Hey Aries - as I said, I hand expressed colostrum for about 4 weeks before I gave birth and it never so much as gave me a niggle. I know in some women it has brought it on but definitely no sign of it for me. And it was absolutely a godsend for me to have that supply there.
We fed ebm for probably about the first four or five weeks, gradually moving onto the breast more and more. We initially started with finger feeds when my nipples were too sore to bf which took freaking ages per feed. Plus having to express beforehand (and boobies were too sore for a pump so had to hand express for a few days too) meant that feeds took forever. We started to use Medela Calma bottles after about a week or so and they are supposed to be as close to the action of suckling from the breast as you can get, as in babies actually have to suck to get milk. As I began breastfeeding again, we used a combination of bf plus ebm and even though the girls were bottle/finger fed from about 5 days, we never experienced any nipple confusion. Now, for sure, we find breastfeeding works best as the girls seem to settle far far better on the breast than any other form of bottle and DH is on hand to change nappies while I am the dairy cow. That works really well for us, though I am sure others will have found other things that work for them better.
One thing that really daunted me with twins was coping with night feeds by myself and I did get really stressed about this, but honestly, don't. For about the last three months, I will feed and change one girl, get he back into bed then get the other up, rather than try and juggle two hungry babies at night. Sometimes the wheels do fall off when they both wake together but that is when DH has to get up. You will be just fine and keep the questions coming
Nearly there! How exciting
THe ABA has a booklet on "breastfeeding twins and more" available through Mother's Direct, which might be a useful resource, as well as booklets on breastfeeding after a c/s, premature babies (just in case) and expressing and storing breastmilk, that might also be useful. They're all $5.
Everyone finds there own way to work things - regardless of whether they have one, two or more babies at once! There's always a period of adjustment and trial and error. So long as you have lots of help and support, then most mums find a way to make it work.
I don't have twins but my friend from mothers from did. She always fed them both separately as it gave her good one on one time with each. She also expressed at the start so Dad could do a bottle when she needed to rest.
One of the ladies in my mothers group has twins. She has a twin feeding pillow and tandem feeds both boys at the same time as they both seem to stick to the same schedule, though there are plenty of times when one wants to feed while the other is asleep or playing. She makes it look so easy!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks