bottle feeding two at once how do you do it?

for those of you who bottle feed, how do you do it when they both want to eat at the same time- does anyone use a bottle prop?if so which one do you use? so far I have been putting one twin in the boppy on one side and the other cradled in my arm, but it's not exactly comfortable- my twins are 10 weeks old. thanks

 

I use bottles and ALWAYS feed at the same time. I can even pump and feed both at the same time now! ha! Things get easier everyday. Most of the time I use both boppies sit on the couch or on the floor with my back against the couch and have one in a boppy on one side and one in a boppy on the other side, parallel with my body I think I have found that this is the easiest position. Sometimes I will sit in floor and use both boucny seats, or car seats. Few times I will put on in boppy, criss cross applesauce my legs and put the other one there and prop a pillow up under my knee where her head is, hope this gives you some ideas andhelps! GOOD luck!

 

You can do each one in a boppy, each one in a bouncy, or a combination and get in between them and hold their bottles. I often used a blanket to prop the bottle while I was holding the bottle since it made it easier for my arm/hand to hold it that way. I wasn't worried since I was holding the bottle and the prop was really just to relieve the pressure on my hand/arm.

Now that they are older, they both go in highchairs while I sit in between them on a chair and feed.

 

I too always feed them together. During the day I put them on thier so loved bouncer, with blankets to support the bottles and I would just sit next to them, watching and adjusting the bottles. At night I would lay them side by side on thier little pillows, in a full sized bed that we've set up in the babies room. Again with blankets to support the bottles . I know it's not recommended but it works for us and I am always watching them.

 

First let me say that I mainly used two contoured memory foam pillows when dual feeding my boys. They just seemed to roll around the boppy pillows because they were so small and we already had some of those contoured pillows which worked GREAT! That little dip in the pillow kept our boys in place when they were little and I could easily hold a bottle for both boys while sitting on the couch and having a baby in a pillow on each side of me. Even when I wasn't feeding babies simultaneously they were so handy because I could have each baby beside of me comfortably on the couch, allowing me to play with/sooth both at once. Here is a picture of me with those pillows on either side. We used those pillows until the boys were about 5 months old and on the verge of rolling off of them.

As for bottle props, I was obsessed with finding one, mainly for their nighttime feedings (because those contoured pillows only worked well on the couch). The styrofoam Milk Maid bottle props worked ok, but they are pretty light weight so I usually had to use a receiving blanket or something to keep it from falling over. The "bottle nanny" was the most versatile because it could easily hook on to their bouncy seat or car carrier. But the ring that fit around the bottle was VERY tight, and I had to boil it a few times just to get it loose enough to fit over Dr. Brown and Ventaire standard size bottles. Just google for those items and you can see what they look like. My advice would be to 1) not spend too much money on a self-feeder, as they never work perfectly for your needs and 2) if you do buy a self-feeder only buy ONE! Because I could always feed one baby myself, and I never needed both boys to self-feed at the same time.

 

On the floor in two bouncies. I still feed them that way. ^_^

 

I always bottle fed them at the same time - with each of them in a boppy on either side of me on the couch. Now that they have been able to hold their own bottles for the last couple of months it's a lot easier! I just put them in their bouncy seats and hand them their bottles. So there's something to look forward to!!

 

I sat between them with each one in a boppy. I did this until they were 14 months old and dropped bottles completely. I had to burp them a lot when they were really tiny, so I would prop the bottle with a receiving blanket or something while I burped one and then switched.

 

Do you all notice alot of drippage around their necks though? I have tried all the above (two bouncies, two high chairs, two boppies), but no matter what I try, when the milk comes out of their mouth at the edges it ends up soaking their shirt in the back or front and gets all in their neckline and is stinky. I know that will get better as the babies get a bit older and eat less messy, but yuk..I don't like that stinky smell of milk on their clothes/neck. I end up having to change them and wipe them down after each meal (which they HATE) if I don't hold one at a time to feed with a burp cloth under t;-)heir neck (which doesn't really stay under when I use any of the two at a time tricks)....What do you all do about that?

 

thanks for all the great advice ladies

 

how did i feed two at once? a picture is worth a thousand words.

that technique worked when i was hooked up to the pump and couldn't hold them close. when i was able to hold them i had a technique where i would sit on the floor with a swing on either side of me, cradle baby A in my lap while baby B swung, and i would feed with one hand while using the other hand to keep the paci in baby B's mouth. burp baby A, put him in the other swing, put baby B in my lap and repeat. swing with one hand, feed with the other.

 

I changed it up regularly. I would feed them in their carseats, and sometimes put a blanket/pillow underneath the bottle and prop it up while I burped, etc. Or I would take a couch pillow off and put the Boppy up against the back. I would squeeze them both into the Boppy and feed them their bottles with one hand. Here are a few photos.

Boppy Feeding 1


Boppy Feeding 2

I also would put one leg up and put a baby in the crook of my leg and feed him, while feeding another who was on the couch in the Boppy. Boy did I get me moneys worth out of those! :laughing:

 

I would sit on the couch (our old couch had a chaise at one end) and I would put them in my lap with one head on each thigh and their feet in the middle - I would be upside down from them but it worked...when they were newborns I ran to the store once and came home to find Tony with both of them laying on the dining room table in front of him on a blanket and feeding them!

 

I sit on the couch with a boppy seat on one side with the smaller guy in it. He sits facing the back of the couch or slightly turned so his feet are at my hip. I use a small pillow over his legs to suppport my arm. My bigger guy sits between my legs (my feet are propped on the edge of the coffee table). He sits the same way I'm sitting, facing out into the room. I find it very easy! Since I have DeQuervain's in both hands (aka Mother's Wrist), I had to find a way to feed them without needing to bend my wrists. This position works great!

 

now THAT is skill! :laughing:

 

i sat on some pillows on the floor, leaning against the couch with my feet up on the ottoman (i had slowwww eaters, so i had to get comfy), and they sat on either side of me in their bouncies or carseats.

 

:good: I did the same!

 

Boppy on both sides and I sat on the couch or on the floor.

 

I had to feed them seperately and they always wanted to be fed at the same time so i just fed whoever cried the loudest they had very bad silent reflux and used to stop breathing while on the bottle so had to be fed in arms they still have the reflux but i can now feed them in their fisherpri-e chairs so handy ,if yours will take it sit in the middle and feed them in their bouncy chairs or whatever chairs they have !
Ok ladies im from ireland whats a boppy?

 

LOL! Boppys are a pillow that can fit around your waist and you can rest the baby in there while you feed. Boppy. I used them for the entire year. Best purchase ever!

 

At that age bottle props never worked for us, I usually fed them in the bouncy seats or on my bed with pillows. Burping was horrible for us, on top of it Brandon had reflux and would spit up almost after every fed it made things double tough but we made through it. See what works for you guys and give it a few tries and you will get a hang of it and so will the babies. Hang in there.