Breastfeeding

Transition from bottle to breast

My twins are 8 weeks (1 week adjusted). We are just starting the transition from bottles to breast in earnest. Supply is not a concern but our latches aren't great. Because of the latch difficulties, I don't feel like I can tandem feed. I'm focusing primarily on DS right now because he's been more receptive to the breast and has the better latch. He takes about 30 minutes to feed. During the day I try to nurse him and then bottles at night. DD is killing me! Latch is terrible and can be on 45 minutes easy. She doesn't seem to particularly enjoy it either. Rather than push her, I think I'm going to wait a bit longer on the transition with her. I guess I'm just looking for some encouragement! They eat every 2 hours so I'm basically nursing or pumping nonstop. Eventually, we really need to learn to tandem! Any suggestions from other moms that have successfully done the transition?! When does it get better?!

Re: Transition from bottle to breast

  • PankersPankers member
    I didn't do it with twins, but I managed to wean LO off bottles to my breasts. My supply was poor so I was supplementing with formula in a bottle. She would just chomp down on my nipple like a bottle teet which was painful for me and frustrating for her as she didn't get milk. My LC showed me how to use the bottle properly so she sucked not chomped, and I also moved to supplementing via the Medela SNS system ($15 from amazon). Now she feeds great off my breasts. Only took about 4-5 days to get past this and we did this when LO was 7 weeks old. Good luck.


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  • HCov11HCov11 member
    I went through this as well - my girls were in the nicu 20 days & received bottles for a lot of their feedings in those first few weeks (neither had a great latch). Once we were home I started basically the same way you are - I picked the baby who was more interested in the breast and focused on her breastfeeding. My other girl needed a nipple shield for a while...after using the shield for a couple weeks I started gradually taking it off during feedings and then eventually just went cold turkey! We now happily tandem (using my breast friend pillow) for any feedings I'm home (girls are now 3.5 months)! I felt defeated at first, but I'm so glad I stuck with it! It really will get easier!! Good luck!
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