Anyone breastfed twins or triplets? Just out of interest...

[curiositykilledhaskittens]

I'm feeding mine. They are now 4 1/4 weeks old. It would be very helpful to me if people didn't mind sharing their various experiences of feeding multiples.

Mine at the moment are feeding every 1-4 hours in the day and 1-5 hours at night, I am feeding them separately at the moment because I had a lower supply in one side so am feeding more often from it and it is getting fuller.

I'd like to know if people exclusively breastfed or not, if you supplemented - when did you start, when did your babies wean, how long did you breastfeed for, when did your babies start sleeping through and when did the feeds become more spaced out, did your babies gain weight slowly in the beginning and, if so, was this an issue for your HV?

I'm sure I'll think of more questions.

I have fed 2 children before but this is very different. I'd like to have some idea of what is in store and whether things I am experiencing are normal!

Thanx.

I only lasted a week with mine but that was because one of them literally turned his nose up and would not feed from me and the other would not let go!!

When I expressed (felt like Daisy the cow), for some reason I could only get tiny amounts out so had to give up and put them on bottles.

So can't swop any experiences with you but wanted to say Very Well Done for getting as far as you have .

I exclusively breastfed twins for 10 months and have just started using some formula to free me up more. Both are light-ish but very healthy, so it worked for me. Still don't sleep through though....

Thanx guys.

BigMomma3 - I have felt desperate twice so far but it'd be awful to have the decision taken away. Yours got all the important colostrum though

minimisa - Do yours still feed in the night?

Also, another couple of questions! Lol

Did anyone manage to feed them fully and express some for the freezer as well? ATM I'm thinking you'd have to add an extra couple of hours to the day!

Also, Growth spurts - Mine don't have them at the same times so they are hard. Mine have had one at 2/3 weeks and one has just started one now - any tips?

sorry minimisa - that should have been When do yours still feed in the night?! Lol

im still breastfeeding mine. i do try and supplement them with 1 bottle of formula that i started around 3-4 weeks old. however only 1 of them takes a formula bottle, so poor girl gets 2 now, whilst her brother is exclusivley breast fed and ebf. I use the time twin 2 is having a formula bottle to express for 1 bottle for twin1, which is often hit or miss depending on how long he fed for previously. I never seem to have enough time to express for freezer as when its made he gets it the same day and expressing more than once a day seems like a dairy farm for me!! mine seem to be going for same amount of time between feedsas yours do, but one does go longer than the other (supprisingly this is the exclusivly BF one!!) I had thought that giving some formula would help them sleep longer at night and it doesnot seem to work
Their weight gain is prettygood, probably about an oz a day, they are 9weeks thu and were 9.2 and 9.10 last tues
You seem to be doing better at it than me curiosity!! You seem so much more organised, so u should give yourself a nice glass of wine pat on the back

Hi curiosity, I'm still breast feeding mine they are 5 half months.

They have one bottle of ebm or formula before bed started that about week 7 I think.

I haven't started to wean yet. The boys feed about every 3 hours in the day and 4 hours at night.

The first few weeks they gained weight slowly, but when I last checked they had gone from the 2nd and 9th lines to 50th and 75th!

I found it got so much easier after about week 7. The boys both feed together and are usually done in 5 mins.

I must admit the night waking is getting me down, didn't have this with other dc's. I'm hoping when they are on solids they may go longer at night.

Well done for getting through the first 4 and half weeks, you sound like your doing really well, my 2 feed about every hour at that age lol.

Expressing I didn't attempt this till week 8ish, and again mush easier now usually do mine in the eve I got 2 medina pumps of ebay and get about 6 oz a sitting.

Growth spurts only advice is eat and drink loads I think it really helps, cake works best, I find

You sound as if you are doing really well.

Expressing more and freezing it sounds a bit hard on yourself tbh. It's hard enough producing enough as it is. I found the night feeds easiest when they were in bed with us.

They were prem & quite small, so right at the lowest centile. But in proportion, so don't worry so long as they seem healthy & happy.

I ended up feeding them for just short of a year, but the greedy one was supplemeted from 3 months.

TBH the first year is hard. I always felt as if I was treading water, trying to keep up with them. Live one day half hour at a time, and have an untidy house!

18 months. DT1 didn't feed as much as DT2 but that seems to be their life pattern. They're 5.10yrs now.

Do you swap them over or keep one breast for each? I found swapping breasts good esp for keeping the supply good in both. As to the growth spurts, I just went with the babies and when I fed one I fed the other.

As to expressing... wasn't really enough time in the day, but I was happy feeding them and only expressed when I needed to.

Hi
I'm still feeding mine & they are nearly 15 mths. I exclusively breastfed, but did find it really hard in the beginning & I'd fed another child too. Weight gain was slowish - with one being slower than her sister & yes had m/w & h/v issues with it - I had brilliant help from a breastfeeding counsellor & armed myself with as much info as possible. Didnt express much really apart form when they were ill & not feeding. They need to feed 8 - 12 times in 24 hr period if that helps?
well done for getting this far - it really does get easier

Bfdfed mine for two years, with lots of formula thrown in..gave up bottles when they were six months.I think twin two still had 3 oz of formula at 7pm bedtime till he was 7 months.
One slept through briefly from four months, then again from 10 months till seven years , the other went on night feeding (once) till about two years.
Bfng at night was very convenient, as was early morning feed.
What was a bit exhausting in early days was the different pattern - so twin 1 would wake at 4am and then sleep till 8am, whereas twin two would sleep through till 6am, so you never got the benefit of the one sleeping through or the late riser..
I had fed a singleton (non-exclusively)till 10 months.

I never expressed, and they were weaned at about 18-19 weeks (not present guidelines)but as per HV advice in those days.
I kept them each on same breast once I stopped supplementing with formula, but before that, swopped them round all over the place. They went on having not very similar feeding patterns, my little boy (the nightwaker) always wanted to feed much more than his sister, and at beginning she wanted to feed much more than him! She was very small 5Ibs..

lucya - you are doing brilliantly don't fall into the trap of beating yourself over one bottle of formula! I daren't have a drink though I was so tired yesterday I thought i might die If I had a beer I might never wake up!

lottie - You are probably thinking it is harder than it will be. It is easier than I thought it would be but it is still hard. Don't worry too much, just see how you go. It's very tiring but I'm hoping it will eventually be easier! I reckon with breastfeeding you put in loads of hard work (and possibly pain) at the start but after a few weeks it buys you so much freedom compared to bottlefeeding. Think I'm keeping going purely because I'm telling myself I am not going to give any formula (worried I'll end up going completely over to ff). I'm completely unconfident with formula too because I've never used it.

mars - yes, think the supply was low on one side because I was sticking to separate sides - hard not too because the little DT struggled to feed from the inverted side and tore it to pieces in the process. Think I have sorted it now and they are swapping around. Think you are psychic!

HV has been again this morning and they are both gaining nicely so I think the supply issue must be sorted

LargeGlassOfRed - yes, I am thinking they will start sleeping better when they are having solids like my other too did so was hoping they wouldn't be babies that don't want to wean until 8 months! lol I have been eating 200g at least and then some of dairy milk chocolate every day!

ilovepiccolina - yes, think it is. When I was pumping to get the supply up last week I got 12oz over three days for the freezer but I think I'll not try again for a while! I didn't give dd any expressed in a bottle until she was 3 months and found it hard to get any out and then she wouldn't have a bottle!

swanriver - yes their different night feeding patterns are difficult! I've been feeding them together at midnight to try and encourage them to wake together. They'll both sleep 5 hours now but haven't yet done it together as DT2 only started it 2 nights ago an `DT1 hs been having a growth spurt and one of the days fed hourly around the clock! Lol

Not pyschic my lovely It's what I do!

Glad they've gained and the supply is sorted. You only have to holler if you need to.

Curiosity, well done. Feeding twins is hard work and you have done so well. Keep it up because it does get easier.

I am still feeding mine at 7 months. We started baby led weaning at 6 months and right now they seem to feed almost as frequently as when they were tiny, but for much (much!) shorter periods. Apart from a few bottles in the hospital (DT1 had a tongue tie and didn't feed well until it was sorted out) they've been ebf. I have expressed but only so that I could leave them (we had to go to a funeral when they were only 4 weeks so didn't have much choice) and they haven't had any bottles since about 12 weeks so now I'm hanging in there and going to try to go straight to cups. They have always gained weight well; DT1 is 75th centile, DT2 25th.

They did get to sleeping through (for us that meant 7pm until a feed at about 3am and then sleep again until 6.30am - dream feeding never worked for us they go longer if I leave them from bedtime). Unfortunately we're still stuck there and due to recent colds some nights still feeding every 3 hours which is starting to become quite tiring.

I swapped them every feed for the first few months to keep up supply and then they had their own side as they were both happier on one side. Just recently we've started swapping again as it seems to overcome some of the distraction that causes them to stop/start at this age.

I've always fed them separately - tried to tandem a few time in the early days when they were both hungry at the same time and just found it more stressful. Once they could feed faster (12 weeks) it only meant a short wait anyway. They are now on a different feeding schedule because DT2 doesn't seem interested in feeding until she's been up a while while DT1 likes to feed quite soon after waking so it's hard to get them in sync.

I honestly think that with two bf has been easier than ff. I've alwasy been able to just leave the house without worrying about bottles and feeds and night feeds might be more frequent than with one but they are much quicker than making/warming a bottle. (if you are not already think about feeding in bed and getting someone to bring the babies to you when you can).

Keep coming for support and just take it a day at a time

Well done 1stMrs. It's a pain when they get ill and it all seems to go backwards, but you know it'll pass. Well done!

I exclusively breastfed mine once they were about 3-4 wks old, they were given loads of formula in hospital and being a first time Mum, didn't know the harm it would do my milk supply!

I was quite rigid with feeding them together. I would go by whoever woke up first and wake the other baby. Then feed together. Then if either of them wasn't satisfied, they would go back on whichever breast they had started on. After about 6 wks they did tend to have their own bresat. they work independantly so it just menat that each breast was sort of tailor made for each baby!

Never had any growth issues, but I think that was more to do with them pumping them full of formula whilst i was in hospital! They have always been very lean and very fit. They aren't tall but nor am I!!

They did growth spurt separately but mainly still fed them togehter even in this period! The non-growth spurter just didn't have as long a feed, or didn't have seconds.

I weaned quite early, 4 mths, but wished I'd kept just breastfeeding for a bit longer cos it was actually more stressful!! And it definitely didn't make them sleep through like i thought it would!

Mine slept through with an 11pm (ish) dreamfeed from about 6-7 mths, and I never fed them again during the night after that. I dropped the dreamfeed at about 9 mths and they would go 12ish hours.

BF 2 is defintely easier than formula feeding, once you get going! Even breastfeeding 3. I have a friend who exclusively brastfed triplweets (useful person to know when you're feeling sorry for yourself, very inspirational!) and she says she never would have coped if she'd formula fed!!

I fed mine for 13 mths, one then stopped but got upset when his brother had it, so didn't last much longer. they were only having one feed a day by then. Again, wished I'd kept going longer cos I reckon the self-weaner might have started again!

You're doing great. Well done

Gosh, yes, breastfeeding at night is much easier! I did a few formula feeds at night right at the beginning, and then suddenly thought, 2x screaming bbaies + having to wait for feed to be made up and cooled in cold kitchen = very bad idea. 2x screaming babies put straight on the breast + Mummy dozing sitting up being propped by EZ-2-Nurse cushion in lovely warm bed = much better for everybody!

I have never understood why people give bottles for night feeds! I suppose if you have a hubby who doesn't mind helping (a rare breed!, mine would 'hurrumph' and turn over and go back to sleep) it might make sense, but otherwise!!

Mine would help but would do it wrong and wake me up so I'd take over!

mine have been ebf since they came out of NICU at 3 days (in there they had ebm and formula top ups by tube.

I have 12 expressed feeds in the freezer for 'emergencies'. Mostly they feed together at home and at night, seperately when we go out or stay with friends.

I feed them on demand and mostly, if one demands, they both get fed (dt2 on his own line below 0.4th centile so trying to feed him up - it's usually dt1 who demands - 0.4th centile at birth, now on 25th!) They currently feed 2 hourly during the day, long feed before bed at 7ish and they generally go till 12-1am ish. (they've slept right through till 4am a couple of times too) Short feed at midnight and then 4am, 6am, 8am etc.

Well done zippy! You've come a long way!

Thanks Mars!

Sounds fab Zippy, well done!!