If you are a Mom-to-be or new Mom of twins and are planning to breast feed, there are a few tips that can help make your job easier.  Even if you are having triplets and quads, it can be done with a little ingenuity!  It truly is one of those things that “practice makes perfect”, but hopefully these few helpful hints will help your breastfeeding experience to go as smoothly as possible.

The first thing that you need to realize is that every baby is different.  Some take to breast feeding immediately and others never do.  It is not something you have done or something you didn’t do, it is just in their nature.  Particularly if your little ones have a stay in the NICU and start out by taking a bottle you might find that some prefer the bottle to the breast when it comes time to eat.

The reason I write this is that this was how things started in my case.  My one twin came home from the NICU and took to breastfeeding immediately.  The other twin took forever to decide to breastfeed and always preferred the bottle over breastfeeding.  I finally had to let go and realize that I needed to let him feed the way he felt comfortable and I would pump for him to give him breast milk.

I would highly recommend that you breastfeed your twins at the same time.  You can still snuggle and cuddle with them while you are feeding.  It will save you plenty of time which, as a mother of twins, you will come to cherish time.  If you feed at the same time, when you are done you can play with them both and either take a nap when they nap or have a little “me” time while they nap.  If you would rather breastfeed one at a time, make a pallet next to you on the floor so that you can breastfeed one and lie the other one next to you and dangle a toy over him/her for play or talk and sing to them both.  You have to find the routine that works for you in order to feel the most comfortable with the breastfeeding experience.

They have special nursing pillows for Mom’s with twins.  If you can buy one of these, I would encourage you to do so.  These truly help you to be able to breastfeed them both at the same time comfortably.  If you can’t buy one, purchase a Boppy or other breastfeeding pillow for mom’s with singletons and create an extension with pillows on either side.  You need to do this for height and comfort for both you and your babies.  I actually did the Boppy and pillow thing using large sofa pillows and I maneuvered them around to find the best position for them and me.

Before you get totally comfortable with breastfeeding at the same time, have someone hand you your twins one at a time if at all possible.  This helps prevent the fumbling and awkwardness of trying to latch one baby on and then attempting to latch the other one on without disturbing the first baby.  After a while you will get the hang of it and be able to find a comfortable way to perform this task alone.  The first few times I did it by myself I was a wee bit uncoordinated but it didn’t take long to get the hang of it.

In the beginning, you might have to stop nursing them both to burp them both and then start nursing again. As they get older and you get more comfortable, you will actually know their burping needs and can burp one while continuing to feed the other.  I would not suggest doing this in the beginning though because it is awkward enough to burp a newborn let alone burp and nurse at the same time.

Keep toys, books and other things of interest close by so that if one twin is done nursing before the other you can keep them occupied.  They might just want to lie against you and snuggle even though they are done eating and that is fine too.

There are a number of different ways you can position your children to breastfeed at the same time.  It was easiest for me to have their heads both facing in and bodies out to either side.  Trying to feed them facing the same way was too awkward for me but might be perfect for you.  Try out the different twin breastfeeding positions to find the one that is most comfortable for you and them.

Drink tons of water when breastfeeding twins.  It helps in milk production and helps keep you hydrated.  It doesn’t matter whether you are an A cup or a D cup, you can breastfeed twins successfully.  One of the greatest keys to accomplish this though is to consume plenty of water…at least 80 oz per day if not more.

These were a few of the things that I found the most helpful in my breastfeeding experience with my twins.  There is an abundance of breastfeeding information for Moms of multiples.  Talk to your local la Leche League or the Lactation Consultant at your hospital.  Both of these places gave me an abundance of information to help me with my breastfeeding experience.  In fact calling them for tips is one of the best tips that I can give you!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 13th, 2006 at 5:19 am and is filed under Multiples. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.