New Mama to twins needs encouragement

[twinmama2010]

Hi everyone!
I am a new Mama to twin girls, 1 week old yesterday. We are breastfeeding, with latch issues due to their size...although they were 38 weeks- they still had some difficulties. One is a lazy sucker and the other has a shallow palate- but anyways...I'm looking for some encouragement. I want to keep breastfeeding- but I just don't understand how to survive these first few weeks/months?! How did you do it? I am trying to nap when they nap- but it's hard during the day when there are things to do. Please someone give me a little light at the end of the tunnel- because I'm struggling.

Thank you!

[Gena 22]

What my dad did for my mom in the first few weeks I was born was to pack a cooler with food and drinks so that she didn't have to leave the second floor of their house. My DH would have done the same, but my mom was around a lot. Always try to have a drink and a snack nearby.

For what I can remember of the first few weeks, I watched a lot of tv, sitting on our couch, EZ2Nurse pillow wrapped around me, a babe on both breasts. Day and night. And for an hour here and there I handed the twins off to my mom or DH so that I could nap. Sounds like imprisonment, but I actually remember it fondly.

Oh yeah, and there was crying. I did try the Moby wrap, which some moms swear by. But I spent a lot of time swaddling, shhhussshing and swinging.

And one thing I heard was that for babes born before their EDD, breastfeeding turns around a lot past that "magical" date. So you're almost there!

Think day by day, you're doing a great job!

[cdahlgrd]

You need some help. Can you call your local twins club and ask them for suggestions? The first few weeks, until nursing is established and you are healed from labor are REALLY TOUGH.

I actually pumped and bottle fed my boys for the first 8 weeks because of latch issues. They did finally latch and we never turned back. But it was hard.

If you look at my old posts, I have told the story many times here.

If you are in the area, I would be happy to visit.

[Intertwined]

There IS nothing to do during the day that is more important than sleeping. BARE minimum is your mantra. If you've got clean undies and something to eat then you're good. If you can lay down, do. Period. Sleep and survival baby! Those first weeks are really, REALLY hard for almost all twin mamas who are nursing and don't have a nanny. I know my IRL twin friend is bottle feeding her 4 month old twins and she's still utterly exhausted and averaging 3 hours of sleep per night, broken. It's just hard to parent newborn twins. You can do it Mama! Learning how to nurse them both while reclined enough to sleep is paramount to getting rest. I was lucky enough that my twins were on wildly different sleep schedules so I just rolled between them all night nursing whoever needed me. With latch problems that's probably not going to be easy so working on those is key. Thinking of all you new Mamas and sending you my sleep vibes!

[gmvh]

When I could, I remember sitting in bed with my laptop watching video clips on kellymom about latching and practicing with my bad latch-er. On and off, over and over until I felt better about what things were supposed to look like from my angle. It was not pleasant but it did help. I sat on my couch for weeks just nursing or letting them sleep in my lap after they nursed. You'll make it through!

[~bookcase~]

I was like Intertwined and babies fell into feeding back-to-back in the early days with a few tandems snuck in to boost the weaker baby. Eventually, at some point, I tandem fed a lot at night just to be able to lie down

[twinmama2010]

thank you, everyone! it just seems like I will never sleep again. I love them so much- but I just feel like a zombie. I guess I didn't realize the logistics of nursing 2 babies from a timing standpoint on top of their other care. It's so hard. I'm also pumping to encourage more supply- so that adds to the "fun". Anyways...I'm hoping it will get easier from here...

[4Marmalade]

It will get easier. I'm not really sure how or when or why. It just does. I am not a napper. I found it very hard to nap everytime the babies napped. BUT....I would sit. I would sit and sit and sit and relax on the couch. My SIL pretty much moved in for that first month and I have very fond memories of just sitting there nursing babies, handing a sleeping one off to her and cuddling up with the other baby and just talking. The swing eventually became a lifesafer for ds. I also found out a way to tandem nurse them lying down which helped so much during the night.

Take care.

[Intertwined]

It does eventually get easier, although it was in increments and we sometimes took steps backward. It was NEVER as hard as those first six weeks though! I can remember the first time they both slept for 4 hours AT THE SAME TIME (at about 8 weeks) and I woke up feeling like a renewed woman (with rock hard boobs ). The memory of the joy at that moment is palpable!

[karmab]

twinmamma, it does get better. in the meantime, get any and all help available. if someone offers to cook a meal or run errands, say yes yes yes. if you can ask friends or family to help with anything, do it!

i just introduced myself yesterday on another thread, but my twins are not babies anymore, they are both seniors in college. i just stumbled across this forum because now, at 41 and recently remarried, im looking for advice on the ttc forum! agh! that sounds crazy everytime i say it, even to me.

but back to breastfeeding twins, lack of sleep, etc. it is possible! i bf mine until they weaned themselves- 1 at 20 months and 1 at 22 months. however, the first few weeks were harrowing. they were not great eaters at first, and even my mom, bless her heart, was telling me i was going to starve those kids if i didnt supplement (she of course was from that generation- they didnt bf, she didnt know.)

i got a lot of encouragement from a pamphlet someone passed on to me called, i think, 'mothering multiples' put out by la leche league. if you havent already, you might want to google their website- almost every area has a la leche league network. a lactation consultant might be available through your local hospital. a really breastfeeding experienced girlfriend might also be able to help you with latching on etc, things to get your milk to let down like warm compresses, positioning, giving you encouragement.

like someone said earlier- it gets easier, sooner rather than later, if you can just hang in. i am not sure i would have gotten through those early days and nights if it hadnt been for the fact that the times i actually did try to give formula, my stubborn little babies refused it!! i had no choice.

and like someone said- sleeping is the most important thing you can do. i was so sleep deprived in those first couple of weeks, that i actually would hear the babies crying when they weren't! like auditory hallucinations! i wanted to feed them strickly on demand, but it wasnt practical. if i had to do it over, i would try harder to feed them simultaneously (it was so hard when they were so little though, they always would fall off the breast just as my milk would let down, and milk would be spraying all over all of us, and they'd be trying to catch their breath and i'd be sweating, we'd all be crying, oh, the memories!) but i would try to do that more, or at the least feed one when he cried, change him, burp him, and wake the other one up and do the same, so i could get a little time in between feedings.

((HUG)) congratulations on your babies! it is so tough in the beginning, but this too shall pass. just hang on and do the best you can, what ever that is. things will settle down and you will get into a manageable routine. twins are such a beautiful gift.

[twinmama2010]

thank you, karmab I know it will get easier with time- but I am so type A- I have no plan and it drives me insane! So- it's a good lesson for me as a mom and a person. But still- I keep thinking- when will this ease up? I don't like having my nights and days switched around. I don't like only seeing my husband when he is sleeping. Ya know? But- I also know this is such a short time period in our lives as a family that I just need to get through it and try to appreciate each moment. every bit of advice really helps. so- thank you for that. it's nice to know you made it!