Nursing/Pumping/Bottle Feeding Schedule? (for transitioning newborns from bottle to breast)

[~Adorkable~]

So i have newborn twins that were late term premies born 36w0d and are now 11 days old and finally nearing when they would have been coming.

They had huge difficulty nursing at first and we went thru days of finger feeding with a tube and then bottle feeding and wonderfully in the last two days have gotten both to latch on the breast with a lot of work and the help of a silicone nipple shield.

Currently they only stay on for 6 or 8 minutes and are swallowing only a portion of that time, so I'm assuming they are still not getting enough before they get tired from all the work.
So in light of that I was thinking they still need some amount of bottle each day since there weight gain is so important when they are this tiny (last weights were 4lb11oz and 5lb 2oz, but it's been a few huge eating days since then)

I also understand and agree that I need to work towards getting on then breast full time asap and for a while to get them in the swing of things, though I do expect to reintroduce bottles as an option but later when I would have normally done it.

As well both for bottle supply now, stash for later and maybe most importantly for my supply and comfort, I completely need to pump a few times a day. I don't seem to be having any supply issues at all and can regularly pump 7-8oz per breast per sitting, currently i am Hannah pumping around 4 times a day, should I be pumping more times a day? Been so busy it's been hard.


So my question is:

When to do what?
I don't want to pump myself dry and then get caught with a hungry babe that then is stuck with a bottle when they are doing so good learning the boob. But also need to pump at some time since they are not emptying me. But with two I kinda never know when one is going to want something. This would be a lot more straight forward with one!

Can you folks suggest how I makes these various needs of my breast work with each other thruout a day?
Thanks

[ShanaV]

I had the same problems when my little guys came home. Doing a mix of nursing with shield, practicing without a shield, pumping, giving bottles of fresh milk, adding some to the freezer.... it was so exhausting, but all of it was necessary. I also ran into the problem you mentioned -- pumping, they drink it all, and are still hungry, but there isn't much left in the ol' boobs. Ugh! I don't know if I have good advice because you never know when they're going to want what. I barely muddled my way through!

Some days I would decide to do mostly nursing and little to no bottles. Then my boobs would get too full. Other days I would do mostly bottles and only a little nursing. But I really hated all the pumping and washing of parts and bottles. I honestly don't know what was easiest. Sorry I'm no help really! 

I know for a long time I was very concerned with completely draining my breasts a couple of times every day, both to work on supply and to get the hind-est of hind milk. I probably didn't need to be so anal about that. Turned out that all the pumping landed me with oversupply. So maybe keep the pumping sessions short to just kind of relieve the pressure.