Two days after giving birth to our babies, the in-hospital lactation consultant came into my room, thumped the rope-like bulging veins on the top of my chest like a raw melon, and declared, “Oh, your milk will be in soon, Honey.” What?!? It felt like some bizarre medieval divination process, but, she was right.
Often, the advice given seems extraordinarily old school, too. Milk flow issues? Drink a beer a day, it’ll increase your flow. Doctors and nurses nationwide have dispensed that advice. (Please check with your own doctor and pediatrician prior to adding any alcoholic beverage to your diet while nursing.) Plugged duct or the beginnings of mastitis? Put a cabbage leaf in your bra, it will remedy the problem if caught early enough. Sore nipples? Slather on 100% pure lanolin (a sheep derivative); the babies can nurse through it safely, and it provides uncanny relief. With these types of advice being doled out liberally in the first days of my motherhood, I was starting to be optimistic that there was also some closely guarded secret to halt babies’ crying…something like spinning around in the backyard wearing a purple hat at midnight. There wasn’t, but there genuinely are many helpful and healthy tips from ages gone by on how to ease the challenges of breastfeeding.
One of the best tips to keep you and your breasts a’flowing is to intake gallons of water. As much as you can drink. Try to always drink some prior to nursing. Coffee and caffeinated beverages should be dodged, or consumed in very small quantities. I drank a lot of milk, and our babies both seemed okay. Other mommies have had bad experiences with dairy and their babies’ digestion. Be careful of juices, too. The acid can be too much on your babies’ systems, and you’ll hear about it later. Drink juice in moderation until you know how your twins will react. Ours reacted badly, and I did eliminate juice entirely.
Which brings up a whole other breastfeeding issue…the belief that if the babies cry after nursing, surely it is something Mommy ate disturbing their otherwise happy existence. Do not let yourself freak out about this! Foods can and are passed through breast milk, but just because your babies are crying in the afternoon does not mean your morning Cheerios need to be cut immediately from your diet. Look for repeated similar reaction after you have consumed the same item, and then consider cutting back or eliminating the violator altogether. Our babies were extremely gassy. After one visit to the pediatric office, I was given an extensive list of foods that are sometimes culprits: dairy, peanuts, spicy foods, juice, beans, wheat, soy, citrus, bran, cabbage--virtually anything with any fiber content, the list went on and on. Sugar seemed the only clearly safe item, and as much as I would have loved to eat nothing but sweets, I couldn’t believe that was a healthy option either. You need to eat, and a variety of foods. Crying after feeding doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t like last night’s roast beef sandwich with horseradish. If you feel better about it, keep a running diary of your food intake in your babies’ poo journal. If you sense strong reaction after a nursing session, see what you ate in the preceding 8 hours or so. Highlight the potential causes, and the next time you consume that item, see if the babies react the same way. If they do, it may be due to the element in your diet. It might not be. Our babies were diagnosed with a slight case of reflux. Diet changes or no diet changes, they were going to have gas. Again, use your best judgment. They are your babies, and your judgment is best.
Prior to having our babies, I was under the impression that if my husband gave a bottle of expressed breast milk or formula, I could get some rest during what would be a nursing session. Wrong. Your body miraculously prepares to feed your babies on your determined schedule. If you normally nurse every 3 hours, and you give bottles instead of nursing your twins, you will need to pump your breasts instead to ease the pressure of the accumulated milk. Pump for at least 10 minutes, or longer if the pressure is not relieved. With twins, you are producing twice the milk. The likelihood of blocked ducts is increased with the increased production. Do not “short cut” out of nursings or pumpings. You may pay the price later with another oft-ignored breastfeeding topic, mastitis.
You’ll receive a lot of advice on feeding your newborn – from people telling you that you must breastfeed to others who prefer the bottle, ways to induce latching, when to feed, how to hold your baby and so on. But the bottom line is this: Bottle, breast, or both -- feed your baby in a way that feels “right” for your situation; after all, it is your situation.