Has anyone exclusively breast fed twins and not expressed?

[beachesandbuckets]

I am due to have twins in 10 weeks. With my older 2 dcs, I exclusively breast fed. I tried expressing but hated feeling like a cow, plus I found it a load of hassle to freeze milk, defrost, get to right temp, sterilise etc when utterly shattered rather than just stick them on the boob which I ended up doing. Neither dc would take FF despite my best efforts, they liked snuggling up to me too much, little blighters! Also I produce ridiculous amounts of milk, almost unpleasantly so.

So question is, has anyone done ebf for twins with no help from dh/others in giving bottles. Was it hell? Should I try harder to FF this time to preserve my sanity/get more sleep, and if so, where can I go right this time? Thanks :)

I did it with my ID boys until they turned 7 months old.

I started when I wanted to wean them on food & sippy cup at same time, so I could have some free time.

I hardly express unless they're visiting my Grandpa without me, and I usually express once a day to stock up for meal and lunch times - I hate it too.

I also have loads of milk - I never seem to run out but I never get that uncomfortable feeling either.

Oh, My boys drink nothing but bm and only express for at least 2 days worth, so I don't have to use the bloody pump.

Oh thanks for asking this! Feel exactly the same. I am expecting twins and ebf DD (in fact i bf until she was 2!). She was a total bottle refuser and,frankly, i found that by far the easiest thing was to bung her on the boob. I also had zero supply issues... I am hoping to do pretty much the same with twins.... Crazy??

I am ebf (after a bit of a rocky start with DS havingTT and my milk not having come in after my section). Twins are 3.5mo and I don't express or give them bottles. My DH works long hours so I figured since I would be doing 95% of the work, I may as well just crack on with the bf. no supply issues although we did have a prolonged period of evening cluster feeding/fussiness until 10 weeks and bedtime is pretty exhausting still now they are starting to get disturbed by each other.

Tandem feeding is key for me - I wouldn't have stuck to it if I fed them separately. It is very time consuming,partic as they only have one breast each and so only get one strong let down per feed, rather than having the option to swap them to the other breast for a quick boost. It means they have to work quite hard to get the milk initially.

I couldn't, but there were other mums on the 1yo twins thread who certainly did. It is completely possible, and if you have already bf and know you have a good supply then you're ahead of the curve. At times I also think it would have been a big big help to me if I had been able to - the hours and hours spent washing bottles, prepping feeds and occasionally pumping were quite a drain.

On the other hand, twins are very unpredictable - you may have a less than straighftoward delivery which might impact your milk, they may arrive a wee bit early and be less efficient at sucking, one or more of them may be such terrible sleepers you need to share the load. BAsically the best advice I would give anyone on anything expecting twins is keep an open mind!

A tandem feeding pillow is a great investment!

I did.
I was exhausted and like a zombie.
DH did nappy changes at night but both babies slept on me and fed through the night.
I gave formula to them at around 5 months.

One took to it, one refused.
The one that refused never took a bottle or formula and I continued to feed until 2.
DH did the night feeds with the one that took the bottle and it really helped me.

Do what you can and see how it goes. I didn't pump once, there just wasn't time.

I'm exclusively breastfeeding 4 month old twins. The only time I expressed was in hospital to try to up milk supply following a C section. My twins had some formula feeds initially due to low supply but dropped these when I could. Partly because it didn't save much time as although my husband helped I still had one to feed and they both wanted breastfeeding again to actually get them to sleep at night! It's been hard work and there have been times when I feel I do nothing else but it's getting easier as they get bigger and better feeders. I've found support from friends, my husband and advice lines - breastfeeding and TAMBA to be really helpful. Also a twin nursing pillow ( I use an EZ2 nurse which has been great, bought 2nd hand) and some entertainment for the hours on the sofa! I haven't expressed more because it seems like another thing to do and at the beginning seemed to be feeding most of the time so am not sure when I could have done it! I gave up on the cot after the first month and they sleep with me so I get as much sleep as possible. In the end you have to do what works for you and your family. Hope it goes well with you and your babies x

I did. My two would scream blue murder if anyone tried to give them a bottle, even if it was ebm. Luckily they were my first do I could reasonably sit on the sofa with them all day if necessary. They never got the hang of dream feeds either little buggers so I didn't wake one up when the other woke, as I'd then have a very cross baby to sort out, as well as a hungry one!
Having said that, they had their last feed at 19 months old, so we all survived the hellish early months , and I never had to take 2 lots of bottles etc out with me, which I was really glad about, having seen the amount of paraphernalia my friends with a singleton had to cart around!

Good luck

Yes I am, twins now nearly 9 months. If you have older children too I found there just isn't really time for expressing. If you want a break from breast feeding better to just do one bottle of formula a day. Breast feeding twins is hard work, don't make it any harder for yourself than you need to! Having said that, my two were both bottle refuses anyway. Good luck

I know I have totally thread hijacked the thread (sorry beaches!), but thanks so much for replies! Having ebf a bottle refuser and bf for what felt like years, I am hopeful that (knowing how exhausting bf is with just one!) I can just crack on with boobs without any extra faff. If anything like DD, they might totally refuse bottles anyway.... I am happily resigned to 75% of my time (literally)being stuck with a baby or two attached to me...

Not a problem Legally Blond, I think we are in a very similar position other than I have 2 older rugrats!

Looks like, from all of these really helpful responses, I shld be able to breastfeed both, tho I may try them on formula in the daytime (even by buying some of those cheater ready made formula cartons) to get them used to it just in case. Sounds like its going to be a totally exhausting time, feel a bit bad for my older two.

Also as I will have to go back to work when the twins are 9mths for financial reasons, I hope I can cut back the daytime feeds by that point else I am in trouble!

I did until they were about 7 months old - and then we started trying to give them a bottle of expressed milk (unsuccessfully). It took about a month for them to give in and take a bottle.

As others have said, they were my first babies so I could sit on the sofa all day and feed them and it didn't matter too much that I was absolutely knackered (because of the lack of sleep at night). Had I had an older one or been houseproud it might not have been as easy. I also found it easier to just breastfeed rather than have the faff of getting bottles ready, sterilised etc.

I did. I had a student from local uni come over to pick older 2 dds up then get dinner and clear up etc between 4-7pm.
I managed during the day with my then 2 year old, it wasn't a breeze but I managed.

I would definitely say that the bf was NOT the hard bit, it was the fact of having twins that was tough. Bottle or not.

I started on mixed feeding and ended up ebf (okay they were weaned onto solids at that point). It was so so easy not to have to cart any bottles around by the time they were six months, very quick to bfd on every level, and great for comforting. Never found time for expressing; time was better spent actually feeding baby or cuddling or settling. Brief attempt at expressing to do routines, almost killed me. Don't do it! Ebf until they were two, (with solids of course)

temporary has it right. It is the twins not the bfng that is the hard bit.

FreeButtonBee - I tandem feed two, it's the easiest to do, I feel weird when I'm only doing one.

I tandem feed mostly on a night as they share a cot and wake up if they can't feel/touch other twin so it's quieter and easier to feed them both.

I'm still bf my 15month old twin boys. No expressing.or bottles used. Just couldn't be arsed. And I've gone back to work two days a week and they're fine with it. I actually think now that it offers me more flexibility. And I've got an older DD.

I only expressed but thought a little booklet by the LLL about tandem feeding was useful so you can save time. otherwise you may feed 24/7.

In December I will hopefully be ebf again without bottles/dummies when dts(2) are born.

I still hope to be breast feeding the twins. My singletons weaned themselves around 12-14 months, I was devastated haha.

I'm

I'm only 3 weeks in but am ebf. Plenty of milk for both of them!

I discovered after 2 weeks that I had very little milk left by about 6pm and the babies did nothing but scream all and feed all evening. I quickly switched to a bottle of formula which they both took.
This worked really well for me as the babies then slept until about 10.30pm which gave me time to rest and eat a decent meal before the night shift began!
I carried on BF until one was 15 months and the other 21 months.