Feeding Question

Hello all, I have a question about my eight week old twins. We have been feeding Good Start Comfort Formula (Green Can) and Breastfeeding since 5 weeks. They Seem miserable. We changed the formula to the GoodStart Comfort formula from the Goodstart Supreme upon the suggestion of our nutritionist. But we don't see her again until August.

At the moment our schedule (if you can call it that) is one baby gets a bottle and the other the breast, then they switch for the next feeding time. Has anyone else tried this approach? Is there a better way? I can't bear to give up Breastfeeding completely, but I don't have the energy to do it exclusively.

My big questions are how much should they be eating? (right now between 2-4 oz). They are 10 lbs. We try to feed at least four oz's at a time.
They are eating at intervals ranging from 1 1/2 - 2-3 hours.
I am concerned about over feeding? How do I know?

Right now they are spitting up a lot (two burp clothes each feeding).
They also have terrible gas! They scream every time they pass gas.
We are burping them like crazy/using mylecon/ and attempting to keep them upright for at least 30 inutes after they eat.

These are our first babies and we are so confused! We just want to do everything right. Can you guys let me know what you are doing/did?

BTW we are going to the DR. tomorrow for their 2 mo. check-up. I plan on covering this with her, any other suggestions for me to bring up would be welcome.

 

I alternated like you said, but gave up after a month. Spitting up and gas is pretty normal for newborns. You can try switching to a gentle formula (enfamil gentle ease or similac sensitive). That helped for us. Don't worry about overfeeding at this age. Let them eat all they want. Mine ate every 1.5 hours around the clock. They are big boys, but not obese, and doc said it's fine.

 

I also tried doing both at the beginning but gave up about a month later. I definitely don't think you are over feeding them! My ds and dd's 2 month appt. was last week. I KNOW my son is getting too much to eat - but will scream bloody murder if I try to give him less than his usual 7oz per feeding (every 3-4 hours, unless napping so avg. 30-34 oz per day). Last week he weighed 13lbs and my dr. still insists that he's fine and nothing to be concerned about yet. 13lbs is in the 80th percentile. Addison weighed 9lbs 13oz and is in the 20th percentile.

Kyle also has spitting up issues. We were able to get a free sample of Enfamil AR from the pedi and this has worked wonders! If you go to the Enfamil website, you can print out a coupon to take into the dr. and they will give you a free can (although my dr. said I didn't even need the coupon).

When we first came home from the hospital, we also used Good Start (because the pedi gave us free cans of it) and if I remember right, my babies had bad gas w/it too.

 

I alternated which baby breastfed in the beginning and then gradually switched over to breastfeeding both of them. (I still only breastfeed one baby before bed so I know each baby gets a good feeding). At that age, the bottle fed baby got 3 1/2 - 4 oz. every 3 hours. They either got EBM or formula. We've had good luck with the CostCo formula. Now I am almost exclusively breastfeeding and I'm glad I stuck with it. It's gotten so much easier. They are very efficient and each breastfeed for about 10 min. per feeding. It's nice not having to deal with bottles. The down side is that they eat very frequently (about every 2 hours).

I can't help you much with the gas issue. We did use the gas drops on occasion and they seemed to help.

Keep up the good work! It's great that your babies are getting some breast milk!

 

Have you talked to your dr about reflux? Yes some spit up and gas issues are normal for newborns, but them being miserable all the time could indicate a reflux problem.

Otherwise, we supplemented and/or alternated with formula for the first 6 weeks until I could tell I simply didn't have enough milk for two babies. They were very very gassy in the beginning. I didn't figure out until shortly after their 2 month appt that my dd actually had silent reflux. Now that we are on prevacid she's usually not miserable anymore, but still has some gassy/fussy periods.

I have tried good start, costco, walmart, walmart gentle, walmart sensitive and walmart soy formula for them. I had the best luck with good start at the very beginning, so we are back to good start as of today and trying it again, even though it costs a little more. You can definetly try alternative formula's to see if they help, and the knock off brand's are just as good as name brand ones.

Good luck I hope you can figure something out! :hug:

 

QUOTE(DoubleD @ Jun 25 2009, 05:17 PM) [snapback]1369155[/snapback]
Has anyone else tried this approach? Is there a better way? I can't bear to give up Breastfeeding completely, but I don't have the energy to do it exclusively.
Lots of moms have done and are doing exactly what you describe. Theres a great BFing forum here on TS, you should check it out if you get the chance. IT absolutely doesnt have to be all or nothing and I think its great that you're making the effort to breastfeed as well


My big questions are how much should they be eating? (right now between 2-4 oz). They are 10 lbs. We try to feed at least four oz's at a time.
They are eating at intervals ranging from 1 1/2 - 2-3 hours. I am concerned about over feeding? How do I know? If you are following their hunger cues you are probably feeding them just right. Make sure to use the slowest flow nipples you can find on the bottles. Most brestfed babies consume between 2-5oz per feed up until they reach 6 months of age so the amount sounds just fine.

Right now they are spitting up a lot (two burp clothes each feeding). When they spit up is it projectile or just regular? If its regular, it could just be a "laundry issue" as some call it but definitely discuss it with your pedi tomorrow.

 

Breastfeeding twins is sooooo hard! But once you get past the first month or so, it does get easier... Have you tried tandem feeding? It takes time to master but it's such a time saver. There's a lot of support in the breastfeeding forum if you haven't checked it out yet.
I bet your LO's are going through a growth spurt too, which involves frequent feedings - mine ate almost every hour, it was so exhausting. Spitting up a lot is pretty normal... just keep trying to keep them upright after they eat. I would feed my girls then stick them right in their bouncy chairs for a while.
Right now at 7 months my girls get one bottle a day (I bf the rest of the time) and they drink around 4.5 ounces... Sounds like your babes are good healthy weights, but that is a good question (bottle amount) for your ped at your next appt, have you tried giving them less to see if they seem content?
One suggestion for the 2-month appt is to give your babes tylenol beforehand for the shots... it helps.

 

I had very little milk but still would BF one and bottle feed the other (and I usually had to bottle feed the BF baby too as there wasn't enough after the 2nd month). I also pumped so I could bottle feed BM to the non Bfing baby. My boys were 33 weekers and I was lucky to get 3 oz in them at a feeding (and that wasn't until they were almost 4 months old) so I can't really answer your amount question. As for spitting up, Jake started spitting up at 3 months and we added rice cereal to his formula to keep it down. He didn't have reflux, just needed the formula to be thicker. I would DEF. talk to your pedi about the spit up. It could be reflux.

 

First, there is nothing wrong with BF and FF in any combination that works for you. Sometimes, the trick is finding a formula that works for them, and sometimes you have to try a few before finding that perfect one. Trying something different might help with the gassiness. I started with Goodstart but neither of my two did well on it & I ended up using something else (Enfamil I believe). As for overfeeding, it is possible with formula, not so much with BF, maybe your doctor will give you some good advice on that. I, personally, always just fed mine on demand at that age. I would BF them first, then top them off with a few ounces of formula. Other than that, some babies are just really gassy! I find it will usually ease up by 3 or 4 months, so not much longer hopefully!

 

I alternate just like you are. We are going on 5 months now with it. My DD spits up a ton, and was horribly miserable for the first 7 weeks, but now, although she still spits up, she is a happy baby.