My Experience With Breastfeeding Twins

There are many people out there who would not even consider breastfeeding twins.  And I am sure there are other moms out there who are very interested in knowing how it is to breastfeed twins.  I, for one, was very curious about it when I was pregnant.  That was one of my biggest questions as a twin mom.  How the heck does one nurse two babies???

Well, with a lot of perseverance and patience.  But, once you get the hang of it, it really isn't all that bad.  In fact, for my particular circumstances in our family, I find it easier to nurse the boys than to bottle feed them.  But that is just me.  I completely respect all women's decisions on this topic.  My belief is that if it works easier for you, then by all means, do it--especially when you have multiples. 

The first thing you need to know about breastfeeding twins is that there are a ton of websites out there that can help you with nursing and/or nursing twins.  I rely/relied on them heavily...especially in the beginning.  At the bottom of the Tips/Advice For Nursing Twins page, you will find the links to some of them in case you need more technical or specific help.  You also should know that I had a fabulous lactation consultant when I was in the hospital.  I still have contact with her every now and then.  When you deliver your twins, seek out the hospital's support staff.  If they have a lactation consultant, she can be invaluable.

But it wasn't all a rosy picture.  I will give you a little bit of my history on this topic.  Then, you can also view the Tips/Advice For Nursing Twins page.  However, you will probably need to seek out additional resources, as well, depending on your situation. 

One more thing you need to know about nursing twins is that it can be an emotional journey and it can be made more difficult by people around you who are not supportive of your decision...yes, some of those people have absolutely no business telling you their opinions...but they will and you should be prepared for it.  In fact, some of those people who are not supportive, or not supportive at first, may be people you are very surprised about.  For example, I initially had a difficult time with my very own Prince Charming, who gave me a hard time for the first month or so...but particularly in the first 2 weeks.  Thank God that ended!  And I also had some of the nurses and one of the other lactation consultants in the hospital give me a hard time...despite the fact that the hospital claims they are "breastfeeding hospital".  But, more on that later...

So perseverance and patience are the "words of the day".  If you keep trying and don't give up, you, too can breastfeed your twins successfully for as long as you wish to. 

My Experiences With Breastfeeding

Nursing My Singleton

My first experience with breastfeeding was with my daughter. The first couple of weeks of breastfeeding her were quite painful and I remember thinking that I didn't know how I would be able to continue doing it.  I had rips and tears and it was so painful.  I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong, despite my visits with a lactation consultant and the pediatrician.  I had researched online and in books, but nothing was making it any better.  I was about 5 weeks into the whole experience, when I was ready to throw in the towel.  Now, I am not a quitter.  In fact, most people know me for being a real go-getter and extremely persistent.  But I was in so much pain!  It was so excruciating when Little Miss would latch on that I would tremble and cry.  It was incredibly disappointing to me that I was failing at something that was supposed to be so natural. 

I spoke with a friend at the time about my situation.  She had been very successful with nursing her daughter and she told me that I should just "hang in there" for one more week.  She told me that by 6 weeks out, everything should be fine.  I decided that I would stick with it for one more week.  Luckily, it worked out for me.  My daughter and I were able to figure out the "latching-on dance" and eventually my rips and tears healed.  I ended up nursing her for her whole first year, pumping at work when I returned.  I used the Medela Pump In Style double pump.

Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump with On the Go Tote

Tandem Twin Nursing

When I first found out that we were pregnant, I knew that I wanted to breastfeed our new addition.  So when we were told that we were having twins, one of my first thoughts was, "How in the heck do I nurse twins???"  I sought out websites for information, and there were some that were helpful.  Many twin websites recommended getting the babies on the same schedule, which would mean tandem nursing.  This was a start, but I still desired more, first-hand accounts of nursing twins.  I joined my local moms of multiples club and went to my first meeting, with this topic foremost in my list of questions I had for the experienced moms.  Unfortunately for me, many of the moms in the club did not nurse their twins.  And the one person they all knew who had, was not there at that meeting.

I was unsatisfied with the knowledge I had gained up until this point, but we were then in the middle of moving to our new home and I had to put my quest on hold.  Later on, when complications slowed me down, I would jump online and try to find more resources, but by the time the boys arrived a month early, I really only had a basic idea of how it was all going to work.

One thing that I did do, before our little bundles of joy came into the world, was research and then purchase a new nursing pillow.  I had used a Boppy pillow with my daughter, but I knew this would not be large enough for the twins.  The pillow that came most highly recommended was the "My Brest Friend Twin Nursing Pillow Deluxe." 



My Brest Friend Twins Plus Deluxe Nursing Pillow, Green, 0-12 Months

Boy, am I sure glad I ordered this!  When I went to the hospital to have the twins, I brought the pillow with me and it truly was invaluable!  It came with a small pamphlet that briefly discussed nursing twins and I did find myself referring to that pamphlet a few times. 

All of the reading materials you can find about nursing discuss how the best thing to do is to put the baby to the breast as soon as possible after birth.  Unfortunately for me, this was not possible--due to my emergency circumstances.  It wasn't until about 5 hours after they were born that I even got to meet and hold my babies.  This was a surprising turn of events for me.  In fact, the whole emergency delivery was surprising and unexpected.  It just goes to show you that, no matter who you are, or how well you take care of yourself during your pregnancy, nature will take over and you ultimately have no control over some of the things that can happen.

In any case, I immediately tried tandem nursing when I finally got to meet my boys, and all seemed to go fine.  There were nurses there helping me to latch both babies on at the same time and this was helpful (but awkward, of course).  I used the nursing pillow that night and the next day, without many issues.  It seemed somewhat easy to me.  The boys were latching on, for the most part.  The trickiest aspect of the whole experience had been getting the babies and latching them on when there wasn't anyone in the room to hand them to me...especially given my physical state of being.  I had serious pain from my C-Section and was pretty-well drugged a) for the pain, and b) for the preeclampsia that I had had. 

The following day was really when I experienced any issues.  My milk had not yet come in.  In fact, it did not come in for about 5 days!  To this day, this was the hardest part of my whole experience with nursing the twins.  Since my milk hadn't come in, the boys were getting the colostrum, but barely any.  And, as preemies, they had a whole host of concerns, when compared with my daughter. 

One thing that became an immediate concern was that the boys were losing weight...but too much weight, especially because they were premature.  The pediatrician at the hospital was concerned about this and had told me that I may need to supplement with formula.  To me, in the sleep-deprived, drug-induced state I was in, this was devastating.  And it only got worse from there.  While the pediatrician suggested that I might need to supplement, the nurse who was on duty decided this meant I had to supplement...and immediately.  She convinced me to let her do it that night in the nursery, without a clear plan put in place by the pediatrician and/or me.  I had been so frightened by what she was telling me, and considering my mental and emotional state at the time, I wasn't thinking clearly and went ahead with her plan.  Well, that was a big mistake.  In hindsight, I should have discussed with her more specifically about what she intended to do with my babies, because when she brought them back to me 2 hours later, they weren't hungry.  At.All.  They wouldn't even try to eat.  It turns out that she had given them an entire bottle of formula, not just a little bit to help them gain a little along the way.  And then the trouble really began. 

From that moment on, my little Miracle Man, who had learned so quickly that the bottle was easier, decided that he wouldn't even try to nurse from me.  I was beside myself.  I couldn't get this little preemie to eat, he was crying, the nurses were worried that he was expending too much energy on crying and therefore was using up the few calories he was getting from me.  Chub-Chub also lost a lot of weight in the first five days, but Miracle Man concerned me and everyone else the most since he was refusing the breast. 

The next thing I knew, I was being told that he could just be given more formula (and basically be formula-fed from then on).  I refused and insisted that I wanted to nurse the boys.  In the meantime, I was now discouraged from tandem feeding and set up on this schedule where I was putting each boy to the breast, feeding them if they would eat anything, then doing the same with the other boy, and lastly, pumping.  And this was all in a 2 hour cycle, so by the time I stopped pumping, I would have about 30 minutes to quickly try to get some sleep.  It was a nightmare.  I was crying all the time...to the point where the nurses told the social worker that I had postpartum depression.  For crying out loud, I had no sleep at all for the 5 nights I was there, I was heavily medicated, hormonal, recovering from natural childbirth and a C-Section, there were health concerns for my babies, and then to top it all off, I was starting to believe that I wouldn't be able to nurse my babies.  Of course I was hysterical, who wouldn't be?

Finally, the weekend was over and one of the lactation consultants was sent in.  Apparently there was another one on duty over the weekend, but nobody thought to have her speak with me.  This lactation consultant decided to help me try some new things.  She insisted that I feed the boys separately, and truthfully, for the things we were trying, it definitely couldn't have worked while tandem feeding. 

One of the suggestions this consultant had was to use the Supplemental Nursing System.  This is where you hook up a tiny tube to a bottle of formula and basically wear it.  The opening of the tube comes out by your nipple so that when the baby latches on and begins to suck, he/she gets milk and formula at the same time.  For me and my babies, this didn't work.  I know that there are people for whom it does.  However, the lactation consultant and I just couldn't get my boys to nurse properly and recieve formula while using it. 

Medela Supplemental Nursing System

Well, we made it through another night somehow and the next morning, a different lactation consultant, we'll call her Mary, came in to see me.  And what a breath of fresh air she was!!!  She came in, listened to my concerns, had me put my nursing pillow on and helped show me that I needed additional pillows to support the babies.  She brought the boys to me, and just took each of their heads and basically forced them to latch on.  Then, just like magic, they were both nursing in tandem again!  Ha!  It was simply marvelous!  I couldn't believe it!  My 3 days of pure stress and hell were...just...over.  From that moment on, I never had difficulty with Miracle Man wanting to nurse again.  Sure, there have been other bumps in the road, but nothing like there were in the hospital.  Mary was great!  After latching them on, she told me to listen to my ipod and relax...enjoy sitting there, nursing my babies.  And I will tell you, it was a completely different feeling for me...within 10 minutes of her walking into my room.  To this day, I credit Mary with giving me back my wish to nurse the boys...and in tandem!  Now, I do have to say that I did need to continue giving the boys formula.  However, Mary spoke with the pediatrician on staff and worked out a plan for me so that I could nurse the boys and only give them enough formula to make sure they put more weight back on.  In the end, I really only needed to supplement with formula for the first day or two at home.  After that, we had gone to the pediatrician and she was pleased with how much they were gaining, so she told us that we no longer needed to supplement.

Since coming home, and as the boys have grown, there have been a few other nursing issues.  One concern I had was that they weren't really nursing consistently for 20 minutes or more as the nurses and doctors from the hospital would have liked.  But the biggest thing was that at each pediatric appointment, they were gaining sufficient weight.  Eventually, I stopped worrying about that "magical 20 minute nursing" and just focused on the fact that my boys were doing well.  I guess they were just "barracuda" nursers. 

Another concern I had was with Miracle Man.  He was constantly "popping off" when nursing.  When I spoke with the pediatrician about this, she told me that it might be because he had a very tight upper frenulum.  She recommended a pediatric dentist who ended up doing a minor laser surgery to remove the extra skin.  Once we made it through that, Miracle Man's latch was much better.  Yet, he was still "popping off". 

At the next pediatric appointment, it was discovered that Miracle Man "might" have a heart murmur.  Our pediatrician explained that this could be part of the reason why he was unlatching.  In the end, it did have a lot to do with his heart.  If you would like to know more about this, you can find it on my Chub-Chub and Miracle Man page.  Ever since Miracle Man recovered from his heart surgery, though, he has been nursing like a champ!

Despite all of the ups and downs over the past few months, at this point the boys are still exclusively nursing at 4 and 1/2 months.  They are continuing to gain weight and grow well.  And, knock-on-wood, they are no longer having any issues with latching on or breathing while nursing.  What a trip it's been!  It is astonishing to me how my body can produce enough milk for two babies!

On my Tips/Advice for Nursing Twins page, you will find not only tips, but more information about how I have managed to nurse the boys over the past few months.