Today I'm very pleased to share a guest post by Trista, a mother of six who nursed triplets. Trista and her family live in Iowa.
When I was growing up, all I wanted to be was a mom. Part of that dream was to breastfeed my children. I really only knew one person who ever nursed, but she made a big impression on me at an important age.
When I got pregnant with my first child, I was young and didn't prepare myself or research things very well. I was on medication that I had to start immediately after having him and was told by several professionals that I would be unable to nurse on medication. I didn't push it, and was devastated by that decision... but it also made me more determined with the rest of my children.
Prior to my next son's birth, I thoroughly researched breastfeeding. My husband and I took a breastfeeding class. We learned as much as we could about nursing and I ended up being very successful. The first few days were difficult, but thanks to our research, the class, and my determination, we persevered. Aidan nursed for over thirty months until we finally weaned him to try for baby number three.
Things got interesting when baby number three turned into babies three, four, and five. During my pregnancy I researched more about breastfeeding - this time multiples. I was again determined. I figured I would not be able to directly nurse them, so I planned on pumping for them and supplementing if I had to. I had to be realistic and most triplets are born very early and with lots of complications, and we do have two older boys to think about.
We were incredibly blessed to last 35 weeks and four days - just three days before they were scheduled to be delivered. As we were waiting to deliver, the lactation consultant came in to see me. She said since Aidan had just weaned, my milk would come in fairly quickly. When I told her my plans to pump for them and not directly nurse them, she thought I could work out a schedule to nurse them.
Our triplet boys were born very healthy. Nathanial (4 lbs, 9 oz) went to the NICU for two days for observation. Noah (5 lbs, 12 oz) went to the NICU for three days for oxygen and observation. Ethan (5 lbs, 3 oz) did not to to the NICU at all. I had to have magnesium sulfate so was unable to move for 24 hours, which meant that I couldn't get to Nathanial and Noah. Since I had Ethan with me, we decided he would not receive any bottles at all, or pacifiers. Nathanial and Noah were given bottles in the NICU. By the time they were a day and a half old, I was pumping 8-10 ounces at a sitting and no one was receiving formula. When everyone was in the room with us (we roomed in with the babies) we worked out a schedule with our new lactation consultant. Baby A would nurse for no more than 20 minutes on the left, Baby B on the right for 20 minutes, Baby C on the left, and then I would pump for 20 minutes, ten minutes on each side. My lactation consultant said that to be fed properly, they only needed ten minutes on each side and anything above that was for comfort's sake. Since they were preemies and had to eat often, it was impossible to allow them to nurse any longer than that. I got about a 40 minute break before it all started again.
We rotated babies for each feeding so that each baby got a different breast each feeding, so that if one had a better latch, it was alright. Every feeding (who ate where for how long and at what time), wet or dirty diaper (along with color), and nap was charted for the first several months.
The NICU time and the bottles did surprisingly little to the boys' ability to latch. All three had a bit of an issue with a preemie suck, but quickly outgrew it. They all had excellent latches and did quite well nursing.
I continued that schedule for the first month. I was never able to tandem nurse. We then discovered that Noah had severe reflux and he needed his feedings to be thickened. So Noah was given pumped milk exclusively. Our older two boys were also feeling very left out (all the pumping and nursing left little time for them), so we adjusted our schedule. I would nurse one or two of them, and the other one or two would then receive bottles of pumped milk.
It was an exhausting schedule to keep up, so we adjusted our nighttime routine. For the first half of the night, we continued like the daytime and my husband slept. For the second half of the night, my husband would feed all three of them and I would get up only to pump.
I nursed the triplets for four months and then stopped because of the time it took away from our older two boys, who already had major adjustments. At first I felt defeated but am now comfortable with that decision. They received benefits from what I was able to give them, and my body was able to provide adequately for four months of nursing. They were born healthy and still are very healthy, and active, little boys at 20 months old. They had no problems with colds or ear infections, despite being born prematurely in the middle of the winter. I credit that to nursing them. Nursing triplets was an extremely rewarding experience and I am so thankful that I had a wonderful lactation consultant who explained the technical side of nursing them. Without her support and the support of my husbnd, I'm not sure I would have even tried anything more than pumping for them.
We now have added a little girl to our family and are planning on nursing her until she self-weans.
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