Introduction thread

I was thinking it would be great to have a thread where we shared a little bit about ourselves and journey with bfing/pumping. I know there is the success thread also, but I this could be more about just sharing.

 

I'll start
I have been bfing for almost 19 months now, when I think back I myself am astonished by that, lol. My first goal was 6 months and suprisingly once I hit that I felt like there was no way I was going to stop after making it that far!!! The biggest hindrance for my bfing relationship in the beginning was nipple shields, while they allowed me to bf it also made it love/hate alot of the time. I finally got ds off it at 3 months and dd at 6 months.
I went back to work at 6 months and pumped at work until 15 months, that was DEFINITLY love/hate, loved providing ebm, but hated that pump.

I am now bfing support chair for my local twins club and find myself trying to educate all pg/new moms about bfing/pumping (in a nice way ). I like to scrapbook, read, workout, watch some tv and especially treasure the times dh is at home to help me

Who's next??

 

hi there-
love this board as you are all so helpful! i've been bfing for almost 5 months. started out from day 1 tandem feeding and have only recently begun feeding individually at night as i no longer wake 1 twin when the other wakes to feed them both. i have reached and passed my first 2 goals of 6 wks and 3 months. my next goal is 6 months- but i really feel like i will keep going for at least a year as long as my supply keeps up. my biggest downfall is questioning my supply- and my biggest help has been the twin moms on this board keeping me going! i do give 1 bottle of ebm/formula mix at bedtime , mostly so dh could part. in feeding too. i pump to replace that feed though so i have a nice little stash of frozen ebm. i never seem to pump as much as i know my girls get when they nurse on their own though... oh, and i love how i am now less than my pre pg weight and can eat more than my dh due to bfing!
i like to read, do yoga/pilates, surf (though haven't since the girls have come...), garden and be outside with the dog and my girls (which is difficult now that it is winter in boston)
heather
lily and sofi are 5 months on 1/14

 

That is very exciting that you chair that breastfeeding support group! Awesome! :clapping:

Hi, I'm Jackie! I nursed my twins for 26.5 months. I never had a goal, but when dh would ask me the question I got a lot (from others) "How much longer?," I would say about 18 months. I dealt with thrush and an inefficient nurser. My most frustration came with dd who loved bottles, even though she was barely supplimented with EBM at birth. I started out figuring that I could do it and it never ever occured to me that I would not be able to breastfeed twins. They were my first experience & I relied on this forum to help me through some rough spots! I can't wait to breastfeed my coming son!

Next! :hi:

 

I just posted another thread but....

we have made it to 10 months exclusively BFding!! NO BOTTLES ever!! (that is just a personal accomplishment) the babies are about 18 lbs each and on table food now, we nurse about 4 times every 24 hours, pretty much just nursing to sleep or back to sleep. I am starting to consider weining but we are in no hurry! Thanks for letting me update.

 

I am Stacie and I have been breastfeeding my twinkies for almost 18 months.... it makes me proud because I only bf'd dd1 for six weeks... the difference is that I had more bfing knowledge this time.... my first goal with the twinkies was three months... but now it looks like there is no end in sight... and that is fine with me.

I am actually considering a change in career to a lactation consultant someday because of my success and passion for bfing....

 

Hey ladies! My little ones are 8 1/2 months old now, and we're still EBF. I was so nervous this time around to try and BF. With my first son I had a horrible experience that included bleeding nipples, mastitis lasting for 3 months resulting in a giant abscess in my breast that had to be surgically removed, horrible supply issues, blah blah blah. It was basically the worst case scenario! I was so determined to do it this time around, but so scared I just couldn't do it. With a LOT of help from the board I felt like I got off to a good start. The babies ate every 45 minutes or so in the beginning, and since tandem feeding was really hard for me the first few months I did nothing but feed a baby all day long! I got up a billion times a night it felt like, but it was so worth it! Now they are sleeping through the night, happy as clams and it looks like we're in for smooth sailing until we reach my goal of 12 months! I can't believe I'm just a few months away. Lately my ds lets me know he's done eating by blowing zerberts on my boob! It's so funny! dd has bitten me a couple of times, but seems to have gotten the memo that momma doesn't like that! I just love them to bits....and being able to BF them has been very satisfying and rewarding!

Reyna

 

QUOTE(Mothership @ Jan 8 2008, 11:10 PM) [snapback]563564[/snapback]
I am Stacie and I have been breastfeeding my twinkies for almost 18 months.... it makes me proud because I only bf'd dd1 for six weeks... the difference is that I had more bfing knowledge this time.... my first goal with the twinkies was three months... but now it looks like there is no end in sight... and that is fine with me.

I am actually considering a change in career to a lactation consultant someday because of my success and passion for bfing....



I could have written this post... exactally!!! LOL

 

Hello, I have been breastfeeding for almost 6 months now! We had a bit of a rough start with my DS who had breast narcolepsy - didn't want to eat, just wanted to lie near the breast and snooze!!! I got him to latch after a week or so and he hasn't wanted to get off since! DD has been a champ from day 1. Teeth are almost through - oh I don't look forward to that.
I BF my DS1 for 13 months - he weaned himself which was a bit sad. I also made short term goals, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, etc. Now I hope to continue for as long as they are interested.
This board has been so helpful and a great source of support - things I haven't always found from the medical community. I look forward to the 6 month check up to continue to surprise the pedi - she is great, just didn't want me to be discouraged if I had to supplement, but non so far.

 

Hi -

I've been nursing my boys for 2 months now. First I was pumping full time while they were in the NICU and now we're exclusively breastfeeding (except for the occasional bottle of EBM when I need to get out of the house). I hate tandem feeding (it's still difficult) so I just nurse one after another, even at night. I go back to work full-time in 2 weeks so I'll have to pump during the day.

I bf my first son for 7 months while working 60 hr weeks.

 

Hello all...

I've been around here a while. At almost 28 months, my boys are nursing 3 times a day (although I don't refuse if they want to nurse more) and ALWAYS tandem. I could be an advertisement for the EZ-2-Nurse pillow :lol:

My guys were full term and aside from some soreness, we had a pretty smooth start. I knew I didn't want to supplement and that I wanted to make it to 12 months but I would not have guessed that we'd still be nursing at 28 months.

Feel free to ask me questions -- I like to help people. Just don't ask me when we're going to stop because I hate that question! <_<

 

Hi all! :wavey:

My girls and I are still going strong at almost 13 months! My initial goal was to make it to a year, and now that we're here, I'm not ready to stop! I think in my sleep deprived twinfant stage I thought it would be like a switch going off and magically at one year, we'd just be done!

Of course this could also have been a by-product of the fact that I didn't particularly care for nursing in the beginning! I only kept up because I truly believe it's the best for the babies (lots of other benis now, but then, that was it!). I unfortunately had a few c-section complications after the girls birth and had to have nurses come in twice/day to pack and change dressings, and during that time, if I heard one more time, what a wonderful bonding experience nursing was, I was going to punch someone in the head!

But then at 8 weeks a light switch went off and I got it! And here we are!

We did supplement with bottles after each feed for a little while, but were able to stop after a couple of months. I just took the plunge! Other than that and sleepy newborns, we were really lucky and didn't experience a lot of difficulty.

Like a pp, I didn't ever anticipate that I wouldn't be able to bf twins! And unlike a lot of folks, I had extremely supportive medical folks so I know that helped. Actually the LC that taught our BFing class was a successful nursing mom of twins! And the nurses at the hospital were great too.

If I suggest any one thing to pregnant moms, have your DH/SO go to the BFing class (if you take one). Without DH's support, we wouldn't have made it this far!

But about me: I love to read, I actually get cranky if I don't have a book to read. Love to garden. Play softball on a co-ed (glorified beer league) team. And love, love, love photography. None of these things do I get to do nearly enough any more. But I also, love, love, love my girls, and as they get bigger I can't wait to do these things with them!

 

Oh, what a fun thread to read!

10.5 months here and still going strong.

I pumped for the babies while they were in the NICU. DD took to the breast right away, DS was on bottles for months, but I successfully transitioned him to the breast. At first, he had a very weak suck, but now he is a greedy little piglet. When he nurses, he looks like a little Pac-Man with his jaw working away, and DH can hear him chugging even if he's in another room of the house! DD likes to take her time, stop and smell the roses...

We tandem nurse all day (except when one baby wants mommy all to him/herself). They still like to nurse maybe 6-8x/day (if I had to guess - I don't actually count), on top of 3 meals. I wouldn't mind having a little more freedom, but I'm so happy they still like to nurse! It's so good for them, and I enjoy the cuddling a lot - I hope they'll want to continue as long as some of the other twinkies I'm reading about on this thread. I'm planning to let them nurse as long as they want to.

Now that we're partway through cold/flu season, we're really seeing the benefits of BFing. The babies have practically never been sick. DD had a fever once when she was ~1 mo. They both had a cold this fall, but it was very, very mild, didn't even slow them down or mess with their sleep much. Yay for antibodies!

QUOTE
I love to read, I actually get cranky if I don't have a book to read.


Me too! I read whenever I get a chance. As in, 3 cheers for napping babies.

 

Hello all! We are at 8 months, going strong with the nursing. My girls' did great from the start, so for that I am grateful. We are doing well with solids, but they get so excited when they see the "pink pillow", it's pretty hilarious! We are still up usually twice at night to nurse and they won't take a bottle (I got lazy and stopped giving them one once I quit my job to stay home and so they got spoiled for the breast!), but otherwise things are great. Whenever I get a bit frustrated, I just stop by the formula aisle at the store and think -- "I'm worth at least $1000 this year AND I get to eat as much as I want!!"

I don't think I could have done it this long without you guys, this site has been great and so helpful! Thank you ladies!

Erica.

 

QUOTE(debid @ Jan 8 2008, 11:14 PM) [snapback]563980[/snapback]
Feel free to ask me questions -- I like to help people. Just don't ask me when we're going to stop because I hate that question! <_<


When do you think you'll stop?
couldn't resist.

I'm Liesel. I have a son who is 14 (and knows more than the rest of the world all of the sudden ). I BF him for only 6 weeks. I was young (21) and didn't have any role models or help and I was selfish and nervous so I stopped. With the twins I was committed to BF and set a goal of 6 months. Well, the first several weeks were so hard that I changed my goal to 6 weeks again. I'm happy to say I made it through the really rough patch. I now have a goal of one year. I don't love BF in it's entirety but I do love some elements of it. I am forever trying to get my girls to take a bottle so that I can give them EBM and get away for a few hours but so far no luck. That's my only real problem with BF now. Other than that, I'm happy to keep going! Much thanks to this forum and all of the helpful ladies because there is NO WAY I would have continued without it.

My other interests include reading, cooking and I am a singer/songwriter currently writing my first lullaby album (never thought I'd be writing lullaby's...so fun).

Thanks for the thread it's super fun to hear more about all of you!

 

i have to second angela's comment about not being able to do it without dh's help and support. it is a good idea for any expecting mult. moms to try and educate yourself and dh/so about bfing before giving birth.
great reading about everyone's experiences!

 

Hi.. I've been nursing my twinkies mostly exclusively for 15 months - thanks to the ladies here. I only nursed my oldest a few weeks (6 - 10) and supplemented heavily the whole time. I'm hugely successful thanks to this forum!

 

Hello Ladies! My twins are 2 and a half months old now. I have had a few days where I wanted to quit, because I felt like I wasn't supplying enough for them. Yet, I have stuck with it, mainly because I am stubborn and when I was pg people looked at me like I was crazy when I said I would be BF! I ttold one lady, "why not? I have two, one for each!" Yet, if I knew how hard it would have been I probably would not have even considered it. But, I am so glad to have stuck with it, and I really don't have a goal. I still take it one day at a time.
I pump for thair last feed at night so DH can feed them and I can get a little break. It's nice watching dh feed them.
I probably would not be able to do this if it had not been for the LC at the hospital. She really spent alot of time with me and the boys and I am so thankful for her. Thanks to all you ladies on the board for your support and posting your concerns as well.

Oh YEah, other interest...I like to do mosaics, which I have not done in a while, and going out to eat, which I haven't done in a while.

 

Hi everyone. I don't post on here often (due to lack of time) but I'm always lurking.

My boys are 3 1/2 months old (6 weeks adjusted). I pumped for the 8 weeks they were in the NICU and had fantastic supply. They were both great latchers and I nursed them exclusively for about 3 weeks after they came home. I had no luck tandem feeding (due to typical preemie feeding issues - they both would choke and stop breathing often so it was just too hard to do both at the same time). After 3 weeks spending my whole day (and night) in the glider, I decided to pump for them instead. It's been a great decision for me. I currently pump just 3 times a day (for about 30 minutes) and get enough for about 4 of their typical 6 feedings a day. They get frozen breast milk for one more feed and formula for the other. I hated giving formula the first time but I'm getting over the guilt and think this way works well for us. Eventually we'll run out of the frozen milk and have to increase the amount of formula they get but I'm proud that they are still getting mostly breast milk.

 

It's so fun to find out more about everyone here - you all feel like friends already, and it's nice to have a better sense of who you are.

I could just borrow quotes from all of the above posts to describe our experience. Ignorance was bliss for us - I'd always known I would breastfeed and never got around to rethinking that when we learned there were going to be two babies to feed. My initial goal was 1 year, which I revised to 6 weeks after a few days of reality, then 6 months (how did we get here already?), and now a year. I still question whether they're getting enough at every single feeding - partly because Jack just happens to be a 5th percentile baby and partly because I'm wired that way - but they seem to be healthy and happy little guys.

When not nursing I love to read, cook and sew. I've managed to get the reading going again (An Instance of the Fingerpost is currently in the co-sleeper, which has now become a bedside table), but haven't spent much time with my sewing machine in the last 6 months. As for cooking, we've just entered the world of solids and I'm having all kinds of fun learning how to make food as smooth and textureless as humanly possible, but I can't wait to offer something that isn't orange or white.

 

Hi, I am Nichole, 32 yr old single mother, I have been breastfeeding my girls since day 1, they are almost 3 months old now.

I knew as soon as I found out I was pregnant that I was going to breastfeed, my feeling on it is 'why else would we have boobs if not to feed from?!?' I have also heard, since I announced I was pregnant with twins, that 'you CANT breastfeed twins' etc. I got almost no support in the breastfeeding department just funny looks. (I get support and much kudos on everything else though!) Even still to this day I hear things like 'WHEN you give them formula' or 'ONCE they get teeth and you stop'. To each their own, but I would not give my girls formula.

Occassionally my girls get a bottle and they hate them!! But I am going to start giving them a few a week to get them used to them so I can go back to work and maybe even go out without worrying that they are not eating.

My other interests are changing diapers, learning nursery rhymes, just kidding.... I love comics, music (I cant wait to see a live band again!), movies (another reason I want my girls to take a bottle I want to see Sweeney Todd!), video games (I'm a kid at heart) and tattoos (not your typical 'mommy').

 

Sue, mom to Peyton and Paige (2.5 year) and Chloe 15 months. Breast fed P&P for 6 months. Still feeding Chloe mommys milk. I plan to let her wean when she is ready.
I enjoy walking, shopping, reading, and hanging out w/family nd friends.

 

QUOTE(hudsonfour @ Jan 12 2008, 05:39 PM) [snapback]569477[/snapback]
Sue, mom to Peyton and Paige (2.5 year) and Chloe 15 months. Breast fed P&P for 6 months. Still feeding Chloe mommys milk. I plan to let her wean when she is ready.
I enjoy walking, shopping, reading, and hanging out w/family nd friends.



Not at all to do with this subject but a friend of mine just had twins and she named them Payton (with an A) and Paige too!! Just thought it was interesting! LOL

 

I'm Melissa. I live in Charleston, WV and am a SAHM to my three. I nursed Catherine and Andrew (now 3) for the whole first year. They were 6 weeks early and had trouble nursing at first, so I pumped for the first 3 months for them and them breastfed exclusively until after their first bday when they self-weaned. Elizabeth is 8.5 months old and is exclusively breastfeeding. I will continue to nurse her as long as she is interested!

 

Hi I'm Ericka

I had my boys Jack and James on May 10th 2007, so they are a little over 8 months old. I had a really hard time nursing them at first, it was really painful. We went through thrush, and mastitis and just overall cracked painfull nipples. I was really determined to nurse them with the help of all the ladies on this board and my family. I ended up almost exclusively pumping and giving ebm for almost 3 months. I was about to quit when the ladies on here encouraged me to really give nursing a try for one solid week. After that they were almost exclusively bf with the occasional suppliment, by that time I was soooo sick of pumping. I am still nursing them about 3 times a day but do give formula when I want to go out and I have finally become "ok" with that. I have had a lot of supply issues everytime something changes (solids, more solids, distracted baby and so on)but am determined to nurse them until my goal of 12months. I am currently working on building my supply up again because my son Jack had recently been refusing to nurse, there is just too much going on for him to pay attention and stay latched. We are getting out of that phase and things are getting easier again. I am sooooo glad and proud that I have nursed them this long. Also they have only had 2 minor colds since they were born. Yay bf!!!!

 

My name is Megan and my story is totally different. BFing has been very hard for me, but I refuse to give up. It began when my boys were in the NICU and I was getting 20cc combined with the pump. When they got home, one would latch and the other wouldn't. Nipple shields became my friend and the second eventually latched well. Unfortunately, my supply increased to only 35cc combined with fenugreek and although I know the boys were getting more than that it wasn't enough. So I'm happy to say that I'm very happy with my current situation. I BF each boy every other feeding and follow up with formula. They usually drink 30cc's less than the other baby so I know they are getting something from me. It makes me feel good that they are getting something from me and having that connection, but it is also nice to know that they are getting everything else they need from the formula.

I plan on continuing this until they want to stop. Thank you all for your support as I was going through my first two months of supply issues.

 

Hello!

I'm Lynn and I'm currently exclusively breastfeeding my twins who were born on the 20th Dec. I've breastfed my other two children and been through loads of problems before- this time so far everything is going ok!

In my spare time I'm a breastfeeding "community mum" here in Scotland- a bit like a lactation consultant. Before the twins came along I'd help out in the maternity wards and with post natal mums at home with establishing and maintaining their breastfeeding.

 

Hi! Wow - there are a lot of breastfeeding pros here!

Mine are are almost four months old. After trying for three years, we finally got pg on our 6th try of IVF. Yeah, not many people will punish themselves with so many tries - but these babies are so wonderful, I'd do it all again in a moment. I feel so blessed to have twins - I actually find myself feeling sorry for people who only have one baby, because I feel like twins are so wonderful and everyone else is missing out! Kind of funny. I had the best pregnancy ever - no complications at all and I felt great.

I think partially because of the very un-natural way that we got pregnant, I wanted to try to do everything else as naturally as possible. I wanted a vaginal birth - didn't get that because baby a was breech. I wanted to do cloth diapers, but we finally gave up on that after two months because they soaked through too much and we wanted them sleeping longer at night. Like many of you, I never imagined not breastfeeding, I always knew I would. But nobody told me it would be hard. I assumed it would come naturally, because it's what our bodies are meant to do, right? It got a lot easier after 4 weeks, and really a lot easier after two months.

Mine got a bit of formula at the beginning - they lost a lot of weight and my milk didn't come in very fast - so we supplemented with formula for the first week or two. But once I got my supply established, I have a great supply. It took them a while to be really good breastfeeders, so they got supplemental bottles of EBM for a while. That started to bum me out, so inspired by you ladies here I started focusing more on cutting out those extra bottles. Now they get two bottles a day - one in the morning and one at night, so DH can have a chance to feed them and I get a break. I pump twice a day and lately I'm getting about 8 - 10 ouces extra per day, so we're getting a good supply built up in the freezer.

I get a mixed bag of support I'd say. Great lactation consultants, very helpful with breastfeeding basics. But none of them were any help with tandem feeding, I had to figure that out on my own. We're very good at that now, although I probably only do it about half the time, sometimes I just prefer to do 1:1. And my family is somewhat supportive - although when I was struggling my mother kept telling me "it's ok if you don't do it, breastfeeding is not for everybody". I know she was trying to be supportive, and not make me feel bad if I decided to quit, but I also realize now that it was because she wasn't able to keep it up for very long, so I guess in some way she was making herself feel better about that. My husband tries to be helpful, but his way of helping is that he's always trying to give them a bottle. I think he thinks that this is helping because it gives me a break from having to do all the feeding, but he doesn't seem to get that it undermines my efforts to breastfeed. I've had to snap at him about it a few times lately and tell him "no, don't give her a bottle!". But he also thinks that every time they fuss it's because they're hungry, and his only solution to a quiet a crying baby is to feed it. Ah well, I know he has good intentions and I don't expect him to understand the desire to breastfeed.

I'm going back to work on March 4th. I'm not looking forward to it, but oh well. My goal is to keep it up for at least a year - really my goal is for them to never have another drop of formula, so I want to keep them on breast milk until they are allowed to have cows milk. And we'll see, maybe I'll continue after that. We'll see how things go once I'm back at work full time, if I am able to manage an ok schedule of pumping during the day.

I haven't posted much, but this forum has been a lifesaver for me. Every time I have a question, I look on here and somebody has already answered it without me even having to ask. Thanks!

 

identical twin boys, born at 32wks . 2wks and 3 wks nicu stay. they are aprox 3 1/2 mo old and pump 99.9% of the time, rarely breastfeed. do bm in bottles so family can help

 

hi, everyone!

my gorgeous little guys were born just over 3 weeks ago, on december 23rd. they came verrrry early (two days shy of 28 weeks--i got pre-e) but they are doing really well in the nicu and i'm sooo thankful every day that they are thriving and we have had not giant issues so far. also, i am pumping! finding information has been more of a challange than anything else, but i think i have my schedule down for now--i am pumping 6 times/day, once/night, and getting an average of over 5 oz each time. i am soo happy about this, as i feel it's the only thing that i can do for my little ones right now..... i went to a la leche league meeting this morning w/a girlfriend and i am trying to prepare for when my little guys are home w/me, which will not be for a while yet.

i have found this board to be very helpful and informative--even before i delivered i asked q's and got great answers from all of you. thanks so much for just being here!

take care, jl

 

I'm Nicole, I live in Bakersfield, CA and am a registered dietitian, but currently a SAHM to my twins Jackson and Nicholas. We have been BF'ing since the beginning, despite quite a bit of difficulty with latching. I totally understand why some women give it up, I almost did but was too stubborn and at ~7-8 weeks, everything clicked! Now at nearly 14 months, the boys nurse 3x a day, occasionally more if they want it. It has been such a gratifying experience and I love the reaction I get from people when they hear I have and continue to BF my twins!

 

Hi I'm Jessica and live in Southeast Alaska. My kids came at 37 weeks and were pretty good from the start with BF. DD had a tough time with a good latch, but it didn't take her too long...DS of course has been a chow hound since day one (my little supply builder!!) I remember the days where all I could do was sit and cry and grit my teeth through the nursing sessions it hurt so bad, but those days didn't last long and we worked through them! They are almost a year now and still EBF and I don't see an end in sight, at least I hope not yet...I'm not ready for them to wean!

Anyway, a few things I've learned BFing twins...tandem is so much easier, so stick with it til you get it...travel while nursing is WAY easier than it would be with bottles...and finally well, its just about the best thing I've EVER done for anyone, including myself!

I love being a BFing momma to two! I also love to hike, camp, mountain bike and just generally be outdoors.

 

It's been really fun reading all you ladies' stories! Well, mine is pretty simple: My boys were born at 35 weeks 1 day and received formula and EBM via bottle for the entire week and a half they were in the NICU. I had pretty much given up on the dream that I had of breastfeeding them because I was neither physically nor emotionally equipped to attempt nursing them and assumed that since I went so long without putting them to the breast that they would surely refuse. I know only now that I did suffer from PPD. I thank both my husband and a wonderful lactation consultant at the Women's Hospital of Texas in Houston for my success in breastfeeding. I pumped like my life depended on it the entire time they were in the NICU and had I been able to use tears instead, those little syringes would be overflowing! I wanted so badly to give up and was convinced my milk would never come in but my husband knew what it meant to me and never let me give up. He wrote a mantra from some football coach about a man who pounds this rock (I'm assuming some sort of obstruction?) day in and day out and sees nothing happening. But on the 100th hit, the rock finally crumbles. When he wrote it I wanted to pound his head because I just hated everything that moved at that time, but then it clicked-my tiny little half empty syringes seemed like not enough to feed an ant, let alone my two babies. But I kept at it and here we are today, 7 months, 18 pounds and not even so much as a cough later. At the time I wanted him to baby me. I wanted him to be the guy that tells me, it's okay, it's probably for the best. But luckily that's not the man I married. I've never been more thankful for his tough love.

So...about me, huh? I'm 28, a middle school teacher-turned SAHM and loving every second of it. I am trying everything in my power to stay home for at least the next 2 years. I'm an aspiring photographer, love to sew, cook, work out, and as much as I would love to say I love to read...I don't. It's taken me about ten years to finally admit that...aaahh, relief! I remember loving to read for some time, but I think that all the required reading during college traumatized me for life! I know I should read more, but when I finally get a few minutes to myself, I want to either go out somewhere or sew something or scrapbook. It's terrible. I'm a teacher and I don't read. I was an ENGLISH major and I don't read. I"M MARRIED TO A FREELANCE WRITER and I don't read! Enough already. Going to get a book.

 

Hi,

I'm brand new to twinstuff -- I can't believe I've made it this long without finding this site! My little ones are nearly 9 months old now. They were born at 34.5 weeks and one (Vera) spent one week in the NICU, the other (Emmett) two.

I had a _terrible_ time getting started with breastfeeding, mostly because of supply. Like some others in this thread, I had no idea how hard it would be to breastfeed twins, I'd just always assumed I'd do it. So I wasn’t prepared emotionally for the problems I had.

Since they were in the NICU I wasn't able to touch them at all for about 24 hours. Sitting up to pump was agony because of the c-section. I was physically unfit from 5 months of bedrest and a nervous wreck because they were so tiny and delicate. Basically, I got about 10cc per pumping session in the first week and only did it about 6 times a day. The closest I got to breastfeeding in the NICU was a little exploration from Vera, no actual latching.

In retrospect, I should have found a private lactation consultant who knew what to do with twins and could have been an advocate for me with the NICU staff. The lactation consultants at the hospital were over-extended and not really specialists in twins. The NICU staff were full of the “nursing takes more calories than they get” line and I wasn’t in a position to challenge that.

After we got them home I would occasionally nurse, but couldn’t face the concept of nursing one, then the other, then the other, etc. around the clock. When they were about 6 weeks old I got a double pillow (finally!) and got started in earnest. For weeks I would change diapers, nurse, then offer formula in a bottle. It was a huge struggle at night and they’d fight me over the bottle. Until I finally realized that, at night at least, they didn’t _need_ the bottle afterwards.

Until about 6 months I kept worrying about my supply. I went back to work when they were 2.5 months old and pumped 3 times a day, for a total of 12oz. This was about half of what they were eating while I was out. On weekends they took about three or four 2oz. bottles (I saved the ones from the NICU) of formula over the course of a day to supplement nursing. But at 6 months I had a very painful moment where I realized that my supply just wasn’t going to get better and that if I ever wanted to get any sleep we had to feed them more during the day. What actually happened when we offered more formula/baby food during the day _wasn’t_ that they stopped eating at night, but rather that they started to grow faster! I guess that’s ok too….

Nowadays they don’t really want to nurse during the day at all -- they’re too excited about the world around them -- so nights are when we get our quality nursing in. I’m starting to think about how to get them to sleep more…but I am seriously torn (especially after “good” nights).

Whew, ok, there’s my story! Thanks for the chance to share!

- M.

 

I am glad to meet all of you :friends:

Anyone else?