Tips on Breastfeeding for Twins

Breastfeeding Twins: Mums Helen and Victoria Tell How to Do It

Although breastfeeding twins requires patience and is a tough task, it isn’t an impossible one. Read about mums Helen and Victoria’s experiences to know more about breastfeeding your babies.

Helen:

It is absolutely possible to breastfeed twins and indeed, to breastfeed triplets, but initially you are likely to feel quite tiresome. I delivered my boys in the caesarean section and physically became very weak because a lot of blood was drained from my body during the operation, though throughout my pregnancy I was quite fit. It was necessary to eat well so I could get good supply of breastmilk to feed my children. Then, there was a very big question before me if I should feed my babies together or separately. It is comparatively easy to feed one child at a time, wrapped in a shawl and without being seen by any body, but feeding the twins at the same time is a completely different case.

I decided that I would feed my children together and always followed the same; even waking up the sleeping one if the other boy was ready. I bought very big feeding cushions (v-shaped), and they became my companions where ever I went.

‘Double football’ hold and ‘kitten hold’ became very useful to me and helped me carry my new born twins with one hand. While feeding my babies, in order to save my time, I used to sit on the sofa with a phone, remote control, and water on one side and with baby nail clippers as well, so that I could do all the routine work while feeding them, such as trimming their nails, checking cradle cap, putting eye drops, and all other basic works. We used to wind the boys occasionally because they inhaled very less air while sucking. I was very lucky to get a good amount of nourishing food from my friends and relatives.

After every feed, I used to express my milk using a breast pump, so that whenever I would want to take a break, my partner would be able to feed the twins with a bottle. When the boys themselves took to weaning at the age of seven and half months, I started giving them one breastfeed and two feeds by bottle per day. Breastfeeding your twins will be a twenty-four hour job for the first three to four months.

I chose the option of breastfeeding because I wanted to go with nature as far as it was possible. I did not pressurize myself but I wanted my twins to get the wonderful benefits of breastmilk to the maximum and was quite determined to follow my belief. In formula feeding, you need so many bottles of milk that you are forced to believe that breastfeeding is a far easier and better option.

I also received good support from my health visitor, midwives, and my partner and in fact, I could not have achieved it without their help. I had lost my confidence severely but they constantly boosted it up. There were a number of breastfeeding institutions too but to my sheer luck, I never needed their help. I found BabyCentre very useful because nobody there ever asked me why I chose breastfeeding; all of them were very supportive as well as admiring and encouraging.

My tips to new mums who prefer breastfeeding their twins are to go for feeding cushions (preferably the v-shaped ones) during pregnancy itself and take them along with you to the hospital. These are available at the NCT, Blooming Marvelous, John Lewis and several independent baby stores. I had a real bad experience arranging those horrible hospital chairs and the utterly hopeless hospital cushions!

Another recommendation to you would be feeding your twins together. I feel that this helped me out a lot in putting everything in synchronization, for instance, sleeping the babies and not having to feed them every single minute.

Get all those seemingly mean calories in! And don’t feel shy at all – just after couple of weeks, I was freely whipping my breasts in public without giving it a second’s consideration and no one seemed to ever mind it, or for that matter, even notice it. Once I was feeding my four-month old twins together in the pub garden and also have a pretty picture of the same.

Be more flexible. I remember how terrible I had felt when we had become completely dependent on formula. However, I constantly reminded myself that this didn’t indicate my failure but in fact, I believe it helped in my breastfeeding activity till the time I continued it.

Victoria:

The biggest challenge I faced while breastfeeding my twin girls was to find the time and patience and to be able to cope with it in the evenings when both of them wanted a constant feed. In the beginning, this was not so much of an issue, since breastfeeding always takes some time; however, few weeks have been extremely tough. I was lucky in terms of getting full support from my partner who, along with me, strongly believes in the various advantages of breastmilk and also sometimes takes the girls in a twin fling. I have experienced backache because of feeding both babies simultaneously. I am dog-tired from several sleepless nights and need to have loads of food to maintain high energy levels. Knowing that mothers having one baby also face the same problem of time-consuming breastfeeds and that it gets better and easier with time helps.

One of my baby girls, Tamsin, suffered from tongue-tie which affected her ability to be breastfed. In Germany, helping mums in breastfeeding their baby is given top priority and Tamsin had been suffering from a ‘snipped’ tongue from day one. I have also experienced sore nipples, but using the lanolin ointment and correct sorting out of a latch-on technique has helped. So far, I have had two sessions of mastitis. However, since I have my two grown up kids who were also breastfed, I feel more confident about breastfeeding properly and know what is to be done when problems arise.

I always thought of breastfeeding because it is a very natural thing to carry on with. It is my firm belief that for babies, breastmilk is the best food. I continued breastfeeding my two older children up to the time they themselves took to weaning. I wanted to follow the same pattern for my twins also. Since my husband is having asthma, allergies and diabetes, it became very important for us to provide our children with the best possible start. I feel that breastfeeding is more practical because you can always carry the right quantity of milk at the right temperature. Moreover, formula feeding is very expensive option.

I got fantastic help from my husband. It was my duty to breastfeed our daughter. It was a bonus if I could do some extra work beyond that. My midwife, who had earlier helped me in my other three pregnancies, is wonderful, encouraging, and gives me 100% support. Once she had looked after a mother of triplets who had breastfed her babies for six months.

I would like to advice the to-be mums who want to breastfeed their twins that it is quite possible to breastfeed your twins but it is a time-consuming process. You need determination and patience to make breastfeeding your first priority. It really helped me to achieve my goal of breastfeeding my twins for three months. The first month was a bit easier than the second and the third months. For many days, I would feel that I was doing the same thing the entire day.

I would like to give some tips to the new mums. You must have some people to support you such as a supportive partner, a good midwife, and breastfeeding friends. Breastfeeding will take away most of your time and there will always be new challenges to face such as too little milk, too much milk, frequent feedings etc. However, don’t get discouraged and call someone for help you boost your courage. You can take help and support from the Babycentre community as well.

Relax and have faith in yourself. You can definitely breastfeed your twins and getting started with it is as easy as breastfeeding one child. Keep in mind that 97% of women breastfeed their children. All the children need more milk as they grow fast and may also need milk more frequently; so be ready for this. This helps in producing more milk and things get back to normal in few days.

Make sure to teach your babies and yourself proper latch-on techniques. Also try practicing tandem feeding (feeding both your twins together) and different breastfeeding positions in the very first days before the milk starts coming in. It is easier in the beginning, since your breasts are not yet filled with milk and so latching them is also not that difficult. Approach a midwife to learn (let your partner also learn) about different feeding positions.

There are chances that you will get tired sometimes from breastfeeding the babies the entire evening (also called cluster-feeding). Simply pick up a good film or your favorite book, some biscuits and tea, and sit down to feed them! Sometimes, when I got exhausted in the beginning and badly wanted to relax for some time, my husband would take our twins in a baby carrier for around an hour. I have also expressed my milk in mornings when there was good milk supply and used it as a top-up bottle to feed my twins in the late evenings.

Benefit from breastfeeding your twins in public by using it as an excuse to check out all the good cafés in town – since your babies are very hungry – and don’t forget to eat as much cake as you want because after all, your energy levels need to be high for breastfeeding!

Tips on Breastfeeding for Twins

Breastfeeding Twins: Mums Helen and Victoria Tell How to Do It Although breastfeeding...