Moms of Twins?

Wow, you are a busy busy lady! I have twin boys who are seven. They were the biggest surprise of my life and at first I was not happy about an unplanned member of the family (we were trying to get pregnant with ONE more, not two!) but they have turned out to be such an amazing joy and huge blessing to us as parents and their older sister.

People used to (and sometimes still do) say "I don't know how you do/did it". That always makes me smile because I want to respond, what else would I have done? Let one starve to death or let one sit in poopy diapers all day??? LOL The bottom line is (and I suspect you already know this!) that you do what has to be done. You feed two, you change two....all day long :-)

My advice is schedule schedule schedule. And whatever one does, the other does it too. For example, I always made sure they both finished bottles. My friend was feeding one when they were infants and she let him stop because he seemed like he was done. I said, "No way, you put that bottle back in his mouth. If he doesn't finish, he will be hungry in two hours and then I'm feeding all day long, back and forth". So if one woke up for night time feeding and I got done and the other one had not woken up yet, I woke him up to feed. No way did I want to lay back down only to hear a second cry 45 minutes later. I made sure they always napped at the same time, too. Never let one sleep without the other or I would have never had a moment's peace.

Mine slept in the same crib until about 4 months old and then we separated them. They went into their bed the first night we brought them home, I know its a personal choice but we are totally not into co-sleeping.

When they started spoon feeding, I fixed one big bowl of food and fed them both from it with the same spoon, what's a little germs between brother's right? :-)

Hopefully you will have lots of help with the older sibs and your family. My husband helped when he could but I tried not to make him do too much in the night since he did have to work. God was very merciful to us, I only remember 3-5 times both of my boys were awake at the exact same time in the middle of the night ready to eat.

Congratulations on your upcoming twin birth. I promise you will survive!

A.:

You are already a mom of multiples. You've got this!!! You have 5 kids!!!

CONGRATULATIONS on your upcoming twins!!!

My girlfriend who has twins - when they were infants - she would keep one in a crib while changing the other - they would sit next to each other in high chairs when it came time to feed. She didn't breast feed them as they were born at 29 weeks and spent the first 3 months in the hospital. They are now healthy 3 year olds!!

When she fed them as infants - they were in bouncy chairs and she would sit in the middle.

We have two sets of twin grandsons and I didn't get much time with the first set as they're in another state but I did get to stay a week with them when they were 8 months old and their older brother was 22 months. They were such a joy. The parents gave me instructions that I thought were awful at first but soon found out it was a good way to feed them. One spoon, one mouthful in one mouth and next spoon full in the other baby's mouth. It worked great. They each had a bottle so that worked fine and they could hold it somewhat. I thoroughly enjoyed them.
The second set was in our state and I got a lot of time with them. They were breast fed and our daughter fed one at a time as it was too hard for her to do both at once but they did fine. They slept in the same bed for a short time and then had their own beds later. She had two swings and they used those quite a bit when fussy or the other baby was being taken care of. There were stages of jealousy in both of these cases by the older brother and that has to be watched for a dealt with if it arises. It is more work than one child but then again, having them a year apart is work too. Having the same schedule for feeding and napping is a must. Our daughter made sure they were on the same schedule which is not easy to do. I think your biggest problem will be Sydney who will still be needing so much care too but on a different schedule due to age, etc. You will definitely need to be organized and structured. But it will be fun and hard work and a nightmare and a great joy all in one. And it won't last forever. Our twins were both boys and identical so you will need some different things having a boy and a girl but I would think Sydney is young enough to share toys, bedroom, etc. with the new little girl. Just rest up for the next two months. :-)

Working in a nursery I have seen my fair share of twins come and go and my fair share of 8 kids that want/need fed all at the same time with 2 teachers. In the state of Ohio the law is fed every 3 unless the parent says otherwise and changed every 2 hours. So if one was awake and the other wasn't in the 3 hours we would wake the other one up and if it happened that they were fed right after the other one or while the other one was eating great as long as they were both within the same half an hour we were good. I would get 2 bouncy seats and sit in between or figure out how to lay one across your lap and hold the other and feed that way. It will get easier when you figure out what works for you.

Ok that answers my question from yesterday. God bless you.

My first suggestion is to look for a Moms of Multiples group near you.

I have 9 month old twin boys and a 3 year old.

Things that worked for me:

I didn't not wake one up at night if the other woke up. I know in the beginning I woke up more often to feed, but one slept for 4 hours straight and the other was up every hour, so it didn't make sense to wake up the one that would sleep longer. At about 6-8 weeks, they scheduled themselves at night and would wake up at the same time. During the day they were on the same schedule since birth. I couldn't produce enough milk to breast feed, so they were formula fed, on generic formula.

I was also told to keep them together as long as possible. Well the first night I separated them was the first night they slept through the night and we haven't looked back. They were sleeping through the night at 3 months.

Here is what my daily day looks like for the boys:

Wake up around 6--Babies get bottle
Babies, Daughter and I play on floor for about an hour (Before they could get on the floor, they would be in the vibrating chairs as we played)
Babies play in exersaucers for an hour while I eat and do chores
Babies eat Breakfast
Back on floor for more play time
Babies nap around 10:30-11 until 2
Bottles at 2
Floor play and exersaucer play
Dinner at 5
Baths
Bottles at 6
Bed

Some days we all go out, and on nice days we go to the park and I bring a blanket and we play.

Some things I do that aren't recommended: let them use the same paci, same bottle, same spoon. They are 9 months and haven't been sick yet (knock on wood).

When they go to bed I spend time with my daughter. And in the middle of all of this, I try to do housework. We have a maid, but she only comes twice a month, so I still have to do some cleaning, laundry, meals, dishes, etc.

If there is anything specific you want to ask, just PM me.