Many years ago (somewhere around 1979-1982) I remember reading about a
woman who nursed her identical triplet daughters with no supplementation until
they were about 18 months. Her article was in the La Leche League
newsletter that I used to get. It so impressed me, I have never forgotten it. I
remember the story went something like this:
This woman getting much bigger for her weeks of gestation than she had
with her two (I think) previous pregnancies. She was somewhat relieved to find
out that she was expecting twins as the reason for her "monstrous figure"
as she described it.
In order to keep her labor going strong she walked the one-half mile to the
hospital, with her husband following her in his pickup truck. A man pulled
up to her and asked her if the pickup driver was bothering her. It was an
interesting exchange, she wrote, when she told him why she was walking to
the hospital.
When she got to the hospital, labor progressed a little more slowly than
she had hoped for, but finally she went into the delivery room and without
problems, birthed two daughters. She wrote that everyone was sort of packing
up when she heard the words she would never forget: "My god, there's
another one in there." She then proceeded to birth daughter number three; they
were identical triplets, all over 5 pounds. In her story, she wrote that it
seemed rather daunting to plan on nursing three, but she didn't want to
shortchange them because they came as a package of three. She nursed two
together, then the third one got both sides, and she switched the order every
feeding to make sure all got enough.
She went back to the hospital periodically to show the girls off to the
staff, and they always commented on how healthy the babies looked, and how
well they were growing. The staff was always surprised and amazed when she
would tell them that she never gave bottles of formula, just nursed. There
were pictures of the girls at different ages in the article.
I still think of this mom and her exclusive breastfeeding story when I
encounter a mother who is expecting twins and wants to nurse. She will always
be an inspiration to me, and I hope that this story inspires other mothers,
as well.
Mary-Jane Sackett, RN, IBCLC (who found encouragement, praise and nursing
success when I attended my first La Leche League meeting with my 5 week old
twins in 1979.)
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