Breastfeeding twins? Plus, all at once? Is it possible? Or this is my own experience of breastfeeding twins
I would like to emphasize that this story is our story, I don’t want to take a position on which method is better than the other (and I won’t even go into when to force breastfeeding and when not to), I just describe what worked for us. I do all this in the belief that I can help new moms of twins.
I have read in many places that you have to pay attention to the needs of babies, which ones are hungry when, adapt breastfeeding to them, etc. That’s all well and good, but in the middle of the struggle to survive (I’m talking about the MOM’s life), it’s not so realistic. Or at least, it did not seem feasible to me.
I know that the ‘sometimes one and sometimes the other’ method is feasible, I know mom superheros who somehow solved this and survived, however it didn’t work for me.
In my little gift package there were 2 premature mini elves with 2-2 kilos, after a month and a half of premature birth, where they warned against tandem breastfeeding, saying that it exhausts me very much. As I was trying breastfeeding one after the other at home, plus supplemental formula, I suddenly noticed that I wasn’t doing anything else all day, just trying to feed the boys, while someone was crying all the time. Sometimes one child, sometimes another, sometimes me. Even at night. I felt that I would not be able to endure this for long, but I did not want to give up breastfeeding as much as I had.
What worked for us was that they ate at the same time. They learned this in the hospital, but they didn’t want to deviate from it at home. So I didn’t even force anything else. And after eating, sleeping together, they too, me too. It could be military or outdated or whatever, but I felt that on the one hand it was good for them, and on the other hand I needed to know what to expect during the day, what the process was. I still don’t know how we all survived the first 6 months (because I don’t really have any memories of that period… Well, that’s an exaggeration, but almost). Of course, the individual social problem is that Covid and quarantine just came in, plus my husband worked a lot, even though he was at home. But perhaps the situation is familiar to many. If not because of quarantine, then because of other factors. So, with zero help, I needed a system during the day so that I could cook, walk with the babies and get some sleep besides breastfeeding. Not to mention what I usually didn’t have time for anyway, e.g. household or maybe a bath or washing my hair. :/
Initially, I also tried the smooth maternity pillow, wrapping it around magma in a sitting position, but I could neither hold the crying babies on the soft material nor lift them close enough to me (which led to neck and back pain, plus a super little tendonitis). However, what was a great help for me was the hard-type, U-shaped twin nursing pillow (which I managed to find with great difficulty after 3 months of suffering).
In addition to the large nursing pillow, there were always two simpler, softer pillows or semicircular ones…. where I laid the boys before I started to feed them. After measuring them (they needed formula too after breastfeeding), I lifted them one by one from the smaller pillows to the large breastfeeding pillows, and then the fun began. This took about half an hour (they suckle slowly, with a little milk), then came the burping – sometimes I put one on my shoulder and sometimes the other (when they were bigger, from about the 4th month, I turned them on the pillow on their stomachs). After all this, measurement and formula supplementation came again. Because we even got that out. But that’s another story.
Based on my own experience, I can advise that the difficulties during breastfeeding should be reduced as much as possible, so that there is time and energy to connect with the babies, there should also be calmness, attention, intimacy, not just stress and impatience.
That’s why I consider it my mission to distribute the twin nursing pillow: In our offer you will find the U-shaped, harder pillow and the butterfly-shaped, tie-together version too. Check out our offers: twinsquake.com – the tangible help for families with twins!