[mojobot2000]

So now that I've worked through at least a tiny part of the horror and terror of being told I'm having twins, I'm wondering...is it 100% crazy to think about continuing to nurse my 14 month-old? I ADORE our nursing relationship, and when I thought I was pregnant with a singleton I was all about nursing through the pregnancy (if she wanted to) and then tandem-ing...but is there even a name for nursing newborn twins and a toddler? Tandem + 1?<br><br>
Is it possible? Remotely advisable? Has anyone BTDT?<br><br>
My daughter is about medium attached to nursing, and I actually don't think she'd have a huge problem with weaning. She loves her milkies, but ever since she was 6 months we've fallen naturally into a schedule and away from demand nursing, and the frequency has gradually dropped since then, so now I'm nursing her 4 times a day--first thing in the morning, last thing at night, and before and after her nap. (She STTN, thank God.) She never asks for it at other times, and I'm sure she could take or leave the naptime feeds--morning and bedtime might be a little tougher. BUT she also refuses to drink milk, either cow's or mine, in any other way. Bottles are a chew toy. She'll take a sip from a cup and then spit it out. So if I DO have to wean her, I'm not sure how to replace it. (That's probably a post for a different board.)<br><br>
One thing I've considered is waiting until the 2nd trimester (I'm about 10 weeks now) and seeing if she self-weans, and then making my decision if she doesn't. I imagine there are also some pretty serious nutritional considerations involved with nursing while pregnant with 2...sheesh. It all just boggles the mind.

 

[verycozy]

The La Leche League book (Breastfeeding Multiples?) says not to nurse while pregnant with twins, but maybe that's outdated advice, I don't know. I'd love to learn more about this.<br><br>
My son was 18 months old when I got pregnant with the twins. My milk changed or dried up and he lost interest so that coincided nicely with me being too exhausted to want to nurse him anymore. So that was that; he self-weaned before I even found out I was having twins. I have got to say, I was so wiped out for my entire pregnancy I did not regret giving up nursing my son.

 

[4Marmalade]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>verycozy</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/15209711"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">The La Leche League book (Breastfeeding Multiples?) says not to nurse while pregnant with twins, but maybe that's outdated advice, I don't know. I'd love to learn more about this.</div>
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I read that information too. My dd1 was just over 2-1/2 years old when we found out I was pregnant with twins. Adding up the LLL advice, my intense all day sickness and knowing I did not want to be nursing newborn twins and a 3 year old I chose to gently wean her. Thankfully she was pretty easy going about the whole thing. It would have been a more difficult choice for me if she was much younger though.<br><br>
I know I have read stories of other mamas who did nurse through their twin pregnancies. Maybe post or search in the breastfeeding beyond infancy/child-led weaning forums.<br><br>
I think you have a good idea about maybe slowly decreasing the number of nursings and seeing what she does if and when your milk supply diminishes during the second trimester.

 

[MamaChicken]

I tried. My daughter was about as attached as you describe but she was only 9 mo when I got PG with the twins. My supply dropped dramatically at 20 weeks (I was still pumping at work and went from 10-12 ounces per session to barely 3 ounces). DD weaned herself shortly after. I could see that she was really frustrated with the lack of milk, and I was tense from the pain of nursing while PG.<br><br>
She was 13 months the last time we nursed. We were lying in bed, and I tried to nurse her to sleep as usual. She latched on and suckled for 2 seconds, then unlatched, kissed my nipple and rolled over and went to sleep. That was it. I offered a few more time, and she just didn't want to anymore.<br><br>
Once the boys came, I couldn't imagine nursing her too. Although I had some supply issues at first that having a older babe nursing might have helped with. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/shrug.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="shrug">

 

[Intertwined]

We nursed until I was about 18 weeks. I didn't know it was twins at that point though. Izzy was already a biter and when my milk dried up and then colostrum came back in she started to really chomp me, I imagine to stimulate let down. My hope was always to make it to 16 weeks so she'd be at least a year old. I weaned her then, to preserve my nipples. 2 weeks later I found out it was twins and I was grateful to not have to make a hard choice about nursing through the third trimester with twins.<br><br>
An entire year after she weaned she asked me one night if she could nurse and I said yes. She went on to nurse once a day for about another 9 months until she was nearly 3. It's called "triandum nursing" <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/love.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="love">

 

[MamaRabbit]

Nursing while pregnant with twins is doable as long as mom is getting enough calories for pregnancy + breastfeeding. And mom is gaining the weight she needs to carry them fullterm. My DS was 15 mo when I was pregnant with twins. I ended up not gaining enough and was struggling with calories so weaned him when I was around 28 weeks. After the twins were born, he went back to nursing and hadn't forgotten how to latch. He weaned again at age 3.5 yr.

 

[shahjehan]

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Nursing through a twin pregnancy is doable, but you need to listen to your body and be prepared to wean if you need to. I got pregnant with twins when DD1 was 14 months old as well, and she was a demand nurser who loved her nanas! My supply did dip in the second trimester, but it came back in the third. I nursed throughout the pregnancy, and triandem nursed all three for 14 months until DD1 self-weaned a little after her 3rd bday. I gained 70 pounds during the pregnancy and gave birth at 36 weeks to six and seven pound babies. I was about 10 pounds overweight when I got pregnant. Watch your weight gain, drink plenty of fluids, rest when you need to (nursing helps get toddlers to chill with you), and listen to your heart.

 

[aja-belly]

i tandem nursed through most of my twin pregnancy - all but the last 8 weeks(they were 2 1/2 and 3 1/2). my milk was GONE before i even got a + test. the toddlers didn't seem to mind and nursed until my colostrum came in and they thought it was yuck. i thought they might pick up when the twins were born. they both tried it out at one time or another, but nope. i was not exactly thrilled about nursing 4, so i was glad it worked out that way and i didn't have to make the decision one way or another to wean or quadrandum nurse. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/winky.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Wink">

 

[Tigerchild]

My daughter was 9 months old when I got knocked up with her brothers.<br><br>
We had no problem nursing, I only slowed down production in the 2nd tri, it never quit altogether. I nursed through a very high stress TTTS pregnancy, with the support of my perinatologist (I overcook babies, I don't undercook them, which is why he probably wasn't worried).<br><br>
That being said, if you can't handle everyone freaking out on you, and very little in the way of supportive literature (at least when I went through this 7 years ago, LLL had virtually nothing for nursing twins, or nursing during pregnancy, every single thing I read from them was about tandeming a baby and a toddler (like 2 years old, not 1 and some change)--then it may not be the best choice for you. You need to be able to deal with criticism to hack it. Just being up front with you. And a lot of people DO lose their milk or the current child refuses it (according to DD, hormonal milk does taste different). I'm not sure if that's dependent on nutrition or not, really. I was eating the high protein twin diet though, with extra supplementation because of the TTTS. Maybe that made a difference.<br><br>
If you at all have problems with your cervix or pre-term labor, I would be careful with it. And first trimester might be very painful if you have a long nurser (all 3 of my kids are down-to-business quick nursers, so the latch + sore nips was brief enough for me to endure it).<br><br>
I'll be honest with you that triple tandeming may not be the blissful experience that nursing a singleton was. I really enjoyed nursing my daughter as a baby, but nursing two full time and one part time pushed my limits for being touched out. Nursing was something I did for my kids, not because it was an ecstatic mommylove experience the second time around. Then again, I know people who had the opposite experience.<br><br>
Bottom line: You've got to be tough to do this. You'll have to fight a lot of people if you're not going to hide it. Only you can decide what the balance of importance is. I have no regrets at all. But I won't lie and say that near constant criticism, doctor freakouts (from the other memebers of my "team", not my peri), and lack of comforting and huge amounts of info won't be really draining.

 

[sept2008twingirls]

I think the above person is exactly right. You have to fight a lot of people in order to keep nursing your toddler. My doctor basically told me that I would be putting my twins in jeopardy if I continued to nurse my son (who was 17 months at the time). She scared me enough that I decided to wean him. He did ok, but I still feel bad that I weaned him, even though he may have weaned on his own anyway, because of lack of milk.<br><br>
Even now at 3 1/2 he is jealous when I nurse the girls. He comes over to my tummy and pretends that he's nursing from my tummy. He even tries to put his mouth on my nipple sometimes, but doesn't remember what to do. If I were to do it again, I would have tried to let him keep nursing as long as he wanted to. That said though, I couldn't imagine nursing 3 at a time. It was hard enough with 2, but then it might have cut down on the jealousy. DS is STILL incredibly jealous after 1 1/2 years. I wonder what it would have been like if people hadn't convinced me to wean.<br><br>
Just something to think about....<br><br>
Sarah

 

[livingfree]

i haven't read all the replies, but my dd was 2y5m when i got pregnant with the twins. i nursed her through the entire pregnancy, through my milk drying up and continue to nurse her (at 3y7mo) and my 6 month old twins.<br><br>
dd was nursing for nap time and all night when i got pregnant. a few months before the twins were born, i finally night weaned her...she nursed to sleep at night and then when the sun came up in the morning. she dropped her nap maybe a month before the twins were born. it took some adjusting after the twins were born, but now with them being 6 months old, dd is down to nursing 2 minutes at night before bed and only on nights when she asks for it.<br><br>
it has been hard...harder to nurse her AFTER the twins were here than it was to nurse her through pregnancy. but i'm committed to child led weaning and while i have no problem enforcing some boundaries for my sanity, i didn't/don't want to force her to wean.<br><br>
fwiw, my midwife never had a problem with me nursing dd through pregnancy, but i had an uneventful pregnancy until pre-e set in at 36 weeks.