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Multiples
Anyone succesfully breastfeed w/o going crazy?!
My little ones are about 4 weeks old. My little girl had to go on formula in order to get rid of Jaundice, but we are transitioning back to breast milk now. My little boy doesn't seem like he gets enough from just breastfeeding... I'm producing enough milk, but he will take a bottle of breastmilk after he has already nursed. Today he nursed for a full hour and still took an oz out of a bottle right after. I feel like maybe he's not sucking hard enough.
Anyway... I'm considering just pumping for them and feeding them through a bottle even though my little girl eats just fine from the breast. Any opinions or personal experiences would be MUCH appreciated!
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Re: Anyone succesfully breastfeed w/o going crazy?!
the first 6 weeks are hard. ugh, i wouldnt re-live them if you paid me! but it DOES get better. my little ones had latch and sucking problems because they were early (35 weeks) but over time, they got bigger/stronger and now nurse like champs.
honestly, nursing is so much easier than pumping. i, too, pumped a lot in the beginning (since we had the latching/sucking issues) but it really is a PITA compared to breastfeeding. I really really encourage you to stick with it. It sounds like you have a pretty good start (1 baby eating fine) so that is encouraging!
do you tandem nurse? i use the ez2nurse pillow. not only can i feed them both at the same time, i feed them hands free (so i can read a book, use my laptop which is on a laptop table and use the tv remote and even eat)...its wonderful.
I had a hell of a time for the first eight weeks, but I toughed it out and worked with a great LC and now breastfeeding is easy and enjoyable.
If I were in your shoes, I'd rent a baby scale (Medela makes the kind you want) and start weighing the babies before and after a feeding. I did this for a while when the girls were learning to nurse and was glad I did, because I discovered that a lot of the time I thought they had been nursing and getting milk, they weren't actually getting anything at all. Maybe hire an LC to come help you, too. It's really worth it if it keeps you breastfeeding (if that is what you want to do and it's important to you).
Also, I definitely agree with the previous poster--pumping is a lot more hassle than just BFing.
Baby hungry ... get bottle of milk, heat up water, put bottle in water, wait, wait, wait ... feed baby. Wash bottle parts. Pump. Wash pump parts. Repeat, repeat.
Or
Baby hungry ... pop him on the boob.
Couldn't of said it better
this, except for the supply part. It was sketchy at first, but not anymore. Oh, and pumping sucks, especially with twins to look after.
I EP for my twins. One could never latch and the other was a lazy nurser and would only nurse to amuse himself and then wait for the bottle. Pumping is a huge PITA I hate it. I wish that I'd worked harder to establish breastfeeding because now one has no idea what is going on when I try to get him to nurse and the other one screams unhappily when I try.
Edit: I do have something positive to say, I have always been able to keep up my supply to match demand. There have been crazy days when we have supplemented during a growth spurt, but I always seem to be able to readjust.