Breastfeeding right after birth?

Hi all,

So I am diving into the world of breastfeeding and am having a hard time finding information about breastfeeding twins right after birth.

I guess first off I should ask (assuming a normal vaginal delivery of 2 healthy full term babies) - after you birth your first twin, what happens? Do you get a minute to hold him/her, or are you in so much pain you don't want to and they whisk him/her away? And then after the second one maybe you'll feel up to holding them?

So then my question is - is there time between births to feed the first baby, or is that a totally ridiculous thought? And then after the second baby, how do you choose which one to feed first?

I really don't want to have to pump & bottle feed unless totally necessary (preemies or other medical necessity).

Please, tell me your stories - what happens in the first couple of hours?

 

Well I had a c/s...and since that's always a possibility with twins, I'll share my experience

My twins were born just 1 minute apart. They had already warned me that the recovery rooms were too small for twins, so one twin would be in the room next door, and once they were checked over and wrapped up, they would be brought into my room with the other twin.

Baby A was my son, and while they were digging baby B (my daughter) out, he was doing some funny breathing. By the time baby B was out and getting cleaned up, and my obgyn was tying my tubes, they decided he needed to go to the NICU for observation. So, when they wheeled me out of the operating room and into the recovery room, my baby B was there. Within 30 minutes I was nursing her (once the feeling in my arms came back enough to hold her).

If my son had been there, the plan was to nurse them one at a time, one after the other one. That's how all our nursing sessions went for the next 5-6 weeks. Generally my daughter woke up first, starving!! So she nursed first, then i woke my sleepier son up and nursed him second.

 

I had a vaginal delivery. My babies were born 8 minutes apart with the help of a small dose of Pitocin to remind my body to keep contracting. The first thing was that both babies were examined in the delivery room and it was decided that they would need no NICU time or extra care. Then we were all wheeled back to the normal l&d room (I had been in a c section room just in case) where I was able to feed them. There was not much difference in the amount of time before I was able to feed them versus my singleton experience.

As to which to feed first, I went with first born and fussiest.

Babies don't need a whole lot of milk those first few days out of the womb so some delays will not cause too many issues. After I fed the girls the first time they were taken off to the nursery and I had to wait for a room to be open on the maternity ward. The wait was 5 hours and the girls did fine & I didn't have to pump. Just make sure the nurses, doctor, etc are aware of your desire to breastfeed.

 

Oh and one of the biggest things that I found to be helpful when I had my oldest was to ask the nurse to make sure that she latched properly the first time. She watched me latch her on and helped guide us both to a good first experience. While something like that isn't necessary to a good breastfeeding experience in the long term, it certainly helped me feel a lot more confident in what I was doing. If that type of support isn't available at first, do take advantage of any LCs or nurses that are knowledgeable about breastfeeding.

I was lucky enough to be in a hospital that supports breastfeeding pretty well so it's standard practice to make sure that you get the opportunity to breastfeed within the first hour of life unless medically contraindicated. And they do not provide formula/bottles/sugar water to the babies unless specifically asked for by the parents or doctor. If your hospital isn't as breastfeeding-friendly, it may be a little more difficult but certainly do-able.

Last piece of advice (I swear!), if the hospital offers a breastfeeding class, GO! Or if you end up on bed rest, send your spouse/mother/best friend/neighbor. That would be a really good way to find out what is common practice at the hospital that you will be delivering at.

 

In a hospital setting, it'll likely take a little longer than if you were in a birth center or at home to have some undisturbed time with your babies to nurse. That being said, if your twins are term & healthy, there's no reason at all that baby A shouldn't be put skin to skin with you immediately after birth until your body starts pushing for baby B. During that time baby A may or may not nurse (if s/he DOES nurse it will actually help bring baby B as nursing stimulates your uterus to contract). It's likely you would need to negotiate this with your care provider if it's important to you though as it wouldn't be the routine way of doing things.

And in regards to the pain - immediately after birth, your hormones create this incredible cocktail of goodness that essentially erases much of what you just felt & causes you to want to love on your baby (not always & some women experience this to varying degrees of intensity but there's a reason that first hour after birth is known as the golden hour). It's pretty phenomenal.

 

I breastfed after my C-section as well. Both babies were weighed, measured, cleaned off, then after I was sewn up in the OR/recovery room the nurses immediately helped me nurse A, which I barely remember, and B, who I vividly remember as he latched on crazy well.

I would also add you can have a pain free birth- check out Hypnobabies. It's a time commitment but I only had a moment of 'pain' while Annabelle came out (which was probably due to her hand being by her face while she came out). It was soooo quick and easy (2 hours from the time I got to the room-@ 3cm to when she was born) that I went from being terrified of giving birth to now, where I'd rather give birth than go to the dentist. :lol:

After my vaginal birth I had a complication so I didn't nurse right away. It has not mattered- Annabelle has never had a drop of formula and latched on properly right away.

 

I nursed Sydney before Sabrina was born. They were an hour and 6 minutes apart, because Sabrina turned transverse after Sydney was born, and she wouldn't budge. So I was getting prepped for a c-section when her water broke and she dropped breech (the dr grabbed her feet and she was out in one push). This was in the main OR because the maternity OR ventilation system was broken. But I had a great relationship with my Dr. I had talked to her a lot about what I wanted my birth to be like, if possible. I'd talked to the nurses about wanting to breast feed right away, too. It was also a BFing friendly hospital. So my point is that it's totally possible to BF right after birth (barring major complication, of course), but it really helps to have lots of communication with the care providers who'll be helping you, and to check out what the general hospital policies about it are, too.

 

I had a vaginal delivery (induced). Baby A had respiratory distress after he was born so we did not skin to skin or BF as he was taken to the NICU for overnight observation. I was able to skin to skin with Baby B right away and BF him as soon as we were out of the OR (where it is protocol to deliver twins in case a C section is needed). I then expressed colostrum for Baby A which was given to him in his isolette before he was even taken to the NICU. I then BF'd both babies on their separate floors until we were reunited the next day, which was hard but worth it. I agree with PPs that it is critical that EVERYONE who is caring for you and your babies know about your intent to BF so bottles are not snuck in. Good luck!

 

I did want to mention that if bottles are used, it's really not the end of the world. All four of my kids had some formula in the hospital for different reasons, and I had to supplement the twin off and on for the first 6 wks before deciding formula was going to work better for us. I nursed my oldest son for 6 months and my oldest daughter for 3 months exclusively, while it doesn't seem long, I could easily have gone longer, we just chose to switch to formula for various reasons