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#21
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Has anyone ever tried these?
Marie,
Thanks for your responses. I will try to trim so that I am addressing only my original questions and your responses. Marie writes: : "Larry McMahan" wrote in message : ... : OK. if they are not latching well, then you must be pumping. What is : your : nursing and pumping schedule. I think you are taking enough herbals, so : that : if you are recieving adequate nursign stimulation you should be producing : adequate milk. : Whenever possible, I pump at least 20 minutes every 2 hours. However, if : the boys and I are alone, and they're needing my attention, I sometimes have : to skip a pump. This sounds good. : : How well do they latch, if at all? : Not at all, though we're still trying to teach them. How are you trying to teach them? I had a son who was born at 31 weeks weighing 4 lbs. (but not twins!) He was fed by tube in the hospital, and we transitioned him directly to the breast. We made sure he never recieved a bottle to avoid nipple confustion, and it worked. Obviously, your babies have already recieved bottles, so you don't have the option of avoiding the nipple confuation entirely. You have to do what you need to have them 'unlearn' their bad habits if you want to get them back to the breast. Honestly, this will be much harder, both phycially and emotionally. :Do you pump? Do you feed : them EBM? : They each feed about every two-three hours, I pump as often as possible, : they get all the EBM I can produce (about half to 2/3 of what they need) This is pretty good for exclusive pumping with twins. This kind of productions gives me some hope that with direct nursing stimulation you could produce enough to feed them exclusively. :Do you use a lact-aid or SNS? : I tried tube feeding--it worked with finger-feeding but took about an hour : for each feeding. When we tried it with the breast, they couldn't get *any* : suction and got nothing from the breast or the tube. :Do you feed by bottle? (If so, get rid of it.) : And how do my babies eat if I do? I am combining by last two questions and your responses to them, because I am going to answer them together. Now lets get down to your question of how do your babies eat if you get rid of the bottle, since this is the crux of your problem. The first thing you have to do is to train your babies off of the bottle nipple, and onto the breast nipple while ensuring that they contine to get sustenance. Honestly, this will be the hard part. If you thought that pumping every two hours was work, then for at least the first couple of weeks, this will be twice the work or more, because having become accustomed to "lazy feeding" your twins will object vociferously to a change, and will acquiece only when you insist. This is the key. The first thing you need to do is discontinue the bottles, and switch to an artificial feeding method that simulates nursing. This means a Lact-Aid or SNS. The thing you have to do to make this work is have faith in both your babies and yourself that you will be able to feed them this way, and that they will not starve if you make this change. At first, when you try to make the change, the babies will find the new feeding method enough harder that they will refuse to feed that way. But they will not starve. When they get hungry enough they will relent and use the method if you insist. If you want to successfully get them back to the breast, there is often no other way. You are going to have to put up with a lot of crying for a day or two, but it is often the only way to retrain. You may need help from an LC to show you how to get food down them using the SNS or Lact-Aid. Once you have successfully gotten them onto the SNS or Lact-Aid, then you can start trying to do direct nursing. At this point, the direct nursing is not really more difficult than what they are doing, and it will be easier to train them to suckle. Once they learn to nurse directly, then you can start increasing nursign sessions and decreasing pumping sessions. One additional suggestion for when you start direct nursing. You should pump or express just until you start a let down, then place the babies on the breast. Since they are used to "easy flow" this will help the know that milk will come out of the breast. After you have done this a couple of times, and they know to associate the breast with milk, then you can start putting them on the breast before let-down. : Now for some other ralated suggestions to increase your supply. : : 1. Drink plenty of water. Normally this would mean at least 12 oz (350 : ml) : every 2 hours. Keep a sports bottle by your bed at night. With twins, : you : may want to drink more. : Does it have to be water or does fruitjuice, pop, etc. count? Water is best, but some fruit juice is OK. You should NOT drink caffinated beverages. : 2. Get plenty of rest. Especially with twins! Nap whenever they do. : About once a week, if I'm lucky, they nap at the same time :-} In that case, when even one of them naps, then lie down with both, and get cuddle time with the one that is awake. : Don't do housework, errands, or cook. Let Dh do it all, of if you can, : hire help. : We have some help, but not enough. Then just let things go. : Spend a much time in bed with the twins as possible. Lot's of skin to : skin : contact, lots of nursing. : 3. Nurse as often as possible. Even if it is only comfort nursing. : Is it better to do it together or individually? Right now, I try and use it : as one-on-one time. Hmmm. I would suggest together as much as possible. See nap suggestion above. Good luck, hope this helps, Larry |
#22
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Has anyone ever tried these?
"Marie" wrote in message
ble.rogers.com... "Jolene" wrote in message link.net... Did they ever latch? Nope :-( But in the past few weeks (since their due date) we've seen more rooting reflex than before. I give them each time at the breast whenever possible, and they've both started to suck a bit, but so far there's no real suction there. I'm not giving up, but the latest LC told me to come to terms with the idea they may never bf properly. Marie Has anyone ever mentioned using a supplementer? |
#23
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Has anyone ever tried these?
Sue wrote:
She must have sent in for help when I was on vacation. Sorry. I thought this was her first post on the subject. However, I still thought some of the replies were rude. At least she is breastfeeding, maybe not from the tap, but it is breastmilk. Let us not lose site of what exactly is important. Lots of people pump exclusively, including Richard and no one ever said any snide remarks to them. So I guess I didn't get the hostility towards a new mom with twins trying to do what was best. ) There were no snide remarks. I even commended her for pumping. I think what you are sensing from me is exasperation, not hostility. I know pumping for twins is hard. I told her so. But I also told her that the longer the twins are talking milk from a bottle the harder it will be to get them to the breast. It might not be what she wants to hear, but it's a sad truth, not hostility. When a mother of twins posts for advice, I really try and help. I take time to answer as many questions as I can because I know how difficult it can be with twins. It was for me. Nursing twins can sometimes pose difficulties you wouldn't experience with singletons. This is one of the reasons I still hang around this group. To offer assistance to mothers of twins. I know it's not easy. Trust me I know. But all we can do here on this ng is offer advice based on our experiences and the experiences of others. If she chooses to ignore that advice and then repeatedly ask for similar advice, I think it's not unreasonable to expect some people to feel exasperation. -- Brigitte aa #2145 edd #3 February 15, 2004 http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/ "Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare." ~ Harriet Martineau |
#24
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Has anyone ever tried these?
Sue wrote:
I have to admit I have a hard time picking up on mood when in the written form. It is the bane of newsgroups. Mood is difficult to convey in writing unless you are very good writer (which I am not). And, I don't think there are emoticons for every mood. LOL! :-) -- Brigitte aa #2145 edd #3 February 15, 2004 http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/ "Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare." ~ Harriet Martineau |
#25
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Has anyone ever tried these?
I probably indeed read it wrong. I have to admit I have a hard time picking
up on mood when in the written form. Well I hope things go well for her then. ) -- Sue mom to three girls Truffles wrote in message ... Sue wrote: She must have sent in for help when I was on vacation. Sorry. I thought this was her first post on the subject. However, I still thought some of the replies were rude. At least she is breastfeeding, maybe not from the tap, but it is breastmilk. Let us not lose site of what exactly is important. Lots of people pump exclusively, including Richard and no one ever said any snide remarks to them. So I guess I didn't get the hostility towards a new mom with twins trying to do what was best. ) There were no snide remarks. I even commended her for pumping. I think what you are sensing from me is exasperation, not hostility. I know pumping for twins is hard. I told her so. But I also told her that the longer the twins are talking milk from a bottle the harder it will be to get them to the breast. It might not be what she wants to hear, but it's a sad truth, not hostility. When a mother of twins posts for advice, I really try and help. I take time to answer as many questions as I can because I know how difficult it can be with twins. It was for me. Nursing twins can sometimes pose difficulties you wouldn't experience with singletons. This is one of the reasons I still hang around this group. To offer assistance to mothers of twins. I know it's not easy. Trust me I know. But all we can do here on this ng is offer advice based on our experiences and the experiences of others. If she chooses to ignore that advice and then repeatedly ask for similar advice, I think it's not unreasonable to expect some people to feel exasperation. -- Brigitte aa #2145 edd #3 February 15, 2004 http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/j/joshuaandkaterina/ "Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare." ~ Harriet Martineau |
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