Starting Solids

Since BW and SB turned six months, we've hit the important milestone of starting solids, so I'm taking a break from writing about breastfeeding to talk about our foray into something other than breastmilk. 

I am no expert on baby nutrition. I spent time on Google. I liked the concept of baby-led weaning (BLW), and I wanted to skip starting with cereal as it seemed that it was empty calories. You read and hear a lot of moms use the phrase "food before one is just for fun". But then I read about the importance of iron and zinc for a baby's brain development. Since our daycare will not do BLW or homemade baby food, and all the breastfeeding info says that solids should be offered at daycare to preserve milk supply, we would be starting with purees, anyway. I did lots of reading on iron-rich foods, and I'm still baffled how a baby can possibly get the recommended daily allowance of iron, but I'm determined to provide that through foods, and not just enriched single-grain cereal. I planned to focus on egg yolks, prunes/prune juice, and introduce red meats early. I actually read about grating frozen beef liver over other foods, like egg yolks - we have some frozen liver in our freezer that no one else in our household will be eating, so I may experiment with that. I'm probably overthinking it all, but since I was anemic after delivery, and iron is so important for brain development, I want to make sure the girls are getting enough!

We started solids a few weeks ago, an started with mashed avocado mixed with breastmilk. BW dutifully sampled, swallowed, and opened her mouth for more. SB gagged, twitched, glared, coughed, grimaced, and salivated until she was able to drool out every last morsel of greenness. Perhaps we should rename her drama queen. We next tried egg yolk mashed with breast milk - BW was not a huge fan of the egg yolk, and SB again gagged, shuddered, grimaced, and drooled out every last bit of yellowness. The same with sweet potatoes,  pears, mashed banana and squash. SB seriously would glare at me like I was trying to kill her with purees. It was funny if not for my irrational panic that she was NEVER going to eat anything and I was going to have to resort to iron supplements. (BW continued to gobble up almost everything offered to her) Fast forward a few weeks- I started them on solids at daycare. The report after the first day? SB ate her entire amount of solids. Since it was a new food, I chalked it up to a fluke. The next day? SB "loved" the squash...who is this baby? SB has finally started adjusting to solids, all my panicking was for nothing, and since then she has been eating fairly well, although she does give me an "ew, gross, what did you just put in my mouth" look every once in a while. Which is completely adorable, and I have to try not to laugh at it. 

My plan is to start with some more BLW-style meals at home soon - the girls are definitely interested in picking things up from their tray and putting it in their mouth. 

Breastfeeding twins - the first few weeks

As I stated in my prior post, during our hospital stay post-delivery we had an assertive nurse who got me started on a nursing schedule to make sure I was getting rest. Basically, I was to nurse the girls every three hours, each for 20 minutes. I guess a nurse tried to teach me to tandem nurse in the hospital - I have no memory of this. I simply wasn't functioning well enough to make tandem nursing work yet. BW also was struggling with latching, ineffective sucking, and falling asleep while eating, so if I tried to tandem, I imagine she probably didn't eat anything. Once I finished nursing each baby, I would then pump for 10 minutes. 

We also utilized a supplemental nursing system- basically a syringe with a thin tube attached. This thin tube can either be placed next to the nipple or used with a fingertip to get the baby formula/breast milk without causing nipple confusion. We used this both during nursing, primarily with BW, to stimulate her sucking, and after nursing with both girls to supplement. I say "we" because DH helped with both - he handled the finger supplementation while I pumped. We initially supplemented with formula the first few times, but I soon was pumping enough colostrum to use for supplementing. Our instructions from the lactation consultant were to supplement using a certain number of milliliters based on how successful the nursing session was.  

This system seemed to work fairly well - until we were informed by the lactation consultant the day we were to be discharged that it was working too well, as SB had gained 5 oz in 24 hours. We were told to reduce the amounts that a were giving to supplement. End result? We had two miserable days/nights with two miserable, hungry babies before we went back for a weight & jaundice check - when we told the lactation consultant what had been happening, she told us we could supplement the babies until they were satisfied - understanding 60 milliliters, or about two ounces, was about the max they should have. 

Supplementing was a guessing game that made me doubt myself as a mom and caused some tense moments between two sleep-deprived parents. DH would ask me how much he should use to supplement, based on how the baby nursed. I would guess, and hated having to make any decisions when I was so tired. 

In the end, the nurse/nurse/pump/wash pump parts/supplement schedule took about 90 minutes, out of the every-three-hours schedule. Zombies. We were zombies. 

Breastfeeding twins - the prelude

I plan to do a series of posts on my experiences with breastfeeding twins, but in order to do so I've realized I need to post a bit about my birth experience to provide a bit of context.  I'm going to try not to dwell too much on the subject. I was induced a few days past 38 weeks. Both babies were head down, so I was able to deliver both babies vaginally. (Side  note - lots of people seem to want to know how you delivered twins, but they try to avoid using the "V" word at all costs, which can make the conversation interesting....)

Because I was a twin delivery, I delivered in the OR, and had monitors placed by the anesthesiologist. After BW was delivered, one of them started going off because my blood pressure was dangerously low. They couldn't get my uterus to cramp down, and every time they pushed down on my lower abdomen, blood would gush out. 

Long story short, I lost quite a bit of blood - normal hemoglobin is around 12; by the next morning mine had dropped to a six.  The babies arrived in the evening - when we returned to our room after delivery, I nursed SB first- she latched on immediately and nursed like a champ. I then began to nurse BW - she struggled a bit with latching and wasn't sucking effectively - we found out later, after she spit up tremendous amounts, that she had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid prior to delivery, plus she had extensive bruising from delivery so she probably had a whopper of a headache. 

While I was nursing BW, the nurse suddenly came and said I had to stop nursing and lay down, as my blood pressure was quite low (80 over 50? I can't remember) and my pulse was quite high - near 200. I was also running a fever and shivering uncontrollably. 

We ended up spending four nights in the hospital, and I ended up with a blood transfusion. I have no recollection of large portions of the hospital stay. I basically remained lying down in bed unless i had to nurse. As I had never had a baby before, I had no idea that my fatigue was very abnormal and stemmed from the blood loss. 

It took four days for my milk to come in. The girls both lost a lot of weight in the meantime and developed jaundice. On day three I finally had an assertive nurse who got me started on a nursing and pumping schedule and use of a supplemental nursing tool. The lactation consultant for the hospital did not even visit me until the day before we were discharged. I think they expected that I would give up on breastfeeding, but they underestimated how stubborn I can be. 

Happy six months!

Our girls recently turned six months old. Six months already. Wow. I've decided I want to keep my babies anonymous, at least for now, so I'm going to give them nicknames. Baby A is our social butterfly, so she'll be SB. Baby B is our little bookworm, so she'll be BW.

We have settled into our routine okay, but I still have almost constant feelings of inadequacy. The girls' newborn pictures (which we didn't get taken until they were three weeks old) remain on CD, unprinted. We haven't taken a family photo since they were born. I try to remind myself that the most important thing I can provide them is love, but it certainly is hard not to set the bar higher for yourself. So, I'll take their six-month pictures about a week late, and focus on the love in our household, and not just the photos.