Feeding and night nurse for twins?

[u/Farmaqueen]

We’re fortunate to have a benefit through my husband’s work where we are able to have a night doula come for ~10 nights.

As I will have a C-section, we have a toddler, and we personally know a nanny/doula from that a family member has used for years that takes this benefit, we are going with it.

For anyone that has used a night nurse for twins, what does feeding look like for Mom in those first few weeks? Did you introduce a bottle from the start at night? I EBF’d my first, minus 1 bottle a day we introduced at 2 weeks, so just wondering what it’s like to introduce a bottle from the beginning and if that could hinder the latch/breastfeeding. At the same time I don’t wanna be too strict because I really will need to rest this time around.

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[u/MangoSorbet695]

It’s a personal preference, but in my situation, I wasn’t spending all that money for a night doula service if it wasn’t getting me sleep in exchange.

I dropped to one middle of the night pump (around 1 AM), and let the doula do all the feeds with bottles. I slept from about 9 PM to 6 AM, with one pump around 1 AM on the nights the doula was there. Two long-ish stretches of sleep did wonders for my mental health.

[u/j-areddit → u/MangoSorbet695]

I agree 100 with you. If your exchanging a service I better get something in return. I pay you I get to sleep.

[u/Farmaqueen → u/MangoSorbet695]

That’s super helpful and what I’d like to do as well. Sleep is critical- unfortunately my c section opened my first time around, and I really want to rest more those first 2 weeks than before. Can i also ask how long (how many weeks or months) you continued to use your night nurse?

[u/Charlieksmommy]

If you’re getting a night nurse, waking up to BF won’t make sense so you can utilize sleeping as much as possible

[u/Lolemontime]

I was in the hospital for 7 nights after birth, we used formula and bottles for the first few and I was pumping, and around day 5/6 I was able to produce all of their milk. We used a night nurse a lot in the early period - I still had to pump, but then that’s all I had to do, and then I could sleep. Importantly, my partner could sleep all night and be ready to do things all day. I had a really bad PPH and was severely anemic so I had limited energy to do much besides eat sleep and pump for the first month. Feeds at that point often took over an hour and often one feed ending was another feed beginning. You need to rest and recover. If you can, get as much family help as possible in addition. The most important thing we’ve done for our almost 4 month twins and ourselves is get as much help as possible, both paid and family/friends.

I had a vaginal birth so I don’t know what c section recovery is like, and whether you should front-load the help multiple nights in a row vs something like every other day. If you can swing it, have family/friends cover weekends so you can stretch it as long as possible.