Twin Tuesday

twin bootys [with Aunt Chrissa]

T, D

Hi! We're back for another round of Twin Tuesday. Last week we asked if you had any twin-related questions. Our blog sista Hillary over at Life With The Hux asked "How did you breastfeed both of them? Seems so daunting!! And what changed with your routine with them when you got preggers again?"

Such a good question, right? Doesn't it seem like breastfeeding twins would just be impossible?! Perfect because it nearly was for me. I did touch on twin breastfeeding recently but would love to get more in depth for y'all.

First of all let me start by saying that this is my personal experience with twin breastfeeding but I know of plenty of moms who have enjoyed it much more than I.

It started with Taylen at home and Dayr in NICU 30 minutes away. We were told before the twins arrived, by many other parents of twins, to keep them on the same schedule no matter what. Since we'd heard it so many times we decided it was worth a go. SO I would feed Taylen (with a shield) and then immediately pump the other breast for Dayr. Dayr was on a schedule in the NICU of 2:00, 5:00, 8:00, 11:00 feedings both A.M. and P.M; in order to have things gel for him when he came home, we kept the same schedule with Taylen. Personally I was more interested in on-demand feeding but with the way the births had gone we were up to the point of simply doing what worked.

When Dayr came home things got interesting again. I was no longer able to handle the feedings by myself and Bob and I teamed up. The alarm would go off (we had it preset for 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 and 11:00 all day otherwise we would forget I'm sure) and we would spring into action. We'd each grab a baby, a new diaper and some wipes and get busy changin' butts (and usually outfits, too). From there I would settle into our giant cuddle chair with one baby while Bob held the other. I tried to alternate which side they ate on but it wasn't my first priority. Once I had the first baby situated: propped up on a pillow, nipple shield on, latched well, Bob would hand me the second boy and we'd get comfy, too. They usually were good about taking a break at or near the same time and I would hoist one onto my shoulder, then the other and simultaneously burp. When they had burped, if they didn't puke down their fresh clothes, I would switch their sides just to be sure everything was rotating as well as it could. First lay down one child, get him situated while balancing the other baby, and then vice versa.

If Bob wasn't right by my side during this whole process, he was lightly snoozing by the baby monitor in the next room, anxiously awaiting a call for help to lay them back down. About 1/2 hour after the boys were done eating I always tried to pump. I say "try" because sometimes I was just too tired or... whatever. By the time we got through the whole process of changing, feeding, changing again, laying down, cleaning up, and pumping it was time to start again.

For seven months we continued on like this, just barely clinging to our sanity. At the six month mark I patted myself on the back because I had completed my personal goal. I told myself that after six months I would let things pan out however they might. It just so happened that we decided, as a family, that supplementing was right for us.


I continued on supplementing and breast/bottle-feeding until the boys outgrew the desire for a bottle and we simultaneously learned we were... expecting again! It's all down hill from there as they were fine with weaning and giving up breastfeeding and I, pregnant again, was relieved to have a short break.