The twin nursing pillow is a very popular accessory that is of interest to future parents of twins. And if a few years ago they were just looking at such pillows, they were quite difficult to get, and they cost a lot, but today it is more than possible to purchase them, and their prices are not exorbitant. Let's talk about what a pillow for twins is and why it is needed.
Benefits of a twin nursing pillow
It makes the feeding process convenient for the mother, eliminating the need for her to bend her body too much. Thanks to it, discomfort is eliminated and the load is removed from the spine.
The main purpose of such a product is the ability to simultaneously feed twins and synchronize their biological rhythms.
Being fed at the same time, the babies fall asleep at the same time, giving the mother the opportunity to rest longer and gain strength to care for them.
Most often, a nursing pillow has the shape of a bagel, the ends of which, overlapping, are secured with Velcro.
Some models are equipped with semi-automatic fastex clasps: it is much more convenient to snap them on the back.
Nursing pillow for twins - summing up
So, if we summarize all of the above, we can understand the following: without
pillows for twins, simultaneous feeding will not work. Therefore, it would be good to have her among your assistants. But another question immediately arises: will it even be possible to feed the children at the same time? Or will they eat sequentially after each other? And then the pillow is completely unnecessary.
As a result, we can give advice: if you have the desire and opportunity, it is better to buy a pillow for twins for feeding. What if it really does a good job? If you don’t have the money for it or feel sorry for it, but really want it, then you can make it yourself. In the article DIY nursing pillow for twins, they wrote about this in detail.
And if there is no opportunity and no desire, then it’s realistic to do without it altogether. Just feed the children separately. And build them the same regime a little later, when complementary feeding begins.
Pillow designs for nursing twins
A product of this design can be used as a pillow for pregnant women and nursing.
During pregnancy, a bagel pillow helps the expectant mother find many comfortable sleeping positions: its upper edge is placed under the head, the lower edge is located between the knees, and the tummy is comfortably located in the protrusion of the middle part.
Hugging her, the woman quickly falls asleep.
A pregnancy pillow can be used during childbirth, relieving stress on the spine and relieving pain during labor. They place it under your feet: it helps fight swelling.
By placing it under the lower back, a pregnant woman can take a semi-lying position and rest comfortably.
Read also: Cleaning feather pillows
A more convenient option for feeding twins is a product that resembles a table with a flat surface and rounded corners.
To ensure the greatest comfort for mom, its design provides an additional cushion that supports her back.
To start feeding, the mother is located in the center of the structure and secures it at the waist with a clasp.
Such a table is often equipped with a convenient pocket in which you can put a towel or napkins for caring for the baby (they can be used if the baby spits up or gets dirty).
Are you choosing a pillow not only for yourself, but for the whole family? Read about what is the best filling for pillows. The quality of sleep depends on the correct choice of filler.
When traveling while sitting, it is quite difficult to fall asleep. But if you use an inflatable sleeping pillow, you can get a good night's sleep. Read more about these pillows in this article.
Nursing pillow for twins - convenience for mom
When an expectant mother learns the news that she will soon become the mother of not one baby, but two at once, her joy and worries double at the same time. Now it’s worth thinking about specialized children’s accessories, such as a stroller for twins, a playpen for twins, and a pillow for feeding twins.
It should be noted that the last point plays an important role in synchronizing the biorhythms of children, and this is worth a lot.
So, what is a twin nursing pillow and what is it for? This simple but very useful invention appeared relatively recently on our market, while it has long been popular abroad. The idea is simple - a pillow for feeding twins is a horseshoe that can be placed on your lap, and babies can be placed on top of it. An important condition is that the pillow should be moderately dense and hold its shape well.
In this position, it is very convenient for the mother to feed the babies - she does not need to bend or bend much. This position allows you to feed without experiencing discomfort in the back and lower back. In addition, such a pillow, and this is its main advantage, simplifies the process of feeding babies at the same time. This has a positive effect on the synchronization of modes, especially at an early age. After all, if children eat at the same time, then they do everything else approximately at the same time - sleep, wake, etc. Accordingly, mom has more free time due to this. That is why synchronizing the biorhythms of twins is the goal of every parent.
The nursing pillow is also used with pleasure for feeding one baby; for twins it differs only in size. Designs and filling materials may vary.
Types of structures
Our simplest and most common option is a crescent-shaped pillow. It can be equipped with Velcro or fastex for fastening on the back. An additional function of the crescent-shaped pillow is that it can be used as a pregnancy pillow. It will be convenient to relax or sleep with it. This is especially true in the last months of pregnancy.
A more complex design is in the form of a flat semicircular “table”. The nursing pillow for twins can be additionally equipped with a small backrest for the mother. These pillows have fasteners to adjust the waist circumference. This type of nursing pillow is more common abroad. Reviews about her are the most flattering. One drawback is that it can hardly be used for sleeping during pregnancy.
Fillers
Most often on sale you can find silicone pillows, polystyrene foam or filled with padding polyester or holofiber. Down is used less often.
You can sew a nursing pillow for twins yourself. You can make a simple pattern yourself or choose from numerous options available on the Internet. The easiest way is to choose the crescent option. Expanded polystyrene can be purchased at a hardware store, and holofiber can be purchased at a sewing store. If desired, you can use fluff from an unnecessary pillow or blanket. You should immediately sew several spare pillowcases according to size.
How to use a nursing pillow for twins
The mother needs to sit on the bed, sofa or floor, placing a pillow on her knees to feed the baby (twins).
The most convenient position for simultaneously feeding twins is the “under-arms” position: each child is applied to a separate breast (right and left); their faces are facing their mother, and their legs are located behind her back.
The mother only needs to lightly hold the babies’ heads and control the process. If the kids are already grown up, there is no longer even a need to support them: at this moment the mother can leaf through a magazine or drink a cup of tea.
Let us remind you about the need to alternately put twins to the breast: you cannot put the same baby to the same breast all the time
First, babies suckle differently, and this can affect the size and shape of each breast (they may be different). Secondly, it is important for the proper formation of the neck muscles and eye strain.
Why do you need a nursing pillow for twins?
A twin nursing pillow is needed if you want to free up some of your time and start breastfeeding your babies at the same time. Now many parents are trying to make their lives easier and bring their children to the same routine from the very first days. In this case, you need a special pillow. It not only makes life easier, no, without it the answer to the question of how to feed twins at the same time is almost clear - no way. After all, holding two babies in your arms and feeding them is quite difficult. Therefore, the correct answer to the question will be as follows: using a special pillow for twins.
Nursing pillow for twins - its advantages
- Mode. Accustoming children to the same regimen - simultaneous feeding.
- Time. It’s clear that if the children do everything at the same time, then the mother may have at least a little time for herself and for others around her.
- Comfortable position. If you prefer to feed your babies in a sitting position, then a twin pillow can really make your life easier. With it, your back and arms will not get so tired.
Nursing pillow for twins - cons
In general, if we take the picture as a whole, then there are minuses
There are practically no pillows for twins. It was created in order to help a mother in a difficult task - to feed two babies at once. And numerous Internet resources claim that a nursing pillow for twins makes life much easier, allowing you to feed your children breast milk at the same time, saving a lot of time. For manufacturers, such articles are very useful, as they encourage buyers to buy the “right” product.
So, where are the downsides?
However, theory and practice are completely different things, and now posts began to appear on forums that a pillow for feeding twins turned out to be an absolutely useless thing. Well, the children didn’t want to eat at the same time: one wanted to sleep and the other wanted to eat. And so it went from there. Then how to breastfeed twins in such conditions? It is especially difficult to establish simultaneous feeding at first, when the children’s routine has not yet been formed.
In such situations, there is nothing better than establishing alternating feeding. This is more convenient for both mother and children. Of course, from the point of view of saving time, this is not rational. Alternate feeding will take much longer than simultaneous feeding. Here you will have to choose what is more convenient for you.
Let's return to the pillow. In the event that you come to alternate feeding, you simply will not need such a thing as a pillow for feeding twins. Although, having it on hand, you can always try to feed the babies at the same time.
Pillow fillings for twins
A pillow for feeding a newborn should not be too soft, be able to easily take the desired shape, and return to its original appearance after use.
Read also: Knitted pillows
Therefore, the ideal material for stuffing such products is polystyrene foam: the material is so harmless that it is used to make disposable tableware.
Expanded polystyrene is shaped like balls. For stuffing, balls are used, the size of which does not exceed one and a half millimeters: this contributes to longer use of the products.
After some time, the volume of a pillow filled with polystyrene foam decreases due to the fact that some balls flatten and lose their elasticity.
In this case, it is enough to add the required amount of polystyrene foam (you can buy it at a hardware store).
Do you want to bring something new to your upholstered furniture? Embroidering a pillow with ribbons is quite simple, and the result will definitely please you.
When choosing bedding for children, it is important that they do not cause allergies. Here we describe how to choose hypoallergenic pillows for children.
Do you like to travel with a tent? Read how to choose an air mattress for a tent at this address.
Holofiber is another material that can be used for stuffing. It has all the necessary qualities: springy structure, hypoallergenic and durable. Products with such padding can easily withstand repeated washing.
Foam rubber is an accessible and inexpensive material that is often used to stuff orthopedic pillows for infants; you just need to make sure that the product is made from certified materials.
Buckwheat husk is a natural, but not very suitable filler: a product made from it makes quite a lot of noise, is a bit harsh and very expensive.
Santonin and latex pillows are the least preferred materials for stuffing these products: they quickly lose their elasticity, and products made from them are too soft.
In the absence of a quality certificate, it is better to refuse to purchase a pillow so as not to buy a product that is dangerous to the health of the child.
Nursing pillow for twins photos, reviews.
To feed twins at the same time, you cannot do without some kind of baby support devices.
These can be bolsters twisted from towels or blankets, pillows for sleeping, the hands of a husband, as in the photo, or a special pillow for feeding twins .
It seems to me that after trying different options for feeding twins, you will still come to the most convenient one - simultaneous feeding of twins on a specially designed V-shaped pillow .
A pillow for feeding twins is much larger and denser than a pillow designed for feeding a twin baby.
Benefits of using a twin nursing pillow:
1. The ability to feed twins at the same time, which has a number of advantages (read the article “ How to feed twins at the same time or in turns? ”)
2. The load on your back is much less - you don’t bend over the children, but raise the pillow to the distance you need.
3. Completely hands-free. You can simultaneously read, talk on the phone, learn English, or read a book to an older child who also needs mother’s attention.
You may need help getting your twins onto the pillow at first. But in the future you will be able to do without help and put the children to bed on your own.
You can come up with some tricks, such as fastening children with belts.
After eating, be sure to hold children upright so that the air trapped during eating can escape.
Having a pillow for feeding twins makes it convenient to change feeding positions. You can feed babies by holding them to your chest from both the side and the front.
Switch breasts the next time you feed, especially if one of your babies eats more.
If it is difficult for you to remember who was near which breast, you can either write it down or change the breast, for example, once a day. Regularly changing breasts for feeding significantly reduces the likelihood of blockage of the milk ducts, which will prevent the occurrence of mastitis.
I fed one child on a pillow for twins , and just read a book to the older one. When the eldest was in kindergarten, I fed the baby lying down. This is the most convenient way for me. But with twins lying down, you can only feed in turns, waddling from one side to the other all day long as shown in the photo
It’s good when at this time someone helps to cook, eat and clean. Or a woman pregnant with twins took care of the preparations in advance (See the article “ Multiple pregnancy: how to make the first months of motherhood easier? ”)
This article was written for the site, copying and any reproduction is possible with an active link to the site.
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Multifunctional nursing pillows for twins
How else can you use a nursing pillow? This product will be useful to the mother during the period of bearing a child, during breastfeeding, as well as during the period of active growth of the baby.
- It can serve as a comfortable space limiter for a baby just brought from the maternity hospital (a child who has been in the cramped womb for 9 months is frightened by the outside world). Place the baby in the center of a soft cushion: he will stop throwing up his arms in fear and will sleep peacefully.
- If the baby sleeps with his mother, the pillow will become a safe barrier between them.
- Can be used to place a baby on his tummy: this is both useful and safe.
- It is ideal for sitting the baby down: in this position you can give him complementary foods from a spoon or feed him from a bottle.
- When the baby grows up and no longer fits inside the pillow, you can simply place it under the back so that he cannot roll over in his sleep.
Read also: Orthopedic pillow for babies
Mixed feeding of twins - how to organize it
The main mistake of many parents is the inability to correctly organize the process
mixed feeding of twins. This means the following: the child ate his mother’s milk, and it seemed to the mother that he was not full. What to do in this case? That's right - dilute the mixture. And feed him so that he falls asleep peacefully.
I know this “disease”; we ourselves went through it due to our inexperienced stupidity. And what happens in the end? Mother's milk and formula, no matter how good it is, have completely different compositions. And so two different products enter the stomach of the child, who is not yet fully strengthened, and mix there with each other. What will be the reaction? That's right, your stomach will hurt and colic will begin. They will begin anyway, because the baby’s gastrointestinal tract will begin to function normally only 2–3 months after birth. But with food of different composition, everything will be much more difficult.
Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary hassle and not spoil the lives of yourself and your children, you need to allocate a separate feeding for mixed feeding of twins and adjust the daily routine for twins to it. For example: in the morning the babies ate breastfeeding. And at the next feeding - a bottle. Then again the chest. And so on alternating. By skipping one feeding, more milk will be collected, the babies actively eat it - and the more you eat, the more will come.
DIY nursing pillow for twins – DIY nursing pillow
The pillow for feeding twins is particularly convenient, on which it is good to place both babies and feed them at the same time. The German version will help with this, which can be bought in a store or ordered by mail:
- Model name: Theraline 190 cm (orange glade).
- Price: 5250 rub.
- Characteristics: polystyrene filler, volume 40 l, size 190*38 cm.
- Pros: 100% cotton, silent pellets.
- Cons: expensive.
A more affordable accessory will be a Russian product with a hypoallergenic filler inside:
- Model name: Bioson.
- Price: 2450 rub.
- Characteristics: holofiber filling, microfiber cover.
- Pros: affordable, light weight.
- Cons: does not absorb moisture.
Giving birth to two babies at once is a serious test for any mother, because she requires twice as much attention and strength. At this time, it is very important to provide the most comfortable conditions for caring for babies. One of the indispensable helpers can be a special pillow for feeding twins.
The process of breastfeeding puts enormous physical stress on the female body. The duration of one feeding usually ranges from 20 to 40 minutes, but its frequency is influenced by the needs of the child himself.
Mothers often have to be in an uncomfortable position for a long time, constantly straining their neck, arms, and back.
In order to make this process less tiring and more comfortable for both the nursing mother and the newborn, there is a specially designed nursing pillow that provides maximum comfort and expands the possibilities of breastfeeding.
After I became pregnant with twins, I began to pay increased attention to this topic, and it turned out that there are not so few of us! I hope my attempt will be useful to someone (it would be difficult to name my experience) I would like to warn you right away that I have no sewing experience (not counting the fact that I sewed myself a nursing dress, which my husband still laughs at), if anyone has that is, a link or a good instruction, please, you can insert it, I just looked for step-by-step instructions for dummies like me on this issue, but I couldn’t find it. There are those who sewed themselves, but apparently they already have some ideas, because in the description there were a lot of terms and ambiguities for me
The quality of the photos is not very good, because I was sewing while we were visiting my grandmother, and they didn’t take the charger for the camera! Everything about everything took me two days, taking into account the fact that at the same time I had to entertain my Mr. fidget and most of the time was spent thinking in the style of “How to attach this thing to this thing?
“So, foam rubber No. 5 was purchased at a hardware store, thickness 5cm, the size of the sheets was told to me standard - 1m * 2m, cost - 900 rubles; in the sewing department - flannel, width - 90 cm, length - 3.5 meters. I found lightning in old houses, one 50cm, the other 45cm. During the process, I really missed a construction knife; cutting out the foam took a long time and was painful))
I cut out a pattern from newspaper, the width of the fabric was too small, so I had to sew two pieces in the center{amp}lt;p{amp}gt; Pillow dimensions: width - 1m, length - 85cm, height - foam rubber in 2 layers - 10cm. I would like to make important comments after trying the pillow in action (still without twins, staging) and reading all sorts of forums, if you sew, adjustments for the figure: 1.
Try on the opening for yourself from a newspaper or unnecessary fabric, 36 cm is an experimental method, it’s better to have it close than with a reserve - it’s unlikely that you will be larger after childbirth than now, pregnant. I read on the website that skinny mothers’ babies simply fall between the pillow and the mother)2. Using a pillow, measure the height.
So, I made blanks for the “side panels”{amp}lt;p{amp}gt;Two long narrow ones (EXCLUDING seam allowances - 5cm * 1m) - for the upper large part where the zipper will be inserted Two long narrow ones (10cm * 85cm ) - side outer One long (about 10cm * 140cm depending on your opening) if there is enough fabric, I sewed two - this is for the inner side Two short (10cm * 32cm) - front sides
I worked on the foam rubber: {amp}lt;p{amp}gt;You can’t really compare it too much, if you don’t sew the foam rubber together, they will still move a little inside the pillow anyway.
Then the fun part began - sewing the sides to the bases. I sewed on the largest one, I got one big poncho, then the outer sides, then the inner ones, I thought that due to the lack of experience there would still be errors, so I left the smallest ones (32cm) for the end, and I already corrected all the mistakes on them - they are still the same in general, they will be behind your back and not functional.
While I was writing this post, I was lying a lot, because initially the outer edges were planned to be larger in order to put strips of foam rubber on the inside, so that there would be like sides for the kids, so that while you were laying one down, the other wouldn’t roll away, but these couple of centimeters were imperceptibly eaten away somewhere, so For incompetents like me, use more seam allowances!
