did anyone NOT nurse their twins? - Page 2

[rachel65655]

I did not end up nursing my twins. We tried, I mean REALLLY tried, but we couldn't seem to overcome latch issues, constantly passing around thrush, yeast infections in my breasts...after a rocky start my supply had already dwindled sooo much.

I did pump and bottle feed them for the first 5 months and supplemented with some donated milk but it got to be that I never even left my bedroom because I spent 45 min, 8x a day pumping and then several hours a day feeding them, changing them, getting them to sleep. I did have 5 other children and a husband that needed me also.

At 5 months we started them on raw cow's milk formula from our own cows and now at 10 months they are just on straight raw milk. They are very chunky 19 and 21lbs.

I do think that breast milk is best and I went into the whole pregnancy and postpardum period with and "ideal" of how I would like it to go but did prepare myself the whole time that it might now turn out exactly how I wanted.

BE FLEXIBLE...if something is not working, try something else. You need to do what works for you and your family and don't worry about what others say.

[pitter_patter]

I would never discourage someone from breastfeeding, but I will admit that it didn't work out for me. I nursed DD for a few weeks and pumped for DS but at the most I got about 4oz in a day. I moved to full time formula feeding after about four weeks. At first it was hard b/c I had wanted to BF for at least a year and I beat myself up quite a bit about throwing in the towel. Really though, it was the best decision for my family. Yes, formula x2 is pricey but my kids thrived on regular Similac and later I mixed that with the Kirkland Signature brand from Target. I never warmed a bottle and for outings I used a little gizmo from Target that had four slots for powder, you fill it with the correct amount before leaving home then shake it into the bottle. I used plain tap water at room temp, no heating. For night time I used the powder gizmo and had the bottles prefilled with water and sitting on the bathroom counter. I could practically make a bottle in my sleep. Yes, rolling over and nursing would have been faster if my supply was there, but it wasn't.

My children are very healthy, no ear infections, no asthma, no obesity, etc.

[AGF]

I formula fed my boys. I had one weirdo nipple and one baby who could not latch to it. The breast he could latch onto produced half the milk as the weirdo one. My other son was a great nurser and would nurse for 45 minutes at a time. I had a really strange physiological reaction (extreme heat up the neck and ears, nausea) when i tried to nurse them in tandem. And in the time I spent pumping (you know in the 1 hour I had between feedings) I felt insane. SO after seven weeks, I packed it up and unpacked the bottles. I used a generic formula on my pediatricians recommendation and cried about it over the sink while I washed the bottles. Looking back, in clarity of mind, I could have worked something out but I am really truly fine about it. And it was really nice to play baby roulette with my husband at night (you know, where you each pick a baby to man for night wakings). It made us feel like real equals on the parenting front in those first few months.

Anyway, my boys are healthy and smart.

So I say whatever keeps you sane and really enjoying your babies.

[Callimom]

I admit to being thrown for a loop at how hard it was to nurse my twins.
I had a bit of a struggle to get my oldest to latch probably -nothing major and so I figured I had a lot of nursing experience (he s/w at 2.5 yrs) and a bit of experience with a slow start.

However it took more than 2 months for my daughter to properly latch and my son couldn't move enough milk on his own. Add to that a case of thrush that we could not get rid of, a couple of supply crashes, some medical issues around my c/s and it was a struggle for the first 3 or 4 months in ways I just did not anticipate.

We hung in there and my twins nursed for 4+ years in the end but had they been my first babies I know I would have thrown in the towel and called the whole thing impossible by the end of the 5th week of struggling. The only reasons we kept going was that I knew that if I could just get them established it would so be worth it because it would make my life easier and it was definitely cheaper. But those were hard things to hold on to in the early days of sleep deprivation and almost everyone saying "oh just bottle feed" and I considered myself a commited pro-breast feeding lactivist wanna be.

[kalynnsmom]

Wow, how discouraging to hear that!

I nursed my twins. I also nursed my singleton before I had my twins. We did have some really rough times (nipple preference-one of my boys refused to latch, exclusively pumped for almost 2 months) but once we got those issues worked out, I was actually surprised how easy it got. I guess I was lucky that I never had to be on antidepressents.

I nursed my boys til 3 1/2 and 4 (years). Did I enjoy it all the time? Absolutely not. Yes it was hard, yes at times it did suck. It was cheaper, we couldn't really afford formula (we don't qualify for WIC) and easier than dealing with all those bottles.

I don't know that I wouldn't nurse my twins because some moms hated it. I'd try it, and see how it works out.

ETA: I also wanted to add that I never regretted nursing my twins. In fact, in the toddler years, it was actually quite amusing!

[JenChaffee]

I don't think I have anything new to add here; I'm just another one to reassure that nursing twins isn't so bad. Handling twins is hard, but I don't know that bottle feeding would have made it easier since I have no supply issues.

My babies are 10 months. I still BF both. I constantly get comments from people that it is amazing that I have managed. Many people say that they would have never even tried. I'm not sure why. It is so handy to be fully equipped at all times and locations and not have to mess with bottle set-up and cleaning.

[~bookcase~]

I'm nursing my 25 month twins. I nursed my older four to varying ages (bottle fed the eldest from 4 months) Bottles suck to be quite frank. I cannot imagine having that to do on top of everything else with twins (hats off to the mamas who had to )...but I think the attraction is it's easier to go out alone

Actually, the hardest part of b'feeding is other people sticking their two pence in and querying if you have enough milk!! i've had a veeery slow to gain weight baby (both twins small for age) and the pressure has been immense to supplement. they were 32 weekers and that gave us a few hurdles to overcome too......

just make your intention and go with it to see where you get

i will say it's not been 'lovely' but it's definitely been worth it

[runningmama80]

I jsut want to offer more encouragement!

I'm nursing my 4 month old twins. It's so easy now! It was really hard at first, they were small, and lost a lot of weight, so they were supplemented for a few days with formula. No big deal to me, I knew we would go on to nurse.

I'm looking forward to nursing them at least as long as I nursed my singleton, which was 22 months.

I had a lot of support from my DH while they were tiny, that helped immensely. I also saw a LC a million times those 1st few weeks.

It's definitely possible!

[Kendra_]

I'm still nursing my twins at 29 months
The 4 things I always recommend is
EZ 2 nurse pillow ( I used mine for 2 years. Order before you have the babies.. I didn't and really wish I had)
Always tandem (in the beginning i would wake up the 2nd baby to nurse if they happened not to wake up at the same time.)
Co-sleep
and Swaddle, swaddle, swaddle! ( I did until 14 months)

Looking back it was a little difficult in the beginning. I was 18/19, I had very little support, and flat nipples. It hurt for the first 7 weeks But I never even thought about bottles. If I thought I had a choice between bottles and breastfeeding I probably would of given up at some point.

[ToadJode]

I wasn't able to breast feed past a few weeks, and we were actually supplementing formula in the hospital too. I guess maybe because I don't have any singletons first, but I find that the issue of making bottles, cleaning them, having formula on the go, etc. is really not that hard. Sure, it's extra work that I wouldn't have if I was breastfeeding, but it's probably the least of my worries in regards to having young twins.

[DoomaYula]

I did not breastfeed. I had a breast reduction many years ago, and decided not even to try when my twins were born. _I was not crunchy at all back then_

Bottles and formula were a huge PITA, expensive and very time-consuming.

I nursed my next two children and it was such a wonderful experience, I really wish I'd nursed my twins. I can't go back and change time, but I definitely regret all that I didn't know!