Nursing your twins - please share what worked for you!

amother

Mon, Apr 08 2013, 4:40 pm

BH I'm finding most aspects of dealing with my newborn twins quite manageable - except the nursing! It was going quite well BH and then my milk supply took a nose dive. From day one I didn't really like feeding them at the same time so unless they were both screaming at the same time id feed them one after The other. Now I was told to help with a letdown I should nurse them together, but I find it so difficult and stressful! Plus even when I do manage to fees them together I still have to supplement with a bottle...
Please advise and I'd love to hear your war stories Wink

amother

Mon, Apr 08 2013, 6:10 pm

I wish I can say it worked for me... but it didnt... I ended up bottle feeding my twins. I was told to nurse pump and bottle feed my twins in the begining for each feeding..... If you do the calculations of feeding them every 3 hours this didnt leave me much time in the day.. plus I wasnt n-joying nursing them... I was having a problem- I have strange nipples and so my twins had a hard time latching on. ... so I just fed them bottles that I pumped for a good couple of weeks (cause I wanted them to have breast milk) one after the other when I was alone and both at the same time when I had help.

amother

Mon, Apr 08 2013, 6:18 pm

I successfully nursed my twins till they were about 16 months. I did not start nursing them simultanously till they were about a 3-4 weeks old because they were so tiny. Then I was forced to start nursing them at the same time because they were screaming at the same time and no one was home to help me.
I used the nursing pillow from doubleblessings.com. It was amazing! I was able to nurse hands-free! I would talk on the phone, eat supper, cut their nails...

RachelEve14

Tue, Apr 09 2013, 1:26 am

I nursed my twins, sometimes together and sometimes separately, depended on the situation. In the beginning I used a plain old pillow most of the time. One in cradle and one in football (feet behind me). When they got a bit bigger I could do two in football. It's totally doable to nurse twins exclusively. If you want more tips you can feel free to PM me.

Zus

Wed, Apr 10 2013, 2:18 am

I also preferred nursing them separately, but sometimes I had to nurse them simultaneously. And what saved me there was a twin nursing pillow, just like other posters said. I would nurse them both in football hold Smile

In the beginning I also had to supplement, but I would make sure to always nurse first, and to keep nursing until they were satisfied, and only top up with a bottle if it truly wasn't enough (as judged by their behavior). I was able to get rid of the bottles this way after 1.5 months Smile

greenleaf

Thu, May 30 2013, 3:29 pm

I nursed my twins one week and it was absolute hell!! I hated every minute of it. then I started bottlefeeding only and I looovveeddd it!! I started enjoying my twins immensely!! twins alone is hard y make it harder with nursing? nursing is made when u have one baby. I have recommended this to a lot of twin moms and they cant stop thanking me.

just my piece of advice! ppl don't start screaming on me! because the op asked what worked for me and this did!!

ntm1

Thu, May 30 2013, 5:36 pm

greenleaf wrote:

I totally agree with you!

amother

Thu, May 30 2013, 7:59 pm

Nursed both exclusively for 7 mo when they got some supplementary solids, continued nursing till about 13 months.

I usually nursed them together. It took a while to work it out, but WAY easier for me than trying to think about bottles etc. I had some supply issues which I didn't really address. I think the combined food/drink/sleep shortage caused them.

Zus

Wed, Jun 12 2013, 2:23 am

greenleaf wrote:

I'm sorry you had a bad experience with nursing.
I strongly disagree that nursing is made (made?) for one baby. It is a fact that a woman's body is capable to produce enough milk for two or more babies. If nature can make twins, nature can also make sure there is enough milk to go around.

That said, I'll address your question of why making it harder with nursing. The answer is very simple. Breastmilk is by far the healthiest food for baby, twins or otherwise. Nursing can be challenging in the beginning for singletons and twins alike, and a lot of support is needed especially with twins.
Of course you should choose what works best with you all things considered. But It's just not fair to say things like "it's hard so why bother" while there are excellent reasons why it's a good thing to persevere even if it's hard in the beginning.

vicki

Wed, Jun 12 2013, 2:41 am

Zus wrote:

It is a fact that a woman's body is capable to produce enough milk for two or more babies. If nature can make twins, nature can also make sure there is enough milk to go around.

It is a wonderul bracha when it works out this way, but certainly not a fact.

Zus

Wed, Jun 12 2013, 2:49 pm

vicki wrote:

Zus wrote:

It is a fact that a woman's body is capable to produce enough milk for two or more babies. If nature can make twins, nature can also make sure there is enough milk to go around.

It is a wonderul bracha when it works out this way, but certainly not a fact.

That is true for everything in life.

MtBoT

Thu, Jul 18 2013, 8:18 pm

I nursed my twins till they were two. I felt that nursing them together were best for both of us. For them for the bonding time and for me if not I would have been still sitting and nursing them, you know it is never ending. I felt the best position to nurse is in a laying position. I did also nurse them while sitting but I used to kill by back. If you nurse them while sitting make sure you have good back support. As for enough milk the more you nurse the more milk you have no jokes. I also drank raspberry leaf tea. good luck it get easier!!!

Jughead

Sun, Sep 01 2013, 7:22 pm

my twins were preemies and one came home from the hospital a week before the other. Due to alot of well-meant but ill-informed advice, I had not been pumping very much, so I started with barely enough for one. When the second came home, it was misery... they were always hungry. Eventually, I decided (upon wise advice from my big sister who has all the answers) to breastfeed one and bottle feed the other (b/c I didn't want to switch feedings - I was afraid they'd both reject me for the bottle). I did this until I had an established supply for one, and then I started pumping after he finished his feedings, to build up my supply for his brother. I eventually replaced all of the other twin's bottle feedings with breastfeeding - and breastfed them both until I was pregnant with their sister when they were 7 months old.
I hated nursing them together when they were tiny - even with the pillow. I nurse on demand, so they didn't always want to nurse together when they got a bit bigger, but if the timing was right, I nursed them together without any pillows or anything and I loved it. But that was ONLY after I had enough milk for them both and they had good head control.