Two at a Time
If you know me, you know my love for twins. Like I’ve said many times, I prayed for twins each time I was pregnant (and maybe even when I wasn’t) while my husband, Steve, was busy praying for no twins. We see how that worked out…
Even if I don’t have twins of my own, I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with many families with twins. From babysitting, helping with vacation bible school and the church nursery—to taking care of moms in labor and with breastfeeding, twins just have a special place in my heart.
Breastfeeding twins can be challenging. It’s a learning process to position and latch one baby, let alone two! Add to that, the possibility of delivering prematurely, it can be a work in progress as we strive to make sure babies are gaining adequately as well as helping moms establish an abundant milk supply. Formulating a plan and discussing realistic expectations for breastfeeding moms of multiples is part of how we support feeding goals.
I loved working with Rhylee and her baby girls! She understood the importance of adequate nutrition for both girls—which sometimes means supplementing with additional milk of either formula or expressed breastmilk. She worked hard to establish an adequate milk supply and had a very successful breastfeeding journey with those beautiful babies.
Look at these healthy two year olds now! Amazing.
Meet Miss Kennedy and Miss Journey!
Kourtney is all over these girlies any chance she can get! Twin loving must run in the family…
From Rhylee:
“2 years ago my husband and I were expecting twin girls into our family, we already had a 3 year old daughter! I successfully breastfed my first for 16 months and was super excited to do it again with my twins. I knew breastfeeding twins would be a challenge and for my first I produced just enough for her, I did not have an over supply at all. Our twins came at 36 weeks and we immediately latched them when we had the chance to begin our breastfeeding journey. It was going really well we even attempted our first tandem feed before we left the hospital. During those first couple weeks our girls really struggled with weight gain and jaundice and our pediatricians were worried. They began to suggest triple feeding and supplementation with formula. I never used formula with my first and was discouraged that I was not doing enough. My husband and I reached out to Stephanie and she came over to our house and talked to us about SNS, triple feeding, and power pumping. She made me feel confident in what I was doing and really helped me stay in the breastfeeding game when I felt like I was failing! She offered to come and help us whenever we needed it and also helped make sure I had a good latch with the girls. Breastfeeding looks different for everyone and for every baby! We were able to nurse our twins 80% of the time and supplement formula 20% of the time for their first year of life. I consider that a major success and we were extremely blessed to have the support system we had to make it through that first year!”
