Nursing Twins: Jessica’s Story.

A huge thank you to Jessica, who shared her nursing experience with us.  I love how she took her rough beginning and turned it into something incredible!

Before I knew I was pregnant with twins, I knew I was going to breastfeed.  It was the norm in my family and the right thing for my babies and me.  I also knew that nursing twins would present its own challenges, but I wasn’t going to let that discourage me.  I got as prepared as I could through a prenatal breastfeeding class with the Louisville Mother of Twins Club, started reading Mothering Multiples and had some idea of what to expect.  I didn’t, however, anticipate delivering my twins a little over seven weeks early and spending their first four weeks in the NICU.  After a non-complicated and normal pregnancy, their early arrival was surprising, scary and didn’t set us up to get off on the right foot with breastfeeding.  Thankfully, I had a wonderful support system and within hours of my c-section I was pumping and my breastfeeding journey began.  My milk was slow to come in and I’m sure wasn’t helped by the pressure that was put upon me by the NICU nurses to produce.  We got to the point that we used donor milk during the first week while my production was getting going.  They acted as if I wanted to starve my children because I refused formula, but I knew that my babies weren’t eating much and was thankful that the option of donor milk came up after my sister-in-law offered to pump for us.  Legal issues prevented us from using her milk, but we were able to provide them with breast milk.  For four weeks, I pumped every two hours.  I refused putting thickener in my son’s milk as they suggested to keep him from spitting up and after my daughter wasn’t gaining weight as fast as they thought she should, they suggested adding calories to my milk.  Thankfully, the lactation consultant at the hospital checked the caloric content of my milk and determined that I was basically making butter, so no calories were needed…she just needed a little more time.  Our nurse practitioner learned that before she suggested we supplement with anything she had to bring me the ingredients list.  I didn’t want them having any junk.  I knew my milk was the best thing for them.   I started nursing each baby while they were in the hospital.  I was started on a nipple shield because their mouths were so small and they were used to the bottles that made eating easy and as least tiring as possible for their little preemie bodies.

Upon their arrival home, I was pumping over a liter of milk a day and started my transition to nursing them all the time.  As you can imagine, it was extremely time consuming.  At first, I was nursing each baby separately and by the time I finished with the second baby, the first was ready to nurse again.  I was also trying to pump after nursing to keep up my production and build up my supply for when I returned to work.   One morning, my son WOULD NOT wait until Maria was finished and I managed to get both latched on at the same time.  My twin nursing pillow was out of reach, but someone I managed without it.  Dual nursing became my norm.   This was a huge advantage and cut my time down from up to an hour and a half total to only 30 – 45 minutes.   I felt like a new woman!  Each baby would nurse completely on one side and the next feeding, they’d switch sides.  Now, if only I could get off the nipple shield.  On my sister-in-laws advice I would start them on the shield and during my nursing session start to wean them off.  Neither baby wanted to latch without it and proved to be very frustrating.  It wasn’t until they were 12 weeks old that we finally got off and it happened by accident.  I was working to get Grant latched on one side with the shield while Maria was on the other side of the pillow waiting.  She must have gotten tired of waiting because all of a sudden, she latched without the shield.  It wasn’t a good latch, but she was going to town.  I worked on getting her latch improved for the next few days, then worked on Grant.  He eventually got it and I was amazed at how freeing it was to be off the shield!  Both babies began to get more and more efficient with nursing and soon it was faster to nurse both than it was to give them both bottles.  For the first several months, I would pump at night and my husband would give them bottles so I could get some sleep.  Once they became professionals and nursing sessions took 10 – 15 minutes, I started nursing in the middle of the night.

My first goal was to nurse exclusively for six months and then see where we’d go.  Six months came and went and I saw no reason to stop.  Supply was not an issue and why would we stop when it was so easy and good for all of us?   The only challenge was they were getting a little big for the twin nursing pillow and poking each other in the eyes.  I figured out how to overcome this, by restraining one arm underneath while they were on their sides and by putting their legs up the back of the couch when they nurse.  I laugh because they now take up most of the pillow, but in the early days when they were tiny, I could put a plate on the pillow between their heads and feed myself at the same time.  I also could write thank you notes for baby gifts.

Grant and Maria are now nine months old and I’m so thankful I didn’t give up.  There were times that I really wanted to stop, and had it not been for the health benefits for all of us, I might have.  Since I work outside the home, breast feeding also provides a way for me to instantly reconnect when we’re together and I think helps me know them better.   At times, I will nurse separately because I can tell that’s what they need.  People seem amazed that I’m able to keep up with two babies.  God created our bodies to do this, so why wouldn’t it be able to keep up?  I eat a ton and drank water all day long.  I gained 34 pounds while pregnant and have now lost nearly 50 and I attribute this to nursing.   Before they were born, I was often asked if I was going to breast feed and my answer was yes.  A fairly common reply was “good luck with that.”  No luck needed here.   Dedication and trusting my body to do what it was made to do was what was needed.  My babies are super healthy and I know they will have a much healthier future because of breast feeding.  I encourage anyone to give it a try and not to let more than one baby be an obstacle.  We may have had a rough start, but breast feeding has become a wonderful experience; one that I’ll never regret.

Have something to share?
Find us on Facebook or Twitter!

or email me katie@milksmartmama.com

 

 

Advertisement