Breastfeeding twins
I got some great comments on my post about breastfeeding twins. In case you didn’t get a chance to see them, here they are.
Heather (who does not have a blog) wrote:
Breastfeeding twins is hard. When my twins were born, I felt I had the success of breastfeeding my first child under my belt and there would be no worries. I had no idea how much more tired I would be or that one of my twins would have difficulty latching or that no matter what I did that I would not be able to get them on at the same time until they were nearly three months old and only with a special pillow.
I dealt with cracked and bleeding nipples, a husband who cheerily showed off a formula can to me nightly for the first two weeks, an evil bout of thrush, going back to work full-time, the hassle that is pumping, low supply, a plugged duct, a serious bite, milk blebs (what are those really?), and mastitis. Whew! Despite all that, it wasn’t the horror story it sounds like. It was amazing!
My twins nursed for three and a half years and never had formula. We gave away the can my husband liked to a food pantry. The thing that most helped me in this endeavor was La Leche League. Free help available 24/7 from mothers who have breastfed is almost too wonderful for words. I would encourage all mothers of multiples to seek out someone or a group of someone’s who have successfully breastfed their babies for at least a year and start asking questions while pregnant. Feeling like they don’t have any help and they don’t know what to do when something goes wrong is the most common reason that other mothers tell me that they quit breastfeeding. Help is out there and you CAN do it!!!
Monica, from The Cootie Chronicles, wrote:
I wish more people would consider the supplementing. It’s not all or nothing, you can breastfeed even just once a day and still share enormous benefits with your child.
I know it’s none of my business, but it did make me sad to think she weaned her twins at 3 or 4 months. With all that household help she couldn’t even take time to spend one session a day with each of them? Stepping off high horse now…
I emailed Monica to tell her that (even though I was reticent to post it here) I agree. I’ve only ever nursed one child at a time so I can’t really speak to nursing twins, but I do think it stinks that Angelina, who has the resources for so much more support than the average mother, didn’t stick it out longer.
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