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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

any advice on attempting to bf twins.

14 replies

CarrieInAnotherTWOBabiTWINS · 28/11/2011 14:50

im only 9 weeks pg with twins but thought id start researching this asap

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Secondtimelucky · 28/11/2011 14:52

I haven't got twins, but Kellymom is excellent on most things here.

CarrieInAnotherTWOBabiTWINS · 28/11/2011 15:00

thanks secondtime lucky Smile

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bagpuss · 28/11/2011 15:04

Carrie, bless you Smile. I didn't bf mine in the end but just wanted to say that I have seen a few of your threads recently and I am sure you will be just fine. One thing that did help me when feeding (either breast or bottle) was to use a big v shaped pillow so that I could feed them together, mine came from John Lewis. Have you read any books yet? I would suggest getting a copy of Double Trouble by Emma Mahony - she covers the basics of everything in it and it really helped me get my head around the whole twin thing. Congratulations by the way!

UntamedShrew · 28/11/2011 15:17

Sorry short on time (my twins are 2.5 now!) but top tips are

  • a decent cushion eg EZ2 nurse or my breast friend
  • someone to get you started even 48h with a maternity nurse who had lots of twin bf experience could be money well spent if that's an option
  • eat & drink loads (4000 cals a day I was told so was on big meals plus snacks AND complan shakes.. And still lost weight!)
Get friends & family to visit during feeds in day for a bit as while tandem feeding you can't do anything, even changing channel on tv is tricky
  • be prepared for it to hurt for first couple of weeks, as neither side gets a rest betweenfeeds. This doesn't mean you are doing it wrong necessarily.
Good luck! Grin
CarrieInAnotherTWOBabiTWINS · 28/11/2011 16:09

bagpussBlush
could you tell this thread was going to be me?
i am starting to freak out slightly less.

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crikeybadger · 28/11/2011 16:11

No experience myself with twins but Mars Lord is a mum of twins, a doula and a mumsnetter. There are some good articles by her here.

4000 calories untamed Shock!? Most breastfeeding women are told to eat and drink to thirst. Obviously you will need to eat for your general well being and recuperation post birth, but how much you eat or drink won't affect the quality or quantity of your milk. You'd need to be severely dehydrated or malnourished for there to be an issue.

bagpuss · 28/11/2011 16:18

Um yes! Grin. But really you will be ok, I had my own twin shock thread two and a half years ago and I always smile when I see another! Good that you are freaking out less though Smile.

Byeckersitsapropercrimbolike · 28/11/2011 16:30

I am still ebf my 6 month old twins, it was bloody hard at first, but its so easy now, im feeding them both as i type! Grin

I had an ez2nurse pillow, try ebay or tamba selling board as new they are £1000,000 approx!

I had a karime sling and carried them both in it a lot, mastered feeding one in it at a time, i was sat down for hours and hours at a time at first, make sure you have a remote, book, drink, food at hand.

The best money i ever spent was on an ipad, i can mn/read kindle/play games and feed them! Keeps me sane!

Your nipples will be sore, like untamed said but i promise its amazing. Both my boys just came off the boob and gazed up at me grinning while i was typing, beautiful! Grin

Oh and yes to the eating, i ate like a horse, i was hungry an hour after a massive meal! But that does seem to have settled now, i still eat a lot but not BFG portions! Starting blw at christmas!

Congratulations and good luck :)

ShipsCat · 28/11/2011 16:32

Good luck! My twins had their last bf at 19 months. I found that the most important thing was to be very bloodyminded determined about it. Lots of people will suggest that it's impossible, or that you're mad to try, but just go for it wholeheartedly, and try your best Smile
I found that I was very thirsty rather than hungry, but that cake and chocolate were vital to keep my supply up Grin
It feels like you're doing nothing but feeding, winding or changing babies for the first few weeks, but it dies get easier!
I personally couldn't face the thought of all the bottles etc, which spurred me on!!

Jojay · 28/11/2011 17:24

Marking my place, will reply properly later. Congrats! Twins are ace Smile

CarrieInAnotherTWOBabiTWINS · 28/11/2011 19:05

UntamedShrew i will look into getting one of those pillows, here did you tend to feed? in a nursing chair or on the sofa?

i did bf dd for 9 months but it was seriously difficult for me and i had no other children to take into consideration.looking back on it i wonder if i found it difficult to bf because i was in a poor state of health, bad birth and lost alot of blood and was v anemic for a while.
i would feed dd upto 30 times a day and feeds could last hours

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Jojay · 28/11/2011 21:19

Right, I'm back Smile

I've got 4 months old twins who are bfed - well, mostly. DTS has turned into a bottle refuser so he's ebf, DTD will take a bottle so has two bottles of formula a day.

I bfed my 2 previous children with no huge problems - with Ds1 it took a bit of getting used to, sore nips etc, but generally it was ok, and DS2 was pretty good, and a bottle refuser to boot.

I was completely overwhelmed by the thought of bfing twins and set myself abosultely no targets in regard to feeding. I knew I'd give it a go, but that was it - no pressure.

The twins were born by emcs after DTD got into trouble, and they ended up into scbu despite not arriving early or being particularly small. I was also recovering from a general anaesthetic, and didn't even see DTD until late the next day after they were born, so it wasn't the ideal start to bfing. They were drip fed for the first 24 hrs then DTD had a tube up her nose, while DTS started on a bottle of formula. I was still woozy with drugs at this point but began expressing. I couldn't express enough for both of them but they had what I could get and both had formula top ups to begin with .

By about day 3 we were all feeling much better and I tried to bfeed them both. DTD took to it straight away , DTS took a bit of practice but by day 4 we dropped the top ups and we were discharged.

I exclusively bfed them for about 6 weeks I think. I had an EZ2 nurse cushion and it was quite good for tandem feeding, but I still felt they weren't positioned brilliantly, and I used to spend ages faffing around with cushions to get them to the right height and myself comfortable. I also felt completely pinned to the sofa tandem feeding, wheras feeding them one at a time I at least had a hand free, which helped with my other two kids - 4 and 2 at the time.

So I stopped tandem feeding as soon as I could get away with it. I'm lucky that my babies all seem to feed quite quickly, so I used to stall DTD with a dummy (DTS wouldn't take one) while I fed DTS, then fed her.

I was never organised enough to get them on a clockwork routine, so they were often not hungry at the same times anyway, and DTS, my bigger twin, seemed much hungrier and fed more frequently anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised that I never got sore nips though, as I did with both my singletons beforehand. Not sure why really, but bfing is SO much easier when you've done it before, so maybe it was just that.

I've no idea how long I'll carry on for. I'm just taking each day as it comes, and at the moment it's the best option for all of us.

I have never eaten so much in my life though - the hunger and thirst is something else!

My advice would be to take each day as it comes, set yourself no targets unless it's super important to you, and get the hang of feeding them singly before trying tandem, 'cos it's not easy to begin with! I'm on another twin forum and several of the people who didn't manage to bfeed for long, were adamant they had to feed tandem, then found it too hard and gave up. I think they'd have stood a better chance if they'd got the hang of feeding them singly first.

Jojay · 28/11/2011 21:21

Whoops, sorry for the essay Blush. It's quite theraputic writing it all down Grin

CarrieInAnotherTWOBabiTWINS · 28/11/2011 22:21

jojay, thanks for the message, yes i was thinking about getting it going by feeding them singularly to start off with..

and if need be a bit of a formula top up at night or whatever
esp so we can get some sleep.

i was hoping the fact i did bf dd for 9 month might make it a bit easier for me.

plus when your feeding the babies its a good excuse to sit down, as i think id probably end up running myself ragged doing other things anyway.

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