BF advice for newborn twins

10 replies

Tangle · 14/12/2009 21:50

Can anyone give any insight as to whether the quality of advice for twin mums who want to BF is better/worse/comparable with that given to mums of singletons? In particular I'm thinking of advice gained from hospital MWs and/or HVs, but if there are any support lines out there that are particularly good in this area that would be useful info to pass along.

As background I have a friend expecting twins and I'm trying to decide whether to give her a heads up that not all MWs and HVs do as good a job as we would like to think when it comes to BF advice and suggest she has some phone numbers to hand in case.

OP posts:

confuddledDOTcom · 14/12/2009 22:20

I can't answer your questions but if your friend is online and on Facebook then one of the mods of the group "hey facebook breastfeeding is not obscene" is a mother of twins and breastfed them both, I know she's helped a few twin mothers with breastfeeding help since having hers. If your friend was to post on their asking for twin advice she would reply to her.

MarsLady · 14/12/2009 22:26

You can get lots of advice from Breastfeeding Network Association of Breastfeeding Mothers la leche league etc.

I think it would help her to find out about breastfeeding before giving birth. Any one of the above organisations could give her a pointer in the right direction.

In answer to your OP it all comes down to the individual mw/hv. I "sacked" my mw who told me that I wouldn't be able to breastfeed my pair without top ups.

MarsLady · 14/12/2009 22:28

Sorry Breastfeeding Network

ZippysMum · 15/12/2009 03:15

Hey Tangle,
I have 12 week twins that have been ebf since they left NICU at 3 days old. I got fabulous advice from my local Lactation Consultant as well as our local Breastfeeding support lady.

Also great advice to be had here on Mumsnet if you can get your friend to join - I had a couple of threads before the boys were born that had great advice - I will try to dig them out in a minute.

The Multiples board (seek out the D'y ever thread) has lots of marvellous breastfeeding multiple mummies brimful of marvellous advice and experience.

Back in a minute...

ZippysMum · 15/12/2009 03:23

Breastfeeding twins - advice needed please

ZippysMum · 15/12/2009 03:26

More good stuff here

Original poster

Tangle · 19/12/2009 00:32

Thanks for the suggestions and links. Quite why I thought NHS advice for twins would be any less erratic than for singletons I don't have a clue!

I'm wary of getting too involved unless she asks as I know I can get a bit evangelical and I know how annoying I found that in others when I was expecting DD

OP posts:

ZippysMum · 19/12/2009 07:06

I loved the book 'The food of love' very positive but not preachy- maybe a present idea?

here

kathryn2804 · 19/12/2009 23:33

Unfortunately it depends very much on the midwife/HV who you end up with! Some still don't believe that it's possible (not sure how us twin Mummies managed before formula was invented lol!). Anyway, with good support and a bit of perseverence it is perfectly managable, and once established, probably easier than bottle feeding!

All the usual breastfeeding avenues ( as mentioned already) give good advice. Might be worth your friend contacting her loacl twins club and seeing if any have successfully breastfed, some twin Mummy advice can be very useful. Plus, go to the twins/multiples section of this forum, we're all lovely

firsttimetwins · 20/12/2009 08:00

Tangle, as a mother of premature twins who has been struggling to establish breastfeeding since we came home from the hospital 8 weeks ago (and doing well with one twin and not so well with the other) I would just like to add that while your friend is bound to appreciate your support, I suspect hearing people being evangelical about it is the last thing she needs if it ends up being difficult - there are plenty of other things to feel guilty about without being made to feel crap about not managing to breastfeed! However, I think if I had had access to lactation consultants, midwives etc. who actually had experience of twin breastfeeding themselves (when I called LLL here (Germany) all I got was a woman quoting the Karen Kerkhoff Gromada "Mothering Multiples" book to me verbatim, not a lot of help since I've already read it...), so if you can provide her with links, phone numbers etc. for people who actually know their stuff, I'm sure she'll be very grateful.

Flip