moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

Okay I am ebfding my baby boys. They will be one month on wednesday. They have been nursing on demand every hour to three hours. Usually at night they want to nurse more and are nursing throughout the night on and off continuously. Last night I had one hour in the beginning or the night and one hour towards the early morning where a slept without them nursing. Other then that I have been co sleeping with them bc they want to nurse all night and I can't stay awake the entire night!! I also have a toddler so their feeding demands are a lot on me right now. So I guess my question is when will they go for longer stretches without nursing? Should I be trying to get them to go longer stretches even if they are fussing/crying and seem hungry? If I didn't have another child to take care of this would be easier bc I would just sleep during the day when they sleep for two hrs here and there but I can't. I barely have time to prepare meals for my son and I bc my little guys r always hungry!!! My son was the same way but a had the leisure of sitting around and nursing him all day long. I also have a good milk suppy so I'm pretty confident they are getting enough. Like I said my son did this and gained a ton of weight the first month. I guess I just need some advice and suggesstions. Thanks!!

Message edited 12/16/2012 12:52:31 PM.

moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

It was a while and I think it all depends on how much they are drinking at each session... I nursed until 10 months, but I also supplemented with formula. How much do they drink if you pump? And do they sleep any longer if you bottle feed them?

Re: moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

Havnt pumped yet. They nurse for a good half an hour to 45 minutes. I do think they are getting a nice amount at each session. Wonder if my milk is quickly digested!! Need sleep so I can function!

Why did u supplement traysee?

Re: moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

I'm ebf my 11 day old twins. The hospital/ped told us to nurse every 2 hours and than when they saw they were gaining well, every 3 hours. Thats where we are at now. How are they gaining? How often do they wake on their own to feed,

moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

I supplemented because my girls were born a little early from pre-E (35w6d) so they were on the smaller side and I have very big boobs so I had a really hard time getting them to latch. I had to pump in the hospital. I pumped every 3 hours round the clock. They were there for 5 and 7 days in the NICU. When they both came home I was still exclusively pumping every 3 hours for probably 6-8 weeks and never made enough to freeze. I would pump and pump and it was just enough to get them to the next feeding. Because of my low production they had to be supplemented in the hospital with formula. I knew how much they were drinking each meal because I was pumping and I knew how many ounces was in the bottles. I also knew how long it took for me to pump x amount of ounces. So I kinda knew how many ounces they were getting when they nursed. I have heard there are women who don't produce as much when they pump as when they nurse. I don't know much about that, just based it on my experience one of my girls was not satisfied after nursing. She would cry or get frustrated while nursing. Sometimes she would nurse for only 5 minutes. I think she was used to the faster speed and larger volume of bottle feeding. They get more ounces in less time bottle feeding.

I never made enough to keep up or stock up so I supplemented with the formula. If I produced enough I would have pumped and nursed exclusively. They actually self weaned onto formula at 10 months. I always offered them to nurse first but they were not satisfied and would fuss and reject me :O( until I gave them a bottle.

My DH works insane hours (he is gone 16 hours a day 5-6 days a week) and I don't have much help with my girls. My mom comes over on fridays but other than that I am alone. I do 24/7 round the clock care of them. I feel no guilt over having to supplement. My girls are 18 months now and strong, healthy and smart :O)

I also co-slept with them (one of them still sleeps with me every night) I had a co-sleeper attached to the bed at first then she just moved into the bed the other sleeps in their bedroom. I did what you do, nurse in bed. I have nursed while asleep. I think it was about 6 weeks into it I was giving one of the babies a bottle and fell asleep sitting up. She was propped up on a pillow in my bed and I was sitting on the bed giving her a bottle. I woke up as the bottle fell out of my hand and whacked her on the head. There is just so long you can go without sleep before it catches up with you. I remember one night my husband was yelling at me to get up and I was so dead tired I kept trying to open my eyes but kept falling back asleep. He was so mad at me. I physically could not wake up I was that tired. I had no memory of any of it. Maybe about 45 minutes later I woke up to them screaming as he is changing diapers and I was like what's wrong? Why didn't you wake me up? LOL. You know you are dead tired when someone is screaming at you, two babies are howling and your DH is cursing at you because you didn't get up and help. Those first few months are brutal.

I think that if you are starting to get really burned out maybe you should try stock piling some extra milk so you (or someone else!) can take some feeding shifts. Maybe if they get a big bottle they will at least give you three or so hours? Also, just a thought, my girls were crazy gassy.. Do you burp them after they nurse? Is it possible they are fussing because they need to burp or pass gas? Do you find they sleep longer if they are in your arms especially inclined a little? My sister who also has twins (hers are 10 years old now) would strap them in their car seats to sleep sometimes, it keeps them upright which helps with reflux and makes them feel secure. Works really well when they have stuff noses too.

(For safety sake, if you try that make sure you put the seats on the floor :o)

Message edited 12/16/2012 4:33:11 PM.

moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

They wake on their own bt 1-3 hrs. Typical scenerio is eat at 12,back to sleep by 1 up by 2. Then all over again. So they r eating two hrs from the start of the last feed. Going to get their weight checked this week. I feel like one or both are always nursing. In the beginning they slept better but I guess that's bc they
were so new.

Re: moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

Re: moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

I can't relate to having twins nursing (ur a saint for doing that!) but for my dd I started supplementing at night, and at like 4 or 5 weeks I was getting 5 & 6 hours at night. The thing is, is that she doesn't like the bottle/formula too much! She rejects it if she's really fussy. I have to catch her before she knows she's hungry or dream feed her just to get a bottle in. So I just wanted to add that they don't always prefer a bottle over "the tap". But I need to give a bottle at night for my own sanity!! Gl

Re: moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

I EBFd my twins until they were 12 months. I would say the first 5 weeks were insane. They totally had their days and nights confused. They'd sleep all day and start bewitching around 5pm until they'd finally fall asleep again (around 9). I spent those 4 hours primarily nursing them trying to get them to sleep. But did stop at 6:30 to give all 3 of my kids baths, send DS off to bed, and go back to trying to get the twins to sleep.

At 6 weeks something clicked and they started STTN. It would take me a bit to get them to go down. But once they were sleeping they were out for 12 hours.

Hang in there. It should get better. Have you tried rocking/hushing/paci instead of comfort nursing? I found the paci really helped me early on getting them to fall asleep. Once they got to the point where they'd wake when it fell out forcing me to start all over (around 8 weeks) I threw them away and just stuck with rocking them to sleep.

Re: moms who breastfed infant twins or singleton

I started pumping when I was bfing my b/g twins. I also have a three year old. The first two months of the twins' life is a complete blur. The pump was a Godsend. My 3 year old needed my attention and I was able to give her some because of that pump! Good luck!