Learning to tandem breastfeed

I'm trying to prepare as much as possible and know what I should expect (I know it's not possible to know how things will pan out in reality) in the breastfeeding area. Is it possible to tandem nurse on your own from the start? Do you need help setting up the babies, pillows etc..., or can you do it on your own with lots of hard work? Have you done this on your own, or did you have assistance in the beginning?

Thanks

 

I think it would be possible to do it on your own although having an extra set of hands is never a bad thing! I would just say you'll want to make sure you have everything right there within reach & ready to go before you sit yourself down. Sometimes, if the babies' latches aren't great it's definitely easier to have someone else there who can help watch latches & hold newborns in position. As their head control improves though, it's definitely easy peasy to tandem on your own. I always figure it can't hurt to try it - if it works, great! If not, try something else. :good:

Also, I think it's great you're looking for info now. It's good to have all of that in your pocket & ready to go - it means less middle of the night google searches once the babies are here.

 

:laughing: Middle of the night google searches.

 

It's possible, not ideal. It's not what I would call easy until they can get the head control. I really needed my DH to see how to latch them on but I'm really uncoordinated and couldn't figure it out for the life of me. Now, he started evening college classes when they were 2 weeks old and I did feed them at the same time. I put 1 all swaddled and changed in a bouncy seat next to where I'd be sitting with the pillow on. Then I changed and swaddled #2. Put on the pillow, sit down with the baby. Grab baby #1 and put them on the pillow. Latch on my better nurser (so at least 1 is quiet!) and take advantage of his sucking to help with the letdown for my poorer nurser. I'll be honest, I'd often be sweating when I'd get done with this. I agree with Rachel- go to the bathroom, get a snack, drink and remote at the ready (or a smartphone!) b/c you will NOT want to get up until they are done.

 

Tandem feeding didn't work for me until they were about 8 weeks old. It might have been easier if they were both champion nursers like Sydney, but Sabrina just wasn't. She really needed the one on one to get anything. Plus, I was pumping and supplementing for her, because she wasn't strong enough to get all she needed on her own. (And honestly, I never liked tandem nursing so only did it when necessary.) What I found worked best was sitting in my overstuffed recliner with a bunch of pillows. The EZNurse pillow just didn't hold them where I needed them well enough. In the recliner the bonus was that I could hold one baby and get her situated while I set the other one cradled between my legs on the foot rest.

 

Tandem feeding didn't work for me until even later than Dielle. I had one girl who had latch problems to I needed both hands and arms to get her latched and keep her latched. I occasionally tandem feed after 10 weeks, usually in a fit of desperation! But once they could sit on their own--after 5 months, then I did tandem feed them more often, with one seated facing me on each thigh, or I'd lie down on my back and they would squat on either side of me. But even then it was when they were both really hungry and couldn't wait. Otherwise they'd just end up playing with each other and not eating.

 

I agree, I have one champ, one troublesome one. So it's hard to do alone, even with help it takes lots of pillows! But at 4 weeks I have not done it alot it is easier to do one until they get this nursing thing down, well me too, lol!! But like mentioned you can put one infront on your lap or the other way is to lay them on each side next to you, it also gets them as close as possible right before you start. Yeah there are some websites out there to help, I also looked up as much as possible before they arrived too! They say to do that so you have some idea of what to do! And get as much help as you can before leaving the hospital!! You may feel like a nuisance to the lactation nurse but you have2 babies!! My hospital offered a precious beginnings program so we even had follow ups with a lactation consultant there! I also have seen some people using lactation cons at their peds office. Good Luck see you in First Year soon!!

 

I never got my girls to tandem nurse. The few times we did, they need to eat much sooner than if i did one than the other. So anytime I saved nursing them together was lost having to nurse them again sooner. I nursed my girls for over a year.

 

We tandem nursed from very early on. I spent a week in hospital after the birth and the midwives and nurses were great working with us on latch and positioning and even showed me how to tandem-nurse once or twice - they said just in case. If your hospital offers breast-feeding support/advice use as much of it after the birth as possible - in addition to coming round to all new moms my hospital had a room where a midwife was always available to the mothers for all kinds of questions and issues, a comfy nursing corner, nursing pillows etc. and I literally spent half-days in there. Exhausting after the c-section but so worth it!

When I was at home alone with the babies I tandem-nused a lot unless one was sleeping because I never could bear to let one hungry baby cry and because my good nurser triggered the let-down and helped the weaker nurser a lot.

I spent a lot of time on our big double bed with a water bottle and snack for me, a bottle of top-up EBM or formula for my weaker nurser, and a book on the bedside table and a double nursing pillow, a regular nursing pillow and lots of other pillows and blankets spread around us to help with positioning until they had better head control. No danger of anyone falling, no need to get up when they drifted off to sleep after BFing - I could even grab a nap myself. Sometimes it worked well and was efficient and peaceful, sometimes it was frustrating as they lost their latch over and over again but we all made it work together.

If you want some more information especially on BFing more than one baby I really recommend "Mothering Multiples", a LLL book. Maybe your library has a copy.

Edited for spelling.

 

I really think it does depend on your twins -how big they are, if they are term, sleepy, latch issues, etc. I started tandem feeding some early on but my smaller twin had a poor latch and was very sleepy making it difficult to tandem feed at all. By 4-5 weeks though, I started to be able to tandem feed without help. I have an EZ twin nursing pillow and I don't tandem feed without it. I imagine it would take a bunch of pillows and lots of adjusting without it. I highly recommend the EZ-2-nurse pillow, its 50-60 new but I got mine for free from a twin momma I knew. I tandem feed about 80% of the time now, only don't if they get off schedule or I am nursing somewhere other than home. It just saves so much more time. I usually get one twin set him on the couch, then grab other and sit down with him on ez pillow. Then I reach over and grab the first one from next to me on the couch. I do double football hold. I latch them after I grab the other because the grabbing movement tends to pull the first off.

 

I tandem fed my twins from the first feeding( 8 hours old) until the last time I breastfed ( at 28 months). My dh went back to work when they were 5 days old so from that time on I was alone.I also had a c section. IMO it really wasn't anything I could have prepared for beforehand, it was a learning process as we went. I set myself up in a " nest" either on my bed or in my big chair in the living room. I surrounded myself with pillows and made sure everything I needed was very close. I spent 99.9% of the time in my nest in the early days. I won't lie, I would have let the mailman in to help if he would have and I looked forward to my older boys or dh coming home from school / work like a kid looking forward to a disney vacation but it was so worth it and I would do it again in a heartbeat!!

Also nursing twins is a excellent way to loose baby weight!! I weighed 203 the day they were born, 176 2 days later when they discharged me from the hospital and at my 6 week check I was 135. 20 pounds lighter than my pre pregnancy weight!!

 

Thank you for the responses.

Did you have help just from family or also from LLC or something like that?

 

I had to do it on my own most of the time because there was no one around. It was SO much easier when someone was around though. Either way, you get into a routine. My routine when they were tiny involved 6 pillows of varying sizes, some rolled up blankets, and a lot of patience I hope you have a great tandem experience

 

I was 'lucky' in that both DH & I were unemployed. He was my LC and latched them on every time for the first 2 weeks. He'd change them, I'd get settled with everything I needed (he'd get really annoying if he got 2 babies changed and on & I needed to go to the bathroom :laughing and then latch them on.

 

With the girls it was mostly my MIL & DH, with some postpartum visits from my birth doula. They did a lot of cooking & tidying & baby care so I could sleep, but they knew less than I did about breastfeeding so weren't much help in that area, even though they tried their best (well, except for my birth doula - she had lots of good advice which was helpful). With this upcoming little one though I've already hired a postpartum doula. I fully intend on not getting out of my bed except to go to the bathroom for the first week after babe is born. :good:

I believe so strongly in doula support. They often have quite a bit of breastfeeding training themselves, but if not, will certainly know about local breastfeeding support resources. Also, the rates can be quite affordable (and some doulas who are still working towards their certification will happily volunteer their hours). If it's something you're interested in you can check out DONA for more info.

 

While in the hospital the LC helped me tremendously. My milk did not come in at first and she showed me how to use an SNS. It was a small tube taped to my breast with a bottle of formula that I pinned to my gown so that I did not feel like my girls were starving, but she did not have any clue as to tandem nursing, I figured that out by myself. My dh helped me by handing me a baby for the first few days but he went back to work at 5 days so after that I was completely on my own. This is a sore spot because he did not have to go back, he choose to.

 

This is very much like my own story. I brought my EZ2 Nurse pillow with me to the hospital. I had a c-section as well. I used the nursing pillow from the very first time I nursed them all the way until the last time - around 28 months as well! The first couple of days I had help with my DH, nurses, the LC, etc. During the day I used whoever was around to help me if I needed it. At night though, my DH was home with our 16 month old and the night nurses really didn't seem interested in helping me with nursing issues, so I stopped asking. The first few days were hard because there were pain issues from the c-section, but I was able to get my twins from their isolette and position them on my own and actually nurse them.

When I got home from the hospital, my DH was away at school, so I was totally on my own. There were tough times, but when you have no other choice, somehow it works out.

One of my twins had latching issues, so I drove to the hospital several times to get help from the LC.

The pillow did not fit my babies when they were newborns; probably didn't fit them until they were 6-8 weeks old. I used rolled up towels under their heads so they were positioned properly. I also had my own corner of the couch where I would nurse and ALWAYS had everything I needed within reach before I got the babies and started nursing. This included not just towels and pillows for nursing, but burp rags, wet/cold washclothes (when they were newborns and didn't stay awake during a nursing), and a book or the remote control for the TV! :laughing:

It was a learning curve, but I learned, survived and loved every minute of it.