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Post by jessijo on Oct 12, 2011 13:59:44 GMT -6
My cousin is pregnant with twins and due in March. This is her first pregnancy. She really wants to breastfeed and I was hoping to find some ladies on here with some advice on breastfeeding multiples. I breastfed, but only one baby! Any recommendations on feeding, schedules, breast pumps, whatever. Thanks ladies!
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Post by nevaehsmom327 on Oct 13, 2011 12:10:17 GMT -6
Good luck to her! I don't have any tips because I too was only feeding one, but just wanted to say best of luck! I'm sure it's not easy.
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Post by mickeymk on Oct 15, 2011 21:49:30 GMT -6
I wasn't prepared for what to expect. I would have her check with the hospital she will be delivering at to find out what their protocol is for moms breastfeeding twins. Maybe if I had been prepared I could have been more demanding about what I wanted but I thought it was normal, not sure it was. Anyhow, they had me nurse each baby for 10 minutes and then pump for 10. After each baby was nursed I passed them off to my dh or a nurse if he was not there and they bottle fed them. I think because they learned it was easier to bottle feed right from the get go they never did really well with nursing> I managed to go 7 weeks before going completely to formula. I was exhausted from trying to figure out ways to get more BM for them. I never got to a point that I could nurse them at the same time. If I could do it over again I think I would see if I could just nurse them. I'm not sure if they really weren't getting anything or really how all that works but maybe she could do some research on what the norm is. Just a thought. Good luck to her. If you have any other questions feel free to PM as I may not see the posts as I don't usually get the time to go searching
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Post by mickeymk on Oct 15, 2011 21:52:58 GMT -6
Oh yeah, I would maybe hold off on buying a breast pump until she makes sure nursing is going to work. It is very wearing to breastfeed 2 especially if you are not a big producer. I had even rented the hospital pump for a month as it is supposed to be better at building supply.
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Post by sarastwins on Oct 23, 2011 22:57:51 GMT -6
I agree with Mickeymk. Hold off on buying a pump til you know what you are dealing with. I was able to nurse them both at the same time but I had really low supply. I tried pumping, meds, supplements everything but it was too much. I had also had a c-sect which doesn't help with the breast milk coming in. If they are early it could be a problem too. I also had to stop when I went back to work at 9 weeks I just couldn't pump enough and not nursing doesnt help. When you have twins you have to be really flexible and open to dealing with whatever happens and making the best of it.
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Post by bunsy on Oct 24, 2011 8:08:57 GMT -6
I nursed my twins at the same time--starting in the hospital. They were not offered bottles. I got pretty good at nursing them at the same time BUT for some reason I make skim milk that doesn't satisfied babies. It didn't satisfy my singleton either.
The football hold with lots of pillows worked the best. There are really good books about breastfeeding twins (well, there were 18 years ago).
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Post by betherin on Oct 24, 2011 11:37:14 GMT -6
My sister successfully breastfed her twins for 15 months. It is definitely possible.
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Post by sarastwins on Oct 24, 2011 21:55:12 GMT -6
The book -Expecting twins triplets and quads. I had that book and it had great tips for breastfeeding multiples. There is a special pillow I had that worked great for tandom nursing. Football hold one and cradle one or both football.
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