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Twins breastfeeding and alternating sides...

758 views 11 replies 12 participants last post by  MamaRabbit 
#1 ·
I have one month old twins. They started at essentially the same weight and in a month one gained a pound- my daughter and one gained 2 pounds- my son.

My daughter cries if I try to encourage her to eat more and often comes off crying with a fast let down. Occasionally she has vomited when I have fed her too much.

I am currently alternating sides. I read this keeps your breasts even if one has a bigger appetitie. I also read it stimulates them equally to rotate which way they lie (I only do football hold)

What I am wondering is... my daughter is extremely colicky in the evening. The other evening after she threw up she relaxed. I am wondering if she is 'high needs' or perhaps eating too much? My son is obviously eating more to gain twice as much- thus increasing my supply to meet his needs... So I was considering designating a breast for each baby so my body can regulate the supply to the needs of that baby. Has anyone done this? Any pros or cons you experienced with doing this??? SHe very well may be high needs- my 1st born was as well... but I always feel like I should be doing something to help! Its distressing when she is so upset!!!
 
#2 ·
I would think it'd be OK to "assign" each a breast to help regulate flow for each babe's needs (although it might make you a bit lopsided, I suppose). The weight gain different indicates that your DS might just be a bigger babe than his sister will be -- and overeating by your DD might play a role in her colic, too. I'd try it for a few days and see how it goes (and also see what other mamas here have to say).

Congrats on having established such great nursing with your little ones! And FWIW -- I found life in general got markedly better at 6 weeks (and again at 4 months, then 9 months, then 15 months)... you are almost to that first double smile!
 
#4 ·
I know that gauging feeding is something like .75- 1 oz/day, w/lots of wet diapers. If your girl is doing this, she might just be smaller. You might express out the foremilk for her, as it can cause gas more than the hindmilk b/c of it's sugars (I think). If your boy is creating a demand for more milk than she needs, I might try just squirting out the foremilk, and not worrying what breast she is on. Just a thought!
 
#6 ·
I had the same problem-- DS just needed so much more than DD1, and she was drowning in the excess when I was switching sides, and DS always seemed to be half starved. Even switching sides weekly didn't help us, so at about 6 weeks old I permanently assigned a twin to each side, and that worked well for us. Each breast produced what its twin needed. To help with the eyesight issue, we tried to vary the position in which they nursed, so that they were looking at me from different angles and directions, even though they weren't switching sides. Not perfect, but it made DD1 and DS so much happier.
 
#7 ·
When my baby twins were tiny I rotated each day. 24 hours on a side and then switch. But my two are very different people, different eaters...so I moved to one breast per baby all the time. I think it helps them each regulate their own supply. I can't be sure. It seems to be working for us nonetheless.

Btw, my ds (singleton) was a "higher needs" baby who vomitted a lot. Maybe 50% of what he ate. In retrospect, we are sure he had reflux. He grew well. so we never needed to diagnose or treat it but it came up later when he rejected all solids. He had some serious adversions for a long time. I think his case was extreme so I don't mean to scare you, just that your description of you dd made me think...hmmm, reflux?
 
#8 ·
Not sure if this is helpful, but:
One of my girls would also cry on the boob, unlatching due to strong let down. She is/was my 'less' eater. My twins are also high needs. I realized that her crying fits occurred more frequently when she was over tired and fussy anyway. She grew out of this once she learned how to keep up with the flow and also once she just grew up a bit (now 10 weeks and she hasn't done this for over a month). I have always had my twins on a 24-hour-per-boob schedule. However, my little one never spat up an entire meal and gained the average 1/2 lb per week, so that's a bit different than your LO.
Maybe ask yourself how often her crying and vomiting is happening and then go from there - if it's too frequent for your comfort, then I would assign a boob to each baby and see how it helps her reactions, and then you could go from there to judge whether reflux is part of the issue.
I hope you find a solution - it's frustrating when mama milk causes them to cry and spit up!
 
#10 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by popper View Post
This post is fantastic - I just was wondering whether I should assign each baby a breast for the day. Just to make it easier because I can't remember who got what, and they nurse at different times in the day. I'm starting that as of now!
fwiw, I use a bracelet to remember who is one which side each day. I find it makes things much easier! Baby A is always on the side with the bracelet and I switch the bracelet from once side to the other first thing every morning.

My husband even knows to look at my wrist when he's handing me babies, and he'll hand me the correct baby on the correct side!
 
#11 ·
I finally assigned each of my twins (both boys) a breast when I realized that they were such different nursers. One likes to drain me quickly and one likes to linger and take his time. It took my breasts a few days to completely regulate out and now it works wonderfully. I can even tell who needs to nurse when I feel a bit full on one side.

The other thing that I wanted to comment on was the spitting-up/vomiting. All four of my boys had some minor food sensitivities that made them either spit-up, get a diaper rash, or cry for hours at a time. The complication that I have found with my twins is that they each have different sensitivities. When I eat dairy or beef they both get really gassy and cry. When I eat corn (or any derivatives i.e. corn syrup), baby A cries. When I eat tomatoes baby B spit-s up. When I eat apples they both get diaper rash. My point is that maybe one of your twins has a slight sensitivity. It could also just be that she is getting a bit too much milk.
BTW, my older DS's grew out of most of their sensitivities by age 2.5-3.
 
#12 ·
I swapped mine every 24 hours especially because one had a weaker suck so I needed the stronger baby's stimulation. If I were in your situation, I'd probably have DD pick which side she was happiest with and then let DS have the other. Then I'd just stay that way for a week or so to see if that worked. If not, there may be other underlying issues.
 
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