One baby is hard enough, so what happens when you have two at once, or even three. The diapers, the feedings, the responsibilities, all multiplied.
Guest Speaker
On this episode we talked with Kylie McClellan. She is an occupational therapist who is 9 months postpartum with triplet boys. She experienced 4 weeks of hospital bedrest prior to having a c-section at 30 weeks pregnant. She has experience with breastfeeding, formula feeding, and using donor milk. She has experience working as a pediatric occupational therapist.
Kylie's Experience
Kylie became pregnant with triplets spontaneously, meaning she had none of the risk factors for having multiples. She started having contractions at 26 weeks gestation and was admitted to the hospital to stop them. She was given steroid shots for infant lung development and a magnesium drip for neuro protection.
During her hospital stay, medical staff was frequently coming into the room so her and her husband already were experiencing a lack of sleep. She had her boys at 30 weeks gestation via c-section. She also experienced having a retained placenta, a kidney infection, and needing 4 units of blood.
During her boys' NICU stay she found it challenging to spend time with all of them because of the set up in the NICU. Her boys got to come home after about a month and a half in the NICU. Once home, she used breastmilk, formula, and donor milk from a friend to ensure they were getting enough nutrients.
Challenges with Triplets
- Getting into a routine and schedule, especially with feeding and sleeping
- Keeping them on the same schedule (they were on a 3 hour feeding schedule when they came home from the NICU)
- The lack of sleep that comes with the feeding schedule (it took an hour to feed and change them all, so they only had roughly 2 hours before having to wake up and do it all again)
- It was harder to hand the baby off to take a break because there were 3 babies
- Keeping track of the feeding materials (for example, breastmilk mixed with formula is only good for 24 hours in the fridge)
Tools to Help
- Activity analysis: Look at a challenging task and ask "how can we make this easier?" This involves a lot of problem solving and trial and error.
- Have a support system. Kylie said since her and her husband were such a great team it made the process much easier.
- Don't wait for things. You are more likely to deliver early with multiples so do not wait for things such as a baby shower and setting up the nursery.
- Trust your instincts as a parent.
- Babywearing: Kylie likes to babywear 1 child and then use the twin stroller for the other 2, easier than a triplet stroller.
- Try different bottles. Her boys loved the Philips Avent.
- Try different feeding positions. She liked tandem nursing once she figured it out using the Twin Z nursing pillow.
- Leave the house with your babies. It will be a learning curve but do it.
You Are Capable of More Than You Think
Resources
This article is a companion to Episode 6 of the Functional Fourth Trimester podcast.