Our Feeding Experiences
On the whole my fraternal twins were pretty straight forward bottle feeders and both fed on demand. They fed on SMA Gold until I could use the SMA White for hungrier babies. My son was the hungrier twin and fed every 2 hours for the first few weeks. Even the nurses commented on his feeding schedule whilst we were in hospital. He kept them extremely busy for a couple of nights while I was recovering from the operation. He always screamed for his milk which often disturbed his sister so feeding was often a very difficult time.
My top tip is to keep a feeding record. It was quite a feat trying to remember who fed when and how many ounces they took especially during the night when everything becomes just that little bit more blurry. I had a book with a column for each twin recording the time of the last feed and how many ounces. It became a useful tool in scheduling day to day life and fitting in the daily chores as well as showing the signs of a much needed routine. After many weeks of sleep deprivation I became reliant upon my feeding record.
Here are photos with the premature bottles used in the hospital and then the bottles recommended by the hospital for use at home. You can see just how small the girls were by the size of bottles!
My hungry son suffered from terrible wind due to his fast feeding so we played around with different bottle teats to make sure the flow of milk suited him. He also had regular doses of “Infacol” before feeding. This wind presented other problems because after the feed he was so uncomfortable that he needed plenty of winding and rocking which meant his twin sister was often left to sit it out in her bed or car seat unless of course there was another pair of hands around.
When two pairs of hands weren’t available and they both needed feeding at the same time they were fed from their cradle type car seats. I sat between them and held the bottles in. I often used pillows to prop the bottles up when one wasn’t happy and needed picking up for winding etc. You can now purchase various hands free feeding equipment and bottle props and I will talk about them later.
I spent a lot of time upstairs in the bedroom with them as the bed and plenty of pillows provided a good area for double feeding. Of course there were times when I could feed one before the other but mostly they fed together.
I soon learned that I needed a soft area on the floor and quickly assembled one in the living room. It consisted of a futon mattress covered with a duvet with lots of pillows all around the edges. I was able to feed the babies in this position as well as upstairs on the bed.
The times when I wasn’t alone to feed them both allowed me to sit comfortably with one twin whilst the other took comfort from my helper. These feeds were precious to me. Time could be spent with each baby, winding properly, having a little cuddle and then putting them down when ready rather than rushing everything.
I used the Avent Steriliser and Avent Baby Bottles. I had about 12 of the 4oz bottles to start with and gradually as the feeds increased and the bottles wore out I purchased the larger 8oz bottles.
Although the recommendation is that each bottle should be made fresh for each feed I discovered this really wasn’t a practical option with twin feeding demands and I made batches of 6 bottles at anyone time and stored them in the fridge. The steriliser was used roughly 3 times in a 24 hour period at first. Dummies were also sterilised at the same time.
It’s also recommended that you do not use a microwave to heat bottles. Once again I soon realised that with responsible extra care using the microwave to warm the bottles was the only practical solution. I was not going to sit and wait for two bottles to warm in a jug of hot water or in the bottle warmer whilst listening to my twins screams of hunger. Any unfinished feeds were thrown away after 1 hour.
My Top Tips would be:-
- Have plenty of feeds prepared and ready in the fridge.
- Keep a Feeding Record.
- Don’t feel guilty you are doing your best and you are going as fast as you can!
- Accept help wherever offered.
Feeding Our Premature Twins
My second set of twins, identical girls this time, were a different experience altogether. The girls were low birth weights and premature so were taken straight to SCBU (special care baby unit) and were fed through a nasal tube.
The reason I share this with you is because I am sure that most mothers just want to have their baby, get out of hospital and cuddle and feed and love their little bundle of joy. Except with twins, the ideal scenario is often not the case and reality means you have to be flexible and ready for anything.
The girls were delivered at 35 weeks plus 2 which made them moderately premature. As the girls were going to be in SCBU for a couple of weeks and the older twins were at school I actually had some time on my hands so I decided to express my milk in order that the nurses could give it to them via the tube thus giving the girls the best possible start.
Expressing Milk is a time consuming job and I felt like a machine. I thought that the milk would come gushing out and fill those bottles without problem, but it didn’t happen for me. Just as well I only had to fill the tiny premature baby bottles the hospital send you home with. Still, I was doing my bit and after a few days the babies were off the nasal feeding and able to suck which meant good progress and a step forward to bringing them home. This was great because it allowed my husband and I to feed them during our visits to SCBU. My milk wasn’t enough so they were topped up with premature baby milk.
Unfortunately, and unexpectedly I took quite seriously ill with an infection caused by the remains of placenta left in my womb and just as the girls were released from SCBU I was rushed in. Which brings me to my point, breast feeding and in this case expressing the milk was no longer an option. I couldn’t express or feed because of the logistical problem of being separated from the girls and the drugs given to me to fight the infection I had. The care for the girls was left to my husband and my mother who obviously had to feed via the bottle using baby formula.
So, the girls became fully fledged bottle feeders on Nutriprem milk prescribed by the doctor for premature babies. They suffered from a condition called Reflux which meant that it was far better if someone could hold a baby to feed so as to keep them in a nicely propped up position. We tried to take more time over the feeds. The babies would suffer mostly after the feeds as we were waiting for some of the milk to regurgitate – this often burns hence the discomfort. They were given Infant Gaviscon to help with the problem. After a bit more growth in the babies and switching the milk to Aptamil the problem resolved itself so feeding became easier.
We found that our babies were put into a routine quite quickly during their stay in SCBU and for a couple of weeks the girls did manage a 3 to 4 hour feeding schedule. I think this is largely due to the amount of sleeping premature babies do. I know in comparison to my first set of twins the girls slept a whole lot more. As soon as they reached full term, it was as if they woke up and we were soon on demand feeding and we had to become more flexible in following their needs as they grew.
