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Multiples
Sarah&Christoph
member
Breastfeeding Twins
Sarah&Christoph
member
in Multiples
Please tell me how you breastfeed your twins? I'm having a hard time imagining it. I breastfed DD and each time she would feed from both sides. When you feed twins do you feed them both at the same time? Or one at a time but they each get one side and you don't switch? I'm sorry if this comes off as a really lame question but I haven't gotten any books yet and am having a hard time figuring out how the heck I am going to breastfeed our twins. TIA
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Re: Breastfeeding Twins
I use the EZ2Nurse pillow which is sorta like a huge boppy. Then, I nurse them together, one on each side.
If its before 5am, I nurse them solo in bed but I remember what boob. So if I nurse my DD on the right boob at 3am and my DS wakes up at 4am, I give him the left.
Both in the football hold on an EZ 2 Nurse twins pillow.
They each eat at one breast for a feeding. (I actually had oversupply with my 2nd son so he only needed one breast at each feeding also.) The hardest part for me in the beginning (and still sometimes) was keeping them both comfortably latched. I would get one latched, and then she'd lose it while I was getting the other latched! I know that will get better as they grow though and are more independent.
We keep them on the same feeding schedule, so anytime one wakes up hungry we wake the other so they're eating at the same time.
It's actually much more manageable than I thought it would be! My biggest problem now is my 1-year-old who wants to be on my lap at the same time ; )
they get one side each feeding and i'll keep that child on the same breast for most if not all of a day, unless someone misses a feeding or something and the other breast is really full.
I only feed them at the same time if they are both freaking out at the same time. Otherwise, I'll just feed one after another, but my kids are quick nursers.
This was true for me, too.
I nurse them separately on each breast- I use to tandem nurse in the evenings when my DH was here to help, I tried on my own a few times and had too much trouble so I gave up. My boys are quick nursers also so that helps and I enjoy the one-on-one
Although some days when they're both fussy I would LOVE to be able to nurse them both at the same time! ha-ha
Kudos to the MoMs that tandem feed on a daily basis!
I BF my DD and at a feeding I only ever offered her 1 breast at a time and she was basically on a 3 hour feeding schedule.
I had 2 boppies that I used to feed my boys. I put them around my waist and layed the boys down and feed them this way. It is the football hold. If you are not fimiliar with this hold, you will be able to search for it on the internet.
In the hospital I was told different things by different LC and I tried them all but then stuck to the one that made more sense and worked for me.
They can tell you that each day assign a breast to a child and keep it that way. They can tell you that each morning you assign a breast to a child but rotate that child each day to another breast or you can do what I did which is I rotated the breast at each feeding. I used an hair tie (colored one) and clipped that through the nursing bra. That always told me that Aidan should start on that breast. Before nursing I would take it off and put it on my wrist of the opposite breast, this way if I forgot to clip it back on it was still on my arm.
Technically you don't have to offer both breasts, your body can and will adjust to make more then enough milk per feeding per child.
My boys are over 13 months and we are still going strong on breastfeeding.
I always tandem feed the boys (feeding at the same time) over their year of life there were very few times that I feed them individually. One of the huge benefits for me with tandem feeding was I had a quicker let down so my feedings weren't really that long. They never seemed to go more then 40 minutes in the beginning and they quickly went down in time the older they got.
Some other suggestions: Immediately ask for a LC with regards to the nursing of the twins. I also told the nurses I wanted to tandem feed the boys and other then the first night I spent the remaining time in the hospital working on getting that down. It can be difficult in the beginning to get both babies to latch and stay latched on - so that does take some time. I requested the LC come to my room every single day.
And added bonus - you have already nursed your DD. I think for me this made BF the boys much easier. I knew the latch was off on the one and we worked on fixing it. My milk was already in by the time I left the hospital.
When I came home, my DH was there to help the first 2 weeks. The first week I used him to help me set up and get situated to feed, the next week I did it by myself and used him as a spotter. I did this because I knew when he went back to work I was on my own and would need to figure this out myself.
This board is also a god send - ask all the questions that you want. The women here understand and know what you are going through. Other people won't get it if they have never had 2 or 3 or more newborns at the same time.
GL