Does anyone have any experience with breastfeeding twins? I am considering breastfeeding and formula feeding my twins when they are born...maybe breastfeeding one at a time and feeding the other formula and vice versa. Anyone with experience doing this?
I breasfed my twins but it was hard as I had very little support. It can be done! When I went to bottle, due to lack of sleep and sanity issues,LOL, I went with Meyenburg Goats milk because it is closest to mother's milk, but with added Folic Acid. And it does not have a bunch of added stuff. My twins are now 19 years old.
I pumped breastmilk for my twins for 9 weeks and nursed them a bit. They were always supplemented with some formula. They were about 90% breastmilk when my milk finally arrived. As their demand grew, I gave them about 75% breastmilk and by 9 weeks it was about 50%. As you probably can guess, it is difficult to meet the demand of twins with only pumping (8-10 times a day!) and not much nursing. I just found nursing them to be too difficult as they were premies and not very effective at it and I was caring for my 20 month old son. That said, I have since talked with several mothers who nursed their twins for many months. Hopefully you'll get someone who nursed for a long time to post here. The ones who seem to have lasted the longest that I've spoken with had eventually mastered the football hold and nursing them together. Best of luck - it definitely can be done.
I did it for 2 months. We actually did formula feeding and breast feeding from the beginning. My advice is do what you can do without making yourself crazy. I felt like all I did was pump & breastfeed (even with the bottle feeding). My kids really preferred the bottle but I made sure they got breast milk at each feeding 1st and then gave them the bottle.
My life got a lot easier once I stopped breastfeeding but the health benefits were worth it to me. The 2 month mark came around & I was going crazy so I decided it was time to quit.
I lasted 2 months, I kept forgeting whoes turn it was to breast feed and or one would "suck me dry" and the other would be hungry for her turn 20 min later. It was too much for me! One of my good friends had twins the same age and she went for 10 months, she mastered the football hold and each twin had a assigned side to feed off of. It really worked for her. Good luck , it is possible!
I know this might be too late, but I just saw your request...
My girls are almost 5 months old, and I have been breastfeeding them the whole time (they have never had formula). If you are still interested, please send me a message. I would be MORE THAN HAPPY to share details.
