Under 1s twin post-natal group? Should we have one? Who's in?!

[PeelingmyselfofftheCeiling]

The antenatal group is nearly full, any graduates fancy joining forces to compare

dream - I've normally got them both in football hold on my pillow, just cos that's what works for us. If one starts mithering, I hold them up on my chest/over my shoulder and let the other carry on feeding. If that makes sense! Or I yell blue murder at DH until he takes the crying one away!

Red lumpy breast is better today so fingers crossed we're sorting it. Btw, best tip EVER - a disposable nappy full of warm/hot water makes THE BEST hot compress ever. You can totally bend it round your body so you get the full effect and it keeps the heat for ages. Made me laugh that we had to go out and buy disposables so I could wrap them round my boobs, but needs must...

gah!!! dream, I completely forgot about your DH being poorly and not up to helping at night so I'm SOOO sorry for banging on about my DH helping out as, obviously, that's not going to work for you guys. Please accept my apologies. How is he btw?

I've got my MIL arriving today. Sigh. Why couldn't my PIL be as nice as the parents of my old uni boyfriend. He was a terrible boyfriend, but his parents were lovely. May even be part of the reason I stayed with him so long...

Don't worry rednellie, dh is mostly better. He still has aching muscles and joints and is tired but he's so much better he is no longer excused! I make sure he gets at least 4 hours sleep ay a bare minimum at night and a good nap in the day (he's off on paternity leave as he took after the birth as sick leave). he's still hating it though, he doesn't do broken nights well anyway.

The colic saga continues here. Ben vomits and refluxes and kicks his legs up and i can't settle him, even to sleep on my chest. So I have added in the dreaded colief. You can give.colief straight away, into freshly expressed milk. Day one of expressing before every feed into a sterile container and adding 4 drops of colief and stuffing it down DT2s neck with a sterilized spoon. Verdict- possible maybe with one baby, and preferably dc1. With a nearly 20 month old and two babies- virtually impossible. Cut short our outing this morning as i was so twitched DT2'd need feeding and I didn't have pump/ sterile container/ sterile spoon and colief with me. Obviously. As I can't manage to hand express, every feed this means sterilising pump, pumping tiny amount, adding colief etc etc. I don't know if I can keep it up, or pump enough to add it to milk wait four hours then feed via a bottle within the 12 hour window. That's loads of work too. And it'd be a bottle every feed, even I think that'd be the end of a good latch for bf. But it seems to help. Have done it every feed since 5 am when i couldn't bear how upset he was after 3 hours of fretting in the night too. Plus x 2 gaviscon bottles overnight. Plus sterilizing bottles to give gaviscon with water after feeds in the day.

I am despairing of how long i can keep going. Poor ben. What a bad mother. I feel obliged to do everything I can for him but its so hard. Another night of maybe 3 broken hours sleep. And once dh stops doing a bottle in the night, when he's at work after the bank holiday I won't get any I reckon.... As i end up consoling Ben til Seb wakes again :-( . Unless by some miracle I can keep up the colief...

Today is not a good day... Mostly due to PIL too rednellie! 'Helping'. While every pair of hands is a bonus their constant wittering drives me insane. And they're not much help apart from baby holding.

Still, it was lovely and sunny today and at least we got out, albeit for less than an hour. And Ben hasn't fretted after feeds in the usual way I wish he had, then I could pack in the bloody colief . DD is being particularly sweet. I must remember how lucky I am!

Hi folks, at last I can come and join you! 5 day old id twin boys. they are lush. However nights are awful - may well be having a good old moan here later in the hope you all can tell me how to deal with it nd it will get better! I am sure dd was not not like this in the night!

oh dream, I join you in exhaustion. Had a good old cry last night. I think I worried dh as he has been fussing over me today. I am beginning to dread the nights - they are only 6 days old for goodness sake! must have a word with myself!

promise to read through posts and get to know what's going on ..... maybe at 3am this morning when I will inevitably be awake!

dream - that sounds like a total hassle and nightmare. You are doing AMAZINGLY and you are feeding your babies all by yourself. This phase will not last forever, I don't know many teenagers who still puke up over their parents...oh, hold on.

Seriously though, that regime sounds almost impossible to keep up, but I think you should keep bf. You're an old pro and you can do it. (I know that's not PC to say, but sometimes you need cheerleaders). Try and take a step back and work out what would be the best regime - how everyone can help, DH, your parents etc - and then be very very very organised so that you don't have to think about it or make decisions at 3am. That always helps me. I've written myself a timetable for the days when I'm on my own.

And oh god, PIL. Seriously, shoot me now. Doesn't help that DH's mum is going senile so I've had to have the breastfeeding conversation 5 times today. It goes along the lines of: "How long will you bf for?" "I don't know, as long as they like, anyway they're only 8 weeks old." "In my day we weaned them at 4 months and DH didn't even have it at all and look at him he's fine." (puzzled face from me as I haven't actually said anything about the relative merits of ff and bf), then she finishes with "Dh's niece was bf till she was two. We all thought it was very odd, you wouldn't do that would you?" At which point I explain, yet again, that DD was bf until she was 21 months, I have no intention of stopping early with the DT's and that I, myself, bf till I was three. She recoils in horror. Then half an hour later we do it all again. The old bat!!!1

Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

Hi bigboobs live the name! You should remarkably chipper for someone who gave birth to twins the other day!! Join in during the gruesome night feeds

And dream, you're doing so so well with the feeding, but would you consider a splash of formula just to get the meds in? You would only need one or two ready made cartons a day and it might take the pressure off a tiny bit. I came back from hospital with them determined to bf but we had to do meds and formula top ups as they simply couldn't feed for long enough. I expressed the whole time they were in hospital, but once home in between Bfs and formula/bottle washing etc I just ran out of time. Alternatively can you bf one while expressing on the other side? Supposedly helps produce more although I never cracked it! What type of pump do you have? Double electric seems to be the only way to go! Once your body has got used to it you'll probably produce loads and can freeze the excess and just use the bare minimum for meds. Really rooting for you here, reflux twins are hideous.

Crikey, typos galore.

LOVE the name

SHOULD

Etc

SOUND not should!

Good luck guys! Not read this thread fully (as its too bloody long) but my gorgeous twins will be 4 in July. Make the most of your double babies as it goes so fast!

it seems I am too sleep deprived to read instructions properly . Dh says i can refrigerate ebm and warm to add the colief so it's just a cup/spoon I need to sterilise/have sterile ready for each feed.
I am determined to bf, and am persevering with ebf at the minute as I'm very stubborn but the vomiting and screaming is making it all harder. Tonight, DT2 vomited profusely over us both, so I bathed and changed him, changed all my clothes (including knickers- a real bring up your whole feed chunder), bathed DT1 for good luck... except it wasn't as I started feeding him, he looked up at me and did a projectile vomit into my face... Nice. And second change for us both in 10 min. Since then they have screamed/fed/screamed despite gaviscon/ colief- you get the idea. So yes, I too have the Night Dreads bigboobs! Not that they're not lovely and i wouldn't change them for the world but I'm looking forward to them being a bit more settled. and I'd love some sleep :) . peeling, I've borrowed but will have to buy from her, a double electric medela pump. It's great! And I should stop complaining, you and so many others had it so much worse with prem twins and going home without them.

rednellie, very patient, well done you with the mil. I got fed up of mil and fil wittering in two different conversations in the kitchen while super fussy, easily distracted DD refused her lunch and sent them out, a bit abruptly...heard fil muttering about 'wasn't eating it anyway' and pretended not to hear! You sound much more capable than me, timetables, alone with all three... I will aim to be more like that, but the more tired I am, the more chaotic it gets and I'm still on 2 hour max feeds at night, and Ben wouldn't settle after 3:30am last night so I'm only getting worse... Eek! Surely I can't get any more scatty!?

Hope you get some sleep tonight bigboobs . Or at least some lovely new born snuggles.

Tomorrow I will be less me me me and more positive. Oh yes. :)

Strong anyone? Watching bloody waybullo with dd - dh and boys asleep upstairs. Hmmmm

dream sounds like you are managing amazingly well.

Yes, dream, the fridge is your friend! I'll try and look out the current guidance leaflets on storing EBM I had, but you can definitely keep it at least 24 hours. Once your output increases (and EBF twins it really will once your body learns to respond to the pump) you can freeze it for 3 months as well, and if you make sure you get one or two on the freezer ASAP then you don't have a nightmare if you drop a bottle etc. Just keep in fridge once defrosted for no more than 24 hours. Some of mine went off in NICU fridge though, and you could easily tell so don't worry about giving them sour milk. Get some sticky labels and keep them with the pump, then label up with time and date and you shouldn't get in a muddle.
Also I never got on with hand expressing for ages, but pre expressing hand massage made a massive difference, there were some la leche leaflets with diagrams on how to do it.

Also sometimes NOT thinking about the babies but watching trash tv and eating cake seemed to relax me more and boost output!

have I crossed the line into annoying yet?

Just popping in to mark my place as I lost you all for a bit.

Be back on later to catch up properly

peeling, I'm all about the cheerleading.

dream - take a look at the kelly mom website regarding storing breast milk. You can keep it in the fridge for quite a while as long as you follow their instructions.

Here's the nhs guidance www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/expressing-storing-breast-milk.aspx although I seem to remember when I was on hospital they reduced the number of days advised to keep fridge milk from 5 to 3, but it's all guidance and as I said, you'll tell if it's 'gone' like normal milk.

Depends how much fridge grazing you do and how often the doors open too!

hi ladies,

not managed to read all the posts I've missed so much!- just scanning the last few - Dreaming the medela double pump was my best friend for 3 months, my two were too tiny to bf properly so i pumped every four hours to top them up with my milk.It's the best out there!

You can store milk in the fridge for up to 5 days according to La Leche League, i followed all their guidelines. Best on a shelf at the back of the fridge, do not store in the door of the fridge. Label and date all milk. Boots do storage bags.

I see you are getting hardly any sleep :( you poor thing, it is soooo tough at the start and i can only imagine how hard it is with two refluxy babies. IF you can muster the energy pump at about 3am or 4am, the body seems to produce the most milk that time of night - i expressed for weeks and weeks at this time (seems mad looking back now) but i got the most milk in ten mins so helped build up my collection in the fridge!

Ooohh i hope you get some sleep soon!
You are doing brilliantly!

All good with us, but we could as usual have more sleep. It's pretty tough going at the moment as working so much until 8th June....roll on June! Am working about 2hours from home for a week, bit anxious about that as will be exhausting driving back and forth and then being up with babies at night - i will defo treat myself to a hotel for one night and get my first nights sleep in almost 8 months!!

hope everyone is well! :)

I had another night where i didnt get the babies to sleep at the same time, ever last night. Tonight I've been trying to go to bed since 8pm. It's 3am and I still can't get the babies down:.. and when I say down,I mean propped up on a pillow next to me in bed as dh has decamped on probably a permanent basis to the box room...I decided to ignore the chuntering before. Now DT1 has done a good projectile vomit. After some hunting for where it could have gone, I found it. All over his brother, who was soaked to the skin. And actually asleep. I was going to leave him, in desperation and as a terrible mother, but then he was sick too so now changed but lying on me. And they've woken DD who I'm ignoring, poor little tike. I'm very worried about how long i can carry on on no sleep, but there doesn't seem to be an option and if anything its getting worse not better...

Will be back about the pumping later
Just had to vent!

I am so sorry for you, it sounds terrible, the not sleeping and the reflux! You must be in pieces .
You must be in pieces, I dont know how you survive.

I wish I had stg helpful to say but I know nothing about reflux, is there any other meds you can try?

You poor thing. I definitely gave up on changing anything unless it meant babies were actually wet. Do you have draw/change sheets on their bed? Basically an old strip of sheet under each twin so you can peel a layer off without having to change the whole bed. Then a thick folded muslin under each head. And bath towels in your bed so you can put them down and not worry.

Forgive me for forgetting, but why can't your dp help at night? You need some rest, if he can't help could you employ a maternity nurse for a couple of nights a week? You will turn a corner, but you need some help getting there.

quick post - dreaming would you get a night nanny in for a night or so? just to help you catch up on some sleep?

Dream - I agree, you need (even for a little while) some help that ensures you get some sleep as you're body must be near breaking point feeding two babies and not getting any sleep!! You're doing amazingly well but you can only take so much! Glad they are still gorgeous enough to make up for it!!!

Rednellie, how is the mastitis?

Hello twinnies how old are yours now?

dream hope you had a better night.

rednellie hope you're ok too??

We're doing okish but have had dd2 ill since sunday with high temp and I can just about cope with things when they're normal ... This is like the famous last straw... The twins are sleeping quite well but they are very hard work during the day. Yesterday I did not sit down from 7am til 10pm, it was a constant whirlwind of feeding changing winding settling, checking dd2s temp, giving her her meds, and ang time in between was spent doing laundry, cooking, house chores snd paperwork, then bathed the twins at 7 and was busy to settling them until 9.30 ehen I made my dinner, packed lunch for dd1, dishwasher etc... Still I am getting more sleep than dream so I shouldn't complain.

Hi Claire that sounds like a very stressful day! how is dd2 today? are you managing that all on your own? you sound like a machine!

how was your night dream? the others are right, you must get some help. is dh well enough to do a stint in the night? is any one around to let you sleep in the day?

mine are beginning to settle in to our home. Had to take them out of our room as me and dh both ended up being up all night. so they are now in their cot in their room with me and dh taking it in turns to sleep on the blow up bed in their room. works much better with us both getting some chunks of sleep.

dd has still been brilliant although she cried her wyws out this morn as she didnt want to go to nursery and leave the babes at home! luckily she calmed down when she knew she cld wear her welly boots!

hello to everyone else, still haven't had time to read all the thread and get to know you all so apologies for lack of personals - I WILL find time!

at welly boots solving the crisis big boobs. Is your mum back yet?

Claire - poor dd2! I have to say being back at work is a rest compared to being at home with the three kids and you have 4 to contend with! hope dd2 is feeling better x

Hey, you guys are miracles... bf and doing like real life stuff and all of that.

My twin girls are 2 and a bit weeks old, we're ff and my other half went back to work on Tuesday. I'm coping but I don't feel as if I am... life is just a constant churn of feeding, changing, wiping up puke and trying to get them to settle in the night. Twin 1 is the most placid kid you ever met, grumbles slightly if she's uncomfortable and when really hungry but otherwise you barely hear her. Twin 2 is much more vocal and also has a period (after the 11/12 at night feed, or after the 3am feed) when she wants to stay awake and will only sleep if I take her into bed. I know I have it a lot easier than most people but just finding it hard to adjust to this life... my mother is coming down on Monday so at least then during the day someone else will be able to do some feeds.
How long is it till they stop being so tiny and needy? I know you're not supposed to say this but I would give anything for this to be someone else's responsibility. If I could hand them off to a maternity nurse at 11 every night I would be the happiest person ever.