Tiny Turtle Hatchlings

[maya]

Oh maya, he is gorgeous! And so is your sink, is that your house?

That’s great news about his development. A friend of mine has (different) concerns about her 2 year old just now, and it has been so stressful for her just waiting and watching so I hope it’s not taken too much of a toll. It looks like he provides plenty of distraction in the meantime :love2

Thank you! It’s not my house/sink, sadly! A house in Italy that we visited over the summer...

[viggy]

A wee heads up about Next sizing, I found the boys clothes are generous but the girls clothes are not

We had clothes from all over, and I think a lot depends on the shape of your baby - I found she didn't do so well in Asda/Tesco that seemed to be for wider babies, Sainsbos stuff was super long on her, so we ended up with Next and M&S a lot, cursing her body that didn't fit more economic options ;)

[Blondiejude]

Snap viggy, if I buy for S from next I end up buying two sizes up on her age.

And when she was a baby the Asda baby gros etc were perfect on her but then S was tiny length wise but very plump Asda stuff washed well and I agree Sainsbury’s did too.

[Blondiejude]

We got gifted some absolutely gorgeous babygros from Debenhams (John rocha I think?) when S was born, they really were beautiful. But for some ridiculous reason the designer had given them back fastening poppers. Which on a brand new baby who can’t sit up is, interesting.

[Leap]

We got gifted some absolutely gorgeous babygros from Debenhams (John rocha I think?) when S was born, they really were beautiful. But for some ridiculous reason the designer had given them back fastening poppers. Which on a brand new baby who can’t sit up is, interesting.

Honestly! I get really annoyed at all the little dresses that have actual buttons up the back - it’s a) difficult to put on, and b) surely at best uncomfortable for a baby spending 95% of their time sitting or lying down. I also just dislike dresses in general, it’s why she spends most of her time in sleepsuits despite having being given loads of adorable but ultimately impractical draughty wee dresses.

[F'Artiste]

Awkwardly placed fastenings are so annoying.

A2 only disturbs V now and again; if she wakes up it tends to be from a nightmare or wanting to do a wee (but too tired or scared of the dark to use a potty). But they get on really well at the moment; he loves to charge at her and will crawl all over her in her bedroom whilst chuckling to himself. She occasionally gets a bit jealous of us holding him and wants to be carried a lot as a result.

A2 is biting at the moment . Usually during a feed but also biting my shoulder a lot right now. We always tell him off sternly and stop whatever we’re doing/ offer him a teething toy instead, but my god I’m getting so fed up of it. He actually managed to bruise my shoulder earlier, he bit so hard.

[maya]

To add to the clothes chat and dresses/fastenings - as my girls got a little bit older I became a big fan of H&M for them - lots and lots of pretty cotton dresses with no buttons or anything that wash and wear well and cardigans/jumpers/jeans that are soft and stretch nicely.

[maya]

A2 is biting at the moment . Usually during a feed but also biting my shoulder a lot right now. We always tell him off sternly and stop whatever we’re doing/ offer him a teething toy instead, but my god I’m getting so fed up of it. He actually managed to bruise my shoulder earlier, he bit so hard.

We are also going through a biting stage but he seems to think ‘no’ is funny and it doesn’t help when his sisters roll around laughing every time he does anything they see as naughty as he then gets validation and does it again

[Kenickie]

Awww that must have been hard to watch, Beatrix. Has she tried again now?

Had my first midwife home visit just now. She hadn't called to say she was coming, so I heard a knock at the door when P had just gone out and I was feeding both of them in the bedroom and ignored it as I assumed it'd be post or something. She then phoned and sounded a bit pissed off that I hadn't answered the door but honestly what do you expect?! Anyway we went through the checks etc she was very nice. Topsy has lost 9% of birth weight and Tim 8% so she said they're fine sticking to the breast for now but to be really strict about every three hours. I've got a breastfeeding consultant round this afternoon to check latch etc as they were rubbish in hospital and I'm not sure I've got things right.

[Leap]

Was it her first ever new mum? How ridiculous.

That is a great result on the weight loss, especially considering there are two of them! It’s great the consultant is coming round too if you want to check things. Do you tend to feed them together? My mind is boggled by the thought You’re doing amazing.

[Froozy]

Your midwives don’t seem blessed with an awful lot of sense, Ken. You, however are clearly doing brilliantly! A friend who has twins found the breastfeeding twins and triplets uk Facebook group and website very supportive and helpful if you haven’t found them.

I appreciate that a single is very different to feeding multiples but I found Emma Pickett a really sensible, pragmatic resource when I was fretting about supply or demand. Or supply and demand. Etc etc. Her three hour feeding interval blog might be helpful, or at least give you more to talk to the breastfeeding counsellor about.

[Rhodonite]

You really don't have much luck with MWs, Ken. I'm sorry they are so rubbish.

I agree with not worrying about the clock too much and just follow their lead and feeding cues. You don't really know how efficient each twin is at taking the milk and I worry you'll start to fret about the timings.

Sorry to bombard you with websites, but I also found Jack Newman's videos helpful in the early days.

https://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/videos

Have a look or read the ones titled 'nibbling', 'good drinking' and 'very good drinking'

He basically explains that one baby who isn't as efficient at getting milk could spend longer at the breast, and therefore get hungry again sooner, than one who is very efficient but only spends 10 minutes at the breast.

So Tim might spend ages taking milk, and is then hungry again after an hour and your think, well he was feeding for ages, he can't possibly be hungry. Or Topsy was barely on for any length of time, but she's happy to go longer between feeds, but she must need more milk by now.

[Scooter]

I would suggest sticking to a strict routine and feeding both at once otherwise you’ll spend you life feeding. I had a strict rule that if one was feeding they were both feeding as if you get them out of sync it’s borderline impossible. If one woke to be fed, I’d wake the other, or you could guarantee that as soon as the fed baby and I fell asleep the other would wake and shout for food.

I found feed on demand just wasn’t sustainable with twins as there was no downtime, so the compromise was if one demanded, they both got. I used to feed for 30 mins (15 min, burp and swap, 15 mins) as they got tired and didn’t feed efficiently if I left them to feed for longer.

It’s mostly trial and error and a bit of guesswork, and you sound like you’re doing great!

[Leap]

So did you unlatch them yourself Scooter after 15 mins, and they learned to feed in that time? I still struggle with this, I used to (unknowingly) let Hop stay on well past falling asleep and we’re still working back from that. Maybe 60% of the time she finishes within 15 mins so I know she can feed efficiently in that time, but when she keeps going and I know she’s awake I do let her stay on up to 30-35 mins before I unlatch her myself.

[Scooter]

I used to pop them off after 15 mins, burp them for 5 mins each (they needed an astonishing amount of winding due to their reflux issues or they’d chuck up their entire feed) then swap sides and give them another 15 mins on the other side, so 30 mins in total. Because they were prem I had to be careful not to let them tire themselves out with lengthy inefficient feeding.

[Leap]

Oh sorry I see That was 4 am after a feed, burp, total suit and bum change which may have affected my comprehension

[Rhodonite]

Ah yes, Scooter makes a good point about twins that I hadn't considered. I was remembering my own obsession with times, and waking J up through the night to make sure he was feeding. Until my parents said, what are you doing? Let him sleep!

Leap, you can sometimes tell when they are sleeping but still just doing the sucking motion as it becomes much softer. I read it as being described as butterfly flutters! It's often much easier to unlatch a sleeping baby, than it is one that has a full on feeding latch.

Remind me of all this in a few weeks, won't you?!

[Kenickie]

Walking M! Well done her! Yellow wellies.

Thanks for the links etc, they're really helpful. The breastfeeding consultant was AMAZING. I feel massively lucky that I qualify for the support, and sad that cutbacks mean that not many others do. It made a huge difference to be properly shown and explained stuff. My milk has definitely come in now, and each did a really good feed while she was there. Tim really struggles sometimes with just getting angry /not wanting to feed so it's made me much more relaxed and calm as I feel now that I'm doing things 'right' so I just keep persevering until he calms down.

I definitely need to get tandem feeding properly sorted for this to be sustainable, but none of us are as good at it as having one at a time across body, and it's often really difficult at the moment if I'm on my own, so I'm just doing it as much as I can, and otherwise just doing one after the other. I'm currently unlatching them when they've slowed/can't hear swallowing anymore just to make the feeds a bit shorter. Topsy is a very sucky baby so I've been giving her a dummy some of the time rather than letting her comfort feed. I think it's only a problem if it's a problem though - with one baby I'd be more inclined to let them stay on if they wanted, it's just that, as Scooter says, if you don't do them at the same time then if you didn't unlatching for them some times you'd never get a break!

[Kenickie]

Oh, I'm definitely worried about doing something wrong! Bad habits not so much but mainly because I feel like I can't imagine too far ahead. but I think maybe having two does help with the fact that I gave up on being the perfect parent/ by any kind of specific approach during my first night alone with them. ;)

[Kenickie]

I hope that doesn't sound smug, or like I think I've got it all sorted, far from it. I guess it's more that not being able to respond to a crying newborn right away when you want to is one of the hardest things, so after that I've made my peace with just doing the best I can at the time.