Must Have Monday: Exclusively Pumping for Twins

Boppy Lounger, Pumping Bra (I used this one), Medela Pump-in- Style double electric pump, Dr. Brown's Bottles, Bibs and Burp Cloths.

A feeding, for us, looked something like this.
I would have pre-made bottle of breast milk usually pumped the previous pump or within 24 hours prior. I heated it in a cup of hot water. So the entire bottle stuck down into a cup of really hot water. I checked it regularly until it was the desired temperature needed to feed the Zabies. I started doing this about 15 minutes prior to when they should eat. They did so every 3 hours or whatever your doctor recommends for your baby or babies.
Once the bottles were ready I would go to whatever location I was planning to feed the Zabies, my king sized bed in the wee hours of the night and early morning, my couch during the day or the floor as they became more mobile. I would put the Zabies on their boppy loungers (never leave a baby unattended on the lounger) and quickly put on my Medela hands free pumping bra. Then I would "hook up" to my pre-assembled pump parts. I always had multiple sets of clean parts assembled on every floor of the house to help with quickly "hooking up". I turned on the pump and then put the Zabies' warmed bottles in their mouths. I bottle fed while pumping, always. They always wore bibs in case of a messy feeding. I would then flip each baby at the necessary times and burp them both at the same time. Usually they were laying on their bellies on the lounger once they could hold their heads up. I burped them separately over my shoulder before they could hold up their heads or if they were difficult to burp during that specific feeding. Once they finished eating I burped them one last time and then diapered them. I always had a diaper changing caddy nearby making it easy to diaper them while continuing to pump. By the time I was finished feeding, burping and diapering them I was done pumping. This all usually took 30-45 minutes in the early days. I would then un-hook, put the Zabies in their rock and play sleepers, clean-up pumping parts and put away milk for the next feeding.

As I write this I remember how exhausting the schedule was between feeding them and keeping up with cleaning  pump parts and bottles. This was our routine until 12 months. I always had an over supply and never had to supplement with formula. Not that there is anything wrong with formula feeding because we all have to do what is best for our families but I was proud to give my twins only breastmilk until they turned 1 year old. It is my greatest accomplishment as a mother aside from growing two healthy, beautiful, and thriving babies. They only thing that ever changed about our routine was the frequency in which they took their bottles as they got older but ate every three hours for most of their first year.  If you have any questions or need support with this please email me! Exclusively nursing just didn't work for us (we tried it for about 8 weeks) but it is possible to still only give your children breast milk by exclusively pumping.