every evening nursing marathon?????

[lexbeach]

Hi everyone. My twins are 3 weeks old, and for the past several evenings they have been doing this four-five hour nursing marathon, starting sbout 5 p.m. I'm not really worried about it. . . they have lots of wet dipes and are gaining well. . . but I would like to know why this is happening. And, how long will it last???!! I'm feeling a bit over-sucked. They did a 24-hour nursing marathon last Saturday which I assumed was their attempt at increasing my supply due to the three-week growth spurt. Thankfully, that ended, but we still have this evening thing going on.

Any info/experience very very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Lex

[MamaOui]

I only have one hand free (due to my nursling), so I'll be brief. I don't have twins, but ds#2 has always been a marathon nurser. My guess is it's normal. Are they both nursing tons? How long does each one nurse? There's a LLL meeting in two weeks, but it is not at my house this time. I'll PM the meeting info when I have it.

[Lucky Charm]

Hi lexbeach,
my daughter who is now almost 16, was a "marathon nurser" at exactly the hour you give......5pm. from 5pm till around 11:30, she did litlle else but nurse. and not just at 3 weeks.....up until she was about 6 months old! i though my nipples were gonna come off! forget soreness, they were numb, baby. i have no advice to give, all i did was what she wanted, which was to nurse.

my other 2 kids were different nursers. got what they needed and that was it.

good luck. your babies are lucky to have you as their mama!

[jessikate]

We had this for Gracie's first couple weeks, with the added "perk" of her de-latching and screaming after nursing for a couple minutes three hours or so into the marathon. It was suggested that she could be dealing with some gas and we should get some Mylicon for her. It did the trick and we got sleep that night. I've cut out dairy and chocolate (hope that's not the cause!) from my diet, and she's been relatively gas-free since then, 6 days now. I would definitely recommend you give it a try.

Good luck with this - I know how hard this was on me, and you've got it times two!

Oh, I just read your post again... maybe this could be a growth spurt? I seem to recall that they generally go through one at around three weeks. Something to think about.

JK

[chellemarie]

No advice here, but empathy.

My son nurses from 6-10/11am.
Then he sleeps.
2:30pm...wakes up and nurses.
Then he plays/sleeps.
5-7/8 he nurses.
Then he sleeps.
2:30am...wakes up and nurses.
Sleeps.

Good luck and hang in there.

[MommaSeed]

I think they call this "cluster feeding." My DD did this too and I would wonder how she could be hungry but I think she was tanking up for the night!

[DaryLLL]

This is so normal, it is practically universal.

With twins, it seems even more noticable. Your milk supply is lower in the evening, but higher in fat and calories. It has a thicker consistency, os takes longer to suck out.

Some twin moms find their supply bumps up if they take a good nap every afternoon just before the usual cluster feed time. So, if the babies nap, or if you have help, (and I hope you do!), try the nap, or at least lie down and do nothing for an hour or so.

I assume you are able to eat and drink enough? It can be hard to eat when two babies are demanding all your time. Again, I hope you have help with meals and housework.

[mama_kass]

Ditto to the last posts.

Just wanted to tell you that you are a wonderful mama for bf your twins! Keep up the good work.