Your body will produce more than enough breast milk for your babies if you have twins, triplets or more. But finding time to breastfeed and manage life's demands can be daunting. Arrange plenty of help and support from family and friends.
The breastfeeding initiation rate for twins ranges from 38 to 80%, and the rate of any breastfeeding at 6 months from 10 to 50%, with 8–22% of twins breastfeeding exclusively [8, 9, 12,13,14,15,16,17].
(2010) found that about 80% of mothers of twins had breastfed for 2 months. Despite this rate of breastfeeding during the first months of life, a large number of the preterm and term twins were weaned before 6 months (1). Early cessation of breastfeeding in twins may occur for several reasons.
Breastfeeding twins or more
Breastfeeding is a great way to soothe your babies and helps you build a strong bond with them. It's perfectly possible to breastfeed twins, triplets or more. Lots of twins are breastfed until they start eating solid foods.
Smith adds: "The prevailing view is that the burden of childbearing on women is heavier when bearing twins. But we found the opposite: women who naturally bear twins in fact live longer and are actually more fertile."
If you're a mom of twins, breastfeeding can be doubly challenging at first: After all, you've got two mouths to feed, two little bodies to balance and three people who need to figure out this whole breastfeeding thing. Of course, the many benefits of breastfeeding make it well worth the effort.
1. At three months: The three-month stage marks the end of the “fourth trimester” and your twins can better adapt to life outside the womb. For one thing, they'll sleep in longer stretches of about three- to four-hour chunks.
If you have twins, you might choose to breastfeed them separately at first to see how each baby is doing. Later, if you'd rather breastfeed them at the same time, try the football hold — with one baby in each arm. Hold one baby on each side, with your elbows bent. Your babies' backs will rest on your forearms.
For twins, formula-feeding may make it easier to feed both of them at the same time. Your partner can help out with night-time feedings and share the bonding experience with your babies. Scheduling feedings may be easier.
While you are breastfeeding/chestfeeding, your level of luteinizing hormone (LH) and prolactin are higher. LH has a direct effect on ovulation while prolactin is a pregnancy hormone. This combination may increase the chances of conceiving twins while breastfeeding/chestfeeding.
Despite views to the contrary, breasts are never truly empty. Milk is actually produced nonstop—before, during, and after feedings—so there's no need to wait between feedings for your breasts to refill.
Generally, moms should be pumping every 3 hours. Pumping more often can help stimulate breasts to produce more milk. Moms can try pumping both breasts for 15 minutes every two hours for 48-72 hours. Then moms can return to their normal pumping routine. Pumping for longer than 30 minutes may not be beneficial.
Much of what you will discuss will depend on your birth plan and it may be appropriate for you to start expressing small amounts of your first milk; colostrum from 36 or 37 weeks as it more likely twins and triplets are born early.
The hardest thing about having twins is...
“Managing the movement of two babies. Carrying them both up and down the stairs, getting them into the car, etc.” —Simeon R. “Often having to make one baby wait!” —Catharine D. “Being outnumbered—the logistics of two on one is definitely the hardest.
Some say that twins are always hard (yet amazing), while others say they truly didn't find them to be difficult. A few said that the first two months with twins are easy (being in the rose-colored glasses phase), then reality hits from months 3-6 (when the sleep deprivation catches up), then it can get easier again.
“Having twins is not twice as hard—it's exponentially more difficult,” says Natalie Diaz, author of What To Do When You're Having Two and CEO of Twiniversity, a global support network for parents of twins.
In a similar way, only one identical twin can get ASD, even though they have the same genetic ingredients. One twin's brain environment may trigger ASD. But, the other twin's environment could be different enough to not trigger the identical set of genes.
While the average single baby weighs 7 pounds at birth, the average twin weighs 5.5 pounds. Triplets typically weigh 4 pounds each, and quads weigh 3 pounds each.
Multiples are about twice as likely as singleton babies to have birth defects, including neural tube defects (such as spina bifida), cerebral palsy, congenital heart defects and birth defects that affect the digestive system. Growth problems. Multiples are usually smaller than singleton babies.
Race. African-American people assigned female at birth are more likely to have twins than any other race. Asian Americans and Native Americans have the lowest rates for twins. White people assigned female at birth have the highest rate of higher-order multiple births (triplets or more).
The results suggest that twin fetuses are aware of their counterparts in the womb, that they prefer to interact with them, and that they respond to them in special ways. Contact between them appeared to be planned—not an accidental outcome of spatial proximity, says study co-author Cristina Becchio of Turin.