Hey there Tracey...hang in there on the b/feeding, but dont stress too much about the bottle, breast milk or formula. Here's my story...
As it turns out, Anastasia is a biter and out of sheer pain and desperation, I turned to pumping and bottle feeding (I caved and rented the hospital grade Symphony the day I got home) almost exclusively for several days. Anyhow, a few observations about supply (in banker bullet format):
1. Pumping should increase your supply. At the hospital, they encouraged me to pump after b/f. I thought it was kinda silly, but they twins kept loosing weight, even though they'd 'feed' for 20-ish minutes. I was nervous about nipple confusion and felt inadequate for not being able to get it right. But, I did start pumping. You can really massage the boobs while pumping, which empties all the ducts and stimulates further milk production. Harder to do with a kid attached!
2. You can figure out how much you get out of each side and back calculate how much bubs is getting. I b/fed Gustav this afternoon and he seemed contented, spent some time on the play mat and got tucked back into bed. Then I went and pumped and found out he couldnt have gotten more than 20mls, based on the amount I pumped...while normally he gets 60mls per feed on pumped milk. Who woke up screaming his little head off 1 hour later? ...So I topped him up with about 30mls to get him to our next feed.
3. You need to keep eating; no starve diets to loose that weight. Basically, you need to eat each time they eat, even if its only a small meal (a slice of toast and some yogurt qualifies). Take calcium supplements and make sure to drink TONS of water. The day I got home from the hospital was so hectic, I didnt eat anything except dinner. The next day, there was very little milk to be had.
All up though, I went from not that much supply to being able to feed all the starving children in Africa in a few days. I have several feeds stored for each of G + A, and am now back to mixing b/feeding (for real) and bottle feeding breast milk. No nipple confusion.
For me, I now have piece of mind...knowing how much they are getting per feed and they are both gaining weight. We feed on a reliable 3.5hr cycle too, since the amounts they get are very consistent. My calculus on the pumping is that it takes a reliable 30 minutes total. B/f for real can take upto 40 min for feeding + play time (10m) + wrapping/settling/changing (10m) if you do the cycle yourself (and for me, x2!). So, now I can hand off one or more feed, play, sleep cycles to my helper, and even though Im pumping every three hours, I can catch a few more winks of sleep in between (or get out of the house for an a few hours in a go, which Ive done a few times too).
Anyhow, you've got the help at home, so it might be worth a try. Everyone has different feelings about the pumping thing - and I have to admit, Ive done a 180 degree turn on it myself. I thought I only wanted to do b/f naturally, but its just impossible with twins and Ive found Im better rested now, more confident that my helper is getting good practice while I can observe how she handles them. Even though I sometimes feel guilty about not doing everything all the time, I think all of us are better off for it.
I fourth the benefits of the Annerley visits. Very helpful and frankly, just nice to have someone over who can appreciate the difficulties and give useful advice.
Dont stress about the weight. Ive found it does drop off (even with all my eating, Ive lost about 75% of the gain), but I cant tell you how many people have asked me 'how far along' I am, since I still look about 4 - 5 months pregnant - all in the belly like Rachel. Jane promises 'it' (the stretched stomach muscles) will 'go away' (heal) in 6 - 8 weeks, and for now, Justin thinks it looks like a beer belly and finds it cute. And I love shutting people up by saying Ive already had the kids - LAST WEEK; the look on their faces is priceless!
Hang in there...
Sarah
Rach, did the Adiri bottle really work well for you? With the wonder twins, I found the flow to be too much and the bottle too hard for them to 'latch', so I switched to the medela bottles and teats, which worked better for us.
