Found out at 12w scan it's twins - will I be able to ebf?

[legallyblond]

Total surprise twins at 12 week scan on Tues... Still very much in shock. We have a 2.5 year old DD already.

One of the main things is the unknown - I know where I am with one and had nailed bf last time. Now I feel like its all going to be new and I don't know if I can do it...

I'm not remotely militant, but I am very pro bf and LOVED bf DD - it is really important to me.

DD was no trouble to bf (well, I worked hard at it, but had no major problems - no tongue tie, I avoided mastitis, we got a good match in the first day or two etc) and I had plenty, plenty of milk. I totally ebf until she was 6 months - she was a bottle refuser, so didn't bother with expressing even - and carried on (although I went back to work when she was 11 months) until just after her second birthday.

Is it possible to ebf twins? Will "they" let me provided weight gain is ok? How the heck does it work? I was counting in having a hand free for DD - I am not going to be able to lie around doing skin to skin in bed all day or anything! Please please reassure me if it is possible...

And what if they're premature? Will they allows me to pump but refuse bottles for them? Is it possible yk establish bf with prem twins? (DD popped our naturally at 40 + 14, so the other end of the scale).

Would LLL be helpful do you think?

Felting v overwhelmed by it all... But excited too if course. If its possible to ebf twins, I will give it my best shot, but don't know if it is.... One person I asked said "oh yes, my sil did it - she breast fed, with a couple of bottles, for 3 weeks..." Not what I mean by ebf!!!!

Thanks - I would be very grateful for input from any of the "experts" on here.

Bf twins is
Ok! Learn to tandem feed so ur feeding them both at the same time! Congrats on twins.

Hello! Jut a quick one but to say I am currently feeding both my 6 weekmold twins!? It's definitely possible. Will read your whole post and send a more detailed message later

Congrats - twins are carnage but great

Friend of mine ebf twins for 6 months and is still bf them now at 14 months. It was bloody hard work but if you're determined and have good support then it's possible.

I am in awe of my friend

My sister did ( though without the 2yr old extra!)
She did it by feeding to a schedule, tandem (rugby hold), and had a rota of retired women from her church who came and helped her at feeding times to pass her babies, change nappies etc ! I realise this might not be the kind of support you can muster, but worth a bit of lateral thinking about the practicalities. TAMBA should have info for you.
Congratulations by the way, twins rock when you are past the first bit!

It is theoretically possible. I've met loads of twin mothers who have without trouble. Doing both at the same time using a pillow is easy.

I didn't manage but you have experience breastfeeding even though it was with a singleton. You won't have all those first time worries about whether it is possible, whether you have enough milk etc. What scuppered me was them being premie and tiny and spending time in SCBU. They were initially fed through tubes in their noses but the benchmark for them being able to come home was to prove themselves by having a certain number of bottles over a 24 hour period. They were already on formula before I was even allowed out of bed after my c section! After they were home, I didn't have any problem getting them to latch even after having had bottles, but was visited at home by special care nurses who refused to discharge them until I put them back on formula for weight gain. I held out for two weeks and then caved and mix fed. I'm not sure what I could have done differently. Mix feeding affected my supply which wasn't properly established and after 5 months of struggling with top ups we ended up on formula full time. Not the end of the world, but not what I envisioned. Maybe being more prepared than I was, arming yourself with facts, being more confident and being strong in your choices would mean you didn't end up in the same boat. I don't think I was pushy enough.

Double congratulations!

Yes, it is absolutely possible to EBF twins. There may be more challenges but if you're prepared for them and have a good support team then it's absolutely within reach.

I would contact your local LLL group/NCT counsellor as soon as you can to start gathering information and also let your MW know so that she can put you in contact with the relevant people at your local hospital.

This book might help you out, and there have been loads of stories about mothers BF twins in the LLL magazine so you could ask about getting back copies of that.

Best of luck, arm yourself with all the info and get a good team behind you :)

Definitely doable! Get a good feeding cushion, then you can feed them both at the same time. I used to run around crazily collecting snacks for me and dd1, the tv remote, books, and then settle down with dds2&3 on the cushion, and me and dd1 with our snacks in front of Cbeebies. Cbeebies is your friend!

Dd1 was 3.5 so a bit more able to understand, but I have a friend who had a 21 month gap from singleton 1 to twins 2 and 3 and managed to EBF as well. That friend got a helper from Homestart (not specifically about breastfeeding, but just in case it's handy).

I fed mine till they were around 3 yrs and didn't have to have any formula at all.

The LLL book Mothering Multiples is good, and I think they might have a fact sheet on twins as well?

Good luck - my two are cooming on 5 now, having twins is great .

Oooh, talking of prematurity - I really rated this book and the nutrition advice which seemed well based in research about avoiding low birth weights and premmie twins: www.amazon.co.uk/Having-Twins-Parents-Pregnancy-Childhood/dp/0395493382

Totally anecdotal evidence here but both the friend I mentioned, and I, both followed the advice, my two were both over 6lbs born at 37 weeks and hers were both over 8lbs and born at 39 weeks.

Oops www.amazon.co.uk/Having-Twins-Parents-Pregnancy-Childhood/dp/0395493382

Ooh you could've been me last April when I found out it was twins. I was worried about the exact same things. DS1 was 2.8 when they were born in October. I BF him for 13 months and was keen to BF the twins too, I am currently tandem feeding them while I type this! They're 5 months old now. One of them has 1 bottle of formula a day and has done since 3 months but the other is a bottle refuser (as was DS1)

If you want to and have already breastfed your chances of success are pretty high I reckon. I was lucky enough to hang onto my twins til 38+1 so no special care was needed and I breastfed from day 1. Must be hard if they are in SCBU though and you're having to express.

Top tips would be decent v shaped cushion (don't necessarily need special twin one tho - v expensive!) and rugby ball hold (which I never mastered with DS1)

You will have enough milk, makes me when people say they don't - it's supply and demand after all.

It's hard for the toddler, after all you are pinned to chair tandem feeding but my DS has mastered climbing on the arm of the chair with his book - oh and we watch a LOT of cbeebies

Thank you all so so much! I totally know I will have enough milk - supply and demand. I just can't get my head round the practicalities! Ordered the LLL book on breastfeeding twins and the book you recommended Bananarama. Just feeling overwhelmed (and shocked.... Still!) but your positive stories are helping so so much!

First few days/weeks, I fed them individually in order to get the hang of feeding. But then the DTs were my first children. I had v few things in my ELCS birth plan other than that I wanted skin to skn ASAP and that no formula was to be given. I did have skim to to skin within the first hour although not in the theatre (did have cuddles in theatre though).

Despite the fact that I had twins, no one batted an eye about my decision to BF. I got to 38+6 and the DTs were 6lb ish each so physically they were on good shape for feeding. However they both had TT, and DTS had it extremely badly so that after initially latching he couldn't latch again. Having feeding issues with 2 is more complex. One the one hand, DTD was keeping my supply stimulated cos she could suck. On the other hand, I kept missing feeds because DTS needed checking out/took so long to latch etc. we eventually left hospital with DTS on a mixture of expresses milk and formula being finger fed.

Luckily we got his TT dealt with privately at 8 days and he has never looked back and by 4 weeks he was fully BF.

After about 3 weeks, I has to learn how to tandem feed. It's tricky when they are v tiny but now at 6 weeks, we are all pros at it. It does take a lot of setting up o the sofa, partic if you are on your own. II have a big day pillow to on side on which I can prop on twin then I sit down with the other twin and the BF pillow in hand, arrange twin1 and them pick ip twin 2. Latching tends to be done on the basis of te easiest twin first and then I wrestle with the other. Even that is speeding up now. It is had to decant sleeping Babies from the BF pillow to their carrycots but practice helps. Again, I do a shuffle of heaviest sleeping twin to the pillow at my side and then stand up with other twin, letting the BF pillow drop to the floor.

At night I feed them singly unless thy happen to wake at the same time. I can't get on with the BF pillow in bed - it was killing my neck so on the rare occasions, I tend to use bed pillows to do the same job which is trickier to arrange but doable.

At 6 weeks I am just starting to feel like I can properly manage on my own now so enlist all the help you can on the early days in order to get bf established and efficient. My DTS are still v slow feeders ( take up to an hour for each feed!) so help is vital.

Also, logistics wise, it took me ages to work it out but it helps to assign each baby a breast for the day. This is only really an issue once your milk has properly come in and they are properly taking a god volume of milk. But it means that they both get a good balance of milk. Sometimes if one is v hungry and the other has finished feeding, I give the hungry twin a go on the other twin's side. So it's not something to get fanatical about.

Best of luck!

Oh one last thing, for the first 2 weeks, I wrote down who fed on which side and for how long (plus weed and poos) otherwise it's impossible to remember with two. V helpful when taking to HCPs. After that I couldn't be bothered but b useful initially

I used to pin a safety pin on my bra strap to remind myself which side twin 1 had fed. Also used the EZ2 Nurse pillow and rolled up muslins for extra propping when they were very tiny. If you get comfy on the couch with a twin lying either side of you and your twin feeding pillow, you can pick them up by the front of their baby gro's to pop them on the pillow. Only when they are tiny and light though! I could quite easily scoop them up with one hand to burp them but some people flip them onto their tummies on the pillow to burp them that way. Tamba have a twin breastfeeding course these days which might be helpful.

How do you know you will have enough milk? I had twins and had zero milk and had medication to make it come in but still hardly any. I wouldn't assume anything, be flexible.

Definitely possible. It might be worth looking into available support while you are pregnant- eg my area has a twins club, specialist multiple birth BF supporter and BF specialists available in SCBU. All of these people would be happy to talk before you give birth and offer whatever support needed afterwards. I have no twin experience but have ebf a long term SCBU baby.

Best of luck.

givemeaclue The vast majority of women are able to make enough milk to breastfeed twins, although there are cases such as yours where there's an underlying medical problem. You are right that the OP needs to make plans to form a support team but there's no reason to think that she won't be able to make enough milk, she's previously breastfed with no problems.

I breastfed by twins fully (finished soon after they turned two). Definitely get a decent feeding cushion! The Mothering Mulitples book is really good- the author is on Facebook and will happily answer questions via email (I've been asking for her advice for nearly 11 years!!). Mine were born at 38 weeks, both feeding within an hour of birth.

Good luck- twins are fantastic!

Givemeaclue - had you BF before? I am fairly sure there will be enought because I know my "system" works and have seen supply and demand work perfectly with one. I had surplus milk with DD....

I totally understand your point though about being flexible. It's all new for me so I know it will be different to last time. If I can't, I can't, but if it's possible I appreciate the stories of those who have so I can try!

And even if come early and are in scbu you can express and feed via ngt and will get lots of support with that, you are very much encouraged/pressured to bf even if it means yet are in hospital a lot longer, not anything to do with you/your supply but ability of babies to feed.

Good luck!