Feeding multiple babies
Feeding will take up a lot of your time in the first few months of your twins' lives.
Whether you breastfeed or formula feed, you'll need to create a routine that suits you and your babies.
Some mothers feed both babies at the same time, while some prefer to feed one after the other. Others feed whenever their babies seem hungry (on demand).
If one baby is smaller and needs to feed more often, you won't be able to feed them at the same time at first. If you want, you can work towards bringing their feeding routines together as your babies grow.
If you have any concerns about your babies' growth, you can take them to your local baby clinic to have them weighed and measured.
Your health visitor can tell you where to find your nearest baby clinic. Some health visitors will visit you weekly at home to keep an eye on your babies' progress.
Breastfeeding twins or more
It's important not to be put off breastfeeding because you're having more than one baby. Breastfeeding is a great way to soothe your babies and helps you build a strong bond with them.
It's perfectly possible to breastfeed twins and, in some cases, triplets. Lots of twins are breastfed until they start eating solid foods.
You may like to try a few breastfeeding positions to see which suits you best. You will get support with breastfeeding at the hospital and also when you take your babies home.
The benefits of breast milk for your babies are the same as for single babies. However, as multiple babies are more likely to be born prematurely, there are extra benefits.
Breastfeeding premature twins
Breast milk is better for premature babies as their gut is immature and it's easier for them to tolerate and digest. Breast milk also contains proteins and antibodies to protect your babies against infections.
If your babies are very tiny or sick when they are born, you may need to express your breast milk to begin with.
Your expressed milk may be fed to your babies through a thin tube that passes through the nose and into the stomach.
Visit the Tamba website for more information on breastfeeding twins or more.
Formula feeding multiples
You may need to combine formula feeding with breastfeeding if, for example, you have triplets, or you may choose to only formula feed your babies.
Formula feeding is more expensive than breastfeeding when you have twins or more. However, it does mean that other people can help with feeding your babies.
As with breastfeeding, you'll need to decide whether you are going to feed your babies together or separately. Bottles need to be freshly prepared for each feed.
This can be quite time consuming with twins or more, so you may want to ask your partner or someone else to help with this.
As with breastfeeding, formula feeding your babies can help you build a close and loving bond.
Hold your babies close during feeds, look into their eyes and talk to them. Learn to notice their cues when they want to be fed and when they have had enough.
Weaning twins on to solids
When your babies are around 6 months old, you can give them their first solid foods.
It's not unusual for 1 baby to be ready to begin solids before the other.
If your babies were born prematurely, your health visitor can give you advice on the best time to start solids.
Visit the Multiple Births Foundation website for more advice on all aspects of Feeding twins, triplets or more (PDF, 5.96kb).