How to Succeed at Breastfeeding in the First Three Months With Twins
Congratulations, you’ve decided to breastfeed your twins! Apart from the perhaps not so obvious convenience and cost saving benefits, you are doing your little ones an enormous favor. Breast milk as you probably know is far more nutritious and easier to digest than formula and is likely to have a rake of benefits we haven’t even discovered just as yet.
Breastfeeding one baby takes skill and know how and breastfeeding twins takes twice the skills and knowledge. It is always good to have an experienced midwife by your side when you are starting off, as she will be there to show you how to get started.
First Things First: Learning How to Latch On Correctly
After the birth of your twins it is best to start breastfeeding one baby at a time, just until each baby has learned how to latch on correctly and gets used to feeding. If you are a first-time mom, you will also have to get accustomed to positioning yourself and your baby correctly and most importantly to latching on your baby for best feeding. Don’t be afraid to ask your midwife to show you the best latching on techniques! While this may seem tricky at the beginning, moms and babies instinctively soon get the hang of it, start to relax and get into a good feeding rhythm. There is nothing quite like the closeness a breastfeeding mom feels with her baby, so enjoy!
Moving on: Best Simultaneous Feeding Positions
Once each of your twins is used to latching on and is feeding well, you may either continue to breastfeed one baby at a time or do what the majority of breastfeeding moms of twins do, move on to simultaneous feeding. This takes a bit of extra skill and there are various techniques and positions to try out.
The most important thing is to make yourself comfortable and try out what position suits you and your babies best.
Take a look at the images below and study the most common positions:
You are going to have to try out all the different positions and see which of them suits you and your babies best. Remember to opt for comfort and make sure to use pillows to support you and your babies. It’s worth investing in a twin breastfeeding pillow. The additional support a pillow provides will be invaluable once your little ones start to get a little heavier, your arms, back and shoulders will thank you for it!
Milk Supply: Are My Babies Getting Enough
Most first-time breastfeeding moms will worry about their milk supply and wonder if their baby is getting sufficiently well fed. This is even more of an issue for moms breastfeeding twins, however, you can rest assured that your body will adjust its milk production to the needs of your babies. The more your babies feed, the more milk your body will produce.
Some moms keep a daily record of each baby’s feeds and subsequent diapers to ensure that each one of their little darlings is getting a fair share. On occasion it happens that one baby feeds a lot more than the other, but you will notice and make sure that no one will go hungry.
Ultimately, you can trust yourself and your body completely, as nature really does have a way of working everything out just fine.
Don’t Forget to Eat Well
Breastfeeding moms can find themselves so busy that they may have a tendency to put their own needs on the back burner. Don’t! Your body is going to need a whole load of extra calories and nutrition, enough to sustain you and your babies and keep a good supply of milk. Eat plenty of good, nutritious food for your babies and yourself!
Those moms who have breastfed their twins would do so again as it is one of the most wondrous experiences one may ever be privileged enough to go through!
Please share with us in the comments your experience with breastfeeding!
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This is going to help lots of parents out there who are wondering about this. I formula fed, so it was easy for me 🙂
This is such an important topic, I am sure having twins and breastfeeding can be difficult for the new mom. I breastfed all three of my kiddos for varying amounts of time and recall how difficult it was for just one baby at a time. I am glad you wrote this so others are inspired to find a way to make it work!
I made it about 4 months with my twins, and used all of these tips. Sadly it didn’t work and that is okay. It took me a few weeks to stop putting myself down about it, but sometimes you do the best you can and it’s just not in the cards.
I always wondered how it was even possible with twins. I have lyme disease and the doctors told me not to breastfeed at all. Looks like you have some awesome tips to share.
Getting a good latch from the start is super important. I may soon be tandem nursing. My almost 3-year-old still nurses at bedtime, and my third is due later this fall.
I chose to bottle feed so I don’t know a ton about breastfeeding. It seems like this could be helpful for a new mom who’s just learning.
These are great tips!! I struggled with nursing one so I know twins would be a lot of work to keep nursing.
Great tips, those are precious little girls that you have there, breastfeeding for one is hard sometimes kudos for you