Breastfeeding

It's possible to breastfeed three babies and as with bottle feeding three, you need to make sure that one is able to wait. Your breastfeeding may also look slightly different to those who breastfeed a singleton. For example, one baby might not latch on so will get your expressed breast milk from a bottle. The other two might feed well on the breast but one might then start to reject it, which leaves just one feeding from the breast and two expressed from the bottle.

You may find expressing very difficult and stressful and so formula feeding is the way that works best for you and your babies. These situations can produce some feelings of guilt or failure if it hasn't gone exactly the way you planned. It's normal to feel like this. However, you need to know that you're doing the best job you can and caring for three or more babies sometimes means that the best laid plans need to be adapted. If you feel strongly about a certain way to feed, then get the necessary support to help to make this possible.

We have a team of breastfeeding peer supporters with experience of feeding more two or more babies who are also available to support you.

Prop feeding

Prop feeding is not advised.  Self-feeding pillows/prop feeders present a risk of serious harm or death from choking or aspiration pneumonia. By prop feeding your babies they can have extra wind as they may take in too much air due to gulping. In addition, babies being fed lying down can lead to ear infections. Feeding is a great bonding experience, and it is important when bottle feeding your babies to pay close attention to them as they will show you when they have had enough and if the flow is too fast etc.  When you have three or more babies there is always one that must wait which can be difficult especially if they are upset and crying. Some parents may be tempted to prop the bottle so they can start the feed and prevent the baby getting in distress. There are products on the market that help with this and we totally understand why they would be tempting but we would not advise using these. What we would advise is:

• Keep to your schedule
• Make sure the baby who was fed first the feed before, isn't having to wait until the end next feed
• Keep an eye on your babies hunger cues and start feeding the first baby as soon as you see them
• Have the baby who is waiting easily accessible so they can be distracted and soothed by your voice, dummy, singing or any other distraction whilst waiting. We would advise you make all the feeds up at once (unless you are taking longer than the advised length of time for bottles to be made up for) this means that you are ready to go with number 3 as quick as possible

Bouncy chairs

These are a really useful piece of equipment for triplet parents as they act as another person to hold the babies. Bear in mind that when your babies first come home they will most probably be quite small so make sure when choosing a chair it is suitable from birth and check the weights. As they get older they will be able go in any chairs so I would consider only buying one or two to start with and then get another as they get bigger. (The ones for bigger babies are also often cheaper so this will also save you some money).

Feeding pillows

You can buy double feeding pillows but many triplet parents find investing in two single ones can often be more useful as you can have one baby either side of you and still hold one. The double ones are great for feeding two babies at once but you generally have to sit in front of them which makes it difficult if you are holding baby number 3! This again isn’t essential and it might be worth buying one single one first to see if your babies like them. Again be mindful of the babies size, they often work better as the babies get a bit bigger also it is not advised to let them sleep in them.