Rebecca Romijn on Breastfeeding Twins

Rebecca Romijn, and by extension her husband Jerry, were very vocal about her breastfeeding their twin daughters, Charlie and Dolly. Romijn recently opened up about the time she spent nursing her twins, a period she refers to as when she was "the milk machine."

She says, "I finished nursing three weeks ago. And yes, I was a milk machine. I felt like that's all I was to them, just this walking milk machine. Now that I'm not there as many hours during the day, they're pretty clingy and I have to say I love it. It's the best feeling in the world."

OK, I find that quote to be a bit odd, but I do commend her on nursing her twins for almost 9 months. It's even more of a commitment to breastfeed multiples, but it is possible and of course it's well worth the extra effort. Since more and more women are having twins and triplets, it's even more imperative to provide moms with good breastfeeding support and information to help them succeed. If you are currently pregnant with twins, I'd like to point you to a great resource for info: Roxanne Beckford Hoge.


Roxanne is the owner of the maternity/nursing store One Hot Mama (and a blog by the same name) in Los Angeles, CA. In addition to being an actress and businesswoman, Roxanne is a mom of four, including twins whom she breastfed into toddlerhood. Her natural twin birth was featured in an episode of Bringing Home Baby, a breath of fresh air for a show that is typically filled with epidurals, emergency C-sections, formula and tons of bad breastfeeding advice. Roxanne is an all-around cool chick and smart cookie. She makes herself available to anyone who wants "been there, done that" practical advice about breastfeeding and parenting.

For moms having twins, Rox recommends the Double Blessings nursing pillow, Dr. Barbara Luke's twin book, and this page on home births of unexpected twins for inspiration for a natural birth. Roxanne is an amazing woman and I encourage you to check out her blog and if you're lucky enough to live in L.A., stop by and see her in her store. She'd love to talk to you about breastfeeding.



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Nervous much?

Jerry O'Connell was on Ellen and talked about his wife, Rebecca Romijn, who is nursing their twin daughters. I think his level of anxiety just talking about his wife nursing is indicative of why breastfeeding is still so taboo. He realizes it's a perfectly natural act, yet wonders if he can even talk about it on daytime television!

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Octuplets begin bottle feeding

The AP is reporting that 5 of the octuplets born to the California mom have begun bottle feeding. This was also mentioned in the piece on the Today Show this morning. What wasn't mentioned on Today is that the babies are taking in donor breast milk! This is fantastic news. It looks like there will be a good outcome in this case, with doctors describing this mom as strong and determined and all 8 of the babies as feisty!

The spokeswoman from Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center says the mother has begun pumping in anticipation of nursing those 8 hungry babies. In the mean time, thank goodness for all of the breastfeeding moms out there who have donated breast milk that literally saves the lives of babies in the NICU every day.

Mom of octuplets plans to breastfeed them all!

A woman in California delivered octuplets (6 boys and 2 girls) today via C-section. The babies were 9 weeks premature and each weighed between 1 lb 8oz and 3 lb 4 oz.

From the article:

The babies will be in incubators for at least six weeks and the mother is planning to breast feed them all, the hospital officials said.
"She is a very strong woman, so she probably will be able to handle all eight babies," said Dr Mandhir Gupta.

I have to say, I applaud this woman's desire and effort to breastfeed all 8 of her children! However, the cynic in me wants to know how realistic her goal is. I spoke to IBCLC Tanya Lieberman of The Motherwear Breastfeeding blog and she told me that nursing preemies is challenging and nursing multiples is challenging, so of course this scenario will be hugely challenging. The babies will be in the NICU for the next few months, so this mom will have to pump until the babies can coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing. There is no guarantee that all of the babies will even learn how to latch. Also, you can never know what kind of milk supply a mom will have until you get things going.

Tanya also reminded me of the incredible story on Oprah last year about a mom of sextuplets who went on to breastfeed them all, pumping between 50 and 60 ounces per day! Breast milk is made on a supply and demand basis, so the more this mom pumps and nurses, the more milk her body will make.

This couple is going to need a lot of help over the coming months and I salute their commitment to breastfeeding. For now they are being extremely private about the birth of their babies and haven't released any personal information. Maybe we'll get an update on how the nursing is going. Until then let's wish these new parents a lot of luck and send milk vibes their way.