I will admit, the first thing my husband and I thought when we found out we were expecting twins is that we would be spending double for the babies compared to one baby. We figured double diapers, double cribs, double strollers, all that! As time went by, we slowly figured things out. Having twins sounds daunting (and it is sometimes), but it doesn’t have to be! I hope this advice will help other moms of multiples during their first year!
You don’t always need two of everything.
There are actually products out there that are specially made for twins and other multiples. Just a few things I can recall using are double strollers, double nursing pillows and double bassinets. Having twins doesn’t automatically mean you have to get doubles of everything!
Scheduling helps.
I don’t mean having every second of every day scheduled. I’m talking something as simple as making sure they eat at the same time and sleep at the same time. Once that happens, everyone will fall into a routine. My husband and I originally tried feeding on demand, but we quickly realized that we were only getting an hour of sleep between feeds. As sleep-deprived new parents, every second of sleep matters!
Sleep when the babies sleep.
This is a piece of advice we heard from many people. It seems so simple, but it works! This piece of advice is especially helpful when the babies are newborns, when they eat every few hours. You may find yourself wishing to do some sort of chore, such as laundry or other types of cleaning, but you will quickly figure out that sleep is the only thing you will want!
There is no shame in getting free stuff.
This is good advice for anyone, but there are some places that will give you free things just because you have multiples. One thing I did was sign up for multiple online baby registries because many places will send a package of samples. I also found out from my pediatrician that there are some formula companies that will send a few cases (yes, cases) of free formula to families with multiples. I also wrote some letters to various companies and got some coupons. Every little bit helps!
Attention follows wherever you go.
Our double stroller is like a magnet wherever we go! We always get a barrage of questions, anything from asking what kind of stroller we have, the babies’ ages, and even if the babies are actually twins! This happens so often that my husband and I have a game now where we guess how long before we get a question. Right now, our record is at a store where the front door didn’t even shut behind us before the store greeter started asking questions about the babies!
Find support.
One piece of sort-of advice that we got came from one of the nurses at the hospital when Elle and June were born. She just simply asked me and my husband if we had a good village to raise our new twins. We had never thought about having a “village” prior to her statement. This can mean many things. Maybe you have close friends and family that can help raise the babies. Locally, I belong to Birmingham Area Moms of Multiples. It is a very active group where you can seek advice for various things, and you might even get lucky and find some special products for multiples! It truly does take a village to raise a child.
Having twins comes with its own set of challenges. My husband and I wondered if we were truly up to the task during my pregnancy. We found a routine that works for us, but everyone will be different. One year later, we figure we are doing something right. Happy Birthday, Elle and June!