One breastfed and the other bottle fed?

Lil Kate · September 2013

One of my twins is refusing to nurse except in the am. This is difficult on many levels. I feel like she gets less time with me because she can be fed by others ( other twin hates bottles). Also I have been pumping 2 x ( once after they are down for the night and I set an alarm for 4:30 am before they wake up. How do u find time to pump during the day and when should I since I am trying to nurse one baby as well. Any suggestions?

bumpuser924057 · September 2013

This was happening for me with my boy twin since he got used to bottles during his 8-day NICU stay, and I never was able to find the time to pump regularly while nursing my girl twin all the time and caring for the needs of two newborns and a two year old. He was on formula for a month but I kept putting him to the breast before every feeding (which was frustrating) and eventually he started latching better and actually eating, and I hauled him off to the lactation consultant to see how much he was able to transfer. Over the course of that week I was able to wean him off of the bottle and now I nurse both of them with just a small amount of formula supplementation every night. Keep trying with the reluctant one - they may surprise you eventually and come around. And I hope someone has some good tips on pumping while nursing, because that is a really tough challenge.

jaynebee · September 2013

I think the previous response is probably your best. I ended up using a hands free pumping bra and bottle feeding both while pumping for their next feed. But I've also had to supplement 20% starting around 4 months.

Good luck!

Lil Kate · September 2013

Thanks

kellibelle0417 · September 2013

I'm struggling finding the time to pump as well. Both twins (4.5 weeks) are nursing and supplementing with formula throughout the day. They are big eaters and I just don't have enough supply to meet their demand so I really need to pump to help increase my supply. I'm looking for advice as well!

Ruthie04 · September 2013

Agree with PP. I mostly bottle fed, but I would hook myself up to the pump with a bustier and tandem bottle feed them in Boppys or bouncy chairs.

CNYBride05 · September 2013

I was pumping after (or during) every feeding. It's tedious. You can't leave the house. But my supply improved a great deal!

carrotcake06 · September 2013

I'm finding a hard time to pump during the day as well. I'm on mat leave and trying to build a stash for when I go back to work (otherwise, we EBF).

I usually try for after a morning feed w a hands free bra and the boys in bouncers or on their play mat so I can attend to them if need be. It's not consistent so my output isn't great.

PurrCrasher · September 2013

I'm sorry that you find yourself with one baby that won't nurse, the same thing happened to me and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. After their tongue tie surgeries at about 4 months DD refused to nurse and hasn't since. 8 months later and she still won't nurse but DS does. I kept trying to get DD to nurse and if possible I recommend, if it's important to you, to keep trying to latch the baby that won't nurse.

On to the pumping though, because I work nights I would pump at work with the intention that that would be the bottle that DD would get first thing in the morning. If you don't work, perhaps that session for you could be right before you to go bed or in the MOTN. My babies tend to wake up together so I would nurse DS while DD had the bottle from the night before. After nursing DS I would place the babies on the floor on a blanket near me to play while I pumped. Once the babies became more mobile I found that using hand expression, instead of my pump, actually worked better for me because I wasn't tied down to anything and could respond to their needs easier and faster. If you haven't tried hand expression I highly recommend looking up some videos on it. It does AMAZING things for your supply and can really increase the amount of milk you produce, especially if paired with pumping.
Lastly, if you are supplementing at all I would recommend pumping or hand expressing while your baby that tends to nurse takes a bottle. This allows you a little more hands free time to squeeze in a pumping session. GOOD LUCK!

Sunglow28 · September 2013

I have one that nurses and one that does not. I nursed my one and pumped infrequently for five months but it was never easy and I was often frustrated with the output and the time it took. We had reflux-y, colic babes and we were crazy-busy.

For me, returning my pump was bittersweet. I was proud to have provided both boys with some milk, but sad that I couldn't do more. I continued to BF my other guy to combat formula costs, and still do so.

I eventually moved my one son over to formula, and he is thriving. I feel encouraged that he is gaining weight exactly as his brother, is ill less and is much happier with a less stressed out mom. I encourage you to keep trying to pump and to solidify BF'ing if you feel strongly, but know that if you feel overwhelmed, your kids will be fine!

ashleighlt · September 2013

jaynebee said:
I think the previous response is probably your best. I ended up using a hands free pumping bra and bottle feeding both while pumping for their next feed. But I've also had to supplement 20% starting around 4 months.
Good luck!

This is my situation as well. It was difficult at first but works now. I will pump after a bottle feed while they are sleeping in the morning and afternoon. They are also on formula, but doing it this way insures that I have a supply for while in at work.

PumpkinAndThePeanut · September 2013

I have one fussy nurser too who only nurses well when my breasts are full. Her sister is a great nurser but doesn't let me put her down so it's hard to find time to pump. I agree with all the PPs, keep putting your finicky one to the breast. I've worked and worked at it with her and we've gotten much better - to the point where she's EBF except for a few supplemental bottles of pumped milk a week.

My best advice is to nurse her before she gets hungry (mine still eats at least every 1.5 to 2 hours during the day at 4 months old), and to try the side-lying nursing position with her - this has really helped me for some reason.

Also if you aren't already you should hold her sitting up when bottle feeding and hold the bottle horizontally to slow the flow down and mimic the pace of BFing. This never really worked for me as 1) my girl would get angry, 2) I wasn't usually the one feeding her a bottle, or 3) if I was doing the feeding, I was feeding them both at the same time. But I know this is what I was "supposed" to do.

Good luck, it's so hard!

steidla · September 2013

One of mine gave me trouble too. I finally used a nipple shield and had success (he loved the silicone from all the bottle feeding I think). I would offer the plain breast every time first until he screamed too much. Then I added the shield. After a couple of days, he took the breast and didn't need the shield anymore.

Sometimes I pump after they go down for a nap. This is kind of halfway to the next feeding, so I try not to do a full pumping so I don't "steal" milk from the upcoming feeding. I got ahead of the game with supply, so I pump at 10pm, then hubby and I each give a bottle at 10:30pm.

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