"Are you still breastfeeding?"
Every woman who breastfeeds her children will, without fail, at some point be asked that very pointed question.
"Are you still breastfeeding?"
It almost doesn't matter how long you've been nursing for: someone is going to ask. At three months? Six months? A year? Doesn't matter. Someone will ask you.
Sometimes the subtext is awe: "Wow! You're still nursing your babies! That's great!" Most times, however, the questioner asks in a most impatient manner. As if there's a deadline to meet and you're missing it. "What are you doing still nursing those babies?"
In my case, the fact that I decided to nurse the twins in the very first place was a big surprise. My doctor (For whom I have the greatest respect.) made it very clear that by nursing the twins full time, I'd be off in some exotic land where few women in our area had ever tread. Then again, I was apparently setting records for birth weights and length of gestation, so perhaps she wasn't too surprised with my decision to breastfeed.
Nursing hasn't always been Easy Street, either (See my rant from the first month if you don't believe me.). Don't get me wrong: once you're in the groove, nursing is easy. It's finding your groove and staying in it that are the hard parts.
When I started out, I wanted to tandem nurse the twins, get them on a schedule and possibly get a little more sleep. Well, it turned out that the twins had a touch of reflux and were tiny geysers of vomit on a very regular basis until they were about four months old. Thus, instead of tandem nursing, I was serially nursing twins to avoid at least some of the puke headed my way.
I've been bitten, pinched, pulled, vomited on, gotten plugged ducts, swollen and inflamed breasts from missing nursing sessions, Emma developed thrush, and Logan developed a preference for one side over the other.
Even with all of that, nursing has still been one of the best things I have done for the twins and for myself. Also? I produced a helluva lotta milk.
Now that we are tandem nursing, I get a bit more sleep at night. The weight loss aspect has been fabulous (I gained 65 lb for the pregnancy and by 7 months postpartum, it was gone. No exercise, just nursing and normal life with twins. I imagine that if you exercised, the weight would whip off even faster. I'm just lazy.). The twins are very snuggly when cuddled up and nursing together. Sometimes they reach over and pat the other twin. Of course, they also sometimes poke and pinch the other twin or attempt to steal the opposite breast, but life is tough around here.
Emma nurses more than Logan does, so when he finishes first, he sits up and smiles at me and we get a little extra bonding in: nose kisses, baby hugs, giggles. When he tires of me, I let him slide off my lap and crawl around the room. Emma and I then snuggle up together. She will finish off Logan's breast (Because there's always more milk in there.) and then crawl all over me like a puppy. She also engages in Nurse-robatics: standing up while nursing, twisting around, getting into Down Dog position, attempting to climb over my shoulder all while still engaged in lip-lock. Ouch! She also pats my tummy, plays with my hair and checks my teeth.
You know, just to make sure they're still in there.
I respond by nibbling on her fingers and chewing on her neck, so I think we're even.
Here are some of my hard-earned twin feeding tips:
5 Tips for Successfully Breastfeeding Twins
- Get a good book. I highly recommend Mothering Multiples: Breastfeeding and Caring for Twins or More! Read it. Ideally before the twins arrive.
- Be prepared to supplement with formula. The biggest secret to nursing twins is to keep in mind that you may not have milk enough for two on the day they're born. It took me a few weeks of pumping and supplementing with formula until my production increased enough to feed both of them fully. Be prepared to supplement and don't beat yourself up over the fact that this, too, is another area where having twins is decidedly different from having a singleton.
- Herbal supplements are your friend! Herbal supplements like Alfalfa, Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek will help increase your milk production significantly. Trust me! Or if you don't trust me, read up about it at KellyMom.com.
- Eat well. When breastfeeding twins, you'll burn up about 1000 extra calories a day. You need to eat well to support your body's ability to do that. Now is not the time to go on a diet to lose the pregnancy weight gain. It will come off. Be patient!
- Drink water. A lot of water. I'm not kidding. Why aren't you drinking some water? Go get some!
Now when someone asks, "So are you still breastfeeding those twins?"
We'll answer, "Hell yeah!"
-- Cross posted at API Speaks for World Breastfeeding Week. BTW, they're having a giveaway over at API in celebration of WBW. Go there and leave a comment to enter the contest to win a copy of LLL’s seminal book on breastfeeding: The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.
14 comments:
The problem is getting to the water when you are stuck in a chair with 2 babies on your lap half the day at least. I think one of those bottles like they use in hamster cages, mounted on the wall by my nursing chair, would have been handy.
My friend nursed twins fulltime for a couple of years. I think even after she got pregnant with the next one. And the twins were numbers 5 and 6.
Yup, people looked at me like I had 3 heads when I nursed my girls until they were WELL over 2yo. You hit the nail on the head...getting started can be difficult, you need to be flexible about supplementing, but in the end it's all worth it!
SC: I think I have a solution to the water issue: Camelbacks. You know, the water sacks that hikers/campers bring with them with the giant tubes, they can strap them to their backs? Take one of those and drape it over the back of the chair and voila! Water!
Now if only I'd remember to do that!
Kat: Two years? Awesome! I have a minimum in mind of at least the first year and then we'll see! Logan seems like he just wants to go and explore and only nurse at night while Emma is more than happy to drink all of Logan's share and her own. Emma may be nursing until she gets her 1st car, but I rather hope not!
I am trying to imagine Emmas wonderful nursing acrobats. Over in Tadpole land I have found it harder to pump with the twins around as Loen finds the whole setup as enticing as kiddie crack. She will roll over to the pump and pull out the tubing or Derby will repeatedly try and kick the bottles out of my hands. I know how good breast milk is for them but I am SO over pumping. I feel like a cow on a milk machine.
By the way I had a patient once who told me she nursed her twins till they were almost four. She went on to state it was a really great way to calm them down if they fell....at the park.
great post..I've been starting to think about these logistics..thanks...!
Hava: it IS a great way to calm them down, if they will LET you. Being in public and nursing isn't so bad, so long as you're only trying to nurse one at a time. Trying to do both would be a full frontal exposure and I'm just not up for that!
Screamish: Get the book, it's worth it! Be prepared - initial bfing is a massive time suck! Get a comfy chair and lots of snacks easy to eat one handed. Then don't make any serious plans for a few months.
It gets better!
Excellent post. Having nursed both my babies and having experienced almost all of the difficulties you described, I have the utmost respect and admiration for your decision!
Love the description of their acrobatics at the end too.
Hi there,
I found you through Madge's blog. I'm currently nursing my third son (he's ten months) and I had to laugh, people are always asking me "you're *still* nursing?" like I'm committing some crime or something or I've suddenly gone insane with having a baby. I'm going for the full first year and then we'll play it by ear after that.
Having twins, that would be a wrangling job. Mine is to the point where he will stand up or move around while he's nursing, it's sort of funny. I don't know that I'd be able to keep two calm, I have my hands full with my guy.
Have a great day!
I get the 'Still Nursing?' question all the time. My son turned 2 last week and we're still having a great time so I'm going to keep going for now. Nursing twins must definitely be something special.
Unfortunately, only people that have breastfed for an extended period of time will understand it. Most of the rest of the world just has opinions plucked from the air.
What a timely post! My MIL just asked if I was "still nursing." suddenly I found myself defending my decision to continue to nurse. My little guy JUST turned one on Sunday.
As for the nurse-acrobatics. WOWZER!!! I'm so happy to hear I am far from alone. We call it boob-nastics. Hilarious to watch.
And yes, even with that and all the pulling, pinching, being swollen, sore, and being a constant milk machine---I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
Caught your title on BlogHer . . .
I made the mistake of thinking at nursing was natural. I thought my twins would take to it naturally and I would naturally enjoy doing it for them. Was it natural? Not so much. Maybe things would have been different if I had your advice, 10 years ago.
Kimberly: Thanks! The acrobatics are both entertaining and painful. Much like motherhood itself.
Sari: Thanks for dropping by! Yeah, two is definitely a job for wranglers. Often I wish for a lasso. That wish may get stronger as they get more mobile....
Amanda: Congrats on two years! Yeah, the general public has far more representatives that haven't breastfed than those who have. Yet they ALL have an opinion about how you're doing it.
Laskigal: Ooh! The Blogher thingy works! Yay! I think the people that ask most often are those that never got a chance to breastfeed themselves. So either they don't know what it's like, don't understand the hoopla surrounding it or have guilt/jealousy associations. It's tough. Especially since things have changed so much since our mother's time. BFing was NOT DONE by the middle class.
Annie: I'm sorry you had a tough time. In the beginning it's more like wrestling than the calm, graceful, peaceful bonding moment that all the books and mags claim it to be. Of course, right now it's like wrestling again unless they're both tired, so maybe it's more like wrestling with some nice bonding moments thrown in?
Hi, I just found your blog while googling info on hummingbirds, but then this post caught my eye as I am a formerly tandem nursing mom and bigtime breastfeeding advocate. My boys, now 13 and 14 y.o., are 16 months apart, so when the second was born his brother was not yet weaned. So, despite having major milk supply issues in the first place from a breast reduction in my teen years, I managed to nurse both boys with supplement for a LONG time. Like almost 4 then almost 5 years. It made us all very happy. So I get the "You're still nursing?" phenomenon. Good luck to you and the twins, though, and I hope you keep nursing as long as it makes all of you happy.
I'm also a blogging mom, so come check out my blog if you ever want, too!
I came across your blog while looking for minimum calories needed to breastfeed twins. I have heard that you can burn 1000 calories a day feeding them. My post partum checkup is on January 9th and I would like to lose 40lbs before TTC again. I'm aiming for a year of breastfeeding then reevaluating at that point. My milk supply is not an issue fortunately. I supplemented with forumula the first 3 days until my milk came in. Now I have so much it's lined up in the fridge and freezer. I'm trying to give some away to friends who can't breastfeed! Anyway, I want to start a workout/weight loss regimen without affecting my milk supply. I am also going on the mini pill which I heard can affect supply. We'll see! Thanks for all the info!
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