Transcript: Breastfeeding Twins: Scheduling and Positioning
The Boob Group
Breastfeeding Twins: Scheduling and Positioning
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ROBIN KAPLAN: Breastfeeding multiple babies may make a mother feel like she needs eight arms but this doesn’t have to be the case with a little planning and some fantastic props. Today I’m thrilled to welcome back to the show JonaRose Feinberg, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in private practice in the Seattle area, the owner of Twins in Mind Consulting and the editor of www.BreastfeedingTwins.org. Today we are discussing Positioning and Scheduling when Breastfeeding multiples. This is The Boob Group, episode 53.
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ROBIN KAPLAN: Welcome to The Boob Group, Broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. I’m Robin Kaplan, your host and I’m also an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and owner of the San Diego Breastfeeding Center. At The Boob Group, we’re your online support group for all things related to breastfeeding.
Did you know that we have an entire panel of experts who would love to answer your breastfeeding and parenting questions? All you have to do is call our hotline at 6198664775 and leave a message on our voicemail. Or you can go to our website on the expert’s page and send them an email right there. Your questions will be answered on an upcoming episode.
Today I am here I’m joined by two lovely panelists in the studio, ladies will you please introduce yourselves?
SHELLY STEELY: Shelly Steely, and I’m 29. I have identical twin boys. And they’ll be 9 months on the 20th.
ANDREA LEHMAN: Andrea Lehman, I’m 42. I’m a health economist. I have 3 children, my son is six and my twin girls are four.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Fantastic. Well, thank you ladies and welcome to the show.
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ROBIN KAPLAN: So we’re here with Sandy Clark, the owner and creator of the Double Blessings Nursing Pillow. Thank you for taking this interview with us Sandy and I know that you’re a mother of twins. Did you create this pillow to use with them?
SANDY CLARK: Yes, I did. Actually, when I was 37 years old, I was blessed with a natural twin pregnancy. And my husband and I were absolutely thrilled. But the first topic came to my mind was that I won’t be able to breastfeed. So, I called my sister, who is a childbirth educator at that time and then she said “Of course you will be able to breastfeed twins! That’s why God gave you two breasts”. And she encouraged me to contact for empowerment and education materials and also to connect with a local mother of twins club, which I did.
And, once the twins arrived, I did divide the breastfeed and I bought a nursing pillow but it wasn’t big enough, it didn’t provide me with any back power and it was impossible to coordinate the twins on to the pillow by myself. So, I bought a big block of foam and with my electric turkey carving knife, I designed the pillow specifically for nursing my twins together with features that I knew that I needed. I suit up some pretty covers and I placed my first add in twins magazine a few months later. And the day the ad came out, the phone started ringing and that was the day I began the blessing.com in 1994 here in San Diego.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Oh that is so cool. How significant do you think, your pillow, which is now the double blessings pillow was in your breastfeeding success?
SANDY CLARK: Well, great thing about starting double blessings was not only that I was able to start a new business and leave my banking job, allow me to work from home at the time, once the twins came home. The best part of the whole thing was is that I ended up nursing my twins for 20 months with that very first prototype. I was able to continue to my business, to talk with other mothers with multiples everyday, encourage them, listen to their frustrations and concerns and advocate for breastfeeding for many many years to come. Double blessings just celebrated 18years in business and it’s my honor and privilege to advocate and support breastfeeding after all these years. My twins are both now freshmen in college and I still enjoy every day that I get to come to work.
ROBIN KAPLAN: That’s awesome. What makes the double blessings pillows so unique?
SANDY CLARK: Well our patent and design includes many unique features, including an angled top surface and this feature is particularly important for proper placement and latch on. My lactation consultant, 18 years ago, taught me that proper positioning is tummy to tummy, their tummy to my tummy. She said, “you don’t want the babies laying on a flat surface with their heads turned to the side trying to swallow, there’s just indeed their swallowing and digestion effort and so if you want your baby to face your breast, their tummy to your breast as their nursing and I designed the angle top surface to mimic if you were bringing one baby to breast at the bend of your arm.
Your baby’s body and head are coming to you, facing you and we also structure the pillow wide enough, high enough and thick enough and long enough on the front and particularly on the side to support two babies simultaneously in the football hold position without one having to cradle hold them that top of the surface with the pillow does that work for her. The whole pillow straps around the mom so that it won’t slip away from her and also include the detachable back pillow for optimum lumbar support, but, my most favorite part about our nursing pillow is that it is now eco-friendly.
In 2009, we decided to resource alternative healthier materials to foam so we wouldn’t have to include phyrothon chemicals, we now use eco loft which a quality fiber that doesn’t contain any phyrothon chemicals and it allows it to be hypo allergenic, non toxic and the healthiest choice of nursing pillows on the market. Our factory pre-cuts the shape from one big block of fiber, so there are some toxic glues used in its production.
We’ve also eliminated lead and small parts that might cause a choking hazard by replacing any snap zippers or the zipper pulls with washable Velcro and we use beautiful quality plush fabric including organic cotton option for our pillow covers which included a built in privacy cover for discrete nursing anytime anywhere as the mom happens to be. And these nursing cover-ups that are built in the privacy cover, are made of opaque mesh which allows airflow and breathability for both mom and baby. And the privacy cover is detachable and fits inside its own pocket when not in use. And we’ve expanded our line to include a smaller version for nursing a singleton as well.
The pillow line is now called San Diego Baby and San Diego Baby Twins.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Very cool. You know I use this when I teach, I teach a breastfeeding for multiples class, a pre natal one. Actually here at the Birth Education Center, where we’d record and I always pull out your nursing pillow to show moms because, one, I just love the plushness of it I mean, it’s so soft but I consulted with a local twins group here in San Diego and asked them, which one, their moms found was most helpful and your pillow came up every single time so, it’s so exciting to actually be able to meet you. Because we sure love it here in San Diego, so, where can our listeners find the double blessings twin pillow?
SANDY CLARK: We are online at www.doubleblessings.com and we have distributors across United States, in Canada and also in Europe and Australia. And those distributors can be found at www.doubleblessings.com by clicking on the locations tab found at the top of the homepage. Or we can call 1800584TWIN and we’ll be happy to speak with anyone.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Fantastic. Well for all of our Boob Group listeners, double blessings and Sandy Clark are offering a promotional discount on all the double blessings pillows and so, all you have to do is go to the double blessings website and enter the coupon code save 15 and it will be good for fifteen dollars off any product on their site. Thank you so much Sandy I really appreciate it and it was so nice meeting you.
SANDY CLARK: Thank you and my pleasure. Thank you so much.
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ROBIN KAPLAN: Today on The Boob Group we are discussing Scheduling and Positioning when breastfeeding multiples. Our expert, JonaRose Feinberg, is an International Board Certified lactation Consultant in private practice in the Seattle area. The owner of Twins in Mind Consulting and the editor of www.BreastfeedingTwins.org. Thanks so much for joining us Jona and welcome back to the show.
JONAROSE FEINBERG: Thank you.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Sure. Jona for a new mom of twins, what are some positioning options that she can try right from the start?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: Well you know, any position is a good position if mom is comfortable and the babies are latching well. But I often suggest starting with the football or a clutch hold at first. In the early days it really helped to be able to focus on each baby and be sure they’re latching well and this hold gives mom a good view of what’s going on with the latch and it needs to add a second baby if she wants to tend and feed. And then each baby has their own phase, mom can still see what’s going on with them. And it’s also good if mom has had which keeps the baby off transition. But, some moms like another position, they might like to be more reclined or laid back, or moms can nurse in a cradle hold and they can cross the baby’s cheek when they’re feeding them at the same time. So, there are lots of options.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Ok and how do you find it that these positions changed overtime?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know what, when babies are smaller, moms almost often find it more comfortable to incorporate pillows or blankets or props to help get them positioning comfortably and then as the babies grow moms always adjust that positioning so maybe they keep using their double triple position or they stretch the baby’s leg at the back of the sofa or they would switch to a standard bed pillow and then have the babies rest alongside them. As babies get better head control and body stability its better to experiment with other position so maybe moms are more reclined or maybe more upright. So there a lot of options as they get bigger. And before it’s good to keep changing things up when you need to so that everybody will still be comfortable.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Perfect. And you had mention props and pillows, do you think that these can be helpful and what are the items that are helpful to have in this breastfeeding space?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: Well, I think a lot of moms find it really comfortable to use a pillow that’s designed specifically for breastfeeding twins. Sometimes the pillows are sort of a U-shape right in front of the mom and some other kinds of twin nursing pillows curve around from the back but in either case what you want is a pillow that’s really supportive. You get back support for the moms and you get babies positioned quite as close to where they need to be. But when they’re really little you often need to add a rolled or folded blankets, I like those receiving blankets rolled up into a little ball holstered behind the babies back or folded up under their head sometimes you just need to adjust the position to your own body, you’re own specific babies to get everybody really comfortable. Now as they get bigger you can adjust how you stuff on your pillow or add support to your own back, to get more rim on the side just to keep everybody really more comfortable.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Perfect. And Andrea you were nodding your head. What props did you use and how did you position your newborns in the beginning?
ANDREA LEHMAN: Well, I really wanted to tandem feed and I have been lucky someone had passed on their twin nursing pillow and I took it with me to the hospital and I had nursed my older singleton so I was like determined that I was to do this and thought that I could and it was very frustrating, I really couldn’t get it to work and the person who have given me the pillow hadn’t even shown me how she did her set up on her couch. Unfortunately, I had a lot of challenges in the hospital because I had had a cesarean with the twins and using the nursing pillow was difficult to get upright.
So, I nurse them singly and then it wasn’t until I actually had a lactation consultant come to the house that she helped me and I ended up for tandem nursing, I was using the entire couch and I would sit in the middle. I heard a lot of challenges getting enough back support and getting the pillow back far enough and me forward enough so I had 2 diagonal pillows at the back of the couch, 2 pillows under the nursing pillows and at least 2 to four blankets rolled up for the back and the head. And once I could actually get them in there between about 4 to 6 months we were good with tandem and of course you want your remote control and you’re drinking and that stuff.
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You can never have too many pillows if you think like I have amassed too many pillows over to your bed where I think I’m going to be nursing, No. You can never have too many you’ll always find another way to arrange them and you’ll need them for something sometimes.
ROBIN KAPLAN: How about you Shelly, what was your positions like and what type of props did you use?
SHELLY STEELY: So I also got handed down a twin nursing pillow that I brought to the hospital. I was really lucky and that they never had any latching issues and really wasn’t a problem finding comfortable position. So, in the hospital I used the giant twin nursing pillow with no real problems but when we got home after their initial weight drop they wanted me to feed them one at a time to really kind of help them become more efficient.
So, I used the single nursing pillow one at a time until they got kind of better that and then we switched back to the bigger twin nursing pillow. And it’s funny overtime in the beginning it was like I had to at one chair and a wedge on the side and my feet up and something behind me and then little later on I moved to the couch and then for a couple of months I nurse in my bed with the like a chair pillow behind me. And now I had nursed them on the floor because they’re just so wiggly that I can’t sit on anything or I’ll lose one of them I’m sure.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah, and that’s a good point too, so, you both started off, you know, you did a little bit of single feeding, a little bit of double feeding and really kind of moving in to the simultaneous feeding. They probably didn’t stand those football holds the whole time. So where did they move to? Shelly, where are you guys right now at nine months?
SHELLY STEELY: At nine months, if they’re sleepy I can tandem nurse in the football hold, I just lay them both down kind of on their backs and their feet kind of chilled behind me and they’re fine. If they’re not sleepy, one at a time only. And it’s interesting
ROBIN KAPLAN: You’re the drive thru snack bar
SHELLY STEELY: It’s just that they are so interested on each other, I mean they grab and scratch and roll. So, one at a time I kind of have to like set up a bunch of toys for Greyson and then hold Sawyer away and they still crawling and pulling. It’s hilarious.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Cool, how about you Andrea, how did yours kind of move into different positions?
ANDREA LEHMAN: Well, I’m remembering, that around nine months I think we had to give up tandem nursing we have that issue that’s come up that John and I talked about where they would push off the couch and I think I even lost one over the side of the couch while I was adjusting one and that was probably then that it was time to stop doing it that. So then I think I went back to doing them singly and sometimes it was easier once you didn’t need the pillows and things like that, I did a lot of walking around with the baby nursing because I had a two year old that I was also trying to monitor and so it was nice to be a little more mobile and then typically I’d pumped at least once in the morning so I had a bottle for my outings for the day and so sometimes I would, I never liked to double pump so I felt too much like a cow on a dairy machine. So I would do one side and I would nurse one side so I could do a football hold on that one infant and hold the pump
ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay very cool, Jona if a mother is interested in simultaneously nursing her twins, how will she know that she’s ready?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know I think some of that comes down to the mom’s choice and some of that comes down to how the babies are doing specially in the beginning. Sometimes babies are, they really need the focus, that concentrated effort of getting their last bottle and they really need a lot of hands on support and so sometimes, it’s just not a good time but a lot of moms are ready to start feeding their babies together right away.
So, if they’re tandem feeding, it’s a big time saver and the babies can help each other out at breast even when they’re really little so maybe there’s a baby with a stronger suck and that baby can help to stimulate the let down for maybe their more mellow sibling. It’s kind of a little bit of a give and take in early days until you figure out what works for you
ROBIN KAPLAN: What tips you have for latching and feeding two babies at the same time? Especially in the early stages I should say.
JONAROSE FEINBERG: In those really early days like I just saying that sometimes you have one baby that maybe doing a little bit “I want to see better, I don’t want to drink them” sometimes they have a little bit of a stronger latch or they need a little bit less of that extra support so sometimes moms like to get that stronger nurser latched on first and then they have if you use all the cups and everything they might have given free hand to help a baby that needs a little bit more on the other side.
After using the big nursing pillow you can get them both on to a pillow and then you can latch them one at the time. If you have extra hands around the first couple of times that you’re feeding them at the same time it’s really great to have someone else who can bring your baby to you once you get settled in to your nest with all of your pillows set up and your basket and your water. When you get all set up and then have somebody bring the babies to you and will be available to take them away when you’re finished.
Lots of moms don’t have help, so if you don’t have help it doesn’t mean you can’t do this you might want to set up on some place bigger so maybe you want to be ready in bed for a couple of times and you want to be on the couch with them in there beside of you or I already like lots of moms like I’m just going to sit on the floor and that they can’t go very far like nobody’s going to fall, there’s a lot of place for spread out. I could use some feet to get set up and get some reassurance that you get the hang of tandem nursing.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Perfect! Ladies did you have partner help in the beginning this latching and positioning and how did you transition over to be able to do it solely on your own? Andrea?
ANDREA LEHMAN: My memory is a little hazy. Mostly, my husband was following the toddler so when I was tandem nursing I would spread out in the whole couch and part of my positioning was positioning the babies one on either side and then lift them on and get them on. Mine were born at 36 weeks so they were good weights but they had a little trouble with their latching.
So one of the things for me about latching was in the hospital the lactation consultant gave me a nipple shield which I had never used with my son and never thought I’d need it because I don’t have inverted nipples and that helped tremendously I ended up using two and actually I never got them off of them which I tried a couple of times but it just was more trouble than it was worth and once they got teeth I was actually pretty happy about that it was fine and I never, you know I used nipple shields for 26 months
ROBIN KAPLAN: That’s a good prop to mention as well. A good little tool. How about you Shelly?
SHELLY STEELY: I also had a c-section so the first few weeks it was just incredibly uncomfortable and my husband can only take a week off work so, luckily my mom was a teacher and she’s off during the summer so as soon as he left for work she would come over. And I remember around 6 weeks I guess when she was headed back to work being terrified at the thought of trying to move two babies by myself, I mean, it was like I couldn’t even begin to imagine it but then all of a sudden you just could, you know, and then it seem like the easiest thing why would you even worry about it.
But, when they’re brand new it was really easy because we had one of those little like rocking bassinet things and so you just pick one up then put the other one down and no problem because they stay right where you put them. And then as they get a little bit bigger rolling one way. The bed was great because I had all that room everywhere to kind of just pick one up and move one and that worked great until they discovered they could roll in a row. And then the bed didn’t work at all for us anymore so that’s how I ended up on the floor by myself. And my husband works nights and I’m still nursing this sleep for naps and bedtime and so I have to be.
I mean it’s a little bit ridiculous to see me sitting on the floor with these 22 pound babies, it was like, trying to kind of like slowly put them on the crib but it works you know and it’s the best position because that way I know they can’t fall
ROBIN KAPLAN: Fantastic! When we comeback, Jona will discuss the pros and cons of putting your twins on a feeding schedule. So we’ll be right back.
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ROBIN KAPLAN: Welcome back, today we’re talking about positioning and scheduling your breastfeeding twins with JonaRose Feinberg who is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant up in the Seattle area. Jona, what are some pros and cons for putting twins on a feeding schedule?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know, when there are two or more babies in the mix it can really help maintain sanity to have them on the same schedule. In fact this often means feeding both babies together, when the first baby is as if it’s their ready. You can keep the feedings on the same cycle, it will help moms maximize the breaks between the feeding session and keep the babies aligned and not only for feeding but for sleeping. Which works really well for a lot of families but might not be the best option for a baby to have really different needs or for families who want more one on one time.
Then, some moms shift their babies to a slightly staggered schedule, so they feed one and then the other one right afterwards, and this works really well for moms who prefer that one on one feeding and might help with sleep if they prefer to have their babies down one at a time, but it also might not, some are just personalized things. Some families don’t align the babies schedule at all, they want to let each baby just be on their own schedule, so they feed and sleep on their own schedule which is great for meeting each baby as an individual but can be really-really exhausting.
ROBIN KAPLAN: And that kind of leads into our next question, so, what are some ways to manage night feeding schedules?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: So again, you there are a lot of variations, some moms wakes the second baby when the first one wakes and then they feed them together. Sometimes moms feed the first baby that wakes and they wake up or dream feed the second baby to try to keep them lined up. And some moms again just want to feed each baby on demands throughout the night.
There’s no one bright way to manage the feeding. Some moms who tandem feed during the day want to feed them one at a time at night. Some moms feed them one at a time during the day wants to tandem feed at night. However it works for them. I must say, most moms agree that, that idea of never wake a sleeping baby you have to let that go, sometimes it’s really necessary to wake up a baby to nurse, to keep them on track and to avoid having the second baby wake up just as you finally gone back to sleep after feeding the first one.
Both babies will eventually stretch out their courage to sleep, but if one baby is never the ones who wake up first and consistently nurse as much less than the other those might be signs that that baby could be ready for longer sleep stretches and then that maybe you might want not to wake the baby up and see what happens
ROBIN KAPLAN: That’s a great advice. Jona, do you think it’s helpful to assign a baby to a breast throughout the day?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know again, here’s one of those, you can just stay or you can go that way. I think in the early days, it’s really good idea to switch the babies around a lot. You want to make sure that you’re getting enough breast stimulation and help build your supply which is really-really critical with multiples. Once the babies have the hang of latching some moms want to switch babies at breast every feeding some switch just once a day and some moms end up just giving each baby a breast long term, like you’re on this side, you’re on this side, done!
I think as long as each baby is gaining well and each breast is producing well you can find a pattern that works best for you, but if the babies or the milk production are not even, it’s a good idea to vary things to make sure you get enough stimulation on both babies to get enough milk. If they’re not switching sides regularly you do want to try to vary the biggest nursing position. You want to make sure that they don’t spend all of their time in just one position because that can have an impact on neck muscles which can impact their head shape and then it can impact their visual development.
This is probably why I’m not surprised because all moms say the same thing about switching the baby’s position in their crib or on their changing tables that each can get another view of the world. It’s all the same idea.
ROBIN KAPLAN: You know, I never even thought about that. But that’s actually a really important point. A really good reason to advocate if we’re kind of switching them up every once in a while. Ladies, did you create a feeding schedule for your twins and why or why not? How about you Shelly?
SHELLY STEELY: Definitely not. So, in the beginning we had to do the triple feeding and so, just by virtue of the fact that it’s a really long and kind of an exhausting process. Anytime when baby looked even a little bit hungry we just started the whole process for both of them. And they kind of got on it pretty easily, it’s seemed like even once I was back to just like nursing exclusively without the extra pumping and bottle feeding. They seem to kind of be hungry around the same time, I don’t know if it’s because we started that early on or because they’re identical but they, still now, kind of get hungry around the same time during the day.
So, we had this just baby led when they looked hungry I just fed them. It worked for us. I know a lot of moms do like in every three hours schedule or strict schedule. I just didn’t, It wasn’t right for us. I’m not a schedule person, they don’t seem to be either. With waking them up at night, once they started going longer stretches, I just let them sleep and I just fed the one that woke up starting probably around seven or eight weeks. Now at nine months I still just feed the one that wakes up and they wake up more now when they did when they were little because of developmental repercussion.
But it just works better if one’s up, I feed one. If they’re both up, I feed both of them and that’s just kind of how it worked. With the switching sides, that was really important because Greyson, my baby A, he had a strong preference for turning his head to the left and we were a little bit concerned about it so it took kind of a lot of effort to make sure that I was switching sides. And now he, you know, you couldn’t tell the difference, but it was really important to us to make sure that he was looking both directions and helping him kind of flex at that other direction.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Absolutely, how about you Andrea? Were your kids are on kind of a feeding pattern that was similar? Did you wake one up when the other one woke up? What it all look like for you?
ANDREA LEHMAN: I remember doing both, I remember going through phases where I’d wake up one and make sure they both got fed and also phases where I had one who had one fell asleep easily but then I always woke and one had a terrible time going to sleep and then we’d sleep for much longer period.
I remember a period where the one that would always wake, I’d go nurse her on the couch and just leave her to sleep in the couch for the rest of the night. And something else came up for me about that and now I’m trying to remember in terms of… Oh! Putting them on a feeding schedule right away.
I had some challenges with that in the beginning because what I found is, when my twins are born my help was my husband and my mother who would’ve taken time off work and every time I left the twins and went to do something with my son for five minutes, you know or half an hour, or something like that, It didn’t even matter how brief the period time was, I would come back and they have given them a bottle of formula. And I was so torn because, you know if you leave someone with infant twins, you know, I didn’t feel like I could say why you can’t do that.
I felt like you’d have to do whatever you have to do. And I didn’t ever pump enough that I had reserves that I can always leave that so, I had a lot of challenges on getting my supply going and getting a schedule going. Once my mom went back to work and I had to take over and also they were older and better at latching and things like that. That was easier and we would have a schedule, I think we had like an eight o’clock feed and an eleven o’clock feed or two o’clock feed a four o’clock, six o’clock, you know, if we get cluster feed to try for sleeping and things like that but it was more consistent and I don’t remember too much of a problem except in the evening as far as them being hungry at different times.
I also do remember at one point I had a milk blister and so there were some issues about that in terms of making sure I switch positions and switching the twins because one, something about the latch would aggravate or not aggravate it or it would be one side or the other. I don’t know how people remember that, but I remember when I was about to have twins I had all these plans on how’s it going to, the middle row in the car seat, every time we went in the car we would switch who’s in the middle because the middle was safest and of course I couldn’t remember you know, I was explaining while I’m on my toothbrush, I couldn’t remember anything.
So, I know one mom of twins talks about marking your kids with pens on the diapers or sharpies or washable ink or whatever to keep track of them but…
ROBIN KAPLAN: It all goes out the window
SHELLY KELLY: We actually paint at their toenails.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Did you?
SHELLY KELLY: Because they’re identical.
ROBIN KAPLAN: That’s a really good point. Yeah
SHELLY KELLY: One green and one blue.
ROBIN KAPLAN: That is awesome. Jona, what did you do with your kids?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know at the very beginning I religiously switch them at every feeding and I had a hold system, I had these bracelets. I think moms use them to figure out which side they’re suppose to start on but I had one on each wrist and then I would swap them. It was a very can’t believe it thing because I was really-really concerned about my supply and then I ended up with an every supply and I ended up coming up with a totally different thing I had to basically breastfeed them on each and one breast for long periods of time or else they just adverse things to my production.
So, in the end like all of that careful planning I mean you just have to see if it works. I will say though, I think whether you’re feeding them, you know, this side, or that side, switching them, scheduling them, not, especially in those early days I really suggest making notes when you feed the babies because you know it’s a long standing joke when there’s so much merit in the story about like, forgetting which baby you fed and then feeding the same baby twice when you were just so tired at the beginning that it really can happen.
So if you just a little nursing log or a diaper diary or whatever you have just write down you nursed, I don’t care what’s side was so much, make you sure you keep track of which baby you’re feeding. I get a little hazy there in the middle of the night in the early days
ROBIN KAPLAN: That was very good advice. Alright well fantastic. Thank you so much Jona for your insight into positioning and scheduling when breastfeeding twins and for our Boob Group club members our conversation will continue after the end of the show as Jona will discuss tips for breastfeeding twins when in public.
For more information about our Boob Group club please visit our website at www.TheBoobGroup.com
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ROBIN KAPLAN: Before we wrap thing up here’s Wendy Wright talking about breastfeeding tips for the working mom
WENDY WRIGHT: Hi Boob Group listeners, I’m Wendy Wright an Internationally Board Certified Lactation consultant and the owner of Lactation Navigation in Palo Alto, California. I’m here to answer some of your most common questions about returning to work as a breastfeeding mother. Such as, why should I continue to breastfeed after I return to work? This is a great question and one that we get all the time. Now the primary reason to continue to breastfeeding after returning to work is to provide the best nutrition for your baby.
Also by continuing to breastfeed after you return to work and by that I mean pumping while you’re at work and then breastfeeding while you’re with your infant together it does make it possible for you to continue to breastfeed on the weekends and evenings. It’s a great way to maintain a special closeness with your baby even when you must be apart for work or for travel. Another reason to continue breastfeeding after you return to work is to save money.
Purchasing a can of formula every week to provide your infant can get very-very expensive and by pumping your own breast milk while at work, you’ll definitely see the financial impact for your family. Another nice reason to continue breastfeeding when you return to work is it does help you avoid some of the health risk associated with formula feeding such as higher instance of ear infections, higher incidents of respiratory infections and then general and overall improved health for your infant with breast milk.
And the last reason to continue that I just like to mention is that the American Academy of Pediatrics does recommend mothers and babies exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of life. In the United States, the average woman returns to work about six weeks after delivery of her child and that definitely fall for them the first six months of life. So by continued breastfeeding after returning to work provides the best health for you and your baby.
Please remember to visit www.Lactationnav.com for more great information about my business, lactation navigation and be sure to listen to The Boob Group for fantastic conversations about breastfeeding and breastfeeding support.
ROBIN KAPLAN: This wraps up our show for today we appreciate you listening to The Boob Group. Don’t forget to check out our sister show Preggie Pals, “for expecting parents” and our show Parent Savers, “for moms and dads with newborns, infants and toddlers”. Thanks for listening to The Boob Group, your judgment for your breastfeeding resource.
[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider
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Episode Transcript
The Boob Group
Breastfeeding Twins: Scheduling and Positioning
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Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.
[Theme Music]
ROBIN KAPLAN: Breastfeeding multiple babies may make a mother feel like she needs eight arms but this doesn’t have to be the case with a little planning and some fantastic props. Today I’m thrilled to welcome back to the show JonaRose Feinberg, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in private practice in the Seattle area, the owner of Twins in Mind Consulting and the editor of www.BreastfeedingTwins.org. Today we are discussing Positioning and Scheduling when Breastfeeding multiples. This is The Boob Group, episode 53.
[Theme Music/Intro]
ROBIN KAPLAN: Welcome to The Boob Group, Broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. I’m Robin Kaplan, your host and I’m also an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and owner of the San Diego Breastfeeding Center. At The Boob Group, we’re your online support group for all things related to breastfeeding.
Did you know that we have an entire panel of experts who would love to answer your breastfeeding and parenting questions? All you have to do is call our hotline at 6198664775 and leave a message on our voicemail. Or you can go to our website on the expert’s page and send them an email right there. Your questions will be answered on an upcoming episode.
Today I am here I’m joined by two lovely panelists in the studio, ladies will you please introduce yourselves?
SHELLY STEELY: Shelly Steely, and I’m 29. I have identical twin boys. And they’ll be 9 months on the 20th.
ANDREA LEHMAN: Andrea Lehman, I’m 42. I’m a health economist. I have 3 children, my son is six and my twin girls are four.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Fantastic. Well, thank you ladies and welcome to the show.
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ROBIN KAPLAN: So we’re here with Sandy Clark, the owner and creator of the Double Blessings Nursing Pillow. Thank you for taking this interview with us Sandy and I know that you’re a mother of twins. Did you create this pillow to use with them?
SANDY CLARK: Yes, I did. Actually, when I was 37 years old, I was blessed with a natural twin pregnancy. And my husband and I were absolutely thrilled. But the first topic came to my mind was that I won’t be able to breastfeed. So, I called my sister, who is a childbirth educator at that time and then she said “Of course you will be able to breastfeed twins! That’s why God gave you two breasts”. And she encouraged me to contact for empowerment and education materials and also to connect with a local mother of twins club, which I did.
And, once the twins arrived, I did divide the breastfeed and I bought a nursing pillow but it wasn’t big enough, it didn’t provide me with any back power and it was impossible to coordinate the twins on to the pillow by myself. So, I bought a big block of foam and with my electric turkey carving knife, I designed the pillow specifically for nursing my twins together with features that I knew that I needed. I suit up some pretty covers and I placed my first add in twins magazine a few months later. And the day the ad came out, the phone started ringing and that was the day I began the blessing.com in 1994 here in San Diego.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Oh that is so cool. How significant do you think, your pillow, which is now the double blessings pillow was in your breastfeeding success?
SANDY CLARK: Well, great thing about starting double blessings was not only that I was able to start a new business and leave my banking job, allow me to work from home at the time, once the twins came home. The best part of the whole thing was is that I ended up nursing my twins for 20 months with that very first prototype. I was able to continue to my business, to talk with other mothers with multiples everyday, encourage them, listen to their frustrations and concerns and advocate for breastfeeding for many many years to come. Double blessings just celebrated 18years in business and it’s my honor and privilege to advocate and support breastfeeding after all these years. My twins are both now freshmen in college and I still enjoy every day that I get to come to work.
ROBIN KAPLAN: That’s awesome. What makes the double blessings pillows so unique?
SANDY CLARK: Well our patent and design includes many unique features, including an angled top surface and this feature is particularly important for proper placement and latch on. My lactation consultant, 18 years ago, taught me that proper positioning is tummy to tummy, their tummy to my tummy. She said, “you don’t want the babies laying on a flat surface with their heads turned to the side trying to swallow, there’s just indeed their swallowing and digestion effort and so if you want your baby to face your breast, their tummy to your breast as their nursing and I designed the angle top surface to mimic if you were bringing one baby to breast at the bend of your arm.
Your baby’s body and head are coming to you, facing you and we also structure the pillow wide enough, high enough and thick enough and long enough on the front and particularly on the side to support two babies simultaneously in the football hold position without one having to cradle hold them that top of the surface with the pillow does that work for her. The whole pillow straps around the mom so that it won’t slip away from her and also include the detachable back pillow for optimum lumbar support, but, my most favorite part about our nursing pillow is that it is now eco-friendly.
In 2009, we decided to resource alternative healthier materials to foam so we wouldn’t have to include phyrothon chemicals, we now use eco loft which a quality fiber that doesn’t contain any phyrothon chemicals and it allows it to be hypo allergenic, non toxic and the healthiest choice of nursing pillows on the market. Our factory pre-cuts the shape from one big block of fiber, so there are some toxic glues used in its production.
We’ve also eliminated lead and small parts that might cause a choking hazard by replacing any snap zippers or the zipper pulls with washable Velcro and we use beautiful quality plush fabric including organic cotton option for our pillow covers which included a built in privacy cover for discrete nursing anytime anywhere as the mom happens to be. And these nursing cover-ups that are built in the privacy cover, are made of opaque mesh which allows airflow and breathability for both mom and baby. And the privacy cover is detachable and fits inside its own pocket when not in use. And we’ve expanded our line to include a smaller version for nursing a singleton as well.
The pillow line is now called San Diego Baby and San Diego Baby Twins.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Very cool. You know I use this when I teach, I teach a breastfeeding for multiples class, a pre natal one. Actually here at the Birth Education Center, where we’d record and I always pull out your nursing pillow to show moms because, one, I just love the plushness of it I mean, it’s so soft but I consulted with a local twins group here in San Diego and asked them, which one, their moms found was most helpful and your pillow came up every single time so, it’s so exciting to actually be able to meet you. Because we sure love it here in San Diego, so, where can our listeners find the double blessings twin pillow?
SANDY CLARK: We are online at www.doubleblessings.com and we have distributors across United States, in Canada and also in Europe and Australia. And those distributors can be found at www.doubleblessings.com by clicking on the locations tab found at the top of the homepage. Or we can call 1800584TWIN and we’ll be happy to speak with anyone.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Fantastic. Well for all of our Boob Group listeners, double blessings and Sandy Clark are offering a promotional discount on all the double blessings pillows and so, all you have to do is go to the double blessings website and enter the coupon code save 15 and it will be good for fifteen dollars off any product on their site. Thank you so much Sandy I really appreciate it and it was so nice meeting you.
SANDY CLARK: Thank you and my pleasure. Thank you so much.
[Theme Music]
ROBIN KAPLAN: Today on The Boob Group we are discussing Scheduling and Positioning when breastfeeding multiples. Our expert, JonaRose Feinberg, is an International Board Certified lactation Consultant in private practice in the Seattle area. The owner of Twins in Mind Consulting and the editor of www.BreastfeedingTwins.org. Thanks so much for joining us Jona and welcome back to the show.
JONAROSE FEINBERG: Thank you.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Sure. Jona for a new mom of twins, what are some positioning options that she can try right from the start?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: Well you know, any position is a good position if mom is comfortable and the babies are latching well. But I often suggest starting with the football or a clutch hold at first. In the early days it really helped to be able to focus on each baby and be sure they’re latching well and this hold gives mom a good view of what’s going on with the latch and it needs to add a second baby if she wants to tend and feed. And then each baby has their own phase, mom can still see what’s going on with them. And it’s also good if mom has had which keeps the baby off transition. But, some moms like another position, they might like to be more reclined or laid back, or moms can nurse in a cradle hold and they can cross the baby’s cheek when they’re feeding them at the same time. So, there are lots of options.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Ok and how do you find it that these positions changed overtime?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know what, when babies are smaller, moms almost often find it more comfortable to incorporate pillows or blankets or props to help get them positioning comfortably and then as the babies grow moms always adjust that positioning so maybe they keep using their double triple position or they stretch the baby’s leg at the back of the sofa or they would switch to a standard bed pillow and then have the babies rest alongside them. As babies get better head control and body stability its better to experiment with other position so maybe moms are more reclined or maybe more upright. So there a lot of options as they get bigger. And before it’s good to keep changing things up when you need to so that everybody will still be comfortable.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Perfect. And you had mention props and pillows, do you think that these can be helpful and what are the items that are helpful to have in this breastfeeding space?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: Well, I think a lot of moms find it really comfortable to use a pillow that’s designed specifically for breastfeeding twins. Sometimes the pillows are sort of a U-shape right in front of the mom and some other kinds of twin nursing pillows curve around from the back but in either case what you want is a pillow that’s really supportive. You get back support for the moms and you get babies positioned quite as close to where they need to be. But when they’re really little you often need to add a rolled or folded blankets, I like those receiving blankets rolled up into a little ball holstered behind the babies back or folded up under their head sometimes you just need to adjust the position to your own body, you’re own specific babies to get everybody really comfortable. Now as they get bigger you can adjust how you stuff on your pillow or add support to your own back, to get more rim on the side just to keep everybody really more comfortable.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Perfect. And Andrea you were nodding your head. What props did you use and how did you position your newborns in the beginning?
ANDREA LEHMAN: Well, I really wanted to tandem feed and I have been lucky someone had passed on their twin nursing pillow and I took it with me to the hospital and I had nursed my older singleton so I was like determined that I was to do this and thought that I could and it was very frustrating, I really couldn’t get it to work and the person who have given me the pillow hadn’t even shown me how she did her set up on her couch. Unfortunately, I had a lot of challenges in the hospital because I had had a cesarean with the twins and using the nursing pillow was difficult to get upright.
So, I nurse them singly and then it wasn’t until I actually had a lactation consultant come to the house that she helped me and I ended up for tandem nursing, I was using the entire couch and I would sit in the middle. I heard a lot of challenges getting enough back support and getting the pillow back far enough and me forward enough so I had 2 diagonal pillows at the back of the couch, 2 pillows under the nursing pillows and at least 2 to four blankets rolled up for the back and the head. And once I could actually get them in there between about 4 to 6 months we were good with tandem and of course you want your remote control and you’re drinking and that stuff.
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You can never have too many pillows if you think like I have amassed too many pillows over to your bed where I think I’m going to be nursing, No. You can never have too many you’ll always find another way to arrange them and you’ll need them for something sometimes.
ROBIN KAPLAN: How about you Shelly, what was your positions like and what type of props did you use?
SHELLY STEELY: So I also got handed down a twin nursing pillow that I brought to the hospital. I was really lucky and that they never had any latching issues and really wasn’t a problem finding comfortable position. So, in the hospital I used the giant twin nursing pillow with no real problems but when we got home after their initial weight drop they wanted me to feed them one at a time to really kind of help them become more efficient.
So, I used the single nursing pillow one at a time until they got kind of better that and then we switched back to the bigger twin nursing pillow. And it’s funny overtime in the beginning it was like I had to at one chair and a wedge on the side and my feet up and something behind me and then little later on I moved to the couch and then for a couple of months I nurse in my bed with the like a chair pillow behind me. And now I had nursed them on the floor because they’re just so wiggly that I can’t sit on anything or I’ll lose one of them I’m sure.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Yeah, and that’s a good point too, so, you both started off, you know, you did a little bit of single feeding, a little bit of double feeding and really kind of moving in to the simultaneous feeding. They probably didn’t stand those football holds the whole time. So where did they move to? Shelly, where are you guys right now at nine months?
SHELLY STEELY: At nine months, if they’re sleepy I can tandem nurse in the football hold, I just lay them both down kind of on their backs and their feet kind of chilled behind me and they’re fine. If they’re not sleepy, one at a time only. And it’s interesting
ROBIN KAPLAN: You’re the drive thru snack bar
SHELLY STEELY: It’s just that they are so interested on each other, I mean they grab and scratch and roll. So, one at a time I kind of have to like set up a bunch of toys for Greyson and then hold Sawyer away and they still crawling and pulling. It’s hilarious.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Cool, how about you Andrea, how did yours kind of move into different positions?
ANDREA LEHMAN: Well, I’m remembering, that around nine months I think we had to give up tandem nursing we have that issue that’s come up that John and I talked about where they would push off the couch and I think I even lost one over the side of the couch while I was adjusting one and that was probably then that it was time to stop doing it that. So then I think I went back to doing them singly and sometimes it was easier once you didn’t need the pillows and things like that, I did a lot of walking around with the baby nursing because I had a two year old that I was also trying to monitor and so it was nice to be a little more mobile and then typically I’d pumped at least once in the morning so I had a bottle for my outings for the day and so sometimes I would, I never liked to double pump so I felt too much like a cow on a dairy machine. So I would do one side and I would nurse one side so I could do a football hold on that one infant and hold the pump
ROBIN KAPLAN: Okay very cool, Jona if a mother is interested in simultaneously nursing her twins, how will she know that she’s ready?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know I think some of that comes down to the mom’s choice and some of that comes down to how the babies are doing specially in the beginning. Sometimes babies are, they really need the focus, that concentrated effort of getting their last bottle and they really need a lot of hands on support and so sometimes, it’s just not a good time but a lot of moms are ready to start feeding their babies together right away.
So, if they’re tandem feeding, it’s a big time saver and the babies can help each other out at breast even when they’re really little so maybe there’s a baby with a stronger suck and that baby can help to stimulate the let down for maybe their more mellow sibling. It’s kind of a little bit of a give and take in early days until you figure out what works for you
ROBIN KAPLAN: What tips you have for latching and feeding two babies at the same time? Especially in the early stages I should say.
JONAROSE FEINBERG: In those really early days like I just saying that sometimes you have one baby that maybe doing a little bit “I want to see better, I don’t want to drink them” sometimes they have a little bit of a stronger latch or they need a little bit less of that extra support so sometimes moms like to get that stronger nurser latched on first and then they have if you use all the cups and everything they might have given free hand to help a baby that needs a little bit more on the other side.
After using the big nursing pillow you can get them both on to a pillow and then you can latch them one at the time. If you have extra hands around the first couple of times that you’re feeding them at the same time it’s really great to have someone else who can bring your baby to you once you get settled in to your nest with all of your pillows set up and your basket and your water. When you get all set up and then have somebody bring the babies to you and will be available to take them away when you’re finished.
Lots of moms don’t have help, so if you don’t have help it doesn’t mean you can’t do this you might want to set up on some place bigger so maybe you want to be ready in bed for a couple of times and you want to be on the couch with them in there beside of you or I already like lots of moms like I’m just going to sit on the floor and that they can’t go very far like nobody’s going to fall, there’s a lot of place for spread out. I could use some feet to get set up and get some reassurance that you get the hang of tandem nursing.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Perfect! Ladies did you have partner help in the beginning this latching and positioning and how did you transition over to be able to do it solely on your own? Andrea?
ANDREA LEHMAN: My memory is a little hazy. Mostly, my husband was following the toddler so when I was tandem nursing I would spread out in the whole couch and part of my positioning was positioning the babies one on either side and then lift them on and get them on. Mine were born at 36 weeks so they were good weights but they had a little trouble with their latching.
So one of the things for me about latching was in the hospital the lactation consultant gave me a nipple shield which I had never used with my son and never thought I’d need it because I don’t have inverted nipples and that helped tremendously I ended up using two and actually I never got them off of them which I tried a couple of times but it just was more trouble than it was worth and once they got teeth I was actually pretty happy about that it was fine and I never, you know I used nipple shields for 26 months
ROBIN KAPLAN: That’s a good prop to mention as well. A good little tool. How about you Shelly?
SHELLY STEELY: I also had a c-section so the first few weeks it was just incredibly uncomfortable and my husband can only take a week off work so, luckily my mom was a teacher and she’s off during the summer so as soon as he left for work she would come over. And I remember around 6 weeks I guess when she was headed back to work being terrified at the thought of trying to move two babies by myself, I mean, it was like I couldn’t even begin to imagine it but then all of a sudden you just could, you know, and then it seem like the easiest thing why would you even worry about it.
But, when they’re brand new it was really easy because we had one of those little like rocking bassinet things and so you just pick one up then put the other one down and no problem because they stay right where you put them. And then as they get a little bit bigger rolling one way. The bed was great because I had all that room everywhere to kind of just pick one up and move one and that worked great until they discovered they could roll in a row. And then the bed didn’t work at all for us anymore so that’s how I ended up on the floor by myself. And my husband works nights and I’m still nursing this sleep for naps and bedtime and so I have to be.
I mean it’s a little bit ridiculous to see me sitting on the floor with these 22 pound babies, it was like, trying to kind of like slowly put them on the crib but it works you know and it’s the best position because that way I know they can’t fall
ROBIN KAPLAN: Fantastic! When we comeback, Jona will discuss the pros and cons of putting your twins on a feeding schedule. So we’ll be right back.
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ROBIN KAPLAN: Welcome back, today we’re talking about positioning and scheduling your breastfeeding twins with JonaRose Feinberg who is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant up in the Seattle area. Jona, what are some pros and cons for putting twins on a feeding schedule?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know, when there are two or more babies in the mix it can really help maintain sanity to have them on the same schedule. In fact this often means feeding both babies together, when the first baby is as if it’s their ready. You can keep the feedings on the same cycle, it will help moms maximize the breaks between the feeding session and keep the babies aligned and not only for feeding but for sleeping. Which works really well for a lot of families but might not be the best option for a baby to have really different needs or for families who want more one on one time.
Then, some moms shift their babies to a slightly staggered schedule, so they feed one and then the other one right afterwards, and this works really well for moms who prefer that one on one feeding and might help with sleep if they prefer to have their babies down one at a time, but it also might not, some are just personalized things. Some families don’t align the babies schedule at all, they want to let each baby just be on their own schedule, so they feed and sleep on their own schedule which is great for meeting each baby as an individual but can be really-really exhausting.
ROBIN KAPLAN: And that kind of leads into our next question, so, what are some ways to manage night feeding schedules?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: So again, you there are a lot of variations, some moms wakes the second baby when the first one wakes and then they feed them together. Sometimes moms feed the first baby that wakes and they wake up or dream feed the second baby to try to keep them lined up. And some moms again just want to feed each baby on demands throughout the night.
There’s no one bright way to manage the feeding. Some moms who tandem feed during the day want to feed them one at a time at night. Some moms feed them one at a time during the day wants to tandem feed at night. However it works for them. I must say, most moms agree that, that idea of never wake a sleeping baby you have to let that go, sometimes it’s really necessary to wake up a baby to nurse, to keep them on track and to avoid having the second baby wake up just as you finally gone back to sleep after feeding the first one.
Both babies will eventually stretch out their courage to sleep, but if one baby is never the ones who wake up first and consistently nurse as much less than the other those might be signs that that baby could be ready for longer sleep stretches and then that maybe you might want not to wake the baby up and see what happens
ROBIN KAPLAN: That’s a great advice. Jona, do you think it’s helpful to assign a baby to a breast throughout the day?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know again, here’s one of those, you can just stay or you can go that way. I think in the early days, it’s really good idea to switch the babies around a lot. You want to make sure that you’re getting enough breast stimulation and help build your supply which is really-really critical with multiples. Once the babies have the hang of latching some moms want to switch babies at breast every feeding some switch just once a day and some moms end up just giving each baby a breast long term, like you’re on this side, you’re on this side, done!
I think as long as each baby is gaining well and each breast is producing well you can find a pattern that works best for you, but if the babies or the milk production are not even, it’s a good idea to vary things to make sure you get enough stimulation on both babies to get enough milk. If they’re not switching sides regularly you do want to try to vary the biggest nursing position. You want to make sure that they don’t spend all of their time in just one position because that can have an impact on neck muscles which can impact their head shape and then it can impact their visual development.
This is probably why I’m not surprised because all moms say the same thing about switching the baby’s position in their crib or on their changing tables that each can get another view of the world. It’s all the same idea.
ROBIN KAPLAN: You know, I never even thought about that. But that’s actually a really important point. A really good reason to advocate if we’re kind of switching them up every once in a while. Ladies, did you create a feeding schedule for your twins and why or why not? How about you Shelly?
SHELLY STEELY: Definitely not. So, in the beginning we had to do the triple feeding and so, just by virtue of the fact that it’s a really long and kind of an exhausting process. Anytime when baby looked even a little bit hungry we just started the whole process for both of them. And they kind of got on it pretty easily, it’s seemed like even once I was back to just like nursing exclusively without the extra pumping and bottle feeding. They seem to kind of be hungry around the same time, I don’t know if it’s because we started that early on or because they’re identical but they, still now, kind of get hungry around the same time during the day.
So, we had this just baby led when they looked hungry I just fed them. It worked for us. I know a lot of moms do like in every three hours schedule or strict schedule. I just didn’t, It wasn’t right for us. I’m not a schedule person, they don’t seem to be either. With waking them up at night, once they started going longer stretches, I just let them sleep and I just fed the one that woke up starting probably around seven or eight weeks. Now at nine months I still just feed the one that wakes up and they wake up more now when they did when they were little because of developmental repercussion.
But it just works better if one’s up, I feed one. If they’re both up, I feed both of them and that’s just kind of how it worked. With the switching sides, that was really important because Greyson, my baby A, he had a strong preference for turning his head to the left and we were a little bit concerned about it so it took kind of a lot of effort to make sure that I was switching sides. And now he, you know, you couldn’t tell the difference, but it was really important to us to make sure that he was looking both directions and helping him kind of flex at that other direction.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Absolutely, how about you Andrea? Were your kids are on kind of a feeding pattern that was similar? Did you wake one up when the other one woke up? What it all look like for you?
ANDREA LEHMAN: I remember doing both, I remember going through phases where I’d wake up one and make sure they both got fed and also phases where I had one who had one fell asleep easily but then I always woke and one had a terrible time going to sleep and then we’d sleep for much longer period.
I remember a period where the one that would always wake, I’d go nurse her on the couch and just leave her to sleep in the couch for the rest of the night. And something else came up for me about that and now I’m trying to remember in terms of… Oh! Putting them on a feeding schedule right away.
I had some challenges with that in the beginning because what I found is, when my twins are born my help was my husband and my mother who would’ve taken time off work and every time I left the twins and went to do something with my son for five minutes, you know or half an hour, or something like that, It didn’t even matter how brief the period time was, I would come back and they have given them a bottle of formula. And I was so torn because, you know if you leave someone with infant twins, you know, I didn’t feel like I could say why you can’t do that.
I felt like you’d have to do whatever you have to do. And I didn’t ever pump enough that I had reserves that I can always leave that so, I had a lot of challenges on getting my supply going and getting a schedule going. Once my mom went back to work and I had to take over and also they were older and better at latching and things like that. That was easier and we would have a schedule, I think we had like an eight o’clock feed and an eleven o’clock feed or two o’clock feed a four o’clock, six o’clock, you know, if we get cluster feed to try for sleeping and things like that but it was more consistent and I don’t remember too much of a problem except in the evening as far as them being hungry at different times.
I also do remember at one point I had a milk blister and so there were some issues about that in terms of making sure I switch positions and switching the twins because one, something about the latch would aggravate or not aggravate it or it would be one side or the other. I don’t know how people remember that, but I remember when I was about to have twins I had all these plans on how’s it going to, the middle row in the car seat, every time we went in the car we would switch who’s in the middle because the middle was safest and of course I couldn’t remember you know, I was explaining while I’m on my toothbrush, I couldn’t remember anything.
So, I know one mom of twins talks about marking your kids with pens on the diapers or sharpies or washable ink or whatever to keep track of them but…
ROBIN KAPLAN: It all goes out the window
SHELLY KELLY: We actually paint at their toenails.
ROBIN KAPLAN: Did you?
SHELLY KELLY: Because they’re identical.
ROBIN KAPLAN: That’s a really good point. Yeah
SHELLY KELLY: One green and one blue.
ROBIN KAPLAN: That is awesome. Jona, what did you do with your kids?
JONAROSE FEINBERG: You know at the very beginning I religiously switch them at every feeding and I had a hold system, I had these bracelets. I think moms use them to figure out which side they’re suppose to start on but I had one on each wrist and then I would swap them. It was a very can’t believe it thing because I was really-really concerned about my supply and then I ended up with an every supply and I ended up coming up with a totally different thing I had to basically breastfeed them on each and one breast for long periods of time or else they just adverse things to my production.
So, in the end like all of that careful planning I mean you just have to see if it works. I will say though, I think whether you’re feeding them, you know, this side, or that side, switching them, scheduling them, not, especially in those early days I really suggest making notes when you feed the babies because you know it’s a long standing joke when there’s so much merit in the story about like, forgetting which baby you fed and then feeding the same baby twice when you were just so tired at the beginning that it really can happen.
So if you just a little nursing log or a diaper diary or whatever you have just write down you nursed, I don’t care what’s side was so much, make you sure you keep track of which baby you’re feeding. I get a little hazy there in the middle of the night in the early days
ROBIN KAPLAN: That was very good advice. Alright well fantastic. Thank you so much Jona for your insight into positioning and scheduling when breastfeeding twins and for our Boob Group club members our conversation will continue after the end of the show as Jona will discuss tips for breastfeeding twins when in public.
For more information about our Boob Group club please visit our website at www.TheBoobGroup.com
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ROBIN KAPLAN: Before we wrap thing up here’s Wendy Wright talking about breastfeeding tips for the working mom
WENDY WRIGHT: Hi Boob Group listeners, I’m Wendy Wright an Internationally Board Certified Lactation consultant and the owner of Lactation Navigation in Palo Alto, California. I’m here to answer some of your most common questions about returning to work as a breastfeeding mother. Such as, why should I continue to breastfeed after I return to work? This is a great question and one that we get all the time. Now the primary reason to continue to breastfeeding after returning to work is to provide the best nutrition for your baby.
Also by continuing to breastfeed after you return to work and by that I mean pumping while you’re at work and then breastfeeding while you’re with your infant together it does make it possible for you to continue to breastfeed on the weekends and evenings. It’s a great way to maintain a special closeness with your baby even when you must be apart for work or for travel. Another reason to continue breastfeeding after you return to work is to save money.
Purchasing a can of formula every week to provide your infant can get very-very expensive and by pumping your own breast milk while at work, you’ll definitely see the financial impact for your family. Another nice reason to continue breastfeeding when you return to work is it does help you avoid some of the health risk associated with formula feeding such as higher instance of ear infections, higher incidents of respiratory infections and then general and overall improved health for your infant with breast milk.
And the last reason to continue that I just like to mention is that the American Academy of Pediatrics does recommend mothers and babies exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of life. In the United States, the average woman returns to work about six weeks after delivery of her child and that definitely fall for them the first six months of life. So by continued breastfeeding after returning to work provides the best health for you and your baby.
Please remember to visit www.Lactationnav.com for more great information about my business, lactation navigation and be sure to listen to The Boob Group for fantastic conversations about breastfeeding and breastfeeding support.
ROBIN KAPLAN: This wraps up our show for today we appreciate you listening to The Boob Group. Don’t forget to check out our sister show Preggie Pals, “for expecting parents” and our show Parent Savers, “for moms and dads with newborns, infants and toddlers”. Thanks for listening to The Boob Group, your judgment for your breastfeeding resource.
[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider
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