Exclusively Breastfeeding

Hi Ladies, I started supplementing with Enfamil at 2 weeks. I just felt that my girls were still fussy after a feeding and weren't getting enough. For your info, I am an experienced nursing mom. I exclusively Bfed all three of my children and produced more than enough milk, also I never gave them any formula so I am new to the formula experience. My question is can the girls truly be satisfied by Bfeeding alone? I really want to eliminate the use of formula and stick with Bfeeding only.

Also, for those of you that exclusively Bfed, how did you have time to do anything other than Bfeed? Bfeeding takes up A LOT of time...double that of course with twins. Thanks.

 

Time - Have you tried tandem nursing? It is not always easy early on, but it really cuts down on the time you spend nursing (and nursing each one, then giving them a bottle must take even longer!). For the first couple of months, there were days when I had 20 minutes every two hours when I was not nursing. It was a huge commitment - much easier for me because they are our only kids. Also, your milk lets down faster when there are two babies nursing, so that speeds things up, too (though it can also be tough for them when your milk is REALLY in - it can take a week or two for them to get used to the flood.

Do you have the EZ2Nurse breastfeeding pillow?

Exclusive BF - I started with a pumped supplement during the day, and one formula feeding at night, and then switched to one pumped supplement at night at about 6 weeks, and then switched to nursing them when that became less time consuming than pumping while my husband took an hour to feed them one after the other. It is very possible to exclusively breastfeed, though you may need to do some work to get your body to replace the calories they are currently getting through formula. Pumping is the usual way to accomplish this.

Do you have a LC that you use? They can help you come up with a plan to wean off the formula gradually, and they are also very very helpful with figuring out how to tandem nurse.

Having said all of that, you may find that any plan takes time that you don't have if you're trying to take care of other children. There are lots of moms here that combine breastfeeding with formula in order to stay (relatively) sane and rested. BUT there are lots of women here who have exclusively nursed, too.

 

I also supplemented a little bit. My milk came in later than with my first, due to the girls' weak suck (I think). So I supplemented from day two until they were about two weeks old. After that I exclusively breastfed.

It's great that you are experienced and have the confidence that you can do it. That was huge for me, as I don't know if I would have persevered if I didn't have a positive experience with my first.

As PP said, for me, tandem was key. Yes it took time to get the hang or it. Yes, sometimes I fed when only one baby was ready, but really it didn't take long to get in the groove. The EZ 2 Nurse twins pillow was essential for us. And, just as I'm sure you know from your other children, it doesn't matter if it's one baby or two, but the first month or so you really are breastfeeding a majority of the day! But twins, just like singletons, will get faster and more efficient at nursing and then it's WAY better than messing with bottles and formula.

I'm sure you'll make the best decision for you and your family.

 

You absolutely CAN make more than enough milk to feed the girls! It's all supply and demand. The more you nurse, the more you'll make.

It's easy to get scared when they're fussy after feeding, especially when that's different from what you've seen with your other kids, but it really might be just them. And if you want to protect and boost your supply, the best thing to do is bring them right back to the breast. Even if they don't get much that time, that will trigger your body to make more milk next time.

If you do supplement, the one thing you want to avoid is topping off with a bottle after they nurse. Some babies get lazy and just wait for the bottle. And any milk they don't get from you is milk they're not telling your body to make. The key to supplementing successfully (if you go that route) is offering either the breast or the bottle at a feeding (hopefully pumping to make up for it if you're giving a bottle), but not both at once.

And if you want to get off supplements, you definitely can. I know you have a super busy life, but if you could enlist lots of help and do a nursing marathon that would really jump start your supply. Basically, that means just dedicating a couple days to doing pretty much nothing but nursing - get those babies on there whenever they'll take it, and let other people take care of as much of the rest of the work as possible.

If you get off supplements and you're worried about them getting enough, keep a diaper checklist - if they're peeing and pooping enough, they are getting enough, even if they're still fussing at you.

Good luck! You can do this! :clapping:

 

It is possible to make enough milk to satisfy them. I just reached my goal of 1 year, exclusively breastfeeding!!! At the very beginning (they were 35 weeks) the special care nursery had me supplementing with a bit of high calorie formula added to a bottle of breastmilk (for about 2 weeks) but I thought that was actually harder and more time consuming (to pump, bottle feed and breastfeed). I was going out of my mind!!!!!!! My pedi was very supportive and told me it was ok to exclusively breastfeed and I found that it was actually LESS time-consuming than all of the above, because I only had to focus on ONE thing! Don't get me wrong, breastfeeding twins at the beginning is super hard, especially when you have other children to attend to (at the time my other daughters were 3 and 5). With my first two kids it took about 6 weeks to feel like I was over that initial hump and could enjoy the rest of the ride. With my twins I would say it took twice as long, but once they hit that little bit of a routine it got a lot easier and I really have enjoyed it. They are a year now and now i"m just going to ride it out and see how it goes. So if you really want to do it, it certainly is possible. It might just mean some evenings of cluster feeding like you've never experienced before!!!!! I would tape my shows and put my butt on the couch and just nurse, nurse, nurse and stop trying to figure out if they were satisfied or not. I just kept telling myself, "supply and demand." Good luck! You can do it! Especially if you have the experience of breastfeeding other children...I found it to be a confidence boost. Try to get some rest! You are doing a great job!

Shannon
p.s I know many people mentioned tandem nursing and the EZ nursing pillow. I didn't tandem feed much at all and could never quite get the hang of that pillow...although I tried so many times and I was getting really frustrated with it. So I just fed the babies back-to-back, one at a time to try to keep some sort of schedule. So if tandem works for you great, but it is possible to do one at a time also.

 

We're exclusively Breastfeeding as well - no supplements. DD was mostly formula fed until about 4 weeks old while she worked on her latch - then worked her way up to exclusively nursing by then end of 5 weeks old. Tandem doesn't work well for us - I find that they are always fussy and wanting more after a tandem nurse - maybe it's because I hate tandem nursing and rush them, maybe their latch isn't as good - I don't know. But like Shannon, we feed back-to-back every three hours. We have the EZ 2 Nurse pillow - and I still use it sometimes, but right now we usually just park ourselves down and nurse on a regular nursing pillow. In the first few weeks that they were both exclusively nursing, I did worry if they were getting enough - however they seemed happy and are gaining well - and I've just stopped being concerned.

There are absolutely some evenings that they cluster like crazy and I don't have a lot of time in between - but I eat dinner with one nursing - read stories to my daughter and try to do as much as I can while I've got a baby eating!

It's a different experience than nursing one - and sometimes it's draining, but it sounds like you're determined and you can do it

 

I had to supplement in the hospital because of glucose issues, but we've been strictly breastfeeding since they came home (I'm actually nursing as I type this). I'll second what a few others have said. It's supply and demand, the more you nurse, the more milk you will make. You have to trust your body. I tandem nurse with the EZ2nurse pillow and it's awesome. I use a football position and it leaves my hand completely free (enough that I can type and nurse). Nursing has been one of the easier parts of twins for me.

 

Heck yes, they can! Something they told me in the Breastfeeding class I took before I had the boys stuck with me- (this is kinda sad, but inspiring) women who were slaves successfully breastfed up to 6 children at a time.

I second, third, fourth, fifth everyone else- your body can make PLENTY of milk for your girls. After all, a 9 month old takes way more out of a breast than a 4 week old does (in one session). Your body adapts to whatever nursing pressure you put it under.

We didn't start tandem nursing until they were a week or 2 old... it's awesome. It frees up your time considerably: You don't have to pump. You don't have to wash/dry/sterilize bottles (or pump parts!). You don't have to heat bottles. You don't have to make up the formula... or go to the store to get it! You just take down the shirt & put the pillow on. It's so simple (especially at home where discretion is out the window at my house!) :rotflmbo: Yeah, the growth spurts are kinda annoying, but they are much better than the alternative- and they don't last but a couple of days.

I agree with the pp, too. At night I tandem with our iPod & go on facebook or twinstuff. My hands are free to do whatever with the EZ 2 Nurse pillow. I now have 1 for the car & 1 for the house!

If it were me, I would drop 1 of the supplemental bottles & then 're-feed' them about 1.5 hours later (just b/c they are used to the bottle to be topped off with), then stretch it out from 1.5 hours back to 2 or 2.5.

Good luck!

 

I didn't read all the responses, but wanted to say that I exclusively bf'd our twins. I started tandem from the first feed and never looked back. I even brought the awesome EZ-2-Nurse pillow to the hospital! I totally recommend the pillow and tandem nursing. then you are not taking double the time and you're saving by not having to prepare and wash bottles.

good luck eliminating the supplements, many people have been able to get off of supplement and been able to exclusively bf. you can do it!

p.s. I don't know how often you are feeding, but we fed close to every 2.5 hrs for the first 3 months or more... not sure if you are trying to go longer or not... maybe if you feed them closer in time together they would feel full enough to get to the next feed?

 

I haven't successfuly EBF twins... however I have worked my supply up from about 8oz in a day to a full 30oz to replace the supplemental bottles my twin ds was getting. Long story...but my twin dd wouldn't do both bottle and breast, and I had to supplement the twins because they kept losing weight. Anyway, I'm totally confident that if you have EBF other kids, and you are already supplying more than half of what your twins are taking in then you can get them both over to entirely bf. But you will have to prepare yourself for a week or two of 'nursing marathons' to get your supply up. Tandom nursing would work great to get your supply up. If they are fussy after a nursing, then try nursing them again in a few minutes. See if you can go a whole morning nursing them as much as they possibly want. Just do this for as long in the day as you possibly can, and then offer the bottle when you just HAVE to get a break. Each day try to extend the number of hours you continue your 'marathon' only offering the bottle when you are about to crack up from nursing so much. It's not easy, but it should only take 2-3 weeks total of this at MOST to get your supply up. In your case it might take even less time. My body tends to take 24 hours to produce one more ounce. So you demand an oz more, and 24 hours later that oz is there and you can demand another oz. So to go from my 8oz total to enough to satisfy my 7 week old ds took me about 2-3 weeks. But it paid off, and at the end of those weeks I was nursing him more like a normal baby with an hour or two in between feedings.

 

Thanks Ladies! I am now down to only about 6-8oz per twin each day. I have been nursing more and more often...on demand with some tandem feedings...although I prefer to nurse each twin one at a time.

The issue I am dealing with now is painfully dry, cracked, and some bleeding nipples. I am 5 weeks in so why is this still an issue? I'm about to call a lactation consultant so that I can get some help. This pain has gone on too long. I also think I see signs of thrush in the girls mouths. I've been using PureLan for the dryness and I even took some ibuprofen today. I am hopeful it will work.

Thanks again for all of the great suggestions. Nursing marathon here I come.

 

Whoohoo! Great job! I'm glad it's working for you! :woo:

Sorry about the nipple pain, though! The LC should be able to determine if there's an issue with their latch. And if you suspect thrush in any of you, it's worth a trip to the doctor to nip that in the bud. By all means be religious about the lanolin. I hope it gets better soon!