Hi ladies....

My boys are 8 weeks old tomorow! and are fully BF and we feed twin style. I have some questions re routines and the amount of time it takes you to feed.

At the moment, we feed on demand but they were put in a pretty good routine from 9 days in special care after they were born, so usually wake 3 to 4 hourly. They usually have 5 feeds per day at 5/6am, 9/10am, 1/2pm, 5/6pm and then 12/1am. For each feed we wake one twin if the other wakes and feed them together and wake them at 4 hours during the day of they don't wake by themselves.

We have been wondering if we should let one twin sleep if the other wakes for the 12/1am feed and see if they sleep through? We have been hesitant to do this in case the other wakes an hour or two later and they are then out of sinc and we are up twice in the night instead of once...

Also, do you think if we wake them for an extra 10pm feed their big sleep might be from 10pm to 5/6am instead of 5pm to 1am and we might get them to sleep through the night or will we stuff things up and end up having two night feeds...any advice? Or maybe introduce a fomula feed as their last night feed to sustain them or will this affect my milk supply???

How long does it take you to feed? Sometimes it takes us 2 hours to finish a feed with top ups and everything, but usually 1 hour minimum. This is exhausting. It's usually the 5/6pm feed that takes the longest. Do you think they are stocking up for the night?

How do you twin feed in public? We once breastfed one and bottle fed the other with EBM. Is there another way? I also only go out in between feeds when I am on my own. How can I twin feed when i am out on my own or is it just impossible and easier to just come home????

thanks ladies, any advice would be really appreciated.



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Hi Drew,
my boys are fully B/F and are still on 3 hourly feeds 24/7! So I think you're doing well with the 4 hour stretches. Sometimes after a bath they will have a 6-7 hour stretch but it's always from about 7 till 1 not from 12 - 6 which would be ideal for us. We only take 10 minutes to feed, so I must say that it sounds like something might need to be looked at if you're taking 1 hour still. It used to take us 45 minutes when they were newborn but have gradually gotten better at feeding and are now express feeders. Are your boys actually feeding the whole time or do they feed and then muck around for a while? The health nurse told me that by now they get most of the milk in the first 5 minutes and after about 10 minutes they are just using me instead of a dummy to suck on. I hope I haven't offended you, but if you could get the feeds down to a shorter time you'd be getting heaps more sleep.
Our day routine is the standard feed/play/sleep but before they go for a sleep I offer them the breast for a top up (about 2 minutes). Sometimes they don't even want that.
As for feeding in public, if you want to B/F I just go into the nursing rooms at the parents room and feed who ever is crying the loudest and rock the other one in the pram until it's time to swap. Sometimes it's not possible to B/F due to insufficient facilities, so I always have an emergency formula feed on hand. I take the boiled warmed water in the thermo carrier and have 2 satches of formula with me to make the correct amount. Karicare is now selling individual satches to make up 200ml which is good for us because we never finish a container of formula within the 4 weeks after opening, like is recommended on the container. So the individual serves work great for us.
We also toyed with demand feeding vs waking and it really depends on what mood I'm in. Someitmes you do get caught out and have to wake in 1 hour, they are not the fun nights. So, we've gone back to waking.
I hope I have been of some assistance. Hang in there, they'll sleep through soon enough (hopefully ours will soon!!!)

Me 27 DH 28
Our IVF Miracles

Hi Drew

Sound like you are doing really well. We fed twin style for 13 mo. The girls were on formula top ups twice a day for a few months to help put on some pud, but we gave them up once they were well into the 'normal' weight range. It didn't seem to affect my supply at all, I think because they got the formula on top of a normal b/f, not instead of one. I also never had the problem of them preferring a bottle to the breast like some have experienced.

I never did find a way of feeding in public. The facilities are never good enough and there's just no discreet way of doing it - especially since in warmer weather I preferred to feed with no top on at all! There's also the added problem of needing to take a cushion etc. Mostly I went out between feeds and if I knew there was a chance of them needing to have a feed I would take bottles and feed them in the pram (or find a helper if I was with friends - there's always someone gagging to give a bub a bottle!) I used to take formula because I couldn't bear the thought of wasting EBM if it wasn't required. I would take really hot water with me and formula in a container - by the time you need it the water has cooled to just the right temp and you don't have to find a way of heating it. Sometimes I would feed them at a friends place but in the end it was quicker and more sociable (for me that is. You miss too much if you're off in another room - where there is a couch/bed big enough - feeding) to give them a bottle.

If one was hungry in the night, I always woke the sleeping baby to prevent getting out of sync. Once they were both sleeping through the night on a regular basis, if we had the odd night were one woke then I would just feed one and leave the other sleeping. We never got caught out and had to get up again. I remember someone telling me she would only feed the waking twin - one night she got up to feed one, then the other woke 45mins later so she fed him, then 45 mins later the other one woke again...She wondered what an earth was going on and then realised in her haze that she had fed the same baby twice so he was really full and sound asleep but his poor brother (who had actually been the second cry) had missed out!!

Our girls took over an hour for each feed in the beginning, but once I knew they had the hang of it and were actually getting a proper feed I put a time limit on them! I cut them off at 45mins in the beginning and gradually got them down to about 20 - they worked it out pretty quick. It was probably at about the 8 week mark or so when I started this process I think.

Being a mum really makes you work your problem solving skills doesn't it? Good luck with it all!

Nicolie
DDs Paige & Hannah (23/09/03)

Hi Drew,

Please don't apologise for crashing thread yesterday. Any advice you can obtain from anywhere is good I presume and you definately have nothing to apologise for because now I'm on your thread checking out your stuff! Sorry!
I too have not yet ventured into the twin feed while out and about because the facilities are pretty bad so I only venture out on my own when there's someone to sit with my girls.
As for the sleeping through thing, I supppose that if you want to introduce a new routine be prepared! They say it only takes a couple of days to make and break a new habit, a week tops.
Good luck with everything, hope everything goes well for you.

Till next time.
Steph.

Hi there, some great advice has already been given. Just thought I'd mention my experiences. My twins are 2 now, so its been a while but I still remember the sleepless nights and how hard it was. Just thought I'd let you know that it also took me an hour to feed and I was also told that it shouldnt take this long. Finally the twins started feeding for shorter lenths of time until it was down to 10 mins but that took months to happen. As far as the 10pm feed goes , I would give it a go because it could make a big difference. From memory, it meant more sleep for me. You sound very organised and like you are doing really well. Its a hard slog for a while but gets easier. Great advice from the others. All the best with it.

Hi Drew

Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on things! Well done!

Our situation was/is very much the same as the other replies thus far. I never attemtped to twin feed my girls while out, they would either have a bottle of formula, or feed one while the other had cuddles with whoever was available, or I would go out between feeds.

We also gave our girls a top up around teatime. We would wake the sleeping twin if needed, and gradually stopped doing this as they slept longer and longer. I was relunctant to drop night feeds too soon as the girls were early and I just wanted to keep up the good stuff for as long as I could. Even though they were settling well and sleeping through, I kept up a dreamfeed at about 10pm, until they were 10/11 m old. I also didn't find that the bottle interfered with my bf in anyway, as someone else said it was as well as a bf not instead of in most cases. Sometimes if I missed a feed (the girls had a bottle while I was out etc) I would express anyway.

In the beginning we would take a good 45 mins - 1 hr. I didn't tandem feed initially. But once the girls got a little bigger, easier to handle and were both feeding well, I started twin style, and we were down to 15 - 20 mins then down to about 10. One always took longer than the other, and still does...I think she just likes to suck for comfort!!!!

If you are worried talk to the BF Assoc, someone from your local multiple births, lactation cons or CHN. Perhaps that long feed in the evening you might like to top up with a bottle???? It is often trial and error. You have to think about yourself too, and it can be extremely draining. That bottle the girls had just gave me a little break, and it was also a chance for my DH to step up and take over at that time IYKWIM.

Hope that helps!

Sharyn
Meg14/4/99
Hannah & Josie 22/3/04 (33 wks)
DH David



...some days are diamonds
.

I don't have twins but would just like to give all you mums BF twins the biggest thumbs up and congratulations on a huge effort!! Lots of women wouldn't even attempt this but you girls are giving it a go and I'm sure your beautiful babies are thriving. I know it's easy to say but please try not to get upset about the sleeping through, perhaps this is their way to keep your supply going well (huge, i'm sure!) Anyway well done BF Mums!!

MelB77, Nicolie, Lovey, Stepho. twinmomma and my3babies . .thank you all so much for your replies! I am so grateful to you all! It has helped so much hearing from others that are going or have gone through the same thing.

I am pleased to say that the boys have started feeding for shorter periods in the last few days. I think it was MelB that asked if they were feeding the whole hour or just mucking around - we actually think that they were dummy sucking and we have just recognised this now. After reading someone's post on "routines" we also worked out that we were reading their signals incorrectly. What we thought was them getting edgy for more food, was actually their tired signs. We were feeding them again instead of wrapping them up for bed - hence they were difficult to settle as they were overtired. We have been doing the feeds plus nappy change and burping in about 45 mins now (about 30 mins of sucking time) and an hour including play time during the day. Even though they have now picked up an extra feed to 6 per day instead of 5, I am feeling happier as I am not trapped behind my twin feeding pillow for hours a day!

MelB - it's funny that both our twins have the same pattern of 7pm to 1am - we also wish it was 12 to 6! You didn't offend me with your comments, they have been very helpful! As you said, they were mucking around when they fed. We remember the feed/play/sleep from our pre-natal classes but the community nurse said that if we are taking an hour to feed, that is their play as they shouldn't be awake for much more than an hour. Now that we are feeding for less time we can fit the play in. We are all really enjoying the play time instead of feed and straight to sleep. Thanks for the advice re feeding in public too - We actually bought a tin of formula before reading this but will look at the sachets now. I like the idea of feeding one while you rock the other in the pram but I am not sure that I could cope with one screaming while I fed the other - I have a real screamer! I might try it though. Good luck with your bubs sleeping through too! let me know when the momentus day happens!

Nicolie – 13 months BF wow! You champ! My aim was 3 months so we’ll see how I go. I was ready to give up not long ago when it was taking so long but when we gave one bub a bottle of EBM when we were out on the weekend and he was cranky the next feed on the breast (maybe it wasn’t coming out fast enough)…I was sad that he may not want it anymore. He’s back in with the swing of things now so who knows how long I will go now??? I know exactly what you mean about wasting precious EBM. I feel exactly the same! One of our containers of EBM broke and leaked. I was devastated. All that work! I don’t like to defrost it if I know we may not use it. I couldn’t face turfing it out! You made me laugh with the story of feeding the wrong twin! That poor lady. I actually fed my boys separately this morning (one laying down in bed) and realized when I showered and one boob was big and osre that I had fed them on the same side! Thanks for the tip re thermos of water and formula. This sounds like a great solution when hubby and I are out together…

Lovey –From an hour to 10 mins- that’s great! Hopefully we are heading that way too! We are still debating about whether to introduce the 10pm feed?????

Stepho – thanks sweetie. I got some great tips fro your discussion too!. Thank you for your advice on it taking time to intro a new routine. Fingers crossed. Good luck to you as well with your routine.

Twinmomma – I know what you mean about keeping up the feeds as they were early and small. My boys were slightly early and also small with time in special car,e so am not too concerned YET about dropping feeds. I wouldn’t like them to go to any less than 5 feeds per day at this stage. I also have one twin that feeds longer than the other. It’s the one that was the little one that feeds fast, as he had some catching up to do. They are both the same weight now but he is still the faster feeder. We are also thinking about the formula top up for the last feed at night to sustain them longer. We’ll see?????

Thanks so much everyone!!!!


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