If you managed to exclusively breastfeed twins (or more)

[PeasPlease]

Please can you help me out? This is long and dull sorry.

Boy/Girl DTs are 5 weeks - born full term.

I am utterly exhausted!

They feed for about an hour at 7, then the same at 10. In between that DD2 fights her nap so I can't relax as I am up and down to her letting her feed a bit as she often screams and chews her hand. Same goes for lunchtime nap when I also try to express milk for the evening. The feed at about 1pm would go on all afternoon if they had their way, but I take them out for half an hour in the pushchair to give me a break. They then feed and briefly nap on and off until 6 when they have a bath then get a feed plus the expressed milk. Without the extra expressed milk they would cluster feed all night. They wake at 11 and feed for an hour, then 3 and then they just don't settle and often end up in bed with us which stops me sleeping as I worry that DH might squish one of them. I get about 3 hours sleep as DD1 gets up between 6 and 7.

I suspect that one problem that has developed is delayed letdown and this has been made worse by using bottles as DTs fuss at the breast when the milk is not flowing fast which makes me tense which makes it worse and makes the feeds go on forever.

DD1 was also a poor sleeper and we co slept for weeks but feeding was OK and we didn't stop until 16 months so I expected to be able to manage the same.

Please tell me how you managed to breastfeed exclusively - especially if you had noone to help you in the day and you had other children.

There is a carton of formula in the cupboard which i desperately don't want to use but I feel like I am trying to do the impossible and am not sure how much longer I will cope for.

I just need some rest but I don't know how to get it.

Can anyone help a frazzled mum of gorgeous precious but hard work twins?

Just keep going and it will happen. It gets so much easier at about 6 wks once the growth spurt is over and done with and they start to get much more efficient. At 6 weeks babies take the most milk taht they ever do, so it's downhill once you get there! By 3 mths, the fussy evenings will be a thing of the past! And they may only take 10 mins a feed by this time, mine did!

It is soooo hard at the beginning, but well worth it if you can do it! Keep up the good work and give yourself an ENORMOUS pat on the back every time you breastfeed. Don't even think past that, only that it gets much easier as they get bigger!

Peas - hope things are going well. MUST go to bed so v quick I'm afraid but wanted to say something supportive as I also was really determined to ebf - and I did it, so if you want to you can. However it is pretty awful for a while. I'm still bf my 12mo DTDs now and ebf for 6 months with 2 exceptions: DT1 had formula top ups in the hospital for a few days as she had a toungue tie, she dropped the top ups once it was fixed but I went back to them for a few days during her 6 week growth spurt as I couldn't keep up with the evening cluster feeding and it just helped me a bit. Again, once the growth spurt was over we just fed a bit more frequently for a few days and then dropped them. At about 7 weeks and then again at 12 and 16 it got noticabley easier and between 4 and 6 months I loved that I bf because I could go out without thinking about or carrying formula feeds and they fed for about 10 mins each. Hang in there! You have already done sooo well, but if you want to keep going, it will be worth it.

Well, today I have the time and energy to post an update on mumsnet, so things must be getting better

Thanks again for all the supportive messages. I am pleased to say that we are still breastfeeding and despite me still not enjoying feeding two babies I feel much more positive than before.

Firstly, I am managing to express enough to provide a decent night-time top up first thing in the morning so I don't need to bother for the rest of the day and am managing to at least lie down and relax if not sleep.

The biggest encouragement I have had though is that last saturday the twins were looked after by a sitter while me and DH went out. They had 4 formula feeds (I would have expressed enough milk to freeze but one twin wont touch thawed EBM). They didn't poo for 24 hours and suffered with painful straining. When they did, it was foul smelling green sludge I can't imagine what it did to their poor little system and I am so glad that everything went back to normal soon after. I definitely don't want to put them through that again!

So for now we will bumble along as best we can, and DD1 is going to granny's house for half term so that is one less person to look after (hurray!).

It does get easier, honest!

My non-identical boys are 17 months now, and are still partly breastfed (one feed in morning, and one of them in the evening). It was really bloody hard for the first 6 months, but got easier after that. I did spend an awful lot of time sitting on the sofa with the two of them dozing on the feeding pillow for those first 6 months, although we moved to a routine where they had their long nap (2-3 hours) around midday in the pushchair so that I could get out (or someone else could take them out).

We split them up at bedtime to make it easier - after bath, my husband gave one a bottle (expressed milk where possible, formula where not) and I fed the other. It took the pressure off a bit. Eventually they slept through the night (all much easier when not night feeding) and after 12 months we switched to cups of cow's milk during the day.

I can't imagine having to do that with another child around though, but I know it is possible to get through the tiredness, produce enough milk, and keep it going for as long as you choose to. What keeps me going is that once I stop, that's forever. I'll be stopping soon, but I'm glad I've made it this far. That said, I know a ton of healthy, happy babies who haven't been breastfeed for half as long as mine.

Oh, and I agree with others here...get help where you can. Is there someone who can take them out for an hour or so in the pram so you can sleep? They'll survive and you can rest.

And well done!