[girl99]

My little boys are 3 weeks old and I'm trying to breastfeed them both, but have ended up supplementing them for my sanity. They started off in special care for 2 weeks (I've only been breastfeeding for 1 week, prior to this they were being tube fed), due to me being quite sick after delivering them I had a slow start with expressing, expressing around 5 times a day from day 4 (not much before that).

I'm currently taking Fenugreek, breastfeeding twin 1, supplementing with expressed milk, then expressing, then repeating with twin 2 - which takes about 2 hours with a nappy change & settling... followed by 1/2 hour off then the process starts again. At night I've started bottle feeding 2 or 3 feeds because it's much quicker.

Is there anyone out there breastfeeding 100% or anyone that has a breastfeeding / formuale combo that's working... are you feeding two at once or one at a time? If two at once how do you handle burping?

Any advice that could help would be appreciated, I don't know if I can continue this when my DH goes back to work.

[rhmaxx]

I am breastfeeding my triplets. 2 of them are home from the hospital. The one that is still in the hospital I see her once a day and nurse her then the rest of the time she gets my expressed milk. All of the babies are required to get a bottle after nursing. What I am doing with the 2 at home is nursing both of them at the same time. I then give them a bottle, which I prop to save time. When they are taking their bottles I am pumping. I burb them after they are completely done. My kids are doing fine with it. When I nurse them I only nurse them for 20 mins. I do this because when they were in the NICU they said any longer then that they would be burning more calories then they were taking in. My triplets were born 10 weeks early and that is why they are so worried about them gaining weight. One other thing that I did that helped me alot with breastfeeding is that I talked with the lactation consulants like they were my best friends. They have given my so much help. I don't think that I would be were I am today if it was not for them.

[jessicap518]

Congrats on the twins!! I breastfed (or gave expressed milk) my twins for 3 months exclusively. I would use the "football hold" and feed them at the same time as often as I could and they would get burped when they were done. After they were done I would pump and my whole process took roughly 30 minutes. Then 2 1/2 hours later we would start again. I would nurse them for 12-13 minutes and then pump about 15 min. I would usually get about 8-10oz when I pumped (I was very lucky to have so much milk). At night I was lazy and would not pump as much. My twins ate at 12pm and 3am (during the overnight) and I would only pump after the midnight feeding, then I would go until after the 6am feeding without pumping. And when my husband had the next day off he would give them expressed milk at the 3am feeding so I could sleep from like midnight to 6am!! (He was a HUGE help). I had so much milk frozen that they were getting two 6oz bottles a day each of expressed milk until they were like 5 months old!! Hope that helps a lil!!

[girl99]

Thanks Jesicca & RHMaxx ... one question for you both, how do you manage to feed 2 at once without help? e.g. I have a twin feeding pillow, but can't figure out how to get them from their cots, onto the pillow & latch them both on with only two hands. I've tried it twice & have found it takes well over an hour because one of the twins isn't so great at staying latched on and it takes me ages to re-latch him without letting go of the other twin.

So far that makes 3 people that I've spoken to who have breastfed twins & all have done dual feeding, so it sounds like this is what I need to do to get some time back!

Thanks heaps for your replies.

[mbender]

Girl99 -- Congrats on the twins. I can relate to your problem!! I will say Holly and Jessica sound like super moms!! Don't let that discourage you if you can't follow in their shoes. Yes I do believe double breastfeeding is possible (as they have shown) but it doesn't always work for all of us. I was so set that I would double breastfeed before my babies were born. I have the double breastfeeding pillow and I was all prepared. Well, my little ones were born early and in NICU for 10-15 days too. At that time we got a late start on BF as I was sick (as it sounds like you were) for a few days and couldn't even see them. Then with his feeding tube and all I couldn't even try to BF my son. SO, my daughter will BF now but my son won't. SO --- it got to be too much trying to do BF one, pump & bottle feed the other. I was very disappointed but I finally resigned myself to the fact that was what needed to be done. So now I exclusively pump and bottle feed. I have to supplement with formula because I don't produce enough milk (again we believe this is due to the early delivery and tramua to my body as I have tried medicines, fenugreek, mothers milk tea to make more and I just am not -- I only get liek 10-12oz total a day). I can't get down the double bottle feeding (wish I could!!). So it takes me an hour each feeding to feed the two of them.

I think the best advice I can give you is don't be so hard on yourself doing what you think is the best thing. Do what is working the easiest for you, the healthiest for the babies and it will be a win-win. I was stressing so much in the beginning I was missing out on any quality time with the babies. Good luck!!

[jessicap518]

I was very fortunate that both of my babies latched very well. And to be honest BF'ing both at the same time had some trade offs. I usually ended up sitting on the floor to do it, which was not always the most comfortable for me. But it was the best way that worked for me. I used a regular boppy pillow to BF, never tried a twin pillow. I would put them both on the floor, get myself situated, latch one on and then scoop the other up and latch that one on. That's the method that worked best for me.

Also my advise for bottle feeding at the same time... buy the Podee. It's a BPA Free bottle with a straw tubing that runs through the bottle and they can self feed. I will attach the link from BRU so you can see!!

Podee BPA Free 2Pk Hands Free Bottle - 8 oz. - Podee Inc. - Babies "R" Us

I did not find out about this until my lil ones were about 4 months old, but wish I knew sooner... it was a life saver until they lil ones could hold their own bottles...which we had mastered by 7 months!! My babies have been sleeping through the night since about 3 months but when they did occassionally wake up over night my Dh would put them in theur boppy pillows and give them the Podee. This way one of us could sleep. Such a huge help!!!

Hope that helps!! Any questions please ask!

[Stacey_in_NYC]

When my twins were born, I tried to b/f them at the same time, but it did not work at all - I needed to b/f them individually to make sure they were held properly and burped. They were both given bottles in the hospital, as they were underweight, and when I got them home, I b/f but supplemented with formula. I never had any problem at all alternating b/f and bottles, despite what some of the lactation people say. With two, though, I did feel like I was b/f ALL the time - I remember that I felt like a cow on some days.

Stacey

[girl99]

Thanks so much for all your input, it really helped me reach a decision on what to do.

I've decided to go with breastfeeding one (and trying to keep it even between the two of them) expressing and bottle feeding the other one + using formulae where I need to. It's still really hard work, but since doing this for the last couple of days I've been a lot less stressed as I can get visitors & DH to help with the feeding of one baby.

I'm breastfeeding one baby way more than the other one & feel quite guilty about this - but the littler twin bites & causes me nipple damage & takes twice as long to BF, apparently as he matures he should get better at it.

Thanks again for all your input, I feel much better about it after hearing all your different stories!

[rhmaxx]

I am so glad that you have a plan that works for you. To answer your question on how I tadem nurse. I put the babies on the couch and then I sit in between them. I then bring one baby onto my double nursing pillow at a time. I get my worse latcher on first and then I work with the other one. It does get easier since I have done this for about 3 weeks now. They can just about latch themselves on without much help. The one advice that I can give you is to enjoy them and don't feel bad if you can't nurse both at one time. You have to do what is right for you.