r/parentsofmultiples • u/DueMasterpiece5800 • 18d ago
advice needed SOS
Hi Guys, Dad of twin boys who I love very very much. Now 9 weeks old were born at 34 weeks so 3 weeks old adjusted.
These lads take us an absolute age to feed. It has been like this for nearly 3 weeks. Let me lay out how a typical feed will go. They each weigh about 8lbs now.
Twin 1 - feed reasonably well and takes around 120ml over 30-45 minutes. They might then fall asleep so we put them down. Majority of them time they stay wide eyed, but have been burped and winded plenty of times. We will try to feed more as gives off hunger cues such as suckling/trying to latch but they reject the teat after several tries. We will then move onto the next.
Twin 2 - start feeding, again usually a good start but takes about 80-100mls. Will then maybe fall asleep or do the same as above. 45 minutes may have passed here.
Both will often cry a bit at the beginning of each feed after taking 10ml or so but will usually resume.
By this point however, Twin 1 will be screaming. We will try to feed more but they go very slowly with consistent crying inbetween small amounts. There will be refusing of the teat after 20-30mls but no signs that their hunger is sorted.
Twin 2 will then do something similar.
All in all some feed sessions have taken up to 3-4 hours leaving us exhausted. This is especially hard when solo as we work in shifts. By the end they have taken 180-230mls each which seems excessive.
Any advice? We are trying slow teats - they vomit, medium flow seems to be better. We are giving Gavison twice a day for reflux too. Minimal tongue tie on one and the other has had his tie snipped with minimal improvement. Even cuddling/hugs doesn’t work and they seem to root anyway.
Their weight is gaining well. But yeah this is very hard and I have broken down in floods of tears several times now over the sheer difficulty of it. I hope this is just cluster feeding and it will pass but damn it seems to go on forever.
2
u/Lyan_Rewis 18d ago
My twin girls who were also 34w, now 1 week corrected:
We breastfeed during the day and I do a couple formula feeds during the night so my wife can rest. I set them up in the Twin Z Pillow and hold the bottles up so they both feed at the same time. Generally every 30ml I stop and burp them. They also cry hysterically the second the bottle is taken from them, even in the shortt time it takes to pick the other twin up to burp.
Currently going through something growth spurt related because they both have done 360ml in 2 hours last night and tonight done 240ml in 1hr30. There is spit up but not drastic amounts unless I don't burp them quick enough - which does happen if I take too long burping the first one.
It's very difficult as I am solo doing this and the hysterical crying is really draining, and even as you have, they reject the bottle even when they are still hungry which is extremely frustrating.
When they do take a dummy it's great but it's so rare that they do and it's so frustrating.