can i exculsively pump and feed twins?

Question

im not sure how comfortable i am with nursing twins but i am sure i want them to have breastmilk.. so im wondering if i can exclusively pump and and keep up with them for at least 6 months? any advice would be great thanks

Answer 1

My sis in law is currently doing that. She also exclusively pumped with her first child. And incredibly, even after pumping enough for twins, she still has more that she pumps that they don't eat. Her twins are now 9 months old and she's going to continue until they're a year old. I know that with her first child, she tried nursing for about the first week before she switched to pumping. With the twins I don't think she ever tried nursing them. But I know that its recommended that you establish your supply through nursing first before pumping, with pumping it can be more difficult to stimulate the let-down reflex. I asked her once how she was able to produce so much milk and her biggest answer was that she drinks a ton of water.

Answer 2

I was told by a mother of 5 to pull on ur nipples and that'll help with ur milk flow and the pain. Pump as much as u can during ur last month and after u have them. I did both nursing for 2 1/2 wks and gave my son formula. I stopped nursing because of the pain. Not trying to scare u!!! When ur breast are hard after u have your twins that means that ur breast is full of milk and u need to get it out because that is very painful! The more u nurse/pump the more u produce milk. Good luck and Congrats. Stick to it as long as u can. Get enough rest before the twins get here because u wnt get any sleep. U barely get any sleep with just one baby. Hopefully ur twins will be like my 3 month old son and sleep thru-out the nite. He started sleeping off and on thru-out the nite when he was 3 wks and when he was about 1 1/2 months he started sleeping all nite. Only wakes up when he is wet sometimes. That is good because i work crazy hours and ill b able to sleep all nite also. I get up about every two hours to check on him then i go rite back to sleep. Thats wonderful! I hope ur twins will b the same way. Congrats again!!!

Answer 3

I pumped for the first 3 weeks but had to switch to formula because I wasn't producing enough. Also because they needed to be on a high calorie formula because they where premie.

Answer 4

You can always try to breastfeed them first. The longer you do this, the better. Please contact La Leche League with any questions and consider reading The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.