Update time! Please share...

Where are you right now? (breastfeeding? Pumping? Weaned?)

What is one piece of advice to the brand new mom when nursing twins!

 

We are just past one year right now!! We tandem feed during the day four times and since their birthday last week, DS has decided to go from nursing twice a night to maybe once or SLEEPING THROUGH and DD went from nursing twice a night to once, maybe still twice. Yeah for more sleep!! They each have six teeth and it hasn't really been a problem for me, although I think I get sore for a few days when a new one comes in, but we push through.

And that is the one piece of advice I would give new moms...push on through because it is so worth the effort! Bfing is so much easier than bottle feeding would have been, I can not express this enough!! I had a couple weeks that all I could do was cry through the feedings because it hurt so badly, but I had great support and was able to get through it.

Well, sorry this was short, I could go on and on, but I hear little ones waking...

What a blessing to be able to nurse two babies at once :wub: and what a selfless gift, because we all know how hard it is to stick with it...hang in there mommas! :friends:

 

I am nursing once a day currently but am going to try and drop that feeding this weekend :cray: We are going out of town w/o the babies the end of April and I want to be ALL DONE (emotionally, phsycially, etc) by the time we go, and this is the one week that someone else can get up with the babies pretty much every day. So they will have been bf for 20 months.

My piece of advice to new moms: post here when it gets rough, it is amazing what a little support can do :love0028:

 

We are still nursing twice a day but for my doctor they are weaned... I think we'll keep at least one nursing session until they give up. I can't say how proud I am to have exclusively nursed twins for seventeen months.

My one piece of advice is the first few months with twins are hard, nursing or not. Nursing WILL get easier... it'll be go faster, they'll eat less often, they'll sleep through the night and they'll be less needy... all it takes in time!

 

My b/g twins are 9.5 months (8 months adjusted age), they nurse 4-5 times during the day and 2-3 times at night, plus we do two meals of solids.

My one piece of advice... hang in there, know that it can be done, and keep on pushing through!

 

My girls will be 8 months on the 22nd. They are ebf and will be until I wean them at a year. I tandem nurse the majority of the time. They are eating 2 meals of solids (though the doctor says they should be eating 3) and nursing about 5 times a day and sometimes at night.

Advice- You may doubt that you can do it, and you may have nipple or breast pain and you may even have babies that struggle initially with weight gain or with latching (I had all of the above except the doubt!) but it can be done and it is truly so wonderful for the babies' health, your wallets and your own health. And it is really the one thing that only you can do for them once they are born!

 

Still going strong nursing, and the twins are almost 1! (Actual, not adjusted age.) I'm planning to keep nursing as long as they're interested, and I hope it will be a good long time.

Advice - Go to the BFing forum, Kellymom, and LCs for good info and support. (And don't believe anything your pedi says about BFing until confirmed by one of the above sources! ) And - it gets so, so, so much easier!

 

My girls will be 4 months on Monday, and even though I only get a small amount of BF support IRL, I am still going strong and will continue to do so!

My advice.... Aside from being the best thing you can give a baby, who the h*ll wants to prep and clean bottles?!?!? No thanks!

 

My boys are almost 4 months. Yhey nurse anywhere from 5 to 6 times a day and anything after 7pm, my boobs take a break and they get EBM, about 6 oz. of it with a teaspoon of cereal and they don't wake till around 6 or 7 am!!!!

My advice would be to get all the help you can. Those first weeks are hard, but if you just have someone there to change and burp babes it will make a huge difference. It gets easier with time, and they won't always take so long to nurse and they won't always poop during a feeding! This place is great for advice and encouragement. Just when you feel like you are going mad from lack of sleep, and they want to nurse 24/7....surrender yourself to their needs and all of a sudden it will be easier.

 

4 months of pumping fortwin boys, starting to introduce tandem feeding 1x a day at night with daddys help. boys sleeping thru night but i am still havingto wake up and pump to keep up with the supply / demand.
advice: i use to get tons of clogged ducts; if that is u, and u are pumpoing, try getting a new breastshield in a larger size

 

We are going strong at 7 months!!
I work 4 days a week and pump on those days and they usually get 2 bottles (rarely 3) while I am gone. Sleep is not at plentiful as I would like - DS feeding 3 times over night and DD 1-2 times.

Advice - hmmm, know there are lots of women who have been successful!!! The medical community is not always as supportive as they could be. Be committed and stick to it, it gets sooooo much easier!

 

Elizabeth is almost 10 months and still nurses every 3-4 hours during the day and a few times at night. I wish I could end the night wakings, but I think they have a lot to do with her ear problems. We were back at the ENT this morning for another ear infection (she got tubes 3 weeks ago). So I think we'll keep going as long as she is interested I'll be sad when she weans b/c she's probably my last baby

My #1 piece of advice is - ASK FOR HELP if you need it!!!

 

Almost 5 months old - will be 5 months next week. I BF all day, and they are getting 1 bottle of EBM at night. Occasionally a second bottle during the morning/day if we go out or DH wants to feed them. I mostly tandem lately. I pump twice a day for the few bottles, and trying to get some supply built up in the freezer.

They are eating every 2 - 3 hours during the day. And sleeping through the night for over a month now!!! Lately they've been sleeping from about 8Pm until 5/6am, then going right back to sleep for another couple hours. It's bliss.

I go back to work in 2.5 weeks. :-( I will be sad to give up all the BFing. I will nurse them in the morning and evening, and try to pump 3 times a day at work so the nanny can give them bottles. I still want to keep them on BM until 1 year, so I'm really hoping I'll be able to keep up the supply with pumping at work.

I feel very proud of myself for BFing twins. I know I am giving them a wonderful gift. They are big and strong and healthy and happy.

To others I would say:

don't give up! It does get easier. Even when you think it's too hard - it gets easier. I remember literally crying in my dinner because I was soooo tired. Every month it got a little easier. And now they will nurse for just 5 - 10 minutes and be satisfied. I remember when they could be on the breast for an hour and still not seem satisfied - I thought we might never get it right.

don't let anybody tell you that you can't do it. You can do it!

Reading this forum inspires me EVERY DAY.

 

I can't believe that I am only 6 weeks from my goal of 6 months. We feed mostly on demand but follow sleep/eat/play as much as we can. We just started cereal and sippy cups. Hopefully they get the hang of sippy cups quick - I don't want to do bottles once we wean (we plan to wean early to try for another baby! Wish us luck!). We use formula from time to time if I want a break but only because I am stocking the freezer for a 3 day trip in April - that is A LOT of milk!!!

My one piece of advice. Not to sound mean but after reading all the posts on FY about quitting my advice would be "shut up, decide and don't look back either way". I wish I had, I spent 2 months freaking out about every once gained and doubting myself. What a waste of time. I think you know in your heart if you are willing to BF or not. It is a huge sacrifice but one that is rewarded back to you a million times over.

Also - BFing is REALLY REALLY hard for the first 6 weeks, no one tells you that. But you need to be realistic about what it is like at first.

THANKS LADIES - it is great to read stories of 1 year + BF moms. If we are lucky enough to have #3 my plan is to BF until college.

jen

 

QUOTE(jenniej @ Feb 15 2008, 08:51 AM) [snapback]623264[/snapback]
If we are lucky enough to have #3 my plan is to BF until college.
jen

:rotflmbo: Sounds great!

 

We are at 9.5 months of exclusive breastfeeding - our goal of one year is coming up quickly, which I find amazing. Our biggest difficulty now is distractability (and grandparents are coming today from Michigan, it'll be an interesting 10 days!). We are still up usually twice at night and I can't yet find it in me to do cry it out - but they both slept 10+ hours one time this week (different days), so I know they can do it.

Advice: Just know that you will question yourself a thousand times, but you are doing the best thing you can do for your baby and as hard and time consuming as it is the first six weeks, it is so much easier later on! Just as most things in life - what seems the easiest at the time may not be the best.



Erica

 

We're still going strong at 21 months. During the weeks they usually BF just morning and evening; weekends they get another BF after their nap. I'm actually thinking about weaning, but it all seems so daunting and just easier to continue the way we're going. And Maia and Tal show no signs of 'forgetting' to BF ever.

My 'one' piece of advice for new moms: read this site - you get so much info and support from it. BF is incredibly hard at the beginning (painful, time consuming and exhausting) but it really does get easier.

Oh and if I can add one for moms with distractable babes. Tal was incredibly distractable and fussy for several months, but gradually at around 11 months she totally settled down (which is what I've heard from several mothers).

 

Still pumping.... Four months later! Yikes! My boys do get formula at night, or when we go out. They are now up to 6oz/feed and I'm not going to be pumping much longer. I won't be able to keep up. But-my goal is April-even if it's 4oz they get all day of my breast milk, it's something. I am not the best pumper in the world-in the sense of every 2-3 hours. I found it impossible to do!

Advice: If you can breastfeed-definitely do it!!!! After 4 months-I am soooo sick of pumping and washing pump parts(more so than the million bottles!). Breastfeeding didn't work out for me for various reasons. One I think was just being lazy about it-giving up too easily, amongst other things. But-I think the best advice is to do whatever is right for you-whether it's pumping, breastfeeding, or formula. Your children will thrive no matter how you feed them!

 

29 months today. Wow. They are taking 3 sessions per day. It's such a different experience nursing toddlers. It's all about the comfort now. They bring their blankets and snuggle up and it's my 3 guaranteed quiet times of the day. I've noticed that it's no longer 5 minutes and they're off and playing. Tonight it was 18 minutes and me giving them a nudge to be done because I had to pee. :lol:

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd potty train before weaning but that's exactly what we've done.

My advice for new moms: Educate yourself on how breastfeeding works. Even if you think you know, do some reading because there are new things being discovered even today. The old saying "Knowledge is Power" sticks around because it's true.

 

I have been BF DS for 5 months now. He has never had formula. DD on the other hand is on formula. I quit BF her at 10 weeks old. I felt like all I was doing all day was BF and I was not able to do anything else. I just could not quit BF DS b/c he loved it and he did such a good job of BF. I was almost ready to quit on both of them but nope. I can say that BF is ALOT easier. He can eat in 7-8 minutes and DD takes 15-25 minutes with her bottles. Plus the bonding experience is amazing. Me and DS are very close. He "needs" me ALL the time. Sometimes he will not even go to anyone else including his daddy. DD on the other hand will go to anyone that she is familar with and anyone can feed her so she is not as dependent on me.

I would tell any mom that breastfeeding is the best. It is amazing to look at your baby grow and know they got all their nutrients from you and that you were giving them the special gift that breastmilk gives. I know that DS has not had any problems at all. DD (formula fed) has had ear infections, yeast infection, reflux, colic, eye infection, breathing problems.

 

Still pumping at 8 months. I want to quit every day, but my kiddos are thriving, so I stick with it. I almost threw in the towel last month after a stomach bug that killed my supply, but I managed to build it up again.

I have pumped in the hospital during DS's two surgeries, in the car on a long road trip, and even in the car while out shopping, LOL. The damn pump has become an extension of my being. I'm sure I'll do a happy dance when I return it to the hospital -- I'll definitely stop at a year, if not sooner -- but I'm sure I'll cry, too. I was devastated when my older DD weaned at almost 10 months, and although this is different, the hormonal aspect is the same!

The munchkins get four bottles a day of EBM/formula mixed, plus two meals of solids. Sometimes they get a fifth bottle if they don't eat much dinner. They sleep 12 hours at night, and haven't eaten at night since they were about 3 months old.

Advice -- if you have the standard BF issues in the begining, do everything you can to power through. Pumping is a little easier in the begining, but it is a HUGE PITA later on, whereas BF gets easier.

That said, don't think it has to be all or nothing. Formula is not poison. You may hear, "I would never give my babies formula!" from other breastfeeding moms, and it may sting you to your core. But, although exclusively breastfeeding is one of the best things you can do for your babies, it is not a measure of your worth as a mother. It's easy to forget that, and I have to remind myself every day. Just do what you can do, and know that every drop of breastmilk is a gift.