Breastfeeding Q

[NinjaPanda34]

We got the twins home today and have just been trying settling back to life. I've been having trouble breast-feeding, really sore latch from one of the twins, so much that it made my nipple bleed and the other twin wasn't latching at all. We've just been using formula today (we'd always planned a combination feed anyway) and the babies have both fed well and are settled. My milk came in today and my boobs are quite tight feeling and sore. Is this normal, should I express to relieve the pressure? If I wait to see the community midwife tomorrow will I still be able to breastfeed? Sorry for the 20 questions, I'm just very new to all this and I'm finding it a bit overwhelming!

Try posting in the infant feeding topic under feed the world section rather than pregnancy.

I'm no expert but I'd say if you want to bf you'd be best expressing a little tonight and in the small hours then seeking some bf support asap tomorrow. Alternatively LLL, BFN and others offer telephone support 24\7.
Congratulations on your twins and best of luck!

Tight feeling and a little tender totally normal btw. Hot, itchy or red are not normal.

The cracked nipple sounds like a latch problem. The sore boobs unfortunately are normal. Definitely speak to a midwife tomorrow and get checked out. I know 3 sets of bf twins and 1 ff from what I saw the bf was a whole lot easier with twins so long as someone does everything else in the early days and you rest, rest, rest. A huge double congrats.

Congratulations please hand express the milk until tomorrow as much as possible. Not just for comfort but also because your body will react to you using formula and your milk supply will be affected accordingly. Good luck

Do repost in the infant feeding topic. Lots of very clever people there

In the meantime, feeding helps build your supply. Pumping can be an adequate substitute for some women but doesn't work for all.

If the soreness if putting you off feeding, can you try a different hold? Something like a rugby hold or biological nursing hold might mean the pressure is on a different part of your nipple.

Nipple shields can help both you and baby, and lansinoh, breastmilk and fresh air aid healing.

Congratulations on your twins. Do get some face to face help tomorrow.

Definitely make sure you express as much as you can and frequently too - it is vital in the early days to build your supply.

A baby feeding is obviously the easiest way to do this (!) so I would strongly recommend you search out some face to face help ASAP to look at the latch. I fed DS for 9 months but still needed help to latch DD properly. In my experience, the key was to make sure the latch was really deep - so squash boob about an inch behind the nipple to push the nipple out and then wait for her to open wide then really shove the nipple deep into her mouth. I'd forgotten how much help they need early on to get a good mouthful of nipple.

Congratulations and huge admiration for even contemplating BF twins!

Hand expression is not that difficult and it is much better for the early days engorgment than pumps in my experience.

Oh I feel you! I wasn't feeding twins though. Lansinoh nipple cream is a godsend! About £12. I'm fair skinned and my nipples blistered and bled it was hell. I topped up with formula to. Keep massaging breasts, reduce risk of mastitis and a warm face cloth on them helps. Also don't be to hard on yourself. I used to cry myself to sleep and wanted to give up sooo much. I asked for help though and I'm still going with dd2 16 months snd 34 weeks pregnant :)

Are you a TAMBA member? They have a breast feeding support line who sound just the people to call. Good luck x

The thing that unlocked early feeding for me was my breast pump, it helped me feel less engorged and made latching on easier... plus I could pump and feed expressed breastmilk instead of formula which helped my nipple heal. So a massive vote for an electric breastpump here: expensive but you can hire them and they saved my breasts!!

Kellymom is a great resource for understanding ins and outs of bfing.

Hello - eek! It does really hurt when your milk comes in and when you first start to breastfeed. I'm sorry to say but it's completely normal. My boobs were like rocks and felt like they were going to explode, and leaked everywhere. Try and do a bit of hand/pumping but don't worry too much, the pain is a sign there is loads of milk and the twins will regulate their own supply when you are established. It is so hard at the start x