Disclaimer: Always speak with your lactation consultant, midwife, or doctor before making nutritional changes to your diet. I am not a nutritionist, I am simply sharing what has worked for me during my journey of breastfeeding twins!
Nursing is such a special experience. I love the sweet bonding, the snuggly skin on skin, the closeness I feel with my babies while they nurse. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. While we weren’t able to exclusively breastfeed from day one, I spent several months transitioning from doing a combination of bottle feeding and nursing to exclusively nursing my twins by the time they were four months old. I talk more about our breastfeeding twins journey in this article!
During the first few months of my babies lives, I was blessed to have a pretty substantial oversupply. We were able to get up a nice freezer stash and my babies were never in want! But when they were about two months old, my supply dropped dramatically. Naturally, I was pretty concerned about it!
I talked to my midwife and lactation consultant and did a lot of research. Every woman’s body will respond differently to the craziness of breastfeeding, but these are the things that really helped me restore my milk supply for twins!
My babies are nine months old now, still exclusively breastfeeding (with some solids) and my milk supply is still going strong for them!
Keep Your Calories Up
This has been the most important thing for me to focus on while breastfeeding twins. I naturally don’t have a huge appetite, and it’s easy for me to under eat. But while nursing twins, calories are so important! I am a fairly active purpose and exercise for about one hour daily. So between that and exclusively nursing twins, I need about 4,000 calories a day. It’s a lot of food! But I notice that my supply drops pretty significantly if I don’t get enough. I focus on nutrient dense foods that are high in Omega 3s. Think avocado, salmon, roasted sweet potato, LOTS of almond butter and cashew butter. And…about a pint of dairy free ice cream every night! I also ate lots of nutrient dense lactation cookies. Here’s a very brief list of some of the best foods for breastfeeding mamas:
- oatmeal
- quinoa
- avocado
- brewers yeast
- whole grains
- salmon
- lean meats
Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!
Aside from calories, proper hydration has been the most helpful thing for me in keeping up a milk supply for twins. I love water so this one is fairly easy for me! I try to drink at least 1.5 gallons of water a day, but 2 gallons is better if I can. I just keep a quart sized mason jar around with a long straw.I drink 2 quarts in the morning, 3 quarts in the afternoon, 2 quarts in the evening, and 1 quart overnight. It’s a lot of water, but its so easy to get dehydrated while breastfeeding. Drinking enough water is also a great way to prevent illness!
Mother’s Milk Tea
I’m not sure how much this has helped my milk supply, but I LOVE this herbal tea from traditional medicinals! I started drinking it in the hospital shortly after my babies were born and have had at least one cup of it every evening since. I usually make a mixed blend by steeping together one bag of mother’s milk tea, one bag of nettle tea, and a splash of almond milk. It’s a perfect peaceful evening beverage! And if it helps with milk supply, that’s just extra points in my book.
Power Pump if Needed
When the twins first came home from the hospital, I was doing a mix of breastfeeding and bottle feeding expressed milk. To help keep my milk supply, I always power pumped with my Elvie pumps after a nursing session. It sounds fancy, but all it means is pulling out your pumps and pumping for an extra fifteen minutes after your baby is done nursing. You may not even get any milk, but it sends signals to your body that there is a demand for more milk. I actually had oversupply at first, so I pumped after nursing sessions more to give myself some relief than anything else! When the twins were about two months old, my supply dropped and I started power pumping to boost it back up.
Chocolate Lactation Cookies
- 1 tbsp brewers yeast
Instructions
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In a food processor, pulse until pulverized. Add the oats, brewers yeast, flax seed, and cocoa powder, and pulse to combine. Add the almonds, and pulse a few times depending on how chunky you want them to be (I like them pretty fine!)
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Add the almond butter, honey, melted coconut oil, and vanilla to the bowl of the food processor and pulse to combine.
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Add the chocolate chips and crisp rice cereal and pulse a few times to combine. Transfer to a bowl and stir if needed.
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Use a tablespoon to scoop into small cookie dough balls. Refrigerate until solid.
- Start with 1 per day and see how you and your baby tolerate them! Increase to 3-4 per day as needed.
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