Thursday, February 11, 2010

Breastfeeding Twins


It's a choice I made. Most moms get to make a choice and I chose even before I was pregnant to breastfeed my next baby. I exclusively pumped for Quinn for a few months. His latching and my efforts were both down the tubes. He got lots-o-breastmilk but I really wanted to give it a 100% shot with my next baby....Then I found out there were going to be 2 babies. This further cemented my goal.
The sheer number of bottles that would be used for pumping or formula feeding twins was enough to make me more nauseated than my first trimester was already making me. For the rest of my pregnancy I spent HOURS and HOURS researching nursing twins. You can feed one at a time, you can tandem feed (which I do now), you can try to schedule, you can feed on demand (that's me), but the bottom line is- YOU CAN BREASTFEED MULTIPLES! Don't let them scare you :)

The lactation consultants and nurses in the hospital were PHENOMENAL in helping me achieve this goal. I was very clear throughout my pregnancy that I had full intentions of exclusively nursing my two new bundles of joy. I bought a twin breastfeeding pillow (which is what is supporting the two of them in the picture) and, yes, I practiced with 2 stuffed animals regarding positioning. *I only did this once..give me a break.

Unlike Quinlan, these two latched right away. At first Paige was the stronger latch-a-doodle and, at first, neither one of them wanted anything to do with my left boob. However, over the next couple of days (which is one positive of a c-section-more time in the hospital to get this nursing thing down!) I was able to get them to latch individually and together (with assistance).

When I got home it was abundantly clear that tandem nursing 2 newborns is not a task for the faint of heart. Scott had to help position them with their floppy little necks and it took some time to get them both on and going. I decided to nurse one at a time for a while. Further, tandem nursing them as newborns proved an opportune time for Quinn to get in to mayhem.

Tandem nursing was on the back burner until about a month ago, when they turned 3 months old. By this point they could just lay in front of my boob and latch on themselves, and required little "extra" handling like a newborn.

For now it's great and I don't really know when I'll stop...we'll see how it goes (that's my motto for everything nowadays). They get one bottle of either breastmilk (if I remember to thaw some) or formula at 5pm because that's Quinn's dinner time and their fussy time. That's their last feeding of the night.

We used to use bottles of breastmilk over night for like every other feeding because they were getting up at different times and a lot so it was exhausting. Now they only get up once or so a night and I just popem on and then they eat a little and fall asleep.

I've had such a great experience nursing them I've become a full-on breastfeeding advocate and I really wish I worked harder with Quinn...(all in the past...he's fine and huge and it's water under the bridge lol)..

The point is, you have a choice. And, while I hope people choose breastfeeding or breastmilk by pump- JUST FEED YOUR KIDS hehe...Dont let people make you feel bad (formula) or weird (breastfeeding) for your choice.

love,
andrea

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

I now have 3 under 3...rather than 3 under 2

Quinlan is 2...2 years old...I can officially only KIND OF call him a baby for another year..He IS technically a toddler..but a 2 year old is still sweet...ish.......Don't get me wrong, he's about as rambunctious as they come but he still babbles, calls me mommy, sings part of his homemade lullabye with me and, above all, still thinks I'm just the best person in the world.

I posted a birthday message to him on my BabyCenter February 208 Birthboard that read:

Dear Quinn,

You've handled your second year with grace, fervor, and fearlessness. You've taken on a move in to your first "family home" that mommy and daddy bought. You welcomed a brother AND a sister on the SAME day in October and you love them unconditionally (despite the smack on the head here and there). And, true to form, on the eve of your second birthday you decided you've had enough of the crib, forcing mommy to turn your crib in to a toddler day-bed. You only slept 7 hours last night but nap today went well and bedtime tonight went better. I love that you move to the next stage of things so quickly and cold-turkey..but take it easy when you leave the little kid stage, ok?

Love you,

Mom.


His 2nd birthday snuck up on me during the twins' first 4 months. The first 8 weeks with the twins was something out of a sci-fi/horror/comedy/drama/docu-givemeabreak-ary. Scheduling was out the window, partially due to breastfeeding (which I'm still doing thankyouverymcuh) and the rest due to the fact that I had 2 FRIGGEN INFANTS AND A TODDLER..It was enough to do to make sure I ATE, and everyone else ate, nevermind WHEN THEY ATE.

Things are calming down now. I know some of you think it silly that I would even interject the word CALM in to my blog about life with 3 little people but it's true. The twins have started eating every 3 hours during the day and they're getting up only once (rarely 2x) a night at this point during a 12 hour period. Their naps are starting to organize themselves and I am putting them down at the same time for all of their naps...It just makes sense for my life.

I'm seeing the light, slowly, and I need to decide where to go from here. I'll be blogging about my daily rediculousness, the struggle to lose weight (which apparently for me is nearly impossible while breastfeeding) and the struggle to keep a marriage together (which seems nearly impossible at times...we always need to remind ourselves we're on the SAME team)....I guess I'll be going in all of these directions and you'll follow me...because you love me!


Love,

andrea