7 months/Outgrowing the EZ 2 Nurse pillow -- what now?

[bklynem]

I've been happily using the EZ 2 Nurse pillow to simultaneously nurse my daughters, now almost 7 months old. But they're getting too long and too heavy to share it for much longer. Can anyone recommend some new set-ups or positions to try? Today I tried sitting both of them in my lap (on a bed pillow for extra height) in something similar to the double cradle hold, but it didn't seem right because their hips faced forward while their faces had to face back for them to latch on. Thanks for any ideas or tips!

[Red Pajama]

This may not work for you, but I continued to use the EZ2nurse pillow even after their legs were hanging off of it.

I hope someone has another suggestion.

[MamaRabbit]

I also stopped using the pillow around 6 or 7 months. Ended up doing cradle hold on one side and a pillow on the other side for that baby to lay on in a football/side position. Once they're that age they're quite adaptable for most positions

[Julia'sMom]

Mine are 4 months, but I'm already working on a cradle for one and football for the other. The larger twin is in the cradle, with my leg propped up to support him so I only need my hand to guide the breast. The smaller twin then rests her head on his stomach while in the football hold for the other breast. We haven't perfected it yet, but I'm hoping with better head control we'll be good to go.

[AmyC]

I started having trouble hoisting them off the EZ2Nurse pillow and keeping them asleep, so I switched to using two Boppies. Not in front...I used one at my left side, curved around me like a "C", and the other at my right side in the same way like a backward "C." I had been footballing both boys on the EZ2Nurse pillow so I followed suit this way. Sometimes, I would bolster the back ends of the Boppies with another pillow so they wouldn't sag down too low, but as the boys have gotten bigger I don't need to bother.

I would nurse them to sleep sitting on the bed, then slide them out and away from me (still tucked into the curve of the Boppy) to nap on the bed, facing each other. I still do this when I am tandem nursing them, and they are 20 months old.

I will look for a picture of them asleep after this type of setup (I don't think I have any pics of the actual nursing, but you'll see the double "C" pillows.)

Okay, I found a photo. They are six months exactly in this picture, and I can't remember if I was still using the EZ2Nurse pillow but sliding them onto Boppies to transition them onto the bed for their naps (I suspect this is the case, given the pillow placement so close together and also the way they're lying on the pillows---they are really more like "C's" curved around them, now, than they are in this photo) or if I'd switched to nursing them on/in the Boppies and sliding them down. I think we used the EZ pillow for about a month longer, like you, but I found they were waking up half the time when I'd hoist them off it (and onto a Boppy on the bed) so I stopped using it.

Once I started using the Boppy technique that I described earlier, I'd slide them off me and out further, and they'd be further apart on the bed than in this photo. (Another problem with transitioning them off of the EZ pillow while sleeping was that I was limited in how far I could reach while trapped under that pillow, so they ended up close together/touching while asleep. Which is certainly cute, but sometimes ended naps prematurely.)

[Nanasi]

I sit cross-legged on the couch or the bed and hold them in the football hold. Depending on how long your babies are and how squishy your couch or bed is, you may need to put pillows under their butts. To position them, I basically sit them facing backwards and angle them over my legs so they're kind of reclining. Often I put a pillow under their heads and shoulders so I don't have to hold them in place.

In the car, I do a cradle/football hold. It's not terribly comfortable, but hey, we only do it in the car.

[christyc]

This is a position I used a LOT (sometimes with a pillow under the football hold baby's bottom until they were big enough):

http://www.naturallyparentingtwins.com/drupal/node/132

There are a lot of other great pics in the gallery there as well.

[bklynem]

Thanks, everyone -- definitely some good ideas here that I am excited to try out.

[DanelleB]

I'm still using mine for tandem football holds. The twins just lay with their legs sorta crossed. During the day I usually nurse one at a time, but tandem nursing is part of our bedtime routine, so we nurse like that every night.

[hmbill]

This doesn't help you if you're nursing to sleep, but my two (nearly 10 months) only tandem nurse these days standing up! I know, weird, but they stopped wanting to tandem before naps and bed around 5 months or so and I just switched to putting them down separately. Now they typically tandem nurse around 4 in the afternoon, standing up in the middle of my living room with me either sitting on the floor or on the couch leaning over. It's actually quite comical!