Illustration: Olivia Mew
There is a steep learning curve with breastfeeding. And with twins, it can feel like that curve never levels off. The reality is that you?re juggling two babies with different breastfeeding abilities. And if, like most twins, they?re born premature, they?ll need extra help learning how to latch.
When I first tried tandem breastfeeding my six-week-old twins, I?d latch Chloe on and then Claire would pop off. I?d get Claire back on and Chloe would unlatch. It was like patting my belly and rubbing my head at the same time. My twin breastfeeding pillow felt like a giant cafeteria tray. After several unsuccessful attempts to tandem feed, I decided to breastfeed Chloe while my husband would feed Claire a bottle of pumped breastmilk. At the next feed, we?d swap. When I was alone with them, I?d feed them a mixture of formula and expressed breastmilk from bottles. Back then, tandem feeding alone seemed impossible. When they were six months old, I tried tandem feeding again and it was a whole lot easier. Once you can latch and feed both babies at the same time, it?s like winning the lottery. It makes an already hectic day of twin life a bit simpler because you can take care of a big task in one sitting. Chrisie Rosenthal, an international board-certified lactation consultant and twin mom in Calabasas, Calif., recommends that twin moms start with breastfeeding one baby at a time and then, after a few weeks, transition to tandem feeding. ?Babies who are late-pr...