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Many animals (eg: dogs, cats, armadillos)
routinely nurse more than one baby.
Others, such as elephants usually have only one baby to nurse.
Human mothers can nurse twins successfully.
It does take dedication.
When infants are well established at nursing,
some women may find that it works very well to nurse both the babies
simultaneously, one on each breast.
This is very difficult in the
first weeks of breastfeeding because the babies tend not to stay latched on.
Just as a mother gets one baby latched on the other one falls off.
Another pair of hands is needed.
So early on many mothers of twins will nurse one baby
and then the other on alternating breasts.
Many twins are also born prematurely so the issues associated with
prematurity also apply.
(See
The Growth and Development of Preterm Infants).
Mothers with triplets, quadruplets or more face a greater challenge.
Mead reported on a woman who successfully nursed quadruplets
(
Mead, 1992
).
Again these babies are often born prematurely.
Most women who have three or more babies will combine breastfeeding and
formula feeding. Any amount of breast milk that the infant gets is
beneficial, so breastfeeding combined with formula is better than not
breastfeeding at all.
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