Breastfeeding requires complete selflessness. It requires you to feel incredibly uncomfortable. Not just physically.. but sometimes you have to pull out your boobs in front of your third cousins best friend's Uncle Billy, because everybody and their grandma wants to "visit" and see the baby as soon as you come home from the hospital.
It requires you to wake up in the middle of the night (AGAIN!) to pump so you have extra milk during the day, and so that you don't leak all over your new bedsheets.
It requires you to re-latch.. and re-latch.. and re-latch your baby again all while under this parachute thing that you were SO excited to use, trying not to flash your father-in-law.
It requires you to put your modesty aside and pray to God that the UPS guy doesn't deliver that stuff you ordered to your glass door because you are way too tired to deal with that parachute thing. (I think it's called a nursing cover…)
What I'm trying to say is that breast feeding is beautiful and something only you and your baby get to experience together. No one will have the same breastfeeding experience. No one will have the same techniques. And no one can MAKE you breastfeed. It's something that you have to want to do because you know its the best for your baby.
And let me just get on another soap box real quick…
To the Exclusively Breastfeeding Mom: PLEASE stop putting down other moms that had to stop breastfeeding for one reason or another. We feel bad enough. We don't need your "I'm a better mom" attitude. We need understanding. Thats it.
Thank you. I feel better.
:)
So breastfeeding twins… It's hard. It's weird. And it's twice as hard as breastfeeding one.
Hospital and Lactation Nurses:
I first wanta talk about my experience in the hospital. The sweet, sweet lactation nazis..I mean nurses, who mean well, are very knowledgeable on how to breastfeed twins. But at the same time, they have NO idea how to breastfeed two babies at once. They are so sweet. They really are. And all they want to do is help you do what's best for your baby. But what you want to do, as a new mommy, is FEED your babies! And when your milk isn't coming out, or your babies aren't latching you feel like a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE mommy and you want to say, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY BOOBS AND GIVE ME SOMETHING TO FEED MY BABIES!!!!"…. But you don't say anything. Instead you cry. My advice: ask for a lactation nurse who actually had twins. There is probably at least one. She will be encouraging and helpful and give you real advice.
How I Breastfed Twins and Why:
There are a few ways to breastfeed twins: one at a time, football hold, or side by side tandem. I did them all, but I mainly breastfed one at a time. It was easier, but I also wanted to bond with each individual baby and give him the time he needed with Mommy. It's all I did. All day long. My shirt was off 24/7 and I'm sure my neighbors and the UPS guy saw my boobs more than Thomas did those 4 weeks. Now, when the babies got the hang of easily latching, around week 2, I found it more convenient to do the football method. You have your Boppy and 2 pillows.. one on each side under your elbows. Pick up your better latcher first and put him on your left side and get him going. Then pick up the other baby and work on latching him on the other side. You will feel like something off of National Geographic, but it's truly a beautiful thing. I remember just holding their tiny heads, watching them eat, and thanking God for my beautiful gifts. I miss it so much and I wish I could have breastfed them longer.
I Breastfed for a Month:
Yes. I breastfed my twins for four weeks and I'm so proud of myself for lasting that long. When you breastfeed twins, you are using both boobs at the same time every few hours, while pumping in between. You're not a milk factory, but you are required to be one. Your hands are tied up with holding their heads so they don't unlatch, so feeding yourself and making sure your properly hydrated to produce more milk, is nearly impossible.
During their two week growth spurt, I had a REALLY hard time producing enough to feed them both. Around 4:00pm I would basically run out of milk. The babies would get irritated because they would be sucking so hard and barely anything was coming out. When I would pump, I would get 1 ounce between both of them after 30 minutes. Thats when I put my pride and plans aside and bought our first box of formula. I felt horrible. I felt like a bad mom. I thought my friends and family would judge me, but I had to feed my babies. And feeding them was more important than my feelings and my insecurities.
So to my twin mom friends… Do your best, seek encouragement from your family, and do what works for you and your babies. At the end of the day, you need to feed your babies.
And if the time comes where you run out of milk or can't do it any longer... your friend gives you a hard time for not breastfeeding…ask them, "Oh okay, so how long did you breastfeed your twins? Oh… you didn't have to feed two babies? Hmmm..."
HAHA! I never said that to anyone…but I may have thought it once or twice ;)
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