From the NICU to the Breast: Stage 3

This post is part 3 of a post series that I writing about my experience leaving the NICU with bottle fed preemie babies (twins) and our adventure transiting to exclusive breast feeding. Read about Stage 1 here and Stage 2 here!

So much has happened since my last update sharing our journey to breastfeed our preemie twins exclusively.

In my last post, I mentioned that I thought the twins were tongue tied and that I was planning to go cold turkey and just try nursing them 24/7 and see what happened. Well, after a meeting with our lactation consultant, Katherine @ Breastfeeding Essentials we confirmed that both boys were indeed tongue tied and that it would not be a good idea to try to nurse exclusively until they could go to the doctor. After they had their tongue tie situation taken care of, I needed to give them a couple days to heal.

The first time I officially put them to the breast after they had their frenulums clipped back, I could immediately tell a difference. I weighed each baby before and after their nursing session to see how much they had taken in. Once I knew they were getting at least 2 ounces, I felt comfortable nursing exclusively. We have been nursing exclusively for almost 2 weeks now and I have also mastered the art of nursing twins at the same time!

I am so relieved to not have to worry about pumping and freezing milk. I have more time now to spend with Will and feeding the babies does not take all day! We are really starting to get into the groove, and I am so glad that I didn’t give in. I seriously considered throwing in the towel several times, even after I first started nursing because I thought I would never get to this point.

From this I have learned that babies can learn to breast feed if they have been bottle fed for a few weeks. If you find yourself in a situation where you really want to breastfeed and you are not able to because of prematurity or other circumstances, just stick to your guns and be stubborn about it. Be flexible and willing to face the challenges that are thrown at you. We’ve gotten past this hurdle in our nursing journey but there may be more ahead. (hopefully not!)