- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Multiples
nikinikinine
member
breastfeeding twins and a babywise schedule
nikinikinine
member
in Multiples
Hello Ladies, I'm almost finished reading Baby Wise and I'm understanding the book and the process a bit more. I'm wondering how you handled nursing your twins (or more) and their schedule?Normal BF says you nurse your baby on one side and then switch to finish the feeding. With twins you nurse one on one side and one on the other and just vary the sides at each feeding. That said, is your initial schedule shorter than 2.5 hours? Do they need to nurse more often or can they get a full feeding on one breast and then stick with ~2.5 hours?If you weren't able to tandem feed, how did you handle one baby waiting to nurse while the other finished?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: breastfeeding twins and a babywise schedule
I tandem fed every feeding. I just made the schedule into a routine and didn't pay a lot of attention to the clock. At first mine were on a 2 to 2.5 hr routine,then it went up from there.
I changed babies/sides each feeding (10am A Left, B Right; 12 A Right, B Left)
Some moms stick with the same baby on the same side all day and just change daily.
Do what feels right to you. Keep trying the tandem feeding until you can get it, it really saves on time.
Beta #1 15dpo 298, Beta #2 18dpo 1048
Family Blog
Infertility Blog
I put my twins on a fairly loose feeding schedule at two weeks, before that I just fed on demand because I was too exhausted to sort out who ate when. During the first two weeks, I did keep track of how often each one wanted to nurse that allowed me to start a schedule based on their needs. (Full disclosure - I never really followed BabyWise, it stressed me out).
One of my LOs never latched off of the nipple shield so tandem feeding never worked. I generally BFed one while I bottle fed the other in a Boppy next to me. After they were both fed I pumped the second breast and then pumped again from the one I started on, I usually got a second let down. (I saved the pumped milk for the next feeding). I alternated which baby BFed unless one was really starving and that one got the bottle.
I didn't need to use formula until 9 months when I stopped pumping in the middle of the night, but eventually, after I returned to work, I EPed. So, I cannot say that my schedule worked out long term, but nobody yelled too much during feedings. It is inevitable that someone will cry, while someone gets burped a couple of times a day. I would find some way to tandem feed. I have no idea how you could manage otherwise. My son couldn't latch because his jaw was misaligned (I think that most people eventually figure tandem feeding out for BFing to work).
We started off with a 3hr schedule because they were already on it from the NICU. And they can get a full feeding from one breast! I tandem and switch babies each feeding. A great BF book for MoMs is "Mothering Multiples"!
I have never used the Babywise or any schedule, but on the BF...
DD#1 never took both sides in one feeding.
My twins- I mostly tandem fed and I never bothered to keep track of who/what side- on top of everything else, that was just not in my stars. I would assign a baby a boob per day and swap the next day. My friend always had the same baby on the same boob and never switched them. I think your body adjusts to babies' intake. As long as I ate and drank well, I knew my babies would, too.
My babies have very different personalities and from the beginning, one nursed for shorter periods and more often, while the other would hang on a bit longer and go longer between. I never really bothered to try to coordinate them for nursing but sleep times until I began to drop feedings. FWIW- they are 17.5 months and still nursing a few times a day, so I think whatever works for you will work fine for them!
That's what I did with O. He never made 3 hours b/c he couldn't go that long without eating and didn't sleep whatever her ideal amount was until he was 5ish months old. I wanted to nurse on demand to keep my supply going (and i wasn't going to try to stretch a NB 3 hours while he screamed b/c he was hungry.)
I also only nursed on one side so he'd get more hindmilk and hopefully go longer. He was a FAST nurser (never longer than 10 minutes ever, quickly only 5-7 minutes), so if I had switched him, he would have only gotten foremilk. If the twins are the same way, I'll just switch every feeding.
I did Baby Wise and nursed the girls separately for the first 5 weeks.
Schedule-
I kept them on a three hour schedule b/c they were in the NICU for a couple days and were put on a schedule there. Certaintly at times we needed to go 2.5 hours or so, but for the most part they were able to stick to it. I also had to wake up my girls to eat b/c they would have slept through feedings. Nursing them one at a time SUCKED. But I couldn't/we couldn't get the hang of tandem feeding until the fifth week. Do your babies take pacifiers? That's how I got through nursing one, while the other waited. But for the most part, I really didn't have one baby screaming while I nursed the other because we did the Baby Wise, Eat, Wake, Sleep. So I would wake Baby A at 3 pm (for example- and yes, 99/100 times I had to wake up my girls) to eat (she would nurse for about 30 min and I had to supplememen with formula), then I would wake her sister to eat. I had help during the day (mom, sister, and friends who volunteered) who would give Baby A the supplement bottle while I nursed Baby B. In the first 5 weeks, I remember that during the day I would only have about an hour to myself before I had to start the feeding rotation all over again b/c it took so long. It was SO HARD, but it's worth it if you want to BF.
Tandem Feeding-
We were able to do it at Week 5, and my life changed! By Week 6 I felt like a brand new woman. You have to try to do it every day. It was so frustrating to me, I felt like we would never be able to do it. I would cry, curse, etc. But finally at Week 5 my girls were stronger and better nursers, and I was much more comfortable. Plenty of women can do it from Day 1 though, so it's not like 5 weeks is the magic number. It's just when it happened for me. You'll get there. Just keep at it doing it every day. Also, I nursed my girls in the football hold about 50% of the time when I nursed them individually so they were ready for tandem feeding.