one way or another

Feeding the twins

Ova girl made me laugh with her story about her stay in hospital. Nice to read that now breastfeeding is going well.

I could relate to her experience in hospital with the women that were there to help me to get the breastfeeding going. Me and my husband called them the breastfeeding nazis or laleche witches. Maybe they've breastfed themselves for 15 years and have a thick layer of callas on their nipples and breasts they can throw over their shoulders to feed the bubba sitting on their backs... But me, I went from size A to D. You can imagine that that alone hurts without anyone headbutting, sucking, pulling or squeezing your tits.

After the birth I was so engorged my breasts felt like wood, with a nipple that was so sensitive I couldn't even wear clothes. Then the breastfeeding team came in with the three of them, hanging over me with their bad breath and start to pull the nipple two centimeters out (but there is no stretch left!). Ouch!

Still after 10 weeks, I have moments that my breasts are so full that when I lie on my back breathing it hurts! It's great that I can exclusively breastfeed my twins. In ten weeks they have dubbled in weight. I think I would have enough for three! I have a pump but I don't use it because in the night I still wake up in puddles of milk. At the moment now that the babies sleep longer periods I'm trying to ease the flow a bit. I never really had big boobs. One friend even suggested when I was pregnant that I wouldn't be able to feed my babies because of my small size. It's nice to prove her wrong!

Here in NZ you have to breastfeed. There seems to be no alternative. The women that run antenatal classes are by contract not even allowed to talk about bottle feeding. In hospital there is not one bottle to be seen. They say that only 1% of all women is not capable of breastfeeding. And I do admit, this approach works. You think that you can do it. Although the first few weeks you are worried that you don't have enough. I hear that from so many women!

In the breastfeeding propaganda they say that breastfeeding does not hurt. Well, sorry, that is unfortunately not true. The first weeks I breastfed about 16 times per day. No matter how well your baby is latched on surely that will cause pain and cracks. Your nipples are just not used to it. Besides that newborns don't latch on just like that. It takes a little time. Still now, after almost three months they have days that they slide on and of all the time or just mess around, pulling my nipples and releasing with force as in a sadistic little game. They always seem to do that when something is bothering them like when they are windy, crampy or spilly.

Lola got thrush in her mouth so I got it on my nipples. You can't see it but it causes a painfull stabbing sensation in your breasts and a sharp scratchy feeling on the inside of the nipple when the milk comes down. Nasty. But under control now.

In hospital the experts promoted 'tandemfeeding' as the way to go. But as soon as I got home I fed the babes one on one untill they were at least able to latch on properly. Tandemfeeding can be messy and frustrating at first and the first weeks you really need a hand (to latch number two on). But after a while (a month or so) we all three got used to it. It does save you time. And it's nicer for the babies to be able to relax after a feed and fall asleep on your breast without being put down because it's the other's turn now.

You have to experiment a little. I tried the 'rugbyhold' but we all hated it. The babies didn't like to be held by their heads and be flat on their backs. They were falling of the pillows at the back and my nipples didn't like to be pulled to the side like that.

How we do it: Before I start I put both babies in the corners on the couch on to pillows, I sit down in the middle, latch on the baby on the left first, then drag babe number two to me with my right arm. Their legs go in between my legs and both babies are sitting upright. And now I can also do it just sitting on the floor. It just gets a bit heavy on the arms after a while.

To be able to succesfully tandemfeed with tiny little newborns I think swaddeling is handy. You can drag the babies to you by the swaddle with one arm without having to support their floppy heads.... I quickly found out that babies are much more robust than I thought.

Breastfeeding can be a bit of a challenge, but it's no neurosurgery. And in the end it's good for the kids and me. It's a sweet contact with the babes especially in the time when they were not responding much to anything else. I'll try to keep it up till the end of the year. The things I don't like: The dripping. Being hungry and thirsty all the time. And the 'nappy-brain'. I'm so vague in my head I sometimes even feel I'm a danger on the road.

But what I hate most is that I am not able to eat nice food. The babies responded with upset tummies to a lot of foods. I only eat very bland stuff like fish, chicken, carrots and patatoes. A piece of pizza last weekend caused 24 hours of cramping, crying and green nappies.... So no garlic, onions, beans, coffee, chocolate, apples, tomatoes, cabbage, brocolli, banana, grapes, curry, spices for me :-( And O, no dairy either. Has anyone some suggestions what to eat tonight????

posted by heleen + rod @ 1:58 PM