Comments on: Breastfeeding Twins Tips

By: Shrijnana

Shrijnana — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:28:37 +0000

Don’t get sucked into the ‘it’s so natural, all you have to do is put the baby to the breast’ mentality. Yes, it is natural, but often not easy, and it’s a learned skill for both mom and baby. In cultures where breastfeeding is the norm, there is a ton of wisdom and experience passed on about it. We have books and web sites like the ones you mentioned, and lactation consultants that fill this function. Use them.

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 22:30:47 +0000

1) On pillows: I took my Anna Double Nursing Pillow everywhere for the first several months. It allowed me to save time by doing tandem feedings, even while on the road by pulling the van over and climbing in the back seat for a quick top-up.

2) On support: Call anyone and everyone you ever knew! You’d be surprised how many people will come and burp a baby if you just ask… and not just family. As a former teacher I knew many retired baby boomers and called them all… not ONE person declined to come over and help me out.

I nursed my twins and later my singleton for 27 months each. I also credit a good lactation consultant who had me tandem nursing before we left the hospital. I was also blessed to have both grandmothers helping out for months.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:35:53 +0000

After 5 months I feel like I can finally comment on this My main point is make sure you have support. I remember telling my husband while I was still pregnant that no matter what I said, I wanted to breast feed the girls for a year.

They were born 6 weeks early and only 4 pounds and to say that it hurt is the understatement of the year. Like Eva, we had the nipple shields and the poor latching and I read all the books and went to the lacation lady and silently cursed friends with only one baby…

It took until they were almost 4 months old for the girls to figure out what the hell they were supposed to be doing on the boob and now I am working part-time again and pumping. My biggest problem now is just relaxing enough to keep supply up. I also think that my babies have a bit of the “goldfish” problem in that they will eat whatever’s in a bottle even if it’s more than they’d take on the breast. This leaves me a little behind in pumped supply, but that brings me to the other thing that saved my sanity:

Sometimes you have to supplement. This does not make you a bad mother or a horrible fiend. They won’t die from drinking a few ounces of formula once in a while. If you need to use it for a few days or even just an ounce or two to supplement what you’ve got, you are not causing irreparable damage to your children. I don’t know why, but this is the hardest thing for me to let go of.

oh and one more thing. you will figure out what works for you. you know your body and your babies better than anyone else, so why would you listen to anyone else? Chloe had a hard time latching and the lacation lady and the nurses all told me she was ‘rejecting’ the breast b/c of a milk allergy. I quit dairy and my supply quit as well. I started drinking milk again, supply came back up and Chloe and I just took our time to make sure she wasn’t too starved at the beginning of a feeding. She has no fedding problems now. as a matter of fact she outweighs her sister and this morning at 5am she was nursing in bed, in the dark, before I could even fully roll over or get situated

my last tip is find some twin moms who’ve done it. You guys have been my inspiration and role models. Thanks!

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:24:01 +0000

Understand how milk production is tied to the rest of your body. Don’t assume it’s only supply/demand, as many would have you believe. I had plenty of demand, but no supply. My dr. neglected to tell me that the extreme blood loss and subsequent anemia I suffered would DRASTICALLY impact my breastmilk production.

Milk production is a whole body concept — keep eating, keep hydrated, and keep as positive as possible. And allow yourself to live guilt free no matter how long you can nurse. I only went 5 1/2 months and I still have trouble with the guilt.

By: Babyamore (Trish)

Babyamore (Trish) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:34:15 +0000

I can only add - any twin mum who breastfeeds rocks -you said everything I would have.
Others added what i thought too -but joining a twin club/mothers group/playgroup and speaking personally to other mums is very beneficial.
Very inspiring comments from mums here.

By: Jenn

Jenn — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:18:19 +0000

What I found most helpful was finding a twin breastfeeding board (twinstuff). They encouraged me to keep going when I wanted to quit, but aslo let me know it would be ok if I stopped and that I had done great so far. I managed to keep going, only supplementing for the first week with formula (milk took 10 days to come in) and nursed them until they self-weaned at a year. I think they actually would have weaned even earlier if I hadn’t kept offering. At a year I stopped offering though.

Encouragment was definitely key for me.

By: Amy (Tulip and Turnip)

Amy (Tulip and Turnip) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:56:08 +0000

Sheer will power. That was the only thing that got me through. Since ny twins were so premature, I had to pump for the first two months, and then try to nurse them with the nipple shield. It wasn’t until they were four months old that they really, truly got the hang of it. I still can’t believe I stuck with it.

I also gave myself permission to supplement without feeling guilty. It wasn’t my original plan, but my babies are very healthy.

Sadly, I have recently weaned. I wasn’t ready to do it…the babies are just about 9 months old, but they literally began refusing my breast. Every time I tried to nurse them, they would arch their backs and cry. I’m sure there was something I could have done to force them to nurse, but my supply was really starting to dwindle, and the notion of building my supply back up as I had done in those early months was just too daunting. I am disappointed, but I am also reminding that myself that I would have been disappointed WHENEVER they stopped nursing. AND I’m reminding myself that I nursed twins for 8 1/2 months! That’s pretty good!

By: kori

kori — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:24:49 +0000

My best advice is to make sure everyone who is going to be around you in the crucial hours/days/weeks after you’ve given birth are completely on board and supportive of your decision to breastfeed. You are so fragile and easily swayed when you’re holding a tiny dependent baby, no matter how you felt beforehand. I had more than one nurse try to pressure me into formula feeding by suggesting that I was starving my baby (my daughter only because my son had to go right to NICU with low blood sugar and got formula right away-oddly enough he was my breastfeeding champ). I ended up giving formula in the hospital which could have undermined the whole thing but my husband and family were so supportive that I was able to get both kids off the formula and onto the breast by 1 month old and at almost 14 months we’re still going strong. It does take a lot of determination and stubbornness in the beginning (luckily I had both) but it also takes your husband not suggesting you “just give a bottle” at the first sign that things aren’t going well. There is a learning curve and you need the people around you to support you, not suggest an easy fix. I remember crying one night because my daughter wouldn’t stay latched, it hurt, and of course I was exhausted, and I yelled at my husband to “just get me a stupid bottle” and although he looked frightened he stayed strong and said “No, you can do it just calm down and keep at it”. And he stayed there with me while I kept trying. Those are the moments that kept me on track. I look back and I am so proud of myself for sticking with it. Now, how to deal with all of the “so, you’re STILL breastfeeding…” comments.

By: Eva

Eva — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 07:11:18 +0000

I still think this is a great list. I hope you can help twin moms after you, because as you said, it’s not so very natural!

I posted about my own experiences breastfeeding twins (almost at 15 months now) here:
http://sarahandjordanll.blogspot.com/2007/09/year-of-breastfeeding-twins.html

It’s less guide and more just compilation of my experiences.

With my low birth weight preemies, perhaps the best and most basic advice I got was from a friend who said, it gets easier when their mouths are bigger. It sounds so obvious, but no book or website or LC ever said it. The whole, if it hurts, the latch isn’t right, I don’t think it’s true when the baby’s 4 pounds. We had pre/post weights done and my son was taking more than 3 ounces per feed but boy did it hurt!

The nursing mother’s companion had a good section on twin nursing that I referred to often.

Realize that twins are individuals and they may reach goals at different points. My son stopped needing bottles of pumped milk before my daughter,and stopped needing the nipple shield first. I didn’t expect that, but we went with it.

It’s okay to hate (perhaps too strong a word?) your other new mom friends with only one baby, who don’t need to pump and can like, leave the house now and then. I remember I had to plan my whole day around a new mother group so I could go for 1 hour between nursing (with a shield) and pumping and bottle feeding pumped milk. And other women would just sit their calmly with their babies, pull out a boob and start nursing as needed. Boy was I jealous. But in the end it worked out for me, and you can do all sorts of cool tandem nursing tricks in front of the same mommy group once you get the hang of it.

Just know it gets better. It gets so, so, much better and for me, it was worth all the hardship in the beginning.

By: Dee

Dee — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:24:17 +0000

I am currently nursing twins and they are 9 months old now. Most definitely talk to a lactation consultant before you deliver, ask to see one every single day you are in the hospital, see your L.C. the week after you get home from the hospital to make sure everything is working well and to see if you need to make any adjustments. You can get by on supporting the babies with regular pillows but the EZ to Nurse pillow worked great for me. Usually my husband or the grandparents were able to help me position the babies in the early weeks but then after reading a great description in the book Twinspiration, I was able to get both babies on the pillow myself to tandem nurse. Kellymom.com was heaven sent, particularly when I found a couple of videos that clearly showed how to get a baby, especially a small baby, to latch properly. Just “putting them on” meant pain for me. I could get through it, but when you don’t have to have pain, why put up with it? Once I was better able to help the babies latch properly, the pain went out the window (98% of the time) and breastfeeding became SOOO much easier.