Help needed, 5wk old gorgeous girlies with sore explosive windy bottoms.

[Frangipani74]

Help, I'm getting myself into a state over feeding my 5wk old girls. Sorry this is rather long and goes into too much detail, but thought it might mean I get some helpful advice.

My girls both fuss a lot during feeds, they're both very windy and poo very frequently - at least once with every feed, we will soon need to take out a second mortgage just to pay for the nappies we get through. Their windy tummies seems to wake them during nap times, and generally make them feel uncomfortable.

Eleanor seems to struggle the most with feeding, she can't keep up with the fast flow of milk, lots of gulping, choking, burping, and her poos are always very watery, with none of the usual grainy bits, they're sometimes a bit green and smell which isn't normal for breastfed babies.

Isabel is also windy but her poos are more normal, but sometimes a bit green and watery. She sometimes projectile vomits back her first feed of the day, when breast are very full of low fat milk. She has a red rash covering most of her face and neck, which has started to go since I cut dairy out of my diet a few days ago.

I first thought that it might be a dairy intolerance, but as they're putting on weight really well I've been told that that can't be the problem. Their symptoms seem to fit with them having problems digesting the lactose in the foremilk, and not getting enough hindmilk. I'm not quite sure how I can sort this out.

I was advised that the problem was oversupply of milk and so I should space feeds and not to feed them everytime they fuss in between as they would just have a little feed and get more foremilk and that they probably weren't hungry just wanting to suck to get comfort from wind pains. I was told that I needed to reduce supply by same side feeding, but you can't really do that with twins.

I was also advised by someone else that I should feed on demand as the shorter the space between feeds would mean the milk contained more fat. But my problem with that is they obviously need to take naps and then the milk after an hour or so of not feeding would still be quite watery and then at night the gaps between feeds are a lot longer so they get lots of fore milk in the night and first thing in the morning.

Trying to be very organised I did try to get my twins onto a routine early on as I was worried about not being able to cope with them and 2yr old if I didn't know what was coming next. So at first I fed roughly every 2hrs, then gradually increased that to every 3hrs, and have tried to stretch out the night feeds. My instinct as a mother is to feed on demand, but I'm feeling very confused at the moment and am not sure what I can do to ease my babies tummy pains.

I would be really grateful if anyone was able to give me any advice that might help. Sorry I hope I haven't bored you all too much!

[ChristMarsSleighdy]

Hey FP. Have you tried talking to a breastfeeding counsellor? www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/BfNKelly MomHow breastfeeding works. Look down the right hand side where you'll find the links to Dr Jack Newman's site/videos

These should help you.

Don't worry about the routine. The only routine the twins need at the moment is tandem feeding if you can.

When winding pop them up so that their armpits are on your shoulders then stroke upwards until they wind.

It's worth you CATing HoochieMomma then you can talk about the dairy issues. Her DTs are now 16 months and she tried different things to improve their feeding, wind etc that sound very similar to what you have here.

[Starshinetiger]

Hi Frangipani - well done you on your first 5 weeks with twins and a 2yo!
I'm no expert, but just from reading your post, I would actually reconsider the dairy intolerance. My Sister was exactly the same when she was a baby - she was dairy intolerant and while it didn't impact her weight gain, it did cause an endless nappy supply to be required. My own DS had lots more reaction but we discovered (eventually that he was dairy and egg intolerant). Could you cut dairy out from your diet entirely? Be prepared for it to take at least a week (but possibly less if your digestion is working really well) to see any impact on the girls, but it does really sound like it could be that having an impact (DS developed green watery poos round about 5-6 weeks in, but he was also bringing up a lot of his feed).
My next DC is due March and I have to admit that last time round I really stressed about routine and this time, I'm really going to just go with the flow and see where demand feeding takes us (mind you - I'm only due 1, not 2, despite all the comments I'm getting on my size ). I am always reluctant to give advice, as you will know your babies and yourself best and I think the best thing is happy mummy = happy babies, but on the basis of a lot of intolerances in our families, I reckon the dairy thing is worth reconsidering! And for treats for yourself if you're cutting out dairy, my DS would really recommend the dairy free choc buttons you can get in free from sections in most supermarkets !
Hope that helps!

[Starshinetiger]

Sorry FP - didn't read you had already cut dairy out - as I said, be prepared for it to take 7-10 days to see a difference, which I know is an age with such young babies! With DS, I was pretty much forced by consultant to top him up with hypoallergenic formula at 3.5 months, so at 4 months i did 3 days trial of me pumping and him getting the formula and the dramatic difference to his windiness and consistency of poos and general happiness convinced me that it was my diet that was impacting - but this is an extreme way of testing and I really did feel it impacted my own supply to be able to go back to bfing.

[Frangipani74]

Thanks for info Mars, will check out those sites. I already bumped into Hoochiemomma on allergies thread, have emailed her re dairy probs.

Starshinetiger - thanks for info on how long to cut out dairy, I wasn't sure about that, I'll hang in there for another 7 days and see how things are. It might be a dairy problem, my son seems to be a little intolerant to it, but he always put on plenty of weight as a baby. My health food store does dairy free version of smarties which are yummy, so if I could just get myself organised enough to get out of the house I'll indulge a little!
I didn't do routine with first child, demand feeding, co-sleeping, sling carrying - all very lovely at the time, but we never really taught him to get to sleep by himself and have a child that even though he mostly sleeps through now the littlest things can cause him to have a wakeful night. So I think I may have over reacted and swung the other way a bit too far as I'm a bit scared of the prospect of having two babies still not sleeping at 18months. Some balance needed I think.

All the best with your next baby.