Bringing home tiny twinnies is challenging enough. But throw in a feeding aversion, and twin life can feel all the more overwhelming. One twin mama shares how her twins were able to overcome their feeding aversion after coming home from the NICU.
My di/di twin girls were born via c-section at 35 weeks. The girls were doing great in my belly, but I had started to develop HELLP so all decided it was best to move ahead a little earlier than planned.
(The mom guilt that came with seeing my babies all hooked up to wires and tubes in the NICU because my body couldn’t support them anymore is a whole different story.)
The girls got stronger everyday and eventually we were only in the NICU until they could eat a minimum amount orally without needing their feeding tubes.
The wonderful, supportive nurses taught us many tactics of how to try to encourage them to eat more to get to that quantity. What they didn’t tell us, as brand new first time parents, was that the babies would outgrow those techniques and continuing to encourage them with these tactics would upset them and create its own issue.
The shift after we brought them home…
When we were able to bring them home after about 10 days, we were able to keep them on a good schedule together and started to get into a routine. Around 3ish months, at certain feeds at least 1 baby would start getting really upset after only an ounce or so.
We knew she was still hungry, but she would refuse the bottle and freak out when we tried offering it again. Often, both babies would do it and trying to feed them alone was almost impossible.
We asked the pediatrician who thought maybe it was a food allergy and encouraged us to try some special formula. They hated it and started to get upset at more feeds. The only time they weren’t freaking out at meals was if they were basically asleep.
My husband is a doctor and started to do some research on his own. He discovered something called a feeding aversion that perfectly aligned with all their symptoms and the cycle we were heading on.
It can get pretty serious if not identified and lead to feeding tubes in extreme cases. Fortunately, we figured it out pretty early and found some great resources to help everyone overcome it.
Twiniversity Tip: If either of your twinnies is really struggling with feeding or other developmental milestones, you can contact Early Intervention to have them evaluated and see if they qualify for any support services like feeding therapy or occupational therapy.
We greatly appreciate everything the doctors and nurses did for our family, but I feel like a quick word from any of them saying that when we brought the girls home we should trust those little bellies and instincts to tell us when they were full instead of trying to basically force them to consume would have saved us months of stress and tears on all sides.
NICU and preterm babies are at high risk for this behavioral challenge, so I feel like it’s important for other twin moms to know before assuming their babies have something physically wrong.
It took another month or so, but eventually the girls completely recovered and have been growing strong ever since!
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What I learned from all of this…
Trust my girls. They know their little bodies and have a very strong will (they get it from me, sorry mom!). To this day, if they fight getting in their highchair, I don’t push it.
They’ll get in when they’re hungry and ready. Marie, who had a more severe aversion, still has to make up her mind that SHE wants to brush her teeth before she’ll consider it. I’m raising future leaders and independent women from the start!
Twin parents, remember that…
Your babies know what they need and will do their best to tell you. Also you can make it through the newborn stage!
Want to read more about feeding newborn and infant twins? Check out these articles too:
- What If My Preterm Twins Need a Feeding Tube?
- Best Baby Led Weaning Books and Resources for Twin Parents
- Expert Tips for Feeding Twins By Breast or Bottle
This personal story was shared by twin mom Sheila.
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