Pumping with twins

[Lola Starr]

I pumped for 11.5 months. My girls didn't latch very well & I was determined to breast feed. (the immunities, the cost, etc)

First of all, invest in a double electric. Rent one if you have to. I bought a Medela Pump in Style. Best investment EVER! I was hesitant at first & I actually used a hand pump for weeks in the begninning. Don't do that!

Drink water. Drink lots of water. Eat right. Pump every 3 hours at first. Set your alarm in the middle of the night. If you can get your DH to get up with you & feed babies while you pump, even better. Once you establish a milk supply & some stock in the freezer, you can start sleeping longer at night. I would go 5-6 hours at night & wake up to 20oz of pumped milk!

Eat oatmeal. It helps.

Relax while you pump. Let your milk flow without the stress of anything else you have going on. And with twins, that is hard to do.

Freeze milk in bags or little NICU tubes. Label them with dates. Use the old stuff first. I would put a few tubes in the fridge each day to defrost. Then when I put in a bottle I would warm in water. NEVER MICROWAVE IT... unless you're in an emergency. :lol I've had to do it. :shrug My girls came out just fine.

[gypsymom]

Wow, Ruby, I'm so impressed. I hate pumping even just to get enough so that we can get a babysitter. I can't imagine doing it regularily for that long. You are very willful and dedicated. Way to go giving your girls the best thing ever. :woot

[Lola Starr]

My Medela & I were one. :lol I hated it, but everytime I wanted to quit I told myself just one more month. That eventually turned in to a year. I feel very proud of myself for my accomplishment because pumping IS hard. But I'm here for anyone who needs some one-on-one pumping help. :heart

[Smidget]

does the three hour schedule apply even if they are actually breastfeeding too? because i pump, but i can barely in one day keep up with what they eat in one sitting with a bottle...they can get a whole meal out of my boobs, but the pump can't! and one side will get a TON more than the other one! like one night my right side got like almost 3 of those NICU-sized tubes (the ones Medela makes) and my left side didn't even get a half of one...

ETA: when i say breastfeeding in the first line, i mean they're actually feeding from my breast...just wanted to clarify

[UnFun]

WOW! That is impressive! I always said that if I had to pump, my kids would've been formula fed! I am very much in awe of your determination!!! That is something to be totally proud of! :cheer

[Iggy]

I pumped and only lasted 13 weeks.... My boobs are apparently weird, cause I could pump for 45 minutes and still get milk. I'd get maybe 6-8oz off each side in that time. I have very, very slow letdown I guess. It was miserable. I pumped every 2 hours around the clock to keep up with the boys. They were big eaters but slow. So my schedule was pretty much:

Pump
Clean pump parts
Feed baby
Feed 2nd baby

And by then it was time to pump again. I ate pretty much nothing but oatmeal and root beer (root beer helps milk production) and water. The only times I would sleep is as soon as DH came home from work, I'd make sure to pump for only 20 minutes or so if it was off my schedule, then I'd sleep for an hour or so, then wake up and pump, sleep for an hour or so, pump and back to the schedule, while DH went to bed. I was so freakin' exhausted. Twice a week we went to the lactation clinics to try to get the boys to latch on and nurse, but nothing helped them - they did not have the normal baby reactions, which I know now is what's causing them to not talk :kickcan. I wanted them to nurse so badly. My mother, my obstetrician, and DH had an intervention almost to tell me they were afraid I was killing myself. So I gave up. It was really devastating for me.

Sorry to hijack your thread, Ruby :para

[gypsymom]

Iggy, I really feel for you. I was doing the exact same thing. It was awful. I was falling asleep while feeding babies because all I was doing was feeding babies and pumping. Around the clock. DH kept trying to get me to give it up but I was determined to kill myself trying. I kept saying that I could never live with myself if I "couldn't at least do this right." I think it was only by the grace of god or whatever that we finally got it at about 2 months after many trips to the lactation counselors.

[zak frost]

Hey!! Toad had issues with nursing. I almost had to bottle feed him. He has oral/muscular issues. He couldn't quit get his muscles to all work together. If I didn't have the let-down reflex I have (really really strong), I would not have been able to nurse him.

What actually would happen is I would attach Toad and then Q. Q would start sucking immediately and get the milk flowing. Toad would just have to sit there and wait and then sit there and swallow.

[Duck]

Wow Ruby, I'm so impressed and jealous. I tried pumping, I even went to every hour for a while but wouldn't even get enough to feed one baby a full meal. Like Iggy, I was doing the pump, clean, feed thing. I barely had time to eat or sleep. My LC told me to give up, but I was determined to give them every little bit while they were in the NICU. My LC and I decided that once they were home for me to quit pumping. So, when Colin came home, I stopped. I can't even imagine pumping for a year, that is so amazing.

[Lola Starr]

Yeah, every 2 hours is too much. Ig, I would have died.

honestly, once I got a milk supply & a routine established, it just happened. It was only really tough in the beginning (first 2-3 mo) & then you know I was using a hand pump. :loser

Smidget, if you are nursing them & still want to pump then no I wouldn't do every 3 hours. How often are they nursing? What I would do in this case would be to nurse them & if they are still hungry top them off with formula. (Nestle Good Start is very gentle for reflux babies) Don't shoot me for saying that, but nursing exclusively & then trying to get some milk to store is tough. I was only pumping to store so that made it easier. And my girls got formula for the first 3 months of their lives until I had a steady milk supply. Then they were exclusively breastfed through bottles until 11 months when I introduced whole milk.

[Korena]

wow you guys did great. I pumped for 3 months the girls were so tiny that they could not latch on. after the 3 months I gave up I was so tired id forget I got up in the middle of the night to get a baby and almost roll over on her when Id get up to get her sister. Id pump all the time and them save it for the girls but I never got enough I still have to give them neosure(spiceal premee formula) but more them half there milk was from me.


Im gona try harder this time. hopfully Im having just one and it will be easier.

[zak frost]

I had a double sided Medela breast pump. I would get home from work and snuggle up to my breast pump!!! I was usually too full to feel the twins. They couldn't latch on.

If you want to get a supply for the freezer, pump a little after each feeding. You won't get much, but you throw it in the fridge and just keep adding to it throughout the day (or over a few days). When the girls get a little older and are sleeping through the night more, that first feeding of the morning is when you get your most milk.

[Iggy]

I started with a Medela Classic rented from the hospital, then I bought a PIS. They both worked great.

[Lilac]

Wow Ruby, that's amazing! Good for you! :clap