Update on p. 5 - Twins are losing weight - help please

[Terabith]

This is ridiculous bullshit.  

[Renai]

2 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Idk y’all this lactation consultant came into the room telling dd that their weight is a problem and we need to put them on bottles? She’s offered no support so far. She says whatever we try won’t be enough. Hopefully she’ll offer some sort of ideas before we leave. 

This sounds like she doesn't know what to do, how to help, and telling you to take our advice instead. 🙂 At least on this thread, we're coming up with similar ideas, even with some of the one-bottle suggestions. 

[Terabith]

I think the idea of pumping before she feeds them is an excellent idea.   They’re not lethargic or dehydrated.  I really don’t think this is an immediate emergency.  She needs to relax and eat and feed them.  And sleep.  

[sweet2ndchance]

She sounds like the "lactation consultant" I had with my first son. I would get a second opinion from a LC of your own choosing (I'm assuming the doctor set up this appointment). Plenty of mommas successfully breastfeed twins. How old are the twins again? Have they regained their birth weight yet?

[prairiewindmomma]

25 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Idk y’all this lactation consultant came into the room telling dd that their weight is a problem and we need to put them on bottles? She’s offered no support so far. She says whatever we try won’t be enough. Hopefully she’ll offer some sort of ideas before we leave. 

Ask her if she can put you in contact with someone who has more experience with successfully breastfeeding preemie twins. Clearly, it’s beyond her level if she can’t offer some practical solutions. Not all lactation consultants have the same experience and knowledge base. 
 

Also, tell your daughter the LC is an idiot for us. 

[Scarlett]

28 minutes ago, Terabith said:

This is ridiculous bullshit.  

My thoughts exactly.

[Paige]

45 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Idk y’all this lactation consultant came into the room telling dd that their weight is a problem and we need to put them on bottles? She’s offered no support so far. She says whatever we try won’t be enough. Hopefully she’ll offer some sort of ideas before we leave. 

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. 

[kbutton]

53 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Idk y’all this lactation consultant came into the room telling dd that their weight is a problem and we need to put them on bottles? She’s offered no support so far. She says whatever we try won’t be enough. Hopefully she’ll offer some sort of ideas before we leave. 

I don't even want to think about how this sounds to your DD. Hugs and prayers. 

I hope you can find someone supportive to help out with this. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

They were a little sleepy but Nectarine only got about half an ounce in breast milk and Peach got an ounce. ETA: this is from weighing before and after feeding 

She thinks they simply don’t have the strength to nurse as well as they should and she wants us to feed them another ounce via bottle after each feeding.

She doesn’t recommend the SNS because she says it’s hard to set up and clean and will just be a pain for DD. Any experience with this?

Edited March 9, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[Ann.without.an.e]

Also she is having dd pump now to see how much she gets. She really doesn’t think it’s a supply issue. She thinks they just aren’t big enough to be as efficient as they need to be yet. She says once they get bigger they should be able to solely nurse. She’s grown on me some. She just came in with a set attitude that put me on guard. ETA: I think her attitude changed as she assessed the situation better. 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[Jaybee]

4 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

She doesn’t recommend the SNS because she says it’s hard to set up and clean and will just be a pain for DD. Any experience with this?

My dil used it with her first. It was a lot of work. There were specific reasons that dil had trouble with supply. But when she was about to start setting that up with her second, I was able to convince her to just lie around, feed him as often as he would eat, eat well herself, and rest as much as she could. Then she ended up being able to breastfeed him exclusively. 

Since the babies were cluster feeding last night, that is a good sign that they are getting the hang of it. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

Idk how much a baby their size should get? The lactation consultant says about 1.5 ounces. 

[Jaybee]

Oh, and I doubt if I would have been able to relax enough that early with my first to be able to pump much in front of someone. I hope she won't get too discouraged if she can't. 

[sweet2ndchance]

In your update, she at least sounds reasonable. I would be on guard too if my LC came in saying I couldn't bf. As grandma, I might have gone Mama Bear on her on my dd's behalf lol.

In the end, it is dd's insurance paying for this LC's help so if your dd wants to try a SNS system, I would encourage her to push for that. It's your dd's decision on whether it is too much work, not the LC's, ya know?

Are they at least suggesting pumped milk or high calorie preemie formula as the supplemental feeding option? If not, I'd want to know why.

Edited March 9, 2023 by sweet2ndchance

[Scarlett]

Are they premies? I thought they were full term.  

[Lawyer&Mom]

9 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

 

The hospital drilled it so hard - no cosleeping, no cosleeping. Basically, “they’ll die if you cosleep”. DD is terrified of that. I don’t even know that she is getting good sleep because she says she’ll wake up panicked that she has a baby in her arms in bed, even though they won’t allow themselves to hold them in bed laying down for that reason. They made it into such a huge fear that it’s literally disrupting her sleep. She won’t even sit up in bed and nurse them. 

I hate this.  They drill that breast feeding is the only answer, but that cosleeping is evil.  I was so damn sleep deprived trying to exclusively breastfeed my first. It doesn’t help the baby if I crash the car, right?  Or fall asleep while she is nursing in my lap?  I swear they hate women. 

I never did get over my fear of cosleeping, but I did get over my fear of formula.  With the second kid, Dad took care of the 3am to 6am shift with a bottle and I got one consistent sleep cycle every night.  Made such a huge difference.  

 

 

[Ann.without.an.e]

45 minutes ago, sweet2ndchance said:

In your update, she at least sounds reasonable. I would be on guard too if my LC came in saying I couldn't bf. As grandma, I might have gone Mama Bear on her on my dd's behalf lol.

In the end, it is dd's insurance paying for this LC's help so if your dd wants to try a SNS system, I would encourage her to push for that. It's your dd's decision on whether it is too much work, not the LC's, ya know?

Are they at least suggesting pumped milk or high calorie preemie formula as the supplemental feeding option? If not, I'd want to know why.

 

26 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Are they premies? I thought they were full term.  

they were induced at 36 weeks so yes, later term preemies. She is suggesting to try to encourage a bottle of pumped milk after each feeding. We’ll see if it works? When we tried that out of the nicu they were never hungry for the next feeding and wouldn’t nurse well and it was a vicious cycle. 

[Brittany1116]

SNS is mildly annoying but if she has someone to help, it is doable. 2 ounces might be a good goal. 2 oz was my goal for my 37wker. 

Did multiple Drs and nurses and even LC check for tongue ties? Poor nursing ability and/or falling asleep before sated can be because of tongue ties. Been there and done that, too. 

[Brittany1116]

As for bottle recs, one of my boys could only take MAM bottles. 

[BusyMom5]

Can you get a scale to weigh them at home before and after feeding?  Ask on FB or around to see if anyone has one she can borrow!  It may be that they aren't hungry enough to eat much right now, but they may be eating more at other times.  Check for tongue ties!

My last baby, baby 6!!!! Had a bad latch and basically nursed half the hours of the day.  It was so hard!  I went to the Dr and LC and still had trouble diagnosing TT.  Eventually I called a family member who lives 5 hours away,  but is a Dr who has extra training in nursing.  We traveled all that way to get her tongue clipped at 6-7 weeks old. Instant relief! And she slept 4 hours that night.  No onecwaz worried bc she was "gaining weight correctly."  I feel like Drs just do not listen to women.   I was so frustrated!  I had nursed 6 babies, including twins, and knew something was wrong.  Told I just didn't remember how it was 🤦‍♀️   

[Starr]

My dd initially lost weight. Her NYC fancy dancy pediatrician kept an eye on her overall health and watched her weight creep up ever so slowly. He never said to supplement or quit nursing. He said she ate enough and just wasn't a big eater. She slept in a bassinet beside the bed and I got her up to nurse. What does her doctor say? I have no experience with twins. Love to your dd.

[Ann.without.an.e]

15 minutes ago, BusyMom5 said:

Can you get a scale to weigh them at home before and after feeding?  Ask on FB or around to see if anyone has one she can borrow!  It may be that they aren't hungry enough to eat much right now, but they may be eating more at other times.  Check for tongue ties!

My last baby, baby 6!!!! Had a bad latch and basically nursed half the hours of the day.  It was so hard!  I went to the Dr and LC and still had trouble diagnosing TT.  Eventually I called a family member who lives 5 hours away,  but is a Dr who has extra training in nursing.  We traveled all that way to get her tongue clipped at 6-7 weeks old. Instant relief! And she slept 4 hours that night.  No onecwaz worried bc she was "gaining weight correctly."  I feel like Drs just do not listen to women.   I was so frustrated!  I had nursed 6 babies, including twins, and knew something was wrong.  Told I just didn't remember how it was 🤦‍♀️   

I don’t know what a tongue tie is but we need to find out. 
 

I want a scale so bad. I ordered one and it isn’t accurate. The LC said it needs to be in grams ? 

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

They were a little sleepy but Nectarine only got about half an ounce in breast milk and Peach got an ounce. ETA: this is from weighing before and after feeding 

She thinks they simply don’t have the strength to nurse as well as they should and she wants us to feed them another ounce via bottle after each feeding.

She doesn’t recommend the SNS because she says it’s hard to set up and clean and will just be a pain for DD. Any experience with this?

This is not a 'lactation consultant'.  This is a shill for the formula companies.  Yeesh.

[Ann.without.an.e]

Ok so here is the plan we have, just in case I didn’t explain. 
 

We canceled the weight check and doctor’s appt for tomorrow and rescheduled for Monday morning. They are supposed to both be highly encouraged to take a bottle after nursing. The plan is pumped milk. Peach will take 1/2 - 1 ounce and nectarine will need at least 1 ounce. We really need to practically force feed her if possible since she’s smaller and losing more weight. She’s also not pooping anymore so that’s a bad sign.

The LC really thinks this will only be until they can get to about 6.5 pounds and then they’ll be strong enough to efficiently nurse. It will be a tiring next two to three weeks. 
 

ETA: they latch well and nurse well and dd’s supply is good. It’s just they tire easily and take too many breaks 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[Terabith]

Can you give the pumped milk and then nurse?  And maybe pump a bit before she nurses them so they get the hind milk?

[Matryoshka]

@Ann.without.an.e, I seem to recall from my days in LLL (after they were so supportive when I called in a sobbing mess I ended up attending - there were so many twins in my area at the time that we actually had a separate twins' LLL meeting so the singleton moms wouldn't feel like they couldn't complain about their one measly baby, lol) - anyway, I seem to recall that it's normal for breastfed babies to lose a bit of weight at first.  The charts are pretty much based on Formula-fed babies.  Of course you don't want it to be too much weight, and you don't want the babies to become too lethargic to nurse, as that can start a negative spiral - but if they're sucking/nursing well, which it sounds like they are, this 'give it up they're not gaining fast enough' is... bupkus.

As for cosleeping, I was 100% against it before I actually had babies.  I thought I'd get more sleep with them in their own beds.  When I realized that for me, the reverse was true, into my bed they came.  I had a firm matress, we kept the blankets and pillows away from them, neither my hubby or I were obese or took alcohol/drugs.  We also had a king-size bed, yay!  I had enormous boobs while nursing - yes, bigger than the babies' heads - and I thought that helped me nurse in bed (someone else said they couldn't for that reason) - I think it has to do with your own personal anatomy (not just big or small).  Others have mentioned tandem nursing, which is great for many twin moms, but for me made my toes curl.  Tried, but couldn't pull it off.  But still nursed them for 18mos, and it was a breeze once we got established (as I mentioned before, that part did take a while - about 6wks after their due date, not birth date).  She'll figure out what works for her.  This LC is just complicating the situation and needs firing!

Another note on cosleeping, mine did each have their own crib in their own room (because I hadn't planned to cosleep, at.all.), and we put them down in their cribs alone (hence the bottle feed for that ritual, to get them to go to sleep at the same time but without me lying next to them) - and then I could go downstairs, get the evening pump in, and have some 'no one is touching me' time, and even go to bed without them.  They would only come in - usually one at a time - after they woke for the first time.

Edited March 9, 2023 by Matryoshka

[Ann.without.an.e]

1 minute ago, Terabith said:

Can you give the pumped milk and then nurse?  And maybe pump a bit before she nurses them so they get the hind milk?

I don’t know how it works to be honest.
If after they nurse she gets about 2-3 ounces? Do you think they’re getting hind milk? To be honest though it doesn’t matter right now because they’re getting it all with a bottle that they don’t get on the breast?

[Matryoshka]

12 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

ETA: they latch well and nurse well and dd’s supply is good. It’s just they tire easily and take too many breaks 

When I was establishing nursing, when they were learning how and my supply was still establishing itself, there was a period - longer than I wanted it to be - where I just nursed, pumped, nursed, pumped, on repeat. I do think for a while I also gave them supplemental bottles (can't remember if it was before or after they nursed), then phased them out as things came together. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!  I think someone suggested I sit on the couch between the babies and not even bother closing the nursing bra, lol!  It sucked and it was hard, but the payoff (for me) was really worth it.  Once we got established, it was easier and faster than if I'd been using formula.  No shopping for it, no washing/heating bottles, no worrying about packing supplies when going out...

[Ann.without.an.e]

2 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

When I was establishing nursing, when they were learning how and my supply was still establishing itself, there was a period - longer than I wanted it to be - where I just nursed, pumped, nursed, pumped, on repeat. I do think for a while I also gave them supplemental bottles (can't remember if it was before or after they nursed), then phased them out as things came together. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!  I think someone suggested I sit on the couch between the babies and not even bother closing the nursing bra, lol!  It sucked and it was hard, but the payoff (for me) was really worth it.  Once we got established, it was easier and faster than if I'd been using formula.  No shopping for it, no washing/heating bottles, no worrying about packing supplies when going out...

This is exactly the plan. I think it’s just the preemie factor and now the added weight and strength loss. They need to gain strength before they transfer enough milk with breast alone. They’ll get there and I bet in only 2-3 weeks 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[Matryoshka]

Just now, Ann.without.an.e said:

This is exactly the plan. I think it’s just the preemie factor and now the added weight and strength loss. They need to gain strength before they transfer enough milk. Is breast alone. They’ll get there and I bet in only 2-3 weeks 

Yes.  I think I already shared my nightmare start.  My twins had seizures and had to be rehospitalized and totally lost all their nursing gains and were back to 100% bottle (mix of pumped and formula) at about 6 weeks and we almost had to start from scratch getting them to latch/suck.  Don't sweat supplementing some at this point, just keep up the pumping and introducing them to the breast at each feeding (I personally think before bottle is preferable, but it sounds like opinions on that are mixed).  They will get bigger, and stronger, her supply will increase.   There is a light at the end of the tunnel!!

[Ann.without.an.e]

20 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Yes.  I think I already shared my nightmare start.  My twins had seizures and had to be rehospitalized and totally lost all their nursing gains and were back to 100% bottle (mix of pumped and formula) at about 6 weeks and we almost had to start from scratch getting them to latch/suck.  Don't sweat supplementing some at this point, just keep up the pumping and introducing them to the breast at each feeding (I personally think before bottle is preferable, but it sounds like opinions on that are mixed).  They will get bigger, and stronger, her supply will increase.   There is a light at the end of the tunnel!!

That’s definitely a rough start 

thanks for the encouragement ❤️

[Ann.without.an.e]

Thank you all for your help 

I will try to update y’all with our progress.

DD often says if it was just one of them then they could just play this game where they nurse all day lol 

[Eos]

3 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

She doesn’t recommend the SNS because she says it’s hard to set up and clean and will just be a pain for DD. Any experience with this?

I've helped a couple of moms with one but not used it myself.  The pro is that the tube end is tiny and will not cause the dreaded nipple confusion since they use it while nursing.  The con is yes, it's a process to get it going and keep it clean but on the other hand she has you there.  The LC might not be used to grandmothers who are so ready to help.  It doesn't have to be fully in place around her neck, etc it can just be handheld next next to her.  

[sweet2ndchance]

If you look or feel under your own tongue, there is a bit of skin that attaches the tongue to the bottom of your mouth behind your teeth. When someone is tongue tied, this piece of skin is too short or too tight to allow proper movement and positioning of the tongue. In extreme cases, they cannot stick their tongue out at all. All babies have a "tongue thrust" reflex when they are less than 6 months old. It the babies can stick out their tongue when something is pressed to their lips (like when they are refusing a bottle) then they probably aren't tongue tied. At least not severely enough to interfere with infant feeding. My ds for instance is tongue tied but only slightly which is how it was missed for 10 years.

There is also lip tied where it is the same thing but the lips are tied to the gums and make it difficult for the baby to flare their lips properly to suckle. Both conditions can be identified by a doctor or the LC. They should have checked at birth but it is easily missed.

[Eos]

When tongue-tied infants are crying, their tongues look wide and flat in their mouths, rather than pointy or long.  Tiny babes can be confusing, but I agree the LC should check.  If they can both latch well, even if not for very long, they're probably not tongue-tied.

[denarii]

5 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Thank you all for your help 

I will try to update y’all with our progress.

DD often says if it was just one of them then they could just play this game where they nurse all day lol 

If she can tandem nurse that's basically what I did. Watched a lot of tv and nurses all day with them tucked under each arm. 

If she is nursing one at a time has she tried breast compressions at the same time. Sometimes you can get one to start suckling again when they pause. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by denarii

[thatfirstsip]

Breastfeeding is great, and if she's super committed to it, I'm not trying to invalidate that, more power to her.

But if she's not super committed ideologically to breastfeeding, this is the kind of situation formula is meant for. Her health and sleep and sanity are important too.

[vonfirmath]

The point the doctors are looking at is the baby not losing 10% of birth weight.  So yes, a baby that starts smaller reaches that point faster.  My 8 lb 15 oz baby was in danger of being readmitted to the hospital due to weight loss when we gave up exclusive nursing and started supplementing with formula.  I'm not sure he ever got hind milk from me -- listening to the description. When I pumped there was never any film on the top. It was all one color.

 

[Ellie]

17 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

What do y’all think about cosleeping in general? It is super controversial right? 
I stuck to the rule hard with #1 and #2 but then I feel like #3 co slept some for my own sanity but I can’t remember if I did it so little 

I didn't cosleep with first dd, I did with the second. It was awesome. Wish I had done it with first dd.

[Ellie]

7 hours ago, Terabith said:

Can you give the pumped milk and then nurse?  And maybe pump a bit before she nurses them so they get the hind milk?

Although that might--or might not--get calories into them, it will not help Mom build her milk supply or encourage babies to nurse more/longer. And since the babies would be getting pumped milk via a bottle, there's still the possibility of nipple confusion wherein they won't take the bottle, and they might have trouble nursing.

[Ellie]

7 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

  This LC is just complicating the situation and needs firing!

That's what I was thinking.

I appreciate the fact that she may have training and all, but that doesn't mean she has the *correct* training, IYKWIM.

[KSera]

13 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

She doesn’t recommend the SNS because she says it’s hard to set up and clean and will just be a pain for DD. Any experience with this?

Argh, this is the attitude every LC (and lll leader) had as well. Which annoyed me because I was very clear it was worth the trouble for me. I had enough tubes for a full day and put them in a bowl of vinegar water solution when used and then once a day dh or I did the cleaning of them. Sometimes we used it to finger feed if we needed to for whatever reason.  I can PM you about what we did if she decides to try it.

11 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

I don’t know what a tongue tie is but we need to find out. 
 

I want a scale so bad. I ordered one and it isn’t accurate. The LC said it needs to be in grams ? 

It does need to be grams. Every gram is a ml of milk if I recall? 

11 hours ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

I don’t know how it works to be honest.
If after they nurse she gets about 2-3 ounces? Do you think they’re getting hind milk? To be honest though it doesn’t matter right now because they’re getting it all with a bottle that they don’t get on the breast?

Amount pumped doesn’t necessarily bear any relation to amount extracted while nursing. If she is pumping at least as much as they are taking in as supplement each day, that’s great. 

11 hours ago, Matryoshka said:

When I was establishing nursing, when they were learning how and my supply was still establishing itself, there was a period - longer than I wanted it to be - where I just nursed, pumped, nursed, pumped, on repeat. I do think for a while I also gave them supplemental bottles (can't remember if it was before or after they nursed), then phased them out as things came together. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!  I think someone suggested I sit on the couch between the babies and not even bother closing the nursing bra, lol!  It sucked and it was hard, but the payoff (for me) was really worth it.  Once we got established, it was easier and faster than if I'd been using formula.  No shopping for it, no washing/heating bottles, no worrying about packing supplies when going out...

Agreeing with all of this. I was so worried early on it was going to be like that always, but it wasn’t. Now I look back and that was such a short blip at the beginning. Yet I recall how very difficult it was at the time (I never pumped or did any supplements with my other kids, so it was all new and so much more work than just breastfeeding. I was daunted at the concept of dealing with bottles his entire infancy. But we were done with them around two months). 

10 hours ago, Eos said:

I've helped a couple of moms with one but not used it myself.  The pro is that the tube end is tiny and will not cause the dreaded nipple confusion since they use it while nursing.  The con is yes, it's a process to get it going and keep it clean but on the other hand she has you there.  The LC might not be used to grandmothers who are so ready to help.  It doesn't have to be fully in place around her neck, etc it can just be handheld next next to her.  

Whether with the SNS or a bottle with premie nipple, I’ll pm you some suggestions tomorrow of helping with feeds. There are a couple specific things I learned that could be useful. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

Alrighty so Peach has been taking in another 20mL of pumped milk after each nursing session. Nectarine is taking 35-50. I’m force feeding her a bit but I don’t care. She obviously doesn’t know what’s for her best 😂. She finally pooped!!!!!! This is so huge. She pooped twice last night. So I think we’re on the right path. 
last night was my first night staying overnight. I just needed to stay and help dd with bottles. DSIL was wiped and has a long commute.

 

ETA: I hope it’s clear that I mean the baby doesn’t know what’s best for her and it’s a joke and I don’t mean DD in anyway. Poor DD is trying her best in every area 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[Lecka]

Good news!!!!!!!!!!!

[kbutton]

15 hours ago, sweet2ndchance said:

There is also lip tied where it is the same thing but the lips are tied to the gums and make it difficult for the baby to flare their lips properly to suckle. Both conditions can be identified by a doctor or the LC. They should have checked at birth but it is easily missed.

My first son's lips on bottom and top were tied all the way to his teeth (once he had teeth), and they said that because his lips flared, he must not have a lip tie. I had never heard of it at the time. He had very fleshy lips like the rest of our family, so it was really a false reassurance. As for symptoms, he would start strong with his nursing and latch okay, then he'd back off the breast (but keep feeding); it creased and then split my nipples from side to side. 

[Ann.without.an.e]

Re the tongue and lip tying. Can I just post pics 🤣

[Arcadia]

My SIL’s twins were also early full term (36 weeks onwards is considered full term where I am from). She pump for her twins until they have the strength to nurse well.  I was born three months early at less than 3lbs and the estimate was that I would reach “normal” birthweight at around 6 months old. 

[Farrar]

I'm only just seeing this thread (I haven't been on the forums much) but I just wanted to send her big hugs. Those days are such a blur for me, but I'm so glad I had LC's who never questioned that I should just keep at it and breastfeed my twins. They were also born around 36 weeks. I left the hospital AMA because they were such *******s and part of that was a weird LC who threatened that she would TAKE AWAY MY CHILDREN if I didn't take her more seriously when I made a joke about how bulb syringes weren't rocket science. Anyway, my privately paid LC's were great. My babies did lose weight initially off and on for the first weeks, but the overall trend was okay after the initial first couple of weeks. 

I never supplemented. My babies wouldn't take a bottle either after the first month so even when I wanted to add in a few months later, we couldn't. They were like, nope, no matter what bottles we tried. So we went right to solids at like 11 months and they were bf'ed up to that point.

I did just bf nonstop for the first couple of months. I don't think it would have been possible for me to physically succeed in exclusively bf'ing twins if I had not co-slept. I spent about half the day pinned between them on the sofa and most of the night just rolling from side to side to bf each one in turn. 

I think to succeed you need an iron will, a little bit of blinders on, and a support LC with multiples experience who is committed to success. I was much more wary of not breastfeeding my kids and of losing my supply because we were supplementing than I was of potential consequences if we didn't supplement. So that may have been naive of me, but it's what worked in the end.

That said, obviously if it doesn't work out and she only bf's them short term, obviously that's okay too. There's something to be said for sleep.

[Ann.without.an.e]

10 minutes ago, Farrar said:

I'm only just seeing this thread (I haven't been on the forums much)

She is determined to exclusively BF and that is the end goal. Even now they are just supplementing with her pumped milk. She was also determined not to supplement (scared of her supply) but they were dropping far too much weight too fast, were struggling to keep their temps up because of it, and Nectarine hadn't pooped in 6 days. I was super concerned. I hope her supply will be ok since she is still nursing every 3 hours and pumping afterwards. It is so hard to know the best way to go about it. She was determined to just breastfeed, but even with them nursing a lot more (and cluster feeding often), everyone was tired and they were failing to thrive. Peach is getting most of her milk I via breast and I really don't supplement her feedings much but Nectarine is smaller and she's the one we are most worried about. 

Thank you for sharing. It is always good to hear from twin mama experiences. 

ETA: I think co-sleeping would help her but the fear was placed into her and it is a subject I can't even bring up. They truly truly pushed it so hard they terrified her 😞 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Ann.without.an.e

[KSera]

52 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said:

Re the tongue and lip tying. Can I just post pics 🤣

Only with certain kind of ties, which are the types a LC should have noticed (did she say she was checking for them?). There can be a posterior tongue tie, which you're not going to be able to see in a picture. It makes it difficult to elevate the back of the tongue, which makes it hard to maintain a latch and to extract milk efficiently. Do you have a recollection of what it should feel like when a baby who is a good nurser sucks on your finger placed nail down on their tongue? If you do, you may be able to pick up on a disorganized suck pattern, but that's another thing the LC should have evaluated.