Support Group - New and Expectant Parents SFPOM New Parents - general discussion 6/20/2012 9:16 am - 6/21/2012
1. Comment: breastfeeding issue - pls share your experienc... (rinnigan)
2. Re:breastfeeding issue - pls share your experience (learadeane)
3. Comment: breastfeeding issue - pls share your experienc... (aryf123)
4. Comment: breastfeeding issue - pls share your experienc... (nataliasha2004)
5. Comment: breastfeeding issue - pls share your experienc... (cathytanimura)
Topic: breastfeeding issue - pls share your experience
I have 4-week-old twins and still am wondering on how to
proceed with nursing as total confusion...
Send comment to: <sfpom_newparents_general@lists.bigtent.com>
With subject line: "Ref#69908935 - breastfeeding issue - pls share your experience"
1. rinnigan says...
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6/20/2012 7:08 am
Know this: breast feeding gets easier with time. Hang
in there. Over the next days and weeks the babies will
get stronger, you'll have a better understanding of how
to best position them, and the babies will suck
better.In those early days we had a similar schedule.
We got through it with a night doula on some nights and
family help on the nights that the doula was not here.
During the day, I would feed one boy by breast and then
pump, and the family member would feed the other one by
syringe/bottle, and then we'd switch at the next feed.
Over time I fed them each individually by breast. At
night I would pump at at the 1-2 a.m. feed and go back
to sleep, while the family member or doula fed/changed
the boys. Yes, nipple shields were really helpful. For
my son with a poor latch and a "chompy" suck, the
shields were critical for a month or two.Take one feed
cycle at a time, take it one day at a time. Re:
lactation consultants: it is great that you have one
coming to the house. If you're feeling overwhelmed and
really at your limit, tell her. She should be able
give you recommendations that make things a little
easier. I, too, had a lactation consultant coming to
the house for 30? hours and I visited the "free" one
available through Kaiser a few times. In the end, it
was really helpful to have these two resources -- we
were able to triangulate our own path between them.
Take advantage of whatever resources you have available
to you. Also, once you're ready to get out of the
house, I found it helpful to visit the lactation
support circle at Natural Resources (or Day One); yes,
it was mostly singleton moms there, but I found it
really encouraging, and was a "good challenge for the
day" to make it there.Finally, re: tandem
breastfeeding. I agree that this is a real time saver.
However, it just wasn't possible for us to do in those
early days. We retried it at 6 weeks, and it worked -
the boys were stronger, M's latch was better, and I had
a better idea of how to position them (rolled up baby
blankets as props). If you and your babies can do
tandem feeding now, GREAT. But if not, try again in a
week or so, and keep trying. Hang in there. It should
get easier. We made it through, and you will too.
Email author: rinnigan@yahoo.com
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2. learadeane says...
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6/20/2012 8:30 am
Hi there,Saw your note on the forum. I have a three
year old daughter (that I nurseduntil she was over a
year) and now have seven month old twins. I am
stillnursing the twins and I can tell you only from my
experience that gettingyour milk supply up to meet the
twins needs may take some (or quite a bitof) work in
the beginning, but once you have it, it can be really
easy!! Ihope that is encouraging to you.One thing to
keep in mind is that once babies are latching, they are
able tosuck more efficiently than any breast pump can
pump. So for your baby thatis latching well, I would
latch him or her for every feed alternating sides.And
you probably have noticed by now, that when you are
nursing one, youwill have letdown (milk will come out)
on the other side. To make sure youare capturing all of
that precious gold, pump on the other side at the
sametime as nursing the successful latcher (a handsfree
pumping bra helps alot). My pediatrician recommended
nursing every two hours during the day and threeat
night until my milk supply and the babies weights were
up. This workedreally well for me because it minimized
additional pumping which can be moretime consuming and
stressful and annoying, etc, etc.It is really hard to
find patterns in newborn behavior (although I know
itcan be really helpful to try and notice trends for
coping!! J ). My mom keptreminding me that this is all
temporary. Although annoying when I wasfrustrated and
sleep deprived, that helped me sometimes throught
thechallenging times.Best of luck!!
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3. aryf123 says...
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6/20/2012 9:31 am
Hi all!Thank you so much for all your recommendations,
pieces of advice and sharing your own stories. I will
try to keep everything in mind going forward, but it is
still all quite overwhelming.I would like to tandem
nurse, but baby A is so impatience and fussy - she
cannot seem to get her milk quick enough. That makes it
hard positioning her and, of course, trying to position
baby b at the same time. Also, baby a does a lot of
thrusting with her tongue, which makes it additionally
hard. :(Our family is in Europe, unfortunately, but we
have some help each Mon, Tue and Wed. One last
questions regarding the schedule and both babies being
in sync: How did you manage to have both babies on the
same schedule? For the past 4 days, both are so off
schedule. Baby B wants to eat every hour or two and
baby A has so much pain in her tummy that, the evening/
night feeds especially, are a disaster. They are
therefore all over the place being hungry and I could
feed anyone of them at any given time it seems.Did all
of you just stay at home for 3 months and not do
anything else but feed and nurse? That is what it looks
like for me if I do not change anyting or make real
fast progress. Please let me know.Thanks again for all
your kind words.
Email author: ryfanna@gmail.com
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4. nataliasha2004 says...
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6/20/2012 12:51 pm
Congratulations to you on your twins!! And I feel
your pain! Breastfeeding was so much harder than I
expected... definitely at first. However -- it sounds
like you're on the right track. Do what you can to get
the tandem feeds going - that will make a HUGE
difference. Even carving out a few extra minutes where
you're not strapped into a much of pillows on your bed
or sofa will be amazing. Whenever one was hungry, we
just got the other on, too, and they eventually caught
on. That said -- it IS a steep learning curve for all
concerned, so know that being patient helps, and
believing that it WILL pay off eventually hopefully
does too... and drinking lots of water, and keeping
your strength up as much as you can, makes a huge
difference. That's great that you're getting help -
and you might also find folks thru the La Leche League
that might be able to provide additional insights or
advice (altho with 2, I never was up to attend the
actual meetings - but they were a good resource by
phone.)Lastly, since I think you're a newer member, you
can find an article (written by a specialist) in the
July/August 2011 issue of our newsletter, that might
contain some useful info. Just click on the "files"
tab above, and scroll thru to find that issue, and
click to download for viewing - just takes a few
seconds. I think it's on the second screen listing all
the documents available there.GOOD LUCK - hang in
there!! It sometimes takes time but it'll be SO worth
it, once everything comes together!
Email author: nataliasha2004@yahoo.com
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5. cathytanimura says...
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6/20/2012 1:25 pm
I would do what you can to get them on the same
schedule. Try to get the one that wants to eat every
hour to wait at least 2 hours... Rock, cuddle,
whatever. Then he/she will eat more next feeding and be
able to go a little longer before the next. Always
wake up the other baby. You could try getting both
babies on the tandem pillow to be near you, even if you
are only actively feeding one. Then you could try
switching off between them. Not sure if that would work
or just make them more frustrated...Do anything you can
to make pumping life easier. Get multiple sets of
parts, store them in the refrigerator between pumpings
for the day, wash in the dishwasher if you have one or
use the microwave bags. Not cleaning parts after every
single feeding should help save time.Hang in there, it
does get easier as they get bigger and are stronger.
But at the end of the day, do whatever keeps you sane,
and if that means some formula, so be it... You are a
wonderful mom and the most important thing is that you
love them.
Email author: cathy.tanimura@yahoo.com
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