Breastfeeding Twins: Simultaneous Breastfeeding

0:00 [Music] Hi and welcome to do-it-yourself breastfeeding. I am Robin Kaplan. I'm an international board certified lactation consultant, owner of the San Diego Breastfeeding Center, and host of the Boob Group podcast. Today we are talking about how to simultaneously breastfeed your young twins. So, a couple things to keep in mind. Um, first off, it's always helpful to get both babies assessed for their breastfeeding effectiveness because if one is having a challenge and the other one's not, you might not know if it's a challenge just because you're manipulating two babies at the same time or if one is actually having a breastfeeding challenge, which would um make sense if you met with an international board certified lactation consultant to figure that out. Secondly,

0:46 twins, many twins are often born early. So 35, 36, 37 weeks gestationally, which comes with its own bag of tricks that you need to use with um singletons as well as twins. So we always like to give babies past their due date and then some, a couple weeks to really figure out breastfeeding. So know that if you start a little bit early, there might be a few extra weeks that you use as practice. Um, the last thing too is that when breastfeeding twins, some moms will keep keep track of which baby breastfeeds from which breast and they might swap at the next feeding. So, baby A on one side, baby B on this side, and then swapping at the next feeding. Or if both babies are feeding effectively, then they might actually just switch every 24 hours. So, as long as both

1:32 breasts are getting stimulation though, you should be good to go. So, let's show you how to simultaneously latch some newborn babies. So, ready? So, Shannon is already set up with her breastfeeding pillow. She's got a pillow behind her back and she has a pillow underneath her breastfeeding pillow to help bring the babies up closer to her. She has her breastfeeding pillows on the outside to use as landing stations. And now she's going to bring her babies on. So there you go. Yeah, you are ready. Yes, you are. So often times it's recommended to latch on a baby who latches on more easily first and then

2:20 that way once the nice fish lips are there and I like to call it, they're kind of like guppies on there. They're not going to let go. These are good. Yep. And then you can come over to the baby that might be having a little bit of a challenge. So, you can use both hands. Now, Shannon's babies are six weeks old, Shannon. Uh, six weeks on Monday. Six weeks on Monday. Okay. So, these babies have had a lot of practice breastfeeding and latching on. For the babies that are still even younger and having a little bit of a challenge when you latch one on, sometimes it can be helpful to take a rolled up blanket and put it behind the baby's head and behind their little shoulder blades. And so that way when one baby's on using this as a kind of a pillow or a rest and that way then going over and bringing the

3:06 other baby on so baby the first baby that's on isn't rolling off backwards. Shannon has a really great position as well because she's using this pillow below to help lift them up that the babies actually are coming into her very nicely as well. So they've got their legs almost tucked around the back um and they're coming face forward almost like sliding into the breast. And so really the main thing is keeping them so that they're not rolling backwards but rather into the breast. So how does that feel, Shannon? Comfortable. What do you find makes this the most comfortable? Um I just make sure that their bodies are kind of turned to the side so that like you said they're not kind rolling off the pillow. Um because I do have bigger boobs, they can tend to be on their back. So I just try to

3:53 remember to push them up so that they're more on the side and that they're staying on. And the one thing that's going on right now, which is super common, is one latches on, you have them both on then and then one decides to fall off. So it's being flexible knowing that just because they've both gotten on doesn't mean that there's going to be some readjusting that goes on as well. And then once the babies are latched, we really don't recommend taking them off and switching them in the middle of a feeding because that can be pretty disruptive. So doing whatever you can to keep the babies awake if they're falling asleep by rubbing their palms, rubbing their back, using breath. Yep, Shannon's got the breast compressions going on as well to keep the babies alert and awake and feeding as effectively as possible. So, that is latching your babies

4:40 simultaneously when you have twins. So, if you would like to watch more of our videos, you can check out DIY breastfeeding, which is our YouTube channel, as well as our websites, which is www.newmommedia.com, as well as San Diego breastfeedingcenter.com. Take care. [Music]