feeding multiples

My dh and I were talking about having multiples as we were classed as high risk twins this cycle.

It made me wonder if people thought differently about feeding?

IF I had twins or more I personally would have them up at the same time to feed (if one woke I'd get the other up)

Further, I mix fed dd. she was always underweight so she was bf then had a small formula top up, and dh did one full ff feed at night so I could sleep a little longer. Morning feed was solely bm.

If you had twins or more would you still go fully bm?
Mix feed?
Or just ff?

I said to dh I would probably alternate, one bf while the other bottle then swap. I'm not sure I could solely bf anyway and I would slowly go crazy bfing for hours on end plus giving dd some attention.

I'd exclusively breastfeed them. Because:

-I know I can breastfeed
-I've overcome every reason to stop do I know I can push through
-I know that plenty of women EBF just fine :)

Personally I would intend to bf both
BUT I would have back-up bottles etc.

For me I know I can BF, I know it takes time & perseverance & I know supply & demand go hand in hand.

That said though I would take each day & each child as they come, what works for one might not for the other.
So going into it opened minded would be the key for me.


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I breastfed mine, and one after the other because I found it too difficult and not at all pleasant to feed them simultaneously. With my elder boys I gave them the occasional bottle, but when I found out I was having twins I threw out all my bottles so I wouldn't be tempted to use them. I knew in the early days it would be hard but in the long run I find breastfeeding so much easier. As it happened my boytwin was ill so had some formula in hospital in addition to EBM and it never agreed with him (he is allergic to cows milk protein) so I breastfed them both to 22 months.

My plan would be to exclusively breastfeed both. i would want a freezer load of food cooked and try to arrrange lots of help/support with other jobs and caring for older children in the early days.

Trav, that s interesting you say you found feeding 2 babies simultaneously unpleasant, i have bf my toddler and newborn a couple of times simultaneously but i really dislike doing it. i thought it might be cos of the different ages, but maybe same thing would happen with bubs the same age.

I would try to soley breastfeed, I think formula/bottles is too much effort for me personally. When DD2 first came home, DD1 fed everytime DD2 did and although it was a little crazy, I think I could do it even though I know it wouldn't be exactly like that, it made me think about it and such. I never felt weird feeding both at once but actually suffer quite severe breastfeeding aversion so anything that means I'm feeding for less time is fine by me lol. Getting through that, I'm pretty sure I could overcome anything physically able to be overcome.

This might not be a popular opinion but I will put the disclaimer that it is MY thoughts about ME and MY situation, no judgement on anyone else or their choices.... I just see breastfeeding as part of the commitment of having a baby and if I have the ability then I wouldn't feel right not doing so. I could never choose not to out of convenience, only neccesity.

My friend from mothers group had twins. She exclusively breast fed them until 9 months or so and then after that they had a sippy cup of formula before bed and bf all other feeds.

She did one after the other. Like the PP she didn't enjoy doing both at once. She also liked the one on one time feeding gave her.

I would hope to exclusively breastfeed but I really struggle (mentally) with feeding just one, at times so I think the temptation would be hard!

I wouldn't even think about it. I'd just breastfeed both and assume I'd make enough milk for them.

Interestingly bfing 2 at a time creeps me out too. So I would definitely do one after the other.

Breast feed ;)

I don't like the idea of ff tho and have exclusively bf four bubs now :)

No idea how I would get anything else done for the first few weeks tho!!!

Good luck hey one baby or two I hope you get a bfp!

I'm the same as the other ladies. I'd plan on b/f the pair of them. I work in mid and I find that mums to multiples are split fairly evenly between b/f and f/f. Good luck with your decision/planning.

my cousin had twins and bf'd them (still is?) but one at a time other wise it hurt her back as they got bigger.

My bestie has just had twins and they are 10 weeks now. She is trying to exclusively BF them at the moment as they were prem and one has a complication. She is feeding at the same time as they take 20-30 mins to feed and would be constantly feeding, burping and changing them in the early days. She is planning on continuing to feed as long as possible but has started to introduce the occasionaly bottle of EBM or FF as physically she is exhausted. It is taking heaps out of her, and she is mega healthy and was really fit when pregnant.

I think she is doing an amazing job, but I can see how hard it is on her physically, emotionally and mentally to be feeding them both. She has a lot of supportive family, friends and medical professionals which is great, I think that would be mandatory if you want to attempt it with twins.

Breastfeeding twins is a tricky dance. Very often you have the double whammy of prematurity AND twins. It is really important that prems have breastmilk to build their immune systems and protect them from infection and disease. In the early days as a breastfeeding mum of twins you feel like you need to be an octopus - and there is a legion of concerned friends family and health professionals out there who subtly or not so subtly push mothers to bottle feed (to save time etc) Having twins is time consuming, whichever way you slice it up - however they are fed. When breastfeeding is going well, ultimately it is easy and convenient. The trick is getting to that point - but very worthwhile.

Tegam thanks :) call it intuition I have a good feeling this month we had a double shot so im hoping we caught one eggie

Thanks for all the input :) I was just curious.

For us we don't have support, we don't have our mums around and we just barely see my dad. DH's dad isn't on talking terms at the moment so basically it's just us. I suffered panic disorder a year after dd was born so I think our situation may affect our decision. I would try very hard - personally I hate listening to the cop out excuses why people don't bf, in the end my mental health would be priority (and it was important for my mental health with dd to bf as much as I could but also to if I couldn't express enough to let it go for a feed here or there).


With dd she would feed for an hour in those early days and well sitting for 2 hours, then starting again with an hour off scares me!


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From feeding my twins, I can give you my insight...

From the day they were born I was set on b/fing both boys but after 9 days of perservering my older twin just wouldn't attach (it would take over 30mins and he would feed for maybe 5 mins and then drop off) and as he was the smaller of the 2 he was losing more weight than he was putting on so for his welbeing I opted to f/f him and continue to b/f the other (who know how to feed from day 1).

After being home for a week or so the b/f twin started getting really bad reflux and would spend all his awake time b/fing, spewing all over me and then feeding again. For me this wasn't a viable option as I had a 19mth old plus the other twin to look after as well and for me to take control of his intake I ended up switching him across to f/f as well. Both twins were put onto Lactose Free formula with added thickener for the spewy baby.

Ultimately I had plans to b/f my boys the whole time but circumstances and our family life meant it wasn't going to work for me, but saying that the twin mum's in my Multiple Birth Association have all either tandem b/f, b/f one after the other, b/f one and f/f the other and the swapped next feed , b/f one solely and f/f the other solely or f/f.

So all I can offer is you do what feels best for you and your babies and your family.

2 of my friends had twins when their older babies were 18 months. One only BF her oldest for the first day, the other BF her DD for about 7 months.

The firsts twins were in hospital for 6 weeks, born at 32 weeks & she didn't try to BF them. They were in Sydney for a while (4 hours away) & she couldn't afford to stay there to keep up with feeds. She had her DS & her DP had to work. It was pretty tough til the girls went back to the local hospital.

The second changed her mind the minute she found out she'd have to feed them every 2 hours round the clock. She'd planned to up til then. But she had a useless DP who had no interest in helping her out. She was also in ICU with an infection for 10 days after their birth.

Even before I managed to be successful in BFing, I'd still have attempted it. Now I've successfully BFed 2 of my kids, I wouldn't think twice... I may have formula for desperate times, but I would plan to solely breastfeed.

I went in with every intention of bf my twins. I read heaps beforehand, went to breastfeeding classes, and had a private session with a midwife. Bfing my DS was a bit of disaster so this time I wanted as much knowledge as I could. They were born 5 weeks early so initally in the hospital they were tube fed, and I expressed. After that most of the midwives 'encouraged' me to tandem feed but it was so hard. I say encouraged because I basically mean they shoved babies on me. Once we got back to our local hospital, it was better and I was more comfortable in saying that I only wanted one at a time. I could also only do it bascially with my top off, and it was very hard to position babies that were barely 4 pounds each. Mine required a top up after each fed, despite me going on motilium to increase my supply, so they either had expressed milk, or formula.

When we got home and DH had taken time off from work, it was a bit easier. My girls have always wanted to fed at exactly the same time (even now they go ove rnad have a drink out of their water bottles at the same time lol) so he could carry one around and distract her while I fed the other. They fed every 3 hours - or had to be fed every 3 hours until they reached 3kg so we had to wake to fed etc - so each baby would take about half an hour to feed, then I would wait a while and express, and then have about an hour before it started all over again.

Needless to say, when DH went back to work, it all went to cr*p. DS (aged 3) had to be entertained and also started wetting his pants again as soon as I would fed the babies. We didn't have very much help at all - my parents live a few hours away and DH's mum does my head in. She believes babies should be weighed after each feed to see how much milk they have drank, and used to tell me endless stories about how much milk she had :wall:. I did some more sessions through our hospital at the 'breastfeeding house' which is a little house you go to, and basically hang out with a trained breastfeeding nurse, and she watches you feed, and gives advice.

At around about 3 months it all got too much and we switched to formula full time. Psychically it was a huge relief, but mentally it was hard, (and probably financially too). I was more devastated than I thought I would be. I loved feeding the twins, and could feel my letdown etc, which I never did with DS. I was proud to have gotten to 3 months, although to most people it doesn't seem long.

I got to a twin playgroup and it is quite a mix. Most people seem to have done a mix of bf/ff, some have only ff, and others have exclusively bf. One lady is still feeding her gorgeous 3 year old twinnies. And I guess when it comes down to it, whether it is one baby or multiples, you can only do what is best for you and your children, and what feels right to you. I think the best thing to do is to approach it with a postive attitude but also with a go with the flow approach. You can never guarentee anything with these little bubbas, and I find thats what helped me :hug:

As others have said, I would aim to exclusively breastfeed.

I would however also express, so that DH can help out if both twins were ravenous at the same time, or of if I had a dip in supply at any point (eg: if I was sick or run down, etc).

Expressing can be hard work, but for some people it works really well - DS2 is 4 weeks old today, and I have about 9 litres stored in the freezer thus far, ready and waiting for use if and when DS2 needs it (and if he is fine just on the boob, then DS1 can have it on his weetbix!)

As in any situation though, I would keep in mind what is and isn't doable ...

I have one friend who breastfed her triplets, and I have another friend who was unable to breastfeed her one baby (and was unfortunately unsuccessful in expressing, too, despite lots of support and advice and hard work). Both are awesome mothers, they just had very different experiences when it came to the milky side of things.

Our experience has been that although we set out to exclusively BF that just wasnt what was best for both babies and us. Both babies started with EBM tube feeds. They came home on suck feeds at the same time. However having a nurse tell you to feed at the same time and helping you and then doing it at home just isnt the same so they quickly moved to one after the other. The little twin was still quite tired and would fall asleep on the boob quite easily even though she was the one that took to BF first. Eventually we switched her to EBM bottles. That then led to mummy having to feed one on the boob, feed one on the bottle and then express for half an hour. There was no time to do anything else. Everything centred around feeding and pumping. So eventually after months of perservance and frustration at the pump, the heartbreaking decision was made to make one twin boob (due to allergies she was the one chosen to stay on boob as well as being the booby baby naturally) and the other moved to formula. To this day 9 months on, this is still how they are fed. While the best intentions were there from the beginning I think you need to go into it with an open mind, two babies are no where the same as one baby.

My best gf had twins (nearly 10 years ago - eeep! I feel old). TBH as they were her first, it was more caring for two newborns that she found challenging, not just bfing them. She had little family support and was the first of our group of friends to have babies, so it was tough on her all around. They were not premmie though and were a great size born. She successfully bf them exclusively until about five months.

She did end up mixing ff and bf, it was not out of problems bfing, but out of choice. She did the same with her DS when he was born four years later and again, she had no issues bfing.