This is Dana, I've emailed people on the forum for twins before, but am not sure how to initiate the question to all of the folks involved - I'm a little slow in keeping up with technology...
could you forward this question to the Pioneer Valley Multiples Group for me?
My twin boy and girl are now 5 months old. I am exclusively breastfeeding them. My girl seems to be getting enough, but my boy consistently wakes one to three times a night very hungry. I know he's hungry, because he is frantic when I get him and gulps for 10 minutes. Would like to know about others experiences regarding how much they needed to breastfeed their twins during the day. It's hard to know first, how much they're getting during one tandem feed, and second, how often they should be feeding to keep up my milk supply...
I don't feel that the typical number of feeding sessions that are recommended for singletons really applies to moms of twins...
Any feedback from the group would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks Lana,
Dana Orsman
Hi Dana,
ReplyDeleteWe had a similar experience. My twin boys are four months old. Up until 3 months, they ate every 2 hours during the day, and every 3 or 4 at night.
Now my guys eat almost as often during the day, but usually only once per night, and bed time is a lot earlier (it used to be 10 pm, now it is between 8 and 9).
We have a sort of unique bedtime feeding routine that came about due to a very similar situation. When they were about 3 months old, they were frantic during evening feedings, and needing to eat constantly, like every 30 to 45 minutes. Out of desperation, I started giving them 2 ounces of formula after breastfeeding in the evening (usually this happened for 1 or 2 feedings).
For the last feeding of the day, I really did not think my supply was enough, so I started pumping and bottle feeding the breast milk - that way, if I did not have enough (and I didn't) I could supplement with formula. After a week or so I had a better idea of how many ounces they would take at bedtime (usually 5-6). So if I had 2.5 ounces of breast milk for each baby, we'd supplement with more formula (all mixed in one bottle).
As soon as we started doing this, they seemed satiated - and they started sleeping for longer periods. What is really interesting, though, is the volume seems to be the key - that is, if they get 5 ounces at bedtime they sleep well - but it does not matter if it is more breast milk or more formula (actually I think they sleep longer with more breast milk!).
Now I almost never supplement - they have not had any formula in 2 weeks. Either my supply has caught up to their needs, or they are eating less ( I should point out that they are very big babies and I'm confident they get enough to eat - they are huge) I was worried supplementing with formula would decrease my supply, but it has not seemed to be the case.
So our bedtime routine is to bottle feed them whatever breast milk I pumped the evening before, then put them to bed, and then I wait a little while (hopefully building up some supply in the breasts) and then pump to get milk for the next night's bedtime feeding. I only give them what I have pumped, and even if it is only 3 ounces for each baby, it seems to be enough. If they were to seem really hungry during an earlier feeding, I might add some formula - but have not needed to lately. We love this routine, and I'm convinced bottle feeding allowed them to eat how much they needed, to be satiated, and to sleep longer.
Now, at 4 months, during the day, they eat often - usually every 2 hours, sometimes every 3.
At night, they usually have a bedtime feeding anywhere from 7 to 9, and sleep until 4 AM (although about 25% of the time they sleep until 5:30 or 6, yahoo!).
I know it's really hard when they seem hungry, and every mom has to decide what works for her children... while I am not a fan of formula, my advice would be to be flexible to the option of supplementing if you feel you need to (who knows, it might be a temporary situation). And consider bottle feeding breast milk if you can build up a supply of that - it might really help to satiate their hunger.
Good luck! Hang in there! You've breast feed twins to 5 months - you've already done and AWESOME thing for your children!
Best, Annie
PS sorry this was so long, it seemed hard to describe!
Annie