Successfully Breastfeeding Twins: Schedules, Tips, and Supplies

In this article I talk about how I successfully breastfed twins for 18 months. I provide advice and tips I learned, schedules for breastfeeding twins, products and supplies for breastfeeding, pumping and bottle feeding twins and singleton newborns, infants, and toddlers. Meaning, everyone can benefit from this post!

If I can do it, so can you!

Breastfeeding Twins

Are you interested in breastfeeding twins but overwhelmed and unsure if it is doable? That is how I felt. I didn’t see many things online discussing it. I breastfeed my first born, singleton daughter for 11 months and wanted to give it a try with the twins. Here is why I chose to breastfeeding the twins: 1. Breastfeeding saves money because formula for twins is very expensive. 2. Washing bottles and pump supplies takes a lot of time and energy. 3. I wanted to pick what would be easiest for me to do by myself.

I firmly believe that fed is best and want everyone to feel reassured in the feeding choice you picked. Reach out to your doctors and speak to anyone you can about their experiences. You are welcome to message me through my contact me page! Everyone’s experiences are different and you may not be able to do a method for one reason or another, just remember that feeding your child is the most important thing. In this post I include supplies and tips for pumping, bottle and breastfeeding.

Tandem Breastfeeding

You will need a large, sturdy nursing pillow. I loved using this one below. Click on the image link to bring you to the product. This pillow was recommended to me by the nurses and lactation specialist at the hospital when the twins were born. I didn’t have it when the twins were born because I wanted to get what they recommended. At the hospital I used many pillows and it was cumbersome. This product made it so much easier. It is easy to clean and it lasted the whole 18 months!

I have been told that tandem breastfeeding twins is the most efficient and (once you get the hang of it) easiest way to breastfeed twins. Especially when a mother is alone. Tandem breastfeeding means that you feed both twins together, at the same time. The position I used was the football hold.

The football hold is when you sit-up, with the nursing pillow on your lap, with each baby on each breast (facing each other) and their bodies and feet going back towards your back. Here is a good example of me tandem breastfeeding my twins.

You don’t need to tandem breastfeed your twins. Many twin moms purposely choice to feed each baby alone so they can have more one-on-one time. When I had help I loved breastfeeding them individually. For that I would use my nursing pillow, a Boppy (below), or a couple firm sleeping pillows – whatever is easiest for you.

I also highly buying two of the Boppy Newborn Loungers. I only bought one and regretted it. When they were newborns until rolling, I would place one baby in this when they were done nursing. That way they were close to me and slightly elevated to help digest and decrease reflux and I knew they weren’t going anywhere. It worked so well!

I’ve heard of many twin moms loving this Twin Z pillow. This does the same thing as the two Boppy Loungers above but they can also use this to do tummy time and for sitting support. A really cool product!

Breastfeeding Schedule

To keep them on the same schedule or to not? That is the question. The bottom line, you need to do what works best for you and your family. I have tried both ways and there are pros and cons to both. I have gathered that most twin moms recommend keeping the twins on the same schedule, especially in the beginning. Some moms like to let the kids be their own person and keep them on their same schedule. Below is what I experienced.

Newborn Twin Breastfeeding Schedule

In the beginning the lactation consultants recommended keeping the twins on the same schedule, even during night and cluster feedings. So I would always feed them together. Most of the time they both would be awake and ready to eat, but if one was awake and needed to eat, I would wake and feed the other as well. That was hard for me, especially during cluster feeds.

So I tried for a short period of time not waking one twin while the other was cluster feeding. While guess what happened?! As soon as one baby twin was done cluster feeding (every 30 minutes – 1 hour for like 3 hours) the next baby would wake up and was ready to cluster feed. So, I didn’t get much sleep those few nights. I quickly realized that even though it stinks waking them up, It helps all of us in the long run.

For the first 6 weeks, the twin’s pedestrian wanted me to nurse on demand at least every 3 hours, even at night. After 6 weeks, I slowly and naturally stretched their night time feedings. Still feeding on demand every 2-3 hours during the day.

I read, The Sleep Lady Book, and took, Taking Cara Babies Newborn Class. I highly recommend both to help develop good eating and sleeping habits.

3-6 Month Breastfeeding Twins Schedule

After the cluster feeding ended, and more structured naps scheduled started, I tried to continue getting them on the same schedule. However, I would spend hours sometimes trying to get the other to nap at the same time as the other twin baby. I was exhausted and frustrated from wasting so much time. So, this is when I would allow them to be on their own schedule. I would put them down solely on their tired and sleep cues. Not sure what these cues are, again, check out the book and class I mentioned above.

I learned that just because they are twins, doesn’t mean they are the same person. Yes, I would love if they ate and napped at the same time so I had some time alone but, I’m a mom, what am I going to do? For us during that time, it was better to have them on their own schedule.

I was still solely breastfeeding them on demand every 2-3 hours during the day. By this time, we tried to not breastfeed the babies during the night. We slept trained around 6 months but before their regression they were naturally sleeping through the night around 8 weeks. However, some pediatricians are okay with breastfeeding at night until a child is 8-12 months of age. Some pediatricians think you should stop nursing at night around 4 – 6 months. Talk to your pediatrician and do what you are most comfortable with. The book and class I mentioned above discuss this in detail as well.

6-8 Months Breastfeeding Twins Schedule

At 6 months is when we introduced table food. We did the baby led weaning method and had major success with this! I am going to do a whole post all about this in the future, but in the meantime, talk to your pediatrician about it and check out this book!

I still focused mostly on breastfeeding as the twin’s main nutrition, because until babies are a year old, table food is just for fun and to expose them to new tastes and textures. I continued to feed on demand every 2- 3 hours during the day and tried not to nurse at night time. However, we weren’t super strict with this yet at this age.

Also, at this age I tried to keep the twins on the same schedule most days. They would typically go down for naps around the same time but every few days a baby would just want to do their own thing. We gotta be flexible!

8-12 Month Breastfeeding Twins Schedule

At this age we continued similarly to 6-8 month’s schedule, however, taking naps and meal times more seriously. I would make sure that I was offering 3 table meals a day and increasing their table food experience. Also, the babies could have unlimited access to cups of water at this point as well.

Around this time we dropped down to 2 naps a day and only breastfed every 3 hours, stopping night nursing completely. You do not need to nurse every 4 hours unless you noticed your child doesn’t need to feed every 3 hours.

12-18 months

We decided to continue breastfeeding until 18 months of age. I am going to do another post talking about our weaning process.

At this time we dropped down to one nap a day (around 14-15 months). The twins were only nursing 3x a day, morning, nap, and bedtime, with 3 full table meals a day and a morning and afternoon snack.

Once the babies were down to 1-2 naps a day, it was easier to keep them on the same schedule. They are great sleepers so we are able to put them down in their cribs fully awake and they will talk and play until they fall asleep.

Nursing Bras, Clothes, and Covers

You are going to need comfy and supportive nursing bras. Fit is important because being too tight or too loose can affect your milk supply. You should go up a size for when your milk comes in yet. That also includes nursing tank tops.

I own 5 of these nursing tops, 2 short sleeve and 3 long sleeve. I love them. They are perfect for breastfeeding twins. Anything that opens fully in the front, or at least half way, will be the easiest for you to open your shirt enough to tandem breastfeed.

Below is the style of nursing cover that I used and worked the best, especially while tandem breastfeeding. Tandem breastfeeding takes up a lot of space and you don’t want a cover that is restricting in any way. Honestly, this worked but once the twins started moving around more it wasn’t very beneficially and was really covering me up anymore with them pulling on it. I got used to being out in the open pretty fast!

Nipple Care

I am just going to say it. Your nipples are going to hurt, badly. For about 3-4 weeks. However, it will get better! I recommend talking to a lactation consultant and/or joining a breastfeeding group to help guide you in your breastfeeding process. They will help you and your baby(s) have a good latch for a successful feeding and to prevent pain and skin breakdown. Again, reach out to a friend to cry and vent to if needed. I can try to help you anyway I can. Even if it is just some good resources I have found.

Below I list products that will help with your breastfeeding journey.

You will probably experience some milk leakage once your milk comes in. It is very individually how long this will happen for, but I needed to wear nursing pads at least for the first few months until my milk supply balanced out. I also would wear them at night once they started sleeping longer stretches so I wouldn’t wake up in a paddle. There are many companies that make either washable, reusable breast pads to help absorb milk, or disposable, single use pads.

Lanolin products are recommended by lactation consultants to help protect and heal nipples. It is safe to have on while breastfeeding. I recommend rubbing some access breastmilk onto the nipples and areola and letting it air dry completely. Then putting a generous amount of lanolin or other nipple cream on.

This product is a gel pad that I would put over my nipples, after I nursed, to help with the healing process. I think the idea behind this is to keep the nipples from sticking to cloth, which is painful. However, these do not absorb milk, so make sure you have good absorption ready!

Nipple Shields

I used a nipple shield for a short period of time with the twins and that really helped protect my skin and decreased pain. However, there are pros and cons to nipple shields and you should talk to your lactation consult first. I was given mine from the hospital when the twins were born. They were able to fit me for the right size, gave me instructions for how to use it, and if it was the right method for me to use.

Nipple shields are great for mom’s with inverted nipples, babies with little mouths, trouble latching, painful nipples, and premies. Nipple shields make it easier for babies to get a better latch and to nurse without much effort.

However, nipple shields can have an affect on milk supplies and nipple confusion. When nipple shields are used, the way the latch and suction is on the breast is not as natural as regular breastfeeding and can cause not as much milk to be produced. Also, once the milk is let down, the babies don’t need to work as hard to drink because the milk can just drip out of the shield and into their mouth. La Leche League is a great breastfeeding resource and have a great article talking all about nipple shields.

Burp Cloths and Bibs

You are going to need burp clothes and bibs for both breast and bottle feeding. I would lay a burp cloth under their heads and by my breast to absorb any milk that may have leaked from my breast or their mouths while they were feeding. Its always good to have two clean ones close by for their mouths in case they spit up a lot when burping- especially a refluxy baby. I like the burp bibs for after they feed to keep around their necks to absorb any spit ups. Be super careful if you do put a bib on a baby’s neck while nursing in case of strangulation.

Personally, I have found that muslin cloth to be the best at absorbing spit up and milk. Below are some products that I like and work well.

Pumping, Bottles, and Cups

Pumping

Silicone pumps are great for singleton moms, but even as a twin mom I still enjoyed using them. These, silicone pumps are an awesome tool to help build you milk supply and milk storage. What you do is, when you’re breastfeeding on one side, you place this silicone pump on the other breast. The silicone pump will collect the milk from your breast during the let down process. You will probably collect a fair amount of milk that would have just “gone to waste”. This way you have this milk stored for the future and your body will know to keep producing milk!

For twin moms, I liked using these silicone pumps for when I still felt really full even after the twins were done nursing from both breasts. I didn’t want to use an electric pump because I didn’t want to stimulate more milk, just collect what was remaining in my breasts. I would get a few more ounces that I could store for later and it helped my milk supply stay up!

There are many types of brands who make silicone pumps, but I think Haakaa was the first one?

You’re going to need something to store your pumped breastmilk in. Bags are the easiest to store and take up the least amount of space.

If you go on Pinterest, you will find some women get really creative with how they store their breast milk. I liked these containers to keep them organized in my freezer.

The electric pump I used with all three of my children was the Spectra Electric Breast pump. I heard of this pump from my pediatrician who liked using it herself. I was happy with this pump and the one I tagged below is even hospital grade (even stronger and efficient pumping). A hospital is really only recommended for solely pumping and bottle feeding moms.

However, most health insurance companies should provide an electric breast pump for you free of charge. Call your insurance company while you are pregnant because it may take sometime for the paperwork to go through and ship to you. They will provide a list of pumps they will cover and a Spectra pump should be on the list. Mine was the basic Spectra electric pump (it was pink).

Bottles

There are so many types of bottles. My two cents, get bottles that are easy to clean and don’t have many parts. Sometimes the most simple kinds are the bottles kids like best, seriously. I’d also not buy too many of one kind of bottle until you know your kids like it. Sometimes parents buy a few kinds before they land on a bottle a kid likes. These bottles below are the ones my kids loved best.

A lactation consultant company came to our pediatric office one day to teach us some tips about breastfeeding. They recommended these Momma bottles because they were the best for decreasing nipple confusion. I agree, I had great luck with these bottles and never experienced nipple confusion!

Slow flow bottles are recommended for newborns and infants when breastfeeding, but when they get older, you might need to buy faster flow nipples. Keep that in mind with the types of bottles you buy.

Again, this is a really simple bottle but my kids loved them. This bottle also transforms into a trainer sippy cup!

Cups

You should start introducing some sort of cup to your child at 6 months. I started giving my kids sippy cups and 360 cups at 6 months of age, with water at meal times. At 8 months I started introducing a trainer straw cup with water and allowed them access to water at all times. They can drink as much water as they want. Save dairy or plant based milk until after 12 months of age.

There are so many types of sippy cups and again, kids can be pretty picky with which kinds they like. I like small ones with handles, that are no-spill, and easy to clean.

360 cups seem to be the easiest for kids to learn how to drink out of a cup. It may take your kid sometime to figure, out so keep trying. I like these because they are small and easier for the babies to hold on their own.

These honey bear cups are the best for teaching infants how to drink from a straw cup. I learned this trick from a occupational therapist. When the child has the straw in their mouth, you gently squeeze the bottle to push liquid up the straw into their mouth. After some repetition, they will catch on quick!

This straw cup is leak proof and we love that the inside straw in flexible so it is super easy to drink out of in any position!

This straw cup is slightly more adjanced and best for toddlers because the straw inside the cup is not flexible and needs to held in an upright position. However, it is no-spill, great for traveling and they are adorable!

Stay tuned for my Breastfeeding Twins Weaning post! Coming soon!

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