Both our babies were at a healthy weight when delivered. But it's important to remember that they were still 2 weeks early for a full term baby. As such, they struggled with typical newborn issues... weight loss after birth (Caden was at 9% and Addison was at 10%), and jaundice (Caden).
Caden's jaundice was easy to see but treatable with 15 minutes of sunlight each day, so we had fun stripping him down and taking a sunbath together for a few days until his bilirubin level decreased appropriately.
Addison's issue (and for about two days Caden's issue as well) was weight gain. Although all babies drop some weight after they're born before starting to gain again, the doctors get worried when a baby's weight drops below 10% of their birth weight. Addison did this, and therefore we had to supplement her feedings. Caden was close behind at 9% but quickly turned that around with a weekend's worth of extra milk.
The lactation consultant advised us to skip other supplemental methods that would be too difficult for us to handle with twins. Instead she taught Travis how to feed Addison some extra milk... FROM A CUP! Unbelievable as it may seem, newborns can indeed drink this way. Cute little smacky-mouth sounds and all. Dad was a rock-star at this and both babies were soon gaining weight again.
We are thankful that these newborn issues are behind us now... and we're just focusing on continuing to gain weight and become more proficient with individual feedings. Once we get some automaticity with that, the next stop will be TANDEM feeding!
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