Tandem bottle feeding?

jglandon@hotmail.com

How old/how big should they be in order to be able to safely prop them in their boppies to tandem feed. Our 35 weekers are now a month old and this is my first week doing it alone with no help and I wondered if it's ok for me to tandem feed them yet if they should both start screaming to eat at the same time.

Missa_g

Give it a try. Tandem feeding didn't work for us until they could both sit up, but I don't think there is any harm in trying. Just be prepared to quickly stop if need be.

Ruthie04

I started practicing with my 36 weekers around three weeks. They were probably about 6.5 or 7 lbs. at the time. I actually found it much easier to use Boppy Newborn Loungers, as my boys are tiny and had trouble staying put in the regular Boppy pillows. However, if you use the regular Boppys, make sure to put a swaddle blanket around their bottom to keep them straight in the pillow. I used the Boppy Loungers until three months (11-ish lbs.). I now use the bouncy chairs as they have excellent head control and have no issues with assisted sitting. In all honesty, my boys have always been better eaters in Boppys or bouncy chairs than in our laps. The trickiest issue has always been burping, as you have to take the bottle away from the other baby and that can make them MAD!! Now that they are older, I'm able to distract the other baby with a toy, so our feedings are much more calm. GL! 

projectbaby2012

I'd try now. When mine were under ten lbs I draped a blanket over each boppy and that held them in place better so that they didn't sink down as much. Good luck.

angelfire02

I never had much luck with the boppy proping.  My husband still feeds them this way but I have found this works much better for me.  I sit on the couch with the footstool up.  I put one boppy on my lap at a slight angle and put one baby in there, with his head on the left side.  I take the second baby and put him in my left arm, so they are laying parallel to each other.  I hold the Boppy baby's bottle with my left hand, and the closer baby's bottle with my right hand.  I burped them both at the same time every time.  I have done this since I was alone with them by myself starting at 2 weeks, they are now 9 months and it's still working.

ShopperKristi

I never used boppies or propped bottles either, we use a twin my Brest friend pillow on the couch.  They lay on either side of me and i can feed them each with one hand.  I put a pillow behind my back to make it comfortable and it works great!  When they were tiny and didn't move their heads as much I could even hold the bottles with my chest and use my iPad while feeding

SLPMel

I didn't do it that young because we had help for so long, but what worked best for us was feeding them in the RNPs.  I'd angle their heads in (making more of an upside down V) and feed them that way.

raraavis28

projectbaby2012:

I'd try now. When mine were under ten lbs I draped a blanket over each boppy and that held them in place better so that they didn't sink down as much. Good luck.

This is a good idea; I think I'll try it! OP I think I started tandem feeding in the Boppies around a month old and mine were 35 weekers too. They've done fine w/ it all along. GL!

MelleTX

At 11 weeks, my babies still don't fit in the Boppies very well. I usually stagger their feedings so I can do them individually, but when I do need to do it together, I feed them in their bouncers. I use a thick blanket to prop the bottles up with. I sit on the floor in front of them and kind of move my hands back and forth between them to make sure the bottles are in the right position and they are getting a good flow. I burp whoever spits out their bottle first and then the other one and then set them back up again.