Bottles and binkies

Bottles: You do want your babies to be able to take bottles at some point, of course. Even if they have breast milk exclusively, you'll want someone else to be able to give them a bottle of pumped milk when you can't be there. So here's the skinny on bottles.

Nipple confusion: As I've mentioned, one of my twins had bottles in the NICU. This had no effect on her ability to nurse, but for some babies it might. They (the big "they," whoever they are) say that it's best to avoid bottles at first, and that's probably good advice. Know, though, that if one or both of your babies has to have bottles in the hospital, it doesn't mean nursing will never work for you. I've already mentioned the little cups they can also use to feed babies; this is something to ask about at the hospital if necessary.

Accepting a bottle: There is a time that's the "perfect time" to introduce bottles -- it's at three to four weeks of age. At that point, they shouldn't get nipple confusion from the bottles, and they're very accepting of this odd thing shoved in their mouth. More importantly, once you introduce the bottle, make sure they get a bottle at least weekly after that. Why? Because after that age, they can stop being accepting of the odd thing shoved in their mouth unless it's something they're used to.

This is advice I knew about, but ignored for my singleton. He took that first bottle of pumped milk at three weeks like a champ. Then came about a month (January, the dead of winter) where I didn't have to go anywhere and leave him, and I didn't bother with the weekly bottle thing. That child never took more than a teeny bit of milk from any source but my breast again, until he started drinking cow's milk at more than a year. Wouldn't take a bottle. Wouldn't sip from a teeny cup. Wouldn't let anyone feed him with an eyedropper. If I went out (and sometimes I did have to), it was hell for anyone left with that boy.

With twins, you're less likely to have this problem, but it's at least good to know about that and the 3 - 4 week time frame.

Types of bottles: We used Avent because it seemed they were more like mom's breast than some bottles. They were pricey, though, and tougher to find. Beyond that, some babies will take to certain bottles and not others, so you may want to get only a few bottles at first to try them out.

Binkies/Pacifiers: I don't know what the advice is nowadays on binkies. My kids had them, and I didn't think they gave them any nipple confusion. I didn't actually have any of them in the hospital, but my daughter was given one in the NICU, so we kind of went with it. When we bought them, we got the Mini-Mam, which said it was shaped more like mom (who knows?) The mini-mam also had one for younger babies and one for older babies; I liked that they realized a smaller baby might need a smaller binky.

For my son, who was so difficult to get latched on, sometimes the binky helped him latch on when he was very hungry. He'd be too frantic, so I'd put the binky in and he'd suck, suck, suck and get calmed down, then I'd grab out the binky and stuff in my breast.

My one problem with binkies was they had them for too long and I had a tough time getting rid of them. I was able at one point to limit them to just nap and bedtime, and then finally weaned them (him, really, she didn't care as much) off at about 2.5 years. I later read that six months is the perfect time to get rid of the binky, cold turkey, so that's what I did with my singleton and that worked like a charm.

I try not to judge other parents too much, but the one thing that I find really ridiculous is seeing a four year old (or older) running around the mall with a binky in his/her mouth, or talking around his/her binky. So don't let your kids do that -- if you do, look around for a gray haired lady nearby rolling her eyes; that will be me. ;)

Propping bottles: This doesn't really affect those of you who'll mostly be nursing, but I did want to mention it. "They" say to never prop bottles, and maybe that's the best advice. However, most twin moms who bottle-feed will tell you that they absolutely did prop bottles and they wouldn't have been able to make it without propping. When I watched my triplet nephews, I was told to prop bottles, and dammit, I propped bottles. How could those boys have been fed without propping? It would have been extremely difficult. There are also products to hold bottles, like bibs with holders on it, that twin parents have used with success. It's just another example of how you have to do what works for your family.

Color coding: Again, this applies more to people who bottle-feed all the time, but it's still useful. Assign bottle colors to each baby. Then when you are trying to figure out how much each baby had, you can tell, even looking at the bottles lying around. I advised my sister-in-law to do this with the triplets and I think it came in very handy.