tandem feeding twins - any tips please?

[strawberrylace]

I have 2 week old twins, born at 34+3. In special care they were fed via NG tube, then a mixture of breast and bottle feeding. They have been home for 2 days and I have been exclusively breast feeding them - demand feeding around every 3-4 hours. This seems to be going ok (i hope they have put on weight), with plenty of wet and dirty nappies.
I have been tandem feeding them to try and make things easier, but I'm worried about how I am going to manage to get them both latched on and winded when I am here on my own next week when DH goes back to work.
I wondered if anyone out there had any tips please?
Thank you!

Strawberrylace,
so sorry noone has replied yet. There is a thread I posted on recently, called something like 'how do you live with the guilt' where I posted my tips for tandem feeding. I think there are other tips posted by others there that would help you.

Good luck, and I am very glad to hear that it is going ok so far.

It is pretty hard - have you got a breast feeding pillow? Eazy-2-nurse is good - wide enough to keep both of them securely in place. I borrowed mine from a maternity nurse, but I think twins clubs have lots of ads for second-hand ones.

I struggled quite a lot to latch both on at once but I could do it with a lot of swearing and effort! One of my DTs had real problems bfing so I'd always get him on first which could take 5-10 mins min, then the other would latch on easily.

TBH, I always preferred to feed them singly and if I had the time would stagger their sleep and feeds very slightly. But I did feel like I was doing nothing but feeding 24h/day, which is not ideal.

Good luck, am sure others will have better advice. It does get easier quite quickly.

Yeah, EZ cushion is great, you can feed hands free. If not, you can use a variety of cushions pillows, but try to make the top surface as flat as poss so they dpon't roll off easily, then you can let go.

Have you tried the 'baby-grow grab'? It's the safest way to pick up a baby with one hand. Lie baby on back, grab baby-grow under the chin and lift gently, baby-grow supports the back of baby's neck. You can use this to carry both, or move one at a time onto feeding cushion. If you want to take them upstairs or something, grab baby-grow as above, then move arm round so baby's back is resting on your shoulder/chest facing forward, do the same with other. It's much safer picking babies up like this as if you 'scoop' them they can rool off.

To tandem feed on your own. Get everything you need within easy reach: drink, snack, remote control. Place babies on bed or sofa next to you, arrange cushion/s grab baby 1 by baby-grow, place on cushion, grab baby 2 by baby-grow, place on cushion, latch baby 1, latch baby 2

Good luck with it, you're doing brilliantly :-)

thanks very much for your tips everyone. Of course, now they have decided that they will stagger their demands for food so they're half an hour apart - which means I can feed one and then the other.
i am refining my furniture arrangements, and am going to practice the 'babygro grab'....

strawberry just a thought for the future. I didn't tandem feed mine until they were about 9/10mo. I tried early on and just found it so difficult and I loved feeding them separately, and they rarely wanted feeding at the same time (I demand fed).

We went through a stage when they wanted to feed when they saw the other one feeding but by then they could sit up, so I used to sit on the floor, hold one in the usual cradle position and have the other one sit on the floor next to me, facing me and latch herself on.

But my main point is, especially as they get faster, don't feel that you have to feed them together, it might just work well for you to keep doing what you are doing.

Well done, it's not easy but so satisfying to bf twins. I kept it up until 14m for one and 15m for the other and I'm so glad I did.

I'd advise starting off single feeding until you feel confident. I have been tandem feeding my 2 since 1 month..though now at 2 months they sometimes fuss a lot if tandem fed. I like to use 2 normal pillows and go hands free...and tend to pick them up by their clothes to wind them though it can be tricky. Maybe only tandem feed while DH is at home until you get used to it...it saves a lot of time once you can tandem.