Mine were overwhelmed with letdown too. I quickly learned to always spray off the letdown before putting them to the breast. Especially when they were small, it was: manually induce letdown, spray off into a rag or bottle until it stops, bring baby to breast, squeeze a little into mouth to get her interested and starting to root, then try to latch. Sometimes you might get multiple letdowns and she may want to pull off each time. You don't really want a whole bottle of "letdown milk" so if it was a lot, I'd save it and mix it with other pumped milk to increase fat content. Whoever said to use breast compression is right on too- she may need to do that to compensate for weaker mouth muscles and an inefficient latch for a while.

I wouldn't recommend that with twins, but she could hold a bottle to the other breast to catch the letdown if it's significant.

This reminds me that they gave me packets of breast milk fortifier in the hospital for when I came home. I believe they were also adding it to my milk in the NICU. Her pediatrician should be able to prescribe it if needed- maybe she can ask about it? I have no idea what it costs or if insurance covers it, but the nurses really wanted me to use it and we did until we quit using bottles.

Did she at least weigh them before and after feeding? I definitely co-slept and could not have survived otherwise. Would DD at least consider a cosleeper next to the bed- then she could pick them up, feed them, and lay them back down in their safe space next to her. It's basically a pack n play with a lowered side. My preemie breast milk was literally orange because of the high fat. The body knows the babies were early and is trying to compensate. I forget how old they are- are they young enough that losing weight is typical? I believe some nurses are delusional. My largest full term baby was 6lbs 5. NOT THAT SMALL. My L&D nurse said I had to bottle feed because he was too small when he lost a few ounces in the hospital- maybe down to 6lbs even? I took that info, nodded and smiled, and threw it in the mental trash.

Does her hospital have a mom/baby group? Usually the leader will have a hospital scale. I'm sure your daughter doesn't want to bring the babies to a play group yet, but she may be able to call the leader and meet with her a few minutes before or after the group. The leaders I've known have been LCs and they will weigh babies at the moms group. A test weigh is the best way to find out if the babies are getting enough. The mom/baby leader should also be able to give her advice on nursing, check her latches, etc. For free.

Definitely a blur. I remember that I stopped cleaning spit up off the floor. That kind of tired. LOL. Y'all are going to think we were nasty but it was self preservation.

Highly recommend Cybrary. DH works in IT security and chose it for DS. It's expensive but really well done.

Wow. That is very different than what we had been told. They aren't that preemie- I think that unless they had breathing issues and continue with apnea issues at home, then you can expect they will show signs of hunger. FWIW, we were told to feed every 2 hrs because they were smaller, so maybe that contributes to the smaller feeds we were recommended? Are they spitting up a lot? Here's a calculator for how many ounces they need- https://www.verywellfamily.com/how-much-breast-milk-should-i-put-in-a-bottle-431802 It roughly correlates to what we were feeding at 4lbs. We were feeding more like 10-12 times a day than 8.

I had a tremendous oversupply from all the pumping when they were in the NICU but even my milk had barely fully come in by 1 week. She should give it time- newborns need very little. I would only give bottles after feeding if they complain or their output is poor. If they fall asleep on the breast then they are content unless there are other problems which inhibit their ability to complain. FWIW, mine came home at about 36 weeks gestation and 4lbs and that's when we were told to only give them 20 cc MAX. They had terrible reflux so any overfeeding just made them worse. At the test weigh, IIRC, they were getting more like 3 oz, and then we had been bottle feeding afterwards- not good.

Is erythritol clearly listed in ingredients separate from stevia? DH loves stevia based products (I hate them) but I don't see anything with erythritol on the label in our house.

My twins came home from the NICU having only had bottles. We didn't nurse in hospital b/c I was uncomfortable getting help from "lactation Bob" lol. It was extremely difficult to transition once home for many reasons. Does she have other kids- it helps that I had experience with my oldest. Some thoughts- Tiny babies need less per feeding than you may expect. I remember leaving the NICU with instructions to give them only 17-20ccs. That's tiny. But IRL, with no bottles, you feel that maybe you should nurse longer. I'm not sure how her supply is, but I could give them that much within a minute or 2. It really helped my confidence to take them back to the hospital for a test weigh- they weighed them before and after nursing. It showed they were getting much more milk than they needed which was contributing to all the reflux. One baby at a time is much easier than tandem nursing. Tandem nursing made me feel like a factory cow and also made it impossible to really help with the latch. My lactation consultant was convinced that tandem was the way to go, but she didn't even have twins. She could try not trying to latch until after let down- you can sort of squirt it in the mouth and then try to latch. Baby is more motivated and even if they don't latch, they can still drink. No shame in bottles.

We used fingernail polish religiously before we could tell them apart. With mine, birthmarks didn't show up until they were older. Maybe it was because they were preemie, but we noticed that one had a birthmark on her leg at about 2 months. They were tiny- when they filled out, after I quit using the birthmark to tell them apart, the birthmark had moved. I about had a panic attack when I couldn't find the birthmark on either one- had they been mixed up? Who would know? But then I found it (correct baby) on the other side of the leg and an inch or so down! I didn't know birthmarks could move like that. As for nursing. We did one at a time and no keeping track. Baby cries? Baby 1 nurses on one side. Baby 2 cries while baby 1 nurses?- she has to wait her turn (babies cry- it happens) and then gets the other side. A few hours later- whoever cries first gets whatever side I feel like. It doesn't actually matter- no need to keep track.

Metamorphosis, Kafka.

That's only reasonable if they live close enough to sleep at home or are wealthy enough that they won't care about the cost of a hotel. Unfortunately, neither of those were true for me. I compromised by saying grandparents who wished to take the time and money to come meet the baby but not stay at my house were welcome to come right after the birth for a short time (24-72hrs). Any extended visits which would mean staying for a week or more at my house would not be welcome until after DH went back to work (2 weeks). I also wanted a week to rest between visitors. BUT- the twins were premature and everything went out the window as we needed babysitters for our oldest son, and no babies were home anyway. When they were released from the hospital, however; same rules. I feel this is so often ignored or minimized.

We had the letter people in my 80s K class. I still remember Mr M's entire song. We didn't have inflatables or anything like that, though. We only had the songs and I think some stories.

Size inflation. I also search Thredup for brands that I think usually fit. You can search only petites and they're supposed to give the actual measurements of the clothes which I appreciate and trust more than the manufacturer's charts, but the accuracy seems hit or miss. You could try sticking to items you can return until you get a better feel for your brands.

I like white house black market

I haven't seen it mentioned but I'd definitely include something from Tennessee Williams and maybe Arthur Miller if you have room for more plays. I also like to include Their Eyes Were Watching God and Catcher in the Rye.

That's about what my daughter's studio charges give or take a little. We live in a high COL area, but I don't think any of the other schools are cheaper here. The worst part is they never fit my daughter and we have to pay for alterations too. We measure carefully but her measurements don't match the sizes. And then the alterations man says they can't be altered because of sequins or something and I have to beg him to do whatever he can because she has to wear it and we don't care what it looks like up close. Put a x10 for lessons for a year! This year the studio offered a winter recital too and we opted out because I didn't want to deal with the costume headache.

I think you have to have kids used to listening to chapter books when young and kids who have a specific personality to continue read alouds in middle school+. Starting that habit with older kids would be harder and I think many kids who enjoyed it when young will resist as they age anyway. People who say their older kids/teens still love read alouds? Good for them but you aren't a failure and you didn't necessarily do anything wrong if they don't. The other issue, IMO, is that classics are not as important as some would suggest. First, they aren't always actually that well written or compelling, and they aren't all paragons of virtue- many are extremely problematic with racism, sexism, and other -isms that we may find appalling today. Some are great, some are worth the read despite their issues, and some could fade away without any great loss. I think it's important to have familiarity with a wide variety of "classics" for cultural competence but they shouldn't always be preferred over modern books which may be more exciting or relevant to kids today and are just as rich and wonderful. You can also expose them to the works with graphic novels, picture book adaptations, cartoons, and movies. I'd read your younger kids whatever they want and maybe take turns picking books with them so you can occassionally stretch them. Your older kids? Let them off the hook as long as they keep up with their schoolwork. I think it's just as important for them to see you read and if you read and discuss what you're reading with them then they may want to pick up a book too.

Put her in a small room for a few weeks and she should get better. Not sure how long it will last, but we kept them in my daughter's room for about 3 months and it helped. They'll use the litter box if they have to live in there with it. You could also try kitty prozac.

Congratulations! Twins are so much fun! She should be prepared to be a celebrity wherever she goes for the first few years! Mine are 18 now. I was worried about how big I'd get but I really didn't get that big and mine were di/di. I think I gained about 25 or 30lbs and I carried to the side more than the front- I could feel them behind me when I sat back! I was only 5'2 and about 90lbs when I got pregnant with mine and my doctor didn't seem to think my size mattered. I ate SO MANY calories and drank so much water. It was ridiculous but I think it definitely helped. My girls were early because of PROM but they were mostly feeders and growers. I rarely tandem fed- hated it. I much preferred to feed them one at a time. I felt like a cow when tandem feeding. My milk supply was no problem. I pumped in the NICU, did not breastfeed at all until we got home (b/c I didn't like the NICU helpers/rules) and we transitioned to breast feeding within a few weeks once they got home. It was much easier than bottle+breast. Like Farrar I was pretty upset at first. I had the world's colickiest first child and couldn't imagine 2 babies like my oldest but the 2 were easier than the one. Mine are identical and the nature/nurture stuff is so much fun and fascinating even now. They would fill out short answer questions exactly the same way and can't play guessing games like guess the animal with each other. On the other hand, I can clearly see how if they were raised separately, they'd likely be more similar in many ways. You can see them making choices to differentiate themselves that probably wouldn't have happened without a twin.

My DS (4) has been obsessed with dinos since he was 1. His lasting favorites have been dino stuffies, The Dino Dana Field Guides, kinetic sand with some plastic dinos, dino mask/claws, clothes b/c he literally only wears dino clothes and there's never enough, dishes/water bottle, dino puzzles, and for a non dino toy he loves his geosafari binoculars and has been carrying them everywhere for 2 years.

Very normal. I have had kids who would just clean the room, but those kinds of kids didn't usually need to be told to clean their rooms because those rooms rarely got messy. The messy kids could never. I think cleanliness/messiness is 100% personality and neurodivergence will impact it a lot on either side. I don't think anything you do as a parent can change this for them. You can help them consistently and have a relatively clean room (because of your help) or you can not help and they'll have messy rooms until something changes within themselves which may or may not happen until they are into adulthood. I'm sort of in the middle myself- I can handle cleaning my own space but I'm messier than my dad would have liked and messier than my ideal self would like. I'm mostly neurotypical though. I've been reading How to Keep House While Drowning to help my 14yr old and I find it very compassionate. It's not a big eye opener for me as far as practical ideas, but it has helped me see things from my kids' persepctives and has given me a few ideas to propose to DD that might actually make sense to her. It's a quick, easy read if your library has it and you suspect either of your kids may have ADHD or some other kind of neurodivergence.

This drives me crazy too. In my family, it always seemed like it was always a few men who'd show up to my grandmother's at Thanksgiving or other events and just sleep in the middle of the room. Every year. My dad didn't but I see it in DH's family too- always and only the guys. So rude, IMO.