Breastfeeding premature twins

[lilycaitlin]

My boys were born at 34weeks+6 and were on the NICU for a few days - I didnt see them for 12 hours and had no initial skin to skin with them. I really wanted to solely breastfeed them but as they were struggling to latch we had to opt to use formula to get them off the NICU and be on the ward with me. I felt like I was almost forced to use formula in order to get them to a point where they could come home with me. They are two weeks old now and are still very small and both struggle to latch, although one seems to be better at it than the other. I just wondered if anyone else has experience in breastfeeding premature babies - I keep being told to keep trying and that as they get bigger they will learn to latch properly but its soul destroying when I keep trying and have to watch them struggle and then revert to the bottle. I really want to get to a point where I can just breast feed them!

Not twins but I had a premie. We too had to use formula to get him out of NICU. We also had a tongue tie and lip tie, it’s common in premies.

Have you seen your midwife? There should be a tongue tie specialist midwife you can ask to see if you think that might be an issue. There’s also local breastfeeding groups (area depending) and a national helpline.

I found the big thing was making sure I asked for help and kept asking. Now at six months breastfeeding is going so well for us, but the first 2-3 months were really really hard.

And congratulations on your babies.

Not twins or preemies, but my DD struggled to latch on for the first few weeks of her life. In her case, her mouth just needed to get bigger and it was just a matter of persevering. I pumped to keep my supply going and one day she just latched on and that was that. She was about six weeks, but it took until about 12 weeks till I was confident that she was feeding enough from the breast to stop top-ups.

Basically, it will get easier and you're doing great! Definitely look at what support there is locally for breastfeeding and ask your HV.

@lilycaitlin firstly congratulations !

Not twins, but my DD was born at 33 + 6.

She struggled with latching and we found that nipple shields really helped her until she was big enough to try without.

I would really recommend seeking as much support as you can. Midwife, local breastfeeding support groups etc (some lactation consultants will do home visits).

We combo fed until my DD was 5 and a bit months

Not twins but she was born between 34 and 35 weeks depending on which scan I go with. She had a poor suck reflex, so she could latch but then not suck, or suck without latching but not combine the two actions. Her suck reflex was present right at the back of her mouth and she would suck on a finger that was at the back of her mouth. She was tube fed to get her sugars up. About 3 days in we tried with a nipple shield to see if that would get far enough back in her mouth. Instant success. She could latch and suck on that. I weaned her off the nipple shield about 12 weeks after birth.

Not twins here either but my ds was 30 weeker. Breastfeeding took aaaaagges to establish and was really really hard for first few months, we supplemented and I was lucky that eventually took off and was easy (fed til 22months). I can imagine twins is v difficult because prem feeds are so minuscule and frequent! Please be patient with yourself, there are many difficult factors in play and be kind to yourself! Congratulations on your lovely babies xx

Mum of twin boys born at 34w5d. They didn't latch on properly until they were about a month old. They developed colic and reflux at 2 weeks. I tried pumping but my milk supply was just too low. I gave up around 6 weeks post birth. It still upsets me. But hey at least we get 6 hours of sleep during the night now they are 3 mo.

Congratulations on your twins and good luck

I had mine at 29+4. They were tube-fed initially but at about 33 weeks, when they hit about 4 pounds, I first tried breastfeeding. Two latched immediately and were then merry breastfeeders for the following two years, with bottles supplementing from early on. The third had huge difficulties. He was a very tense baby and wouldn't open his mouth wide enough to get a proper latch. I found a local breastfeeding counsellor who offered lots of advice & practical suggestions, but I pretty much gave up on doing more than one feed a day by the time he was out of hospital (at 35wks) because he became so distressed, arms flailing and wailing in frustration, whereas he found bottles much easier. I tried nipple shields, swaddling, skin-to-skin, o-bathing and tickling/stroking the roof of his mouth, none of which helped much. I felt as though I'd failed him for not succeeding despite the strategies I'd been shown, but it was just too much, with the other babies still in NICU and even later.

I'd suggest following the advice given by other posters and see whether it helps. I did found breastfeeding much easier than bottle-feeding, but can't say I noticed any difference in terms of the general health of the baby/ies, either as infants or as older children, so try not to pin too much on this one aspect of parenting. Some premature babies find breastfeeding really tiring, especially if they're small. Even my happy breastfeeding pair only fed for very short periods at a time - maybe 10/15 mins every couple of hours.

Agree with getting checked for tongue tie - by a lactation consultant if you can afford, or a good adviser at a breastfeeding clinic if not.

My DD was born 34+0 and couldn’t latch well, always put it down to her being prem (having been told no tongue tie by a NICU nurse...) but she did have a tt.

Are they very sleepy still? If so there are various tricks to wake them more for feeds but you probably know those already!

Thanks for all responses and sorry so long to say so. After 9 weeks I was able to tandem feed and still going after 23 weeks! So glad I stuck with it :)

Great job @lilycaitlin

Amazing job, well done. Have some you probably need it.