Breastfeeding with twins: how to survive and be happy
Feeding the newborn is a mother’s first concern, an instinctive call that pushes her to get up several times in the middle of the night, sometimes to endure pain and tiredness, to overcome even inhibitions and fears and to stop the world to devote maximum attention to own creature.
When there are two babies, and they tend to be of low weight, it is easy to imagine how that worry is a constant thought in the mind of the mother, who is busy, especially in the early days, for several hours during the day and during the night.
Twin babies, weighing on average 2-2.5 kg at birth, usually need 8-10 meals a day each, with 2-3 hour intervals between meals.
A tour de force that requires great energy and (ironically but not too much) brings out unexpected organizational skills, patience, tenacity and great creativity in the mother. A sort of three-way learning path , made up of instinct, observation and mutual understanding, built through tests and small progress until it becomes a consolidated practice.
Breastfeeding is like this for any mother, but with twins an extra effort is inevitably needed, because the needs to be intercepted and satisfied are always multiplied by two.
Breastfeeding solutions
Reading, listening and experimenting in prenatal courses helps to explore alternatives and prepare for the adventure. External advice from midwives or lactation consultants is also valuable after breastfeeding has started. Then it will be up to each mother to find a sustainable balance for herself and her children, create a routine with them, maintain it with dedication and perseverance, vary it whenever necessary, moving between growth spurts, new rhythms, and gradually increasing autonomy.
What breastfeeding options for twins
The type of feeding that will be put into practice (breast, bottle-fed, formula, mixed) will depend on many factors and will probably evolve over time.
Breastfeeding (by far the most recommended, even for twins) is possible when there are first of all the conditions, i.e. when mother and children are in good condition after giving birth and do not require special care . Strong prematurity and forced hospitalizations in Neonatal Pathology can hinder the start of breastfeeding, a key moment in the process for every mother.
If the mother cannot attach the babies, she can still stimulate milk production using the breast pump (there are double electric models that allow milk to be expressed from both breasts at the same time). In any case, the babies will be given mother’s milk.
If the production of milk is lower than the requirement, artificial supplementation is used , almost obligatory when the children’s low weight and the risk of falling beyond the physiological limits can compromise their health.
Finally, if there are no conditions for providing the baby with mother’s milk, artificial milk is used, the last solution, but not necessarily to be demonized for this reason.
How to manage feedings of twins
Feeding management will also depend on various factors and will evolve over time. At the beginning it is often advised to breastfeed each of the babies individually, dedicating them their own space and a moment of exclusive contact. Then, once breastfeeding has started, it will be possible to opt for “simultaneous” feedings , if the mother is able to manage them safely and calmly and if they are well tolerated by the children. Simultaneous feeding may not always be feasible or automatic: infants with completely different ways of feeding or with staggered wake-sleep rhythms sometimes require dedicated meals.
Furthermore, in the case of totally different wake-sleep rhythms, it is up to the mother to decide whether to force the awakenings to align the meals or whether to leave the children more freedom in guiding the request . Often the first way is the recommended one, especially if the babies are small and tend to skip meals and sleep long. The alignment of meals allows the mother to have minimal organization of times, avoiding having to breastfeed continuously.
If breastfeeding, the mother can choose to assign one breast to each baby or to alternate breasts at each feed.
If artificial supplementation is necessary, the mother can choose to alternate bottle and breast at each meal (one whole meal at the breast and the next with bottle only), to alternate bottle and breast throughout the day (breast for a baby and bottle to the other throughout the day) or to start each feed with the breast and finish it with supplementation for both babies.
If you are bottle-feeding, you can choose to give the bottle first to one child and then to the other or to give it at the same time , with the help of cushions, bouncers or cradles.
There are no great tips or standard routes with fixed stages to follow blindly: get ready to experience the adventure with serenity, enjoying unique moments of contact and making every difficulty an excuse to learn and to understand your children a little more .
Kathryn Barlow is an OB/GYN doctor, which is the medical specialty that deals with the care of women's reproductive health, including pregnancy and childbirth.
Obstetricians provide care to women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, while gynecologists focus on the health of the female reproductive system, including the ovaries, uterus, vagina, and breasts. OB/GYN doctors are trained to provide medical and surgical care for a wide range of conditions related to women's reproductive health.