Helping Mothers Overcome the Challenges of Breastfeeding More Than One Baby

Breastfeeding more than one baby can be very special, but it also demands work and patience in the first few months. Here are answers to some common questions about nursing your babies.

Will I have enough breast milk?

• Most mothers will be able to make enough milk for one or more babies. The more milk your baby takes from the breast, the more milk your body will make.
• Try and rest whenever you can and take any help offered. Sleep when your babies are asleep instead of doing housework. Try to make your life as simple as you can and do not start any projects that can be put off for a few weeks or months.

Once my milk has increased, how will I know my babies are getting enough milk?

• Your babies wet 6 cloth or 5 disposable diapers a day.
• Your babies’ urine should be clear or pale yellow.
• Babies should have 3 or more stools per day. Older babies may stool less often than newborns.
• Babies stool color will gradually change from greenish brown to yellow or golden in color.
• During feedings you hear swallow sounds or see pauses as your baby sucks.
• Your baby should be back to birth weight by 2 weeks and then gaining 4 – 8 oz. per week.

How often do I feed my babies?

• Feed your babies whenever they display feeding cues such as, baby moving his or her mouth in a searching or sucking manner, head turning when baby’s face is touched, hands to mouth movements or baby actively moving his/her body.
• Babies generally nurse at least 8 – 16 times in 24 hours and may feed several times close together and sleep for a while. This is called “cluster feeding”.
• The first week or two, babies may seem hungry all the time. This is normal and doesn’t mean you do not have enough milk.
• Babies also go through growth spurts sometimes around 7 to 10 days, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months old. You may find they need to nurse more often at these times. This helps to increase the milk and last only about 2 days.

What if the babies are hungry at the same time?

• At first, you may find it easier to nurse one baby at a time. Once your babies have learned how to nurse, you may find nursing both babies at the same time easier and faster.
• Some mothers feed the hungry baby/babies first and then wake up the other baby/babies and feed them.
• There will be times when you are faced with two or more crying, hungry babies at the same time. In this case, you can distract one or two babies while you feed the other baby, or feed two at the same time.
• There are many patterns you can use to feed your baby. You might want to rotate which breast your babies feed from every feeding or once every day. Rotating which breast a baby feeds from will stimulate both breasts, this is particularly important if one baby has a stronger suck.
• If you have triplets, you can nurse two babies at once and then give the 3rd baby both breasts.
• Nursing pillows designed for feeding twins may help you to be comfortable while feeding your babies.

Works Cited

Lawrence, Ruth A. & Lawrence, Robert M. “Breastfeeding, A Guide for the Medical Professional”, Eighth edition, ELSEVIER, 2016.

“Breastfeeding with Twins”. “The Best of Twins” – Stories, Information, and Advice on Having Twins. Retrieved 11 January 2019.

Wambach, Karen and Riordan, Jan “Breastfeeding and Human Lactation”, Fifth edition, Jones & Bartlett, 2016.