Any advice at all to share about how to successfully bf twins?

[ag123]

Hi everyone,

A couple of years ago now I got the most wonderful support with bf ds on this forum. I currently have a friend who is 33 wks pg with twins and would really really like to be able to bf them (circumstances allowing) when they arrive. I was wondering if anyone here had any experiences/advice/tips to share about how to successfully bf twins, whether from your own experience or something you've heard from someone else? It seems there's a real lack of information out there on this topic so I thought the mumsnet feeding forum would be where to find people in the know!
TIA!

Hello! My twins are 3 now and I breastfed them till they were 17months. Tamba, the twins charity, have a booklet about breastfeeding multiples which your friend would probably find useful, plus they have trained breastfeeding peer supporters who have all breastfed twins or multiples. Some people feed their twins together but I fed mine one after each other, as that was easier to get them latched on and easier to feed in public as I had an older DS. the main piece of advice I have is if you are feeding one you feed the other, so in the middle of the night you always wake the other and feed if the first has woken, otherwise you'll just get back to sleep and have to wake up again! Please ask if you/ your friend have other questions, and congratulations to her!

Ez to nurse twins foam pillow was amazing. I tandem fed until 4 months on that, then fed one at a time on it until 10 months. Loved it and really struggled without it.
Lots of threads on this so might be worth doing a search.
All the best to your friend.

My twins are 3 years old now, and I fed them until 2yrs 6mo an 2yrs 9mo, when they each decided to stop.

I always fed them one at a time, whenever they each needed feeding. I didn't ever master feeding them at the same time.

I also didn't get on with feeding cushions (tried widgey cushions and EZ to Nurse.

Once they got to 4 months, I mastered feeding lying down. This saved my back a bit as I spent less time sat up in bed feeding.

I coslept once I could feed lying down. Complete sanity aver as I didn't have to get out if bed at night :)

Prepare to feed, feed, feed and feed in the first 8 to 10 weeks. If you feed them separately then it is relentless as you pretty much take one off and put the next on. It used to take me 2 hours to change, feed and settle both babies, starting every 2.5 hours. So I lived my life (toilet, making food, showering) in half hour blocks!

It is really hard work in the first two or three months. The pay off is amazing though - I travelled the country on maternity leave, biding friends, staying with people, going in days out. I didn't have to worry about taking anything with me - a spare set of babygrows, a pack of nappies and wipes in the car and I could be away for 2 hours or 2 days! Never had to worry about getting delayed as I was all they needed to survive :)

I agree with the previous poster who recommended Tamba and their leaflets. You can send off for them from the Tamba website (and it's worth joining for their magazine).

Good luck to your friend! Don't let anyone tell her it's too hard or she doesn't have enough milk - if she keeps feeding then she will make enough milk, and many people have successfully fed multiples :)

Thanks so much for your prompt replies. This is certainly a good start. Rosesonthewane I did try to search for some threads on this topic but didn't get very far...I don't suppose you could direct me to any?

What happy said

Mine are 5 weeks and I'm feeding them and not a lot else. I manage a couple of tandem feeds a day but mostly feed separately as one is very easily distracted and always needs feeding afterwards when I manage both at once. But it beats faffing about with bottles especially where getting out of the house is concerned. Also I am enjoying eating lots of cake to get enough calories.

I think maybe advice for twins is limited because experiences vary widely. Lots of twins are very tiny and may also need scbu, in which case you have to be prepared to pump for a bit. Mine however were born after 37 weeks and normal weight, so it's been like feeding a singleton, just more of it.

I went to an Nct/tamba workshop which was helpful for getting my head around what could happen and how it works.

Thank you for all the great advice so far. I've sent the link to this thread to my friend now. Does anyone else have any tips or does anyone remember any particularly relevant threads they have read in the past which they could post a link to?