's possible. A lot will depend on your babies' gestational age at birth-- I carried my twins to 38w1d, but babies born early sometimes have difficulty latching right away.

We also nurse on demand, which now leads to a combination of tandem and solo nursing sessions. I've only pumped a handfull of times-- and at almost 4 months the babies have never taken a bottle (but we've only tried once, just a week or so ago).

I highly recommend kellymom.com for general BFing info and advice.

GL and congratulations!

bluebonnetmeg

My boys ended up in the NICU, so I started off pumping every 2 hours during the day and every 3 at night to get my supply started. After a week I switched to every 3 hours during the day and 4 at night.

Once they came home and got settled (which took my littlest a while - he was not a good eater/latcher and needed more bottles than his brother) we started tandem nursing during the day. Our pedi wants us to do three bottles a day of either fortified BM or high cal formula, so I pump during or after those feedings.

I highly recommend a mybreastfriend pillow. It would be really difficult to tandem feed without it. It helps during the bottle feedings as well. Good luck!

MuseumMaven

I can't really add anything to the great advice PP have given. I'll just reiterate that it's really hard at first but gets much easier. My boys were EBF until we started solids and were nursed until they selfweaned at 14 months. It can be done!

ColleenS629

In the beginning, we had a schedule of feeding them every 3 hours around the clock, as dictated by our pedi. I kept it at every 3 hours during the day once we were given permission to let them sleep at night (although by that time, they were waking to eat on their own about every 2-3 hours all day and night). I went by the motto of "feed one, feed both."

Definitely get a twin breastfeeding pillow.

Ask to see an LC every day in the hospital but make sure they are actually helping you BF and not just doing it for you.  DS1 was very difficult to get latched. The LCs at the hospital just latched him for me rather than teaching me how to do it. When I didn't have an LC there, if I couldn't get him latched the nurses made me pump and give him a bottle so his sugars didn't get low. This backfired big time and I ended up having to BF one, pump, and bottle feed the other every 3 hours until I saw a recommended LC at home. She stayed there with me until I could get them both latched and eating and tandem nursing by myself.I had to use nipple shields for a while but we weaned off.

Surround yourself with support. Check out a BFing group in your area. We've had pregnant moms come before to get a feel for it and ask advice, then they come back after they've given birth.

Read Mothering Multiples before you give birth. It has a wealth of knowledge and dispels myths you may hear from your pedi that may be giving you info based on FF babies (example, the NP at my pedi told me to supplement with R when R had gained 4 oz. in a week and A had gained 7 oz. I knew that 1/2 - 1 oz/ day was normal for BF babies so I chose not to supplement, but instead do a weighed feeding with my LC to make sure they were both getting enough at each feeding, which they were. By his next weight check, he had gained 8 oz with no supplements. If I had supplemented for no reason, it could have hurt my supply. Pedis also use growth charts based on FF babies. You can find growth charts for BF babies I think on the WHO or CDC website).

Kellymom.com is a great resource.

BFing is HARD but it gets easier. There will be times when you are stuck on the couch for HOURS and HOURs when they are not great at BFing yet and going through growth spurts. There were many times that I thought I wasn't going to make it (my goal was 1 year+) but here we are at 14 months and still going strong (although DS1 is starting up his biting habits again so I'll be discussing that at my BFing group tomorrow). We're here for you if you need advice or support!

For me, I was 100% committed to it. BFing wasn't a choice to me. It was how my babies would get fed. I think that helped me get through the obstacles. Of course, if they weren't thriving and I had tried everything, I would have reevaluated that. 

ETA: Make sure you take care of yourself as best as you can... you need to a lot and drink tons of water.

sunnybrook.

Feed on demand, which will be all the time. TMI but I never had hemerrohoids while pregnant. I got them while BFing from sitting all.the.time. Pump in the early days to helo your milk come in, but don't worry about pumping after that unless you want to. I had myself a nervous wreck thinking I didn't have enough milk stored. You don't need it and it's a lot more work to pump. I HIGHLY recommend the book Mothering Multiples by LLL. It's the number 1 reason I was able to BF my twins for 17 months despite some issues early on.

LaurenSara518

If you could tandem feed, that's great. Although I am able to, I find it's not very enjoyable so I choose to nurse them separately. The best advice I can give is never give up on a bad day- I wanted to give up in the hospital because for me I felt like breastfeeding hurt in the beginning more than the c section (not to scare you, but no one warned me and I guess I have very sensitive nipples or something). Anyway, I am 4 months in now and am surprised to find I am actually enjoying it- there is something so incredibly amazing about watching your babies grow from the milk you produce!