Twinsight #7: Breastfeeding twins advice

Gimmee your ear!

I had a hard time finding really useful info on breastfeeding twins, so here’s my perspective from the other side. The first year is behind me and now my worries are about how to wean the girls. Who would have thought!

+ NO PRESSURE – Because I found one of the keys to getting my milk flowing was to relax, I think it’s really good to go into the whole experience with a "we’ll see" attitude. A partner who is on alert to give you shoulder massages and refill water at every feeding in the very beginning is a plus.

+ DON’T LET A (SHORT) STAY IN NICU THROW THINGS OFF – I can’t speak to a prolonged stay, but one of my daughters was low birth weight and spent her first 3 days in NICU for monitoring while we were in the other hospital room. I had the NICU nurse call my room before she would give her a bottle. About every other feeding I was able to make the trek over to NICU to let my daughter suck on me for about 10 minutes before they gave her the bottle.

+ KEEP A FEEDING LOG FOR EACH BABY FROM THE BEGINNING – And that means output as well as input. Take a few minutes to make an Excel spreadsheet (or hand draw and photocopy) charts for each baby before their birth. Include time of feeding, amount, and type of feeding and then also include boxes where you can note the times of dirty or wet diapers. When breastfeeding you have no idea how much the babies are eating unless you’re going to weigh them constantly. A much easier way is to gauge appropriate nutrition by how many wet and dirty diapers they’re having. Our girls were released at 4 lbs. 1 oz and 5 lbs. 1 oz. (they had lost some of their birth weight) and we were required to check with our pediatrician the next day. When I went in and showed her their chart of dirty and wet diapers she said I was free to exclusively breastfeed based on their output.

+ LINE UP ANY FRIENDS WHO ARE MOMS (THOSE WHO WORK IN OB OR MATERNAL HEALTH FIELDS ARE A PLUS) – I had one OB friend who came to the hospital. While the nurses were very helpful, my friend was the one who had the time to really show me and walk me through the football hold for an entire feeding. Football hold was key with my tiny babies. After I went home, a new mom friend of mine had committed to coming over every day for the first week. She helped me get hooked up to the breast pump and sat there with me saying encouraging things. I think regularly using the breast pump in the beginning really helped my milk flow.

+ DRINK LIKE A MARATHONER – The pediatrician who checked us out of the hospital said he told breastfeeding moms of singletons to drink at least 1 liter of water a day. He told me to drink at least 3 liters. Sounds crazy, especially since your bladder isn’t always all that it should be right after birth, but I followed his advice and think it helped a lot.

+ DON’T PUT TOO MUCH STOCK IN NIPPLE CONFUSION – In my experience it wasn’t worth driving myself crazy trying to have my girls suck on fingers rather than pacifiers in the early days to avoid “nipple confusion.” I did my best on that front, but the pacifier was a lifesaver at times in the early weeks and no harm to breastfeeding in my experience. Ditto for bottles. I took advantage of that milk I was pumping in the beginning to get a little feeding relief. Of course if there appears to be a problem with nipple confusion definitely reverse course.

+ SPEAKING OF NIPPLES – They really can hurt. Breast feeding for me was not easy in the beginning at all. Even maybe the first few months of it. But it can become second nature and I really enjoyed the experience. If you think you might too then try to stick with it. So while breastfeeding those first few weeks, put a book of humorous essays in a cookbook stand so you can read something distracting. Turn the radio up. Ask for a shoulder massage. Just do whatever helps you not focus on the initial discomfort (if you have it).

Finally, here’s a list of tips from La Leche League. And this is the book "Mothering Multiples" that I read before the babies’ birth and found it very helpful.

Now tandem feeding is a whole other challenge. Another time...