Mama Knows Breast » Twins

Julie Bowen Breastfeeding Twins

Andi — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:40:11 +0000

I love the ABC show Modern Family. It’s one of those rare laugh out loud shows that sometimes gives you a new perspective on your own foibles. And my husband likes it, too. Plus, we went to college with one of the stars, Julie Bowen… so that’s kinda cool.

Anyway, all over the internet right now is buzz about Bowen breastfeeding her twin boys. She went on the show George Lopez earlier this week and even shared a photo of her doing the double football hold. Very impressive. Here’s what she had to say (from The Huffington Post):

“It’s like two little liposuction machines on you,” she said. “They suck the fat out of you. They call it the ‘double football hold.’ You hold one here, and here [gesturing to her breasts], like two footballs… They’re doing God’s work right there, helping me return to my birth weight.”

The Fox News website actually has a poll, asking people if they think Bowen “went too far” sharing this photo. Go vote. And here’s the pic. (ok, I’m still trying to upload it. I’m working off WordPress now, after switching from Moveable Type. Still trying to work out the kinks here).

More About Angelina Jolie and Breastfeeding Twins

Andi — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:55:15 +0000

Here’s the latest from People Magazine:
Angelina Jolie might be a supermom, but there was one thing she struggled with – breast feeding her twins at the same time!
“It’s very hard,” the actress confessed on Britain’s morning show GMTV. “I stopped at three months, [it was] about as much as I could do.”
The actress, 33, who was in London promoting her film The Changeling with her partner Brad Pitt in tow and their four-month-old twins, Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, said she even resorted to manuals on the subject.
“There’s this football hold – it’s a lot harder than it looks in the books,” she says in the prerecorded interview at her London hotel on Monday. “I did that a few times. I would take turns. It just takes a long time.”…
For more on how to breastfeed twins, go here. These pictures are helpful too.

Angelina Jolie and Breastfeeding Twins

Andi — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:33:31 +0000

Sort of old news…but definitely worth highlighting… Angelina Jolie told People Magazine in August that she was breastfeeding her newborn twins.
From The Celebrity Baby Blog:
In their 3-week-old fraternal twins’ debut in the latest issue of PEOPLE, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt spoke about how breastfeeding both babies at the same time plays a part in managing the chaos. Angelina said, “They eat every three hours and I’m getting better at holding them both for [breast]feeding at the same time, so that helps. Usually, the other kids come in and hold them when they finish. They help with the baths and the changing.” Brad added, “We try to get them to eat simultaneously for the sake of management, but it gets a little crowded at the bar!”
For information on breastfeeding twins, you can check out Kellymom.com

Breast Feeding Twins and Triplets

Andi — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:46:33 +0000

If the thought of breastfeeding one baby has ever seemed overwhelming to you, imagine what it’s like to breastfeed twins or triplets. Believe it or not, it can be done.
Today’s New York Times has a beautiful essay written by a mom who delivered her triplets prematurely at 26 weeks.
At the incubator, I stared through the plastic cover, unsure if I was allowed to put my hand through the side window. A nurse appeared, urging me on: “It’s O.K., you can touch them. Just be gentle and don’t rub. And talk to them — they definitely recognize your voice.”
I opened the window and placed my finger on Baby A’s leg. His knee was the size of an acorn.
The nurse also told me the boys needed my highly nutritious colostrum and pending breast milk and that she would return with bottles and suction cups.
The story is more focused, however, on the mom’s decision not to “reduce” the fetuses from three to two, as her doctor counseled her to consider.
“You need to consider reducing to one or two fetuses. In triplet pregnancies the babies often are born very premature with a lot of complications. You may be saving the lives of the other two by eliminating one.”
While I am a feminist who believes in abortion rights, this was not the choice I had in mind. To spend years and tens of thousands of dollars trying to conceive a baby only to end with discussions of an abortion seemed to me an especially cruel twist of fate. But what would we do if the triplets were born with serious handicaps? It seemed an impossible choice. …
What hasn’t weighed on me, as our boys have grown healthier and bigger (they’re now 4 and thriving in preschool) is our decision not to reduce. I often look at them and ask myself that impossible question: Which one wouldn’t be here?
But I feel no righteousness about our choice, only luck. Time and again I run into mothers at the playground with twins who notice my triplets (it’s hard not to) and gently ask whether I faced that decision, only to then confess their deep guilt at having reduced from triplets themselves.
On a totally different note, at the Oscars last week, Melissa Etheridge’s wife, Tammy Etheridge talked about breastfeeding her twins. The Celebrity Baby Blog had this story:
Joan Rivers asked Tammy if she had exercised to get back into shape after giving birth to the twins. Tammy said, “No, I’m breastfeeding, I don’t have to do anything else.” Joan said, “Your breasts look great, so keep nursing!”
If you want to learn just how to feed triplets or twins, here are some good links from Kellymom, Mothering magazine and La Leche League.
To the moms out there who do breastfeed multiples…I’m in awe.