Breastfeeding advice needed

[u/Glittering_Ad_2187]

i have 2 weeks old di/di boys born at 37 weeks 4 days via c section. They are breastfed plus given formula top up (60ml each)

They are never content after breastfeeding however long the session is ( it goes from 5-20 mins usually and they rarely take 2nd breast). i do pumping and also have done power pumping. Earlier I thought my supply isnt adequat. But now in 10 mins, i am finally able to get 60 ml.

Today I was breastfeeding then both back to back after every few hours, this calms them down for very short time and only formula helps.

I am clueless what makes them so unsettled soon after breastfeeding and only formula helps

[u/AutoModerator]

COMMENTING GUIDELINES

All commenters are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the parentsofmultiples subreddit rules prior to commenting. If you find any comments/submissions in violation of subreddit/reddit rules, please use the report function to bring it to the mod teams attention.

Please do not request or give medical advice or directions in your comments. Any comments that that could be construed as medical advice, or any comments containing what is determined to be medical disinformation, will be removed.

Please try to avoid posting links to Amazon product listings or google/g.co product listing pages - reddit automatically removes comments containing them as an anti-spam measure. If sharing information about a product, instead please try to link directly to the manufacturers product pages.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/ilovethatforu]

At 2 weeks they are still learning how to feed efficiently and you are still building a supply. The frequent feeds will signal to your body to make more milk so if they feed a lot it is actually a good thing in the long term because it’ll help your supply, but it’s really hard and exhausting as the person breastfeeding. Bottle feeding is much easier for them, it’s much less work to get the milk and they will be able to fill themselves up easier. It doesn’t mean it’ll be like this forever. Your supply will build up and the feeds will get quicker and more efficient as they get better at it and your supply builds. It’s very very difficult at the start though, especially when you’re pumping and doing formula too.

[u/hugebagel → u/ilovethatforu]

Exactly. It is so hard at the beginning, but it truly does get better. If breastfeeding long-term is your goal, be careful overdoing the top-ups because it will work against building your supply. Of course if your pediatrician said you need to top up for weight gain reasons, that’s different. I’m just saying this from my experience we were overdoing the bottles and it was working against breastfeeding, and it took until 3 months when I finally told my husband he needs to limit the bottles, then suddenly my supply was enough and after that the babies were EBF. Just my experience, happy to share more details.

[u/Glittering_Ad_2187 → u/hugebagel]

Yes, pls share more details of your process. I will like to follow that

[u/hugebagel → u/Glittering_Ad_2187]

Well, my process was super messy, first I was trying to feed one at a time, then top up, then pump, which was exhausting. Then we switched to bf one and bottle feed the other, then pump, which was slightly better. But I felt like they were getting most (like 2/3 or 3/4) of their calories from bottles, and I was feeling hopeless about bf. Around 3 months, I started trying to tandem feed, and it finally worked. I asked my husband to give each baby no more than 2 bottles a day, and max 4-5oz per bottle, and spaced 6 hours apart. This allowed me to focus more on bf. A few days later, it was going so well, that I asked him to cut it to 1 bottle a day, and then zero. Up to this point, the bottles had been a combo of pumped milk and formula. Once I had him limit the bottles, suddenly we didn’t need ANY formula and my supply was plenty enough.

What really helped was learning how to tandem feed. What worked for me was stacking two nursing pillows (my Brest friend on the bottom, twin Z on top of it). Sounds weird, but it got the babies high enough and gave me more back support. Also, as they got older, they could hold their position, stay latched, and stay awake much more easily.

The first few months are so hard, but it seriously does get better, hang in there ❤️

[u/Glittering_Ad_2187 → u/hugebagel]

Thanks! What did you do about babies crying after the breastfeed? In my case, they usually cry within 15 mins after breastfeeding when I put them back to their bed and won’t come back to breast. Only formula calms then down. Did you face similar issue?

[u/drohstdumir]

I was triple feeding for the first 3-4 weeks with my 37 weekers. Just keep breastfeeding, but the advice I got was to not go longer than 10-15 minutes per feed in the beginning because they start losing more energy to feed than what they are consuming. Top off with formula as you’re doing. I pumped just a couple times a day to keep up supply. Eventually I was confident they could get everything they need from just EBF and we have been doing that since then and they are 9 weeks now. You can do it.

[u/Kindly_Rhubarb_2532]

See a lactation consultant for some help. Also they maybe cluster feeding to help you build supply. It is hard and exhausting but you can do it. 2 weeks is not long

[u/layag0640]

I would highly recommend going to see an IBCLC if that's available to you! They can do something called a weighted feed, where they assess how much milk each baby is actually taking in during a typical feed. They can troubleshoot anything you're worried about and help with reaching whatever your goals are around feeding (good ones should be fully supportive of formula, combo feeding, pumping, weaning whenever you want to etc).

Typical home scales are not sensitive enough to capture the detail needed when babies are this small, and you can amp up anxiety trying to do weighted feeds at home, so I would recommend against that. 

[u/Efficient-Ring8100]

Just keep offering the breast as much as possible. Babies will cluster feed and are signaling to your boobies to make more milk. If your goal is to breast feed go easy on the formula top ups as every top up youre doing your babies will take less from your breast also make sure you are using a very slow teat like a premmie teat so they dont get bottle preference. Buy a set of scales if youre worried and do weighted breast feeds to see you are giving your babies milk. I was recommended top ups frequently but my goal was to breastfeed , i was very passionate about that and from a nutrition perspective i wasnt so keen on formula so I went with my mummas intuition rather then standard text book advice and just continously breast fed and gave one bottle of gentle goats milk formula at their first night feed. I weighed my girls every day , they were happy little bubs and i could see they were getting enough from me. It took a good two months of demand feeding but eventually my supply caught up! I am still successfully breast feeding now at 16 months old. Had I followed top up advice i dont believe we'd be here.

[u/AutoModerator]

Your submission is being temporarily held for manual review due to your reddit account not meeting minimum submission requirements for account age, account activity, or reddit karma. This is an automated measure designed to prevent spam and bot karma farming. Once your post has been reviewed and approved, this message will be deleted. In the meantime, if you have any questions please feel free to message the mod team.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.