Photo by Bump 2 Baby Photography
So far my breast feeding journey has not only been different with the twins from what it was with Elijah, it has been much different between my two individual babies. With Elijah, even though my birth did not go as hoped and planned (sort of like this time) we were able to begin breastfeeding almost immediately, he latched right on and never looked back. We had lots of sleepy days in the beginning months of nursing and napping all day long and it was beautiful. That is one of the great things about your first baby….you have that luxury of a nursing “vacation” for the first weeks or months or how ever long it takes for you to decide okay, my house is a mess and I need to start getting back to “normal”. With Elijah I really enjoyed and took advantage of the time we had getting to know one another and bonding through nursing without a care in the world.
This time, I have LOVED getting to know my little nurslings and nourish them but it has been so different so far. With Rory, the beginning was similar to Elijah. Rory was able to nurse as soon as I was stitched up (though we had planned for him to nurse before Patrick came out to help contractions continue and although we didn’t think a hospital transfer would change this, we were gravely mistaken). Rory nursed as soon as I had him in my arms after Patrick was born and he hasn’t wanted to stop since. He is a champion nursling and although he fights reflux (as all of my kids do though his seems to be the worst)he does not let this slow him down. He continues to enjoy being at the breast and is a big fan of nursing for comfort.
One of my goals from the moment I found out I was pregnant with twins was tandem nursing. In the months leading up to the birth of my babies, I didn’t think twice about this being an issue. I was going to tandem nurse from the moment the second baby emerged from my body. As fate would have it, this would not be the case. Because Patrick was rushed to the NICU before I even got to see him, there chance to feed him and once he got to the NICU, it would be four days before he was given milk or I was even allowed to try to breast feed him. Patrick’s journey would be much different.
Patrick was put on a cooling blanket to prevent brain damage (read more about Patrick’s NICU stay here), he was given nourishment through an IV. Only on day four, after the warming process had been completed was he allowed breast milk. (My baby was never given formula. Only my breast milk and occasionally donated milk). I was given the opportunity to be the first to feed Patrick and I was told I could try breast feeding. Well, on the first try, he latched on for EIGHT MINUTES!!! However, I was made to understand by the NICU staff that they wanted to monitor his intake and that the bottle might get him home faster. Plus, with another baby to feed, (and Elijah waiting for me to come home if Patrick’s NICU stay went past my hospital stay which it did) I was not able to dedicate all of my time being in the NICU on call to breast feed my baby on demand. So, reluctantly, I gave him his first bottle. The next 8 days (12 days total) was full of stressful visits and calls to the NICU to find out how much Patrick had eaten at each feeding. He had to meet a minimum in order to come home (in addition to his other health requirements being met). He usually struggled to meet the minimum and there were several times that I was sure his intake would be what kept him from coming home. In that time, I made several attempts to breastfeed him as it became clear his stay would be more than a couple of days. I longed for that closeness and I knew that I wanted Patrick to be an exclusively breast fed baby like his brothers so it was important he was able to practice that skill.
Finally Patrick was released to come home. Right away I started working with him on breast feeding. It was a somewhat frustrating process for us both. His latch was very weak and he became overwhelmed so easily. I continued to pump milk and give him bottles but he was getting a significant amount of milk directly from me. Chip and I had decided that once Patrick got home, we would hire a IBCLC ( International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) and the ones that came the most highly recommended were Leah Jolly and Misti Ryan with Bay Area Breast Feeding. I had attended a free breast feeding class led by them at a local natural parenting store called Nurtured Family (a favorite shopping spot!) and chatted with them at the B.I.R.T.H. fair several months ago. When I contacted Misti a couple of weeks before the twins’ birth to chat about breast pumps, she was familiar with pregnancy and remembered meeting me at the B.I.R.T.H. fair. So when I contacted her about Patrick, she was really happy to work with us. Patrick came home on a Friday (2/14/14) and Leah came out to see us the following Wednesday.
Leah asked lots of questions and watched us nurse. She weighed Patrick before and after nursing. He seemed to be getting a semi decent amount of milk but there was definitely room for improvement. The firs thing she showed me was how to hold him. Elijah and Rory was such easy nursers, I really didn’t have to pay a whole lot of attention to how they were held. Patrick needed more precise care. His whole body needed to face mine and make contact so that he was not distracted and his nursing was more “organized”. This seemed to be the miracle cure for us. Patrick latched on perfectly! He was again weighed and it was decided that he was getting more than an adequate amount of Mama’s milk! Leah checked Patrick for lip and tongue ties. He had both but not severe. Elijah had it as well but it was minimal. For my kids, it seems to cause a little pain for me in the fist couple of weeks of nursing and not affect my kiddos at all so we choose to do no intervention for this.
I am so grateful to Leah for her help! It is something that seems so simple and yet none of the lactation consultants in the hospital offered this advice and direction. I was simply told “You’re doing it right” and nothing more.
The next couple of days we pretty much just nursed but when Patrick got too fussy, I reached for the bottle. It was a confidence thing. I was so worried about his weight gain. I did not want my baby to end up in the NICU because the doctors decided he wasn’t gaining weight fast enough. Finally on Saturday morning, I decided no more bottles. He had his last one the night before. I was just going to have faith and step off the ledge. I could always go back to the bottle if I needed to but it was time to trust my body and my baby and let go of my crutch. Patrick has not had a bottle since. He also stopped needing to be held in that special way pretty quickly. He can now casually lay in my lap and latch on quite comfortably.
For the longest time I was still intimated by the thing that I planned to be part of our breast feeding from day one; tandem nursing. I worried that Patrick wasn’t a strong enough nurser for me to successfully feed them both at the same time. I am learning through these babies, that the things that intimidate me are the things I just need to let go and do! We have been successfully tandem nursing for a week now! I still like to nurse individually a lot of the time because that is a good way for me to get one on one time with each baby. But tandem nursing is so cool! First of all, when you have two hungry babies, it meets their needs quickly and simultaneously. Second, they get face time with one another. It seriously looks to me like two people chatting over lunch. They missed out on early bonding time because of the NICU policy that did not permit Rory to reunite with his brother and so it is important to me that they get these opportunities to bond.
It has only been six weeks but it has been an amazing journey so far and I am excited to see what is in store for the remainder of our nurisng time together
Rory enjoying his first taste of Mama’s milk (Photo by Bump 2 Baby)
Already multitasking at less than 24 hours post partum (Photo By Bump 2 Baby)
Bonding with my sweet Baby A
I don’t have pictures of my first time nursing Patrick but this is the day I got to do it
Patrick getting once of his bottles on the twins’ first visit to church (2/26/14)
Rory chowing down (Photo by Bump 2 Baby Photography)
Patrick enjoying his turn
I had to give Patrick a bottle to keep him happy during our herbal bath….
A GOAL ACHIEVED!!!
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