At first I didn't tandem nurse. The logistics of it never worked for me until the twins were old enough to self-position and latch. Then I would nurse one while the other sat in the stroller, then swap. Now I am a spectacle.
From the very beginning I always tandem nursed at home, but in public (except for LLL meetings), I would nurse them one at a time or would tandem in a car or the lovely family room at the mall. In the early, early days, I didn't get out for long adventures with them (and I also needed my huge EZ2nurse twin pillow), so it wasn't really an issue then. As they got bigger, I always made sure to nurse before leaving the house, and then could usually get someone to jiggle/hold/cuddle one while I fed the other if they both happened to need to nurse at the same time. With my DS and my girls, I had no qualms about nursing one anywhere, anytime, but I just never felt comfortable nursing two in public. Just no way to be discreet enough for my comfort, I guess.
Mine are still nursing, so who knows what the future holds. But so far I haven't tandem nursed in public, at least not that I can recall. In the beginning I needed my mongo EZ pillow, like Lisa, so I only tandemed (is that a word?) at home or in the car. I do have a couple interesting pics of me in the front seat of the car with the huge pillow & both boys latched on. Once they were able to latch on by themselves, I rarely tandem nursed, even at home. It just was easier to go one at a time. I often nursed one & held the other, though, both at home and in public. That could be done discreetly, FWIW.
Lately, they've started to tandem pretty much every time since once one begins the other gets jealous & wants to latch on. Nursing them is a total spectacle because they are switching sides constantly, pushing each other off, lifting my shirt up, trying to grab my nipples, laughing loudly & making other noises. It's like a circus. Then dd usually joins in, asking for a book or whatnot. So, I haven't attempted to nurse in public in a few months. Usually when we are out, they are too distracted anyway so it hasn't come up. But like I said, who knows what might happen over the next year or so? Good luck to you!
Mine are only 3 months, and I need a complicated arrangement of pillows and blankets to do it all, plus I need to be completely topless. So I don't tandem in public at all yet. I can't really take my three out without another adult to help at all, so if I'm out with both twins I always have help. (I sometimes take just one, or just one twin and DD1 out alone, and leave the other twin with DH a few hours.) I usually bring a bottle of EBM for DD just in case she can't wait, and then if they're both wanting to nurse at once I'll have my helper try to hold DD off, and if that's impossible, give her the bottle. Usually I tank them up before leaving the house and try to get home fast!
I think it'll get easier when they can sit up, because then I can put one on each knee and nurse that way. Right now at least one has to be in a football hold and that's hard to do without pillows for support.
In the early months, I don't think I tandem nursed in public at all. After they were 4 months old or so, I still try to avoid it when possible, but once in awhile I do it. Still, I don't do it in just any "public."
Because I have two older very active boys, I don't like being almost completely immobile in public places. If I'm out shopping or something, I usually try to tandem nurse in the car. Sometimes, I pack one bottle to try to avoid having to increase our time out of the house. I can give the bottle to the baby in the infant carrier mounted on the cart and I can nurse the one I'm holding in a sling or mei tai. If I'm lucky, one may be asleep in the carrier while the first nurses; then, I can feed that one at the next store.
The other public place I've nursed the most in is at our church. Since my husband can watch the boys, I can often nurse both girls right after the service (I teach a Sunday School class, so I have them in the nursery during that).
The clothes I prefer the most are ones that have lowered armhole access with a two panel covering (a faux twinset or a shirt with bolero and such). Some of my favorite singleton nursing tops are great for nursing one, but not so discreet for nursing two. If I'm wearing one of those when I leave the house, I pack one bottle.
Originally Posted by *Lindsey*
Wondering about the logistics of it, especially if they're both wanting to nurse at once. How do you do it without showing your goods to the world?
Never figured that one out. I would either nurse before we left the house, nurse one at time or nurse one, while bottle feeding the other.
I nursed one at a time. They didn't nurse well together - it took tons of pillows/positioning/being topless. So in public it was one at a time. Plus I had 5 kids ages 4 and under - so I really didn't go very many places when they were little.
once they were old enough to latch on I would just cover up with a blanket and let them go sometimes one would pull the blanket up and look around then he would re cover himself up. I look at it this way I am not some celeb who is going to have tons of photos taken of me and placed for everyone to see. My mother hated that I would NIP but honestly I did not care I was doing what was best for my boys. I made my own blanket that was a big triangle out of fleece so I would put the two ends around my shoulder and kind of tie them together then put the other end pointed down good luck
I am really concerned about how it will go at church. Hopefully DH will be able to take care of one while I nurse the other. We're definitely going to have to sit near family, too, so they can help with our oldest two.
Yeah, I am thinking that I won't be going out for a LONG LONG LONG time once these babies get here, bc of a combination of this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Llyra
Mine are only 3 months, and I need a complicated arrangement of pillows and blankets to do it all, plus I need to be completely topless.
Which describes PERFECTLY what it was like just nursing my last baby...I can only imagine the setup there will be with two!
and this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by CherylE
Plus I had 5 kids ages 4 and under - so I really didn't go very many places when they were little.
Mine are going to be the same exact ages Cheryl!! You have any advice for me?
I didn't tandem nurse in public until mine were over a year and I could position them so nothing really showed. I usually nursed one at a time when we were out unless we were in the car or someplace private.
When they were tiny, I only tandem nursed them with the EZ pillow at places that were nursing friendly or in my car. If I was out and about, I'd pre-emptively nurse them one at a time. On occasion, I pumped and had DH give a bottle to Phoebe since she would happily take one, but Fiona refused.
When they were toddlers, I have tandem nursed them sitting on a park bench. I wouldn't call it discrete, but my breasts aren't showing except when one of them pops off to tell me something.
Oh I forgot -- I tandem nursed them when they were 5 months, 9 months, and almost 2 on an airplane.
When they were babies I brought my Boppy and used that and DH's lap. Not at all discrete, but I figured the passengers boarding the plane could avert their eyes and would prefer that to hearing screaming babies.
I only wore nursing tops when they were little so nursing didn't mean taking off or pulling up my shirt.
Oy! I guess I'm certainly in the minority here. . . I tandem nurse in public. I know I'm very discreet (based on surprised comments of others), but there's lots of reasons why that probably shouldn't be a primary concer for me or anyone else. . . onward to experience/comments:
I hate nursing shirts. I wear ordinary stretch knits and lift up. This is exactly as I did with my older singletons. If I'm worried that a tight-fitting shirt will ride up too much in the back (as this happens worse with both sides "in action" at once) I'll just wear an open sweater or jacket.
I use only centre-snap nursing bras and can't figure out how anyone manages to be quick/easy/discreet with those shoulder-closing styles.
The only position that has ever worked for me so far is parallel hold (one babe cradle-hold, one football hold, basically).
My boys are now 6-months-old. Each age has it's advantages/disadvantages for tandem NIP. For example, when they were tiny, they were small and light to hold, but more likely to lose latch and need help from the one hand that is semi-free while I'm nursing them. Now that they are a bit older, they self-latch - so that's easy - but they are longer and heavier. If I'm on a bench, I can prop the "football" baby's bottom onto a diaper bag or whatever, but if I'm sitting in an armless chair, I have to hold him up. I wonder if tandem NIP will get more difficult in a few months if they start grabbing at my shirt a lot, pawing at each other, etc.
Sure, I sometimes nurse them separately if they don't need to be nursed at the same time. But if I'm in a hurry, or they are both fussy/hungry, I will always tandem in public. I think two quiet, cuddled babies is a whole lot less likely to draw attention than one screaming away, or obviously distressed in spite of a second adult's attempts to comfort.
Bottom line: I just never questioned whether I could/should. I started right away. For example, I took my boys on a Christmas shopping trip (to a city several hours from our home) for 3 days when they were 10 days old. (I felt terrrific after a difficult pregnancy). Yes, I did tandem NIP even then:
I just picked them both up.
I unsnapped both sides of the bra and moved the cups out of the way, leaving my shirt down.
Then I position the first baby, which is the baby I hold cradle-style.
I just push the shirt fabric up right as baby latches on, so there's no "showing of the wares"
.
Then I still have use of the wrist/hand of that first arm cradling Baby 1.
I also have full movement of my second arm.
Together, this is plenty enough to position Baby 2 at the second breast.
The second arm is holding Baby 2, so I have to use the first hand to lift the shirt as Baby 2 latches on.
If I have the arm of a chair, or pillow/bag under Baby 2's bum, then my second arm remains totally free for eating/drinking/reading, etc.
One parting thought for mamas worried about being a spectacle: the average person in public is so settled into a comfortable notion that it's impossible to nurse two babies at once. Your spectacle then becomes your camoflage: Because you are holding two babies at once, people just tend to assume that you definitely aren't nursing!
I tandem nurse mine at home w/o my ez twins pillow all the time, so the other night at a homeschool moms night out when they were fussy, I just nursed them both without a problem (using the positions and technique the mom described above). So far, that's the first time I've nursed in semi-public (it was women only, a very nursing-supportive environment, in someone's home). I kind of set it up by joking "I'm going to be in the livingroom nursing the babies, so I can't be held responsible for what you see if you come in there. In fact, I'm not too worried about what you see if you come in there!" Anyway, the babies were holding hands while nursing and everyone was ooh-ing and ahhh-ing over how cute they were, so I didn't feel uncomfortable at all.
It may take me a little while to get more comfortable with other places, though, so I can understand being a little weird about it.
Haven't read the other replies, so sorry if this is a repeat.
It took me a couple months (3 maybe?) to figure it out, but then what I would do was to lay one baby across my lap & lean forward enough that she could reach my breast (horrible posture, but it worked LOL) Then for the 2nd baby I would set the diaper bag (or a sofa pillow if we were at someone's house) beside me on the side closest to my "free" breast. I'd lay the 2nd baby on the diaper bag & her sister's feet/legs so that she was in a football hold nursing position. I always wore nursing tanks under regular (slightly baggy) shirts (not the skin tight ones that seem to be popular now) and the nursing tank would cover my belly/side & the outer shirt would fall down around baby's mouth and cover my breast.
Once they were 4 months old I was also able to nurse them together in 2 ring slings using the hip carry so that was what i generally used when truely in public, and the above way, was more likely if I was visiting at someone's house or something. Our church has a nursing mother's room w/ rocking chairs & such and it's relatively dark & only nursing moms are supposed to come in there, so that's where I generally went at church. I would take one baby & leave the other w/ dh then if she wanted to nurse before I came back he would come tap on the door & if nobody else was in there (or at least nobody who cared about a man coming in for a second) he'd bring her to me. I think a time or two he had one of my (female) friends bring 2nd baby to me if there were other people in the nursing room & he didn't want to disturb them. With the rocking chair I nursed them together in the V hold but I found it to be less discrete which wasn't an issue in the nursing room but wouldn't be something I'd be comfortable with in public.
I nurse them frequently while out and about. I will look or a picture I have of us outside of Legoland. Until they were about 5 month, they took turns. Since then, I have several methods: 1)sit on floor with babes in between my legs, heads on thighs. 2) they each sit on a leg and hold a breast (this shows more). 3)cradle hold each of them (while in a comfy chair).
I also don't use nursing bras or shirts. I wear elastic banded bras and loose knit tops and light cardigans. I simply lift up my bra while holding my shirt down then latch and repeat.
Now, didn't that sound simple?
:
Just wait until they start the gymnastic nursing ala upside down!!
I didn't need to tandem nip when they were very small except once and that was akward (b/c I had to sit on the ground against a wall to do it). It's pretty much a peep show these days b/c the boys like to pop on & off the boob & look around. I do my best to stay covered up but I've gotten over my modesty for the most part (thank goodness, b/c modesty and tandem nip don't go hand-in-hand too well). Anyway, when they were about 8 months is when I think I started to nip on a regular basis. Here's a photo of me nip at dh's works xmas party. It was funny b/c dh told me later that one of his co-workers who was sitting next to me said his wife noticed me doing it but it took her a minute to realize what I was doing. She said something like, "Oh, so that's how you do it. I've heard of that but never seen it!" His co-worker didn't have a clue that I was nursing at all.
I have to admit that one of the reasons I tandem nursed them on that occassion was simply so people would see that twins can be nursed. Dh could have easily dealt with one baby while I nursed the other. Oh, my one major piece of advice is to get (or make) a belly hugger. I don't care too much if someone gets a flash of boob, but I DO care if they see my belly. Call me weird but that fabric covering my torso up makes all the difference in my comfort level.
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