Breastfeeding Triplets: The At‐Home Experience

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Abstract
The unprecedented rise in higher‐order multiple (HOM) births and the subsequent increase in parents who want to breastfeed their babies presents community health nurses (CHNs) with complex challenges. The extraordinary diversity of the triplet breastfeeding experience once all infants are settled at home is illustrated through findings from a survey of nine mothers of triplets. Parents revealed how they managed the feedings over the multiples' first year: type of feedings (breast, expressed breast milk [EBM], formula); scheduled and demand feedings; adequacy of milk supply; frequency and duration of feedings; consecutive and simultaneous feedings; nighttime with three; weaning; effects of breastfeeding on their bodies and well‐being; challenges and stresses; and spousal, family, and health professional attitudes and support. A number of strategies that CHNs can utilize are suggested. These include working with individual families as well as forming partnerships with parents of multiples' support groups, multiple birth associations, interested health professionals, and the community sector. It is through these actions that the accessibility, coordination, and quality of health, multiple birth education, and social support services can be strengthened and healthy public policies implemented which address the unique and enormous demands experienced by HOMs' families.

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