bf twins

[helloa]

hello, i don't have twins (would love to but am under no illusions as to how hard work it must be) and read some of your stories with absolute admiration ~(hope you don't mind). my aunt had twins and my cousins are cool!!

i was just wondering though, how you b/f twins,and curiosity has got the better so i am posting i have a dd who i bf til she self-weaned at 14 months and was curious that should i ever have twins i would like to o the same. i am also a bf peer supporter and think that the only twins i know of were ff. i also know that our hv is a bit wishee washee and i can't imagine her helping twin mums to bf unless they were already dead set on it.

just wondered what your thoughts/experience was, i hope you don't mind me asking?

I BF my twins (now 21 weeks) at the same time in the rugby ball hold - unless we're out (what a sight that would be!!)- and I LOVE it. It took quite a bit of determination to begin with as both babies were fairly small (about 4 and a half pounds) and were REALLY sleepy. They spent 10 dys in SCBU and the nurses were really supportive of BF...as is my HV, thankfully. TBH, I just couldn't be bothered with all the faffing around that goes with bottles... I'm quite a lazy girl at heart ...

My sister bf her twins until they were 1. They self-weaned at 1 because they caught chicken pox, had spots in their mouths and just didn't want to feed anymore.

Like Surfnicky, she tandem fed them in the rugby ball hold. She expressed so that she could feed one by bottle when she was out, whilst breasfeeting the other.

I have so much admiration for her. They were 6 weeks prem, had 3 weeks in SCBU being tube fed with her expressed milk, and only ever slept for an hour and a half, day or night until they were about 4 months old. Add to this a not terribly supportive partner and you can see why I am in complete awe of her.

Personally: In tandem. Rugby hold with a v shaped pillow to rest the babies on.

Lots of twin mums are told that they won't produce enough milk. This is told to them right from the get go sadly. Mws, Hvs, family and friends. A complete and total lie! And one of my bugbears! That's why you see so many ff twins. Wrong information, not a lot of support. It's totally exhausting at the beginning and if everyone around you tells you that you are set to fail.... well who can blame them for reaching for a bottle.

Like surfnicky... I'm a lazy mare. Didn't want to faff of making up bottles (how twin mums have the time I don't know) and also could take my DTs anywhere and not worry about how to feed them. Bfed mine until they were 18 months then I decided to stop.

I bfd til 14 months with DT2 and 13 months with DT1. Absolutely fab! For about 4 months in the middle I did 1 bottle a day of formula mid-morning, just to give my very sore nipples a rest, and so I could get some time with DD very occasionally. Sore nips recovered very quickly (after a long chat with Mars!!)and it all went swimmingly thereafter!

My sil got me an eze2nurse twins feeding cushion which tilts them towards you, and is fantastic. It has a separate back pillow that moves you away from the wall so the DTs' legs dangle down the back and they can't kick off with your nipple clamped between their teeth. Rugby hold on the cushion.

It is exhausting as Mars says, but so worth it. And it's just fab having two little chompers slurping away!

yeah i loved bf and was definitekly too lazy to bottle feed despite my dd being tube fed my ebm at first due to her prematurity. it was easy to feed while out and about too but i was wondering how you discreetly did this with two
the "not enough milk" thing really annoys me, they say it to singleton mums let alone anything else. it's one of the biggest things our peer support group comes up against
thanks for you rreplies

Mine are 11 months and stil bf, no intention of stopping!

Once I got it going (it needed support and detemination as they were small, losing too much weight the first couple of days and had no energy to feed - for 3 days I fed, expressed then spoonfed ebm until they were strong enough to feed themselves) and the babies were feeding well i didn't find the feeding a problem at all - Would have hated having to organise bottles and so much stuff to carry around with you when you go out. There were growth spurts that took more time and energy, you think you will never get through them, but they pass - I also had a crisis on holiday when they were around 6 months old as they were waking up so often at night me & dh were exhausted and i needed some rest desparately. We were staying with my sister so she took over nights, and as I wasn't expressing she gave them formula which after 2 nights they refused, we switched to water and they did sleep much better for a while.

When they were tiny I tandem fed, but found it more comfortable to feed one at a time and i also like(d) the time with one at a time.
In the beginning I would feed one at night and wake the other up to feed, but one was a much better sleeper and was usually too sleepy to feed much.
If I really have to (i.e. both screaming and no one around to help) I still feed them both together now.

People were and still are astounded that I have bf twins, (almost) everyone in RL to persuade me to give them f. I would never have done it without Mars and the others here.

The only thing i feel a bit stuck with at the moment is that I have to put them to bed everynight (expressed for a bit but didn't stick with it) - I'm back at work and its stress to get home in time and can't travel, but its not for long and I am happy I have an excuse to get home and see my gorgeous boys in the evening before they go to bed .

The really important thing for me was that with 3 very small children (ds1 is 2 years older than the dts), you don't have much time to just be with your babies there is always something that must be done. and most people that came to help seemed capable of doing baby things but not much else so the bfing was MY time with the babies, it was my thing that no one else could do for me or take away from me. Same now with the bedtime and moring feed, I gave up expressing because I didn't want anyone else to feed them before bedtime.

Hiya - am new here but pleased to see some more bf mums... my boys are three months and i feel a bit weird as i have met so many twin mums and none have bf beyond a week or two.... i am really enjoying it, i bf my first son (now 4) until he was 9 months when he weaned himself to a cup, am hoping my boys will carry on. Am thinking of getting an EZ 2 feed cushion though as it is getting harder now they are bigger and i do like to feed them together as they sort of make blissful noises to each other! [smile}

fizzy... come and join us on the d'y ever threads... something to do with shag pile in the title at the moment. That's where we mostly hang out.

I have suddenly and unexpectedly founf myself in the situation where I am providing post natal Doula support to a mum of 8wk twin boys who is BF.

I am looking for all tips, info and experiences which could help me to support her.

She is currently finding that the boys don;t fit so well in the rugby hold and also dues to family visits their routine is shot to hell and they are a bit ovestimulated.

Their latch is not as good as it's been and after some colds and virus's they are a bit sluggish when it comes to eating, they tend to just fall asleep on the breast. Then they are hungry again too soon, but too weary to feed and my lady is worn out.

She has me one day a week, another lady on some other days and thankfully her dh works 3 days, so is home more than most working dhs.

My dp informs me [rolls eyes ] that she will need to supplement their feed, cos of course he knows all about this, as he is a Scorpio and knows everything . I just ignored him!

Thankfully I am currently taking part in the training to be a BF Peer Support at my local hospital and the Infant Feeding Advisor is in contact with this woman too, as well as taking my course, so will chat with her some more. She fortunately also has a close relative with twins whom she supported.

I'd just be grateful for all your 'BF twins' support to take to my lady. I have already arranged to talk to Mars on the phone

'founf' ? Found

Tell her to hang in there, as soon as she thinks it canßt get any worse it will suddenly start to get better.

Can she not keep the family away for a while until things settle down and the babies are fit again?