Hellobee Boards

Great idea! I'm so excited for this new batch of twin mamas. I found out one year ago today that I was pregnant, but it would be another three weeks before we found out it was twins!

Name: Ashley / twodoghouse
# of Babies: Two
Age of Babies: Four months today
Biggest Piece of Advice You Can Offer: Cut yourself some slack and learn to let go of your expectations now. Pregnancy, L&D, feeding, sleeping may end up totally different than you expect and that's ok. Take it day by day and remember it will get better!
Baby Item You'd Most Recommend for Twins: Two recliners/gliders in the nursery so you and SO can do nighttime routine simultaneously. Some kind of baby carrier for the beginning because pushing around a double stroller is a pain! So much easier if you can each wear a baby. Also, the twin Brest Friend if you want to breastfeed!
Anything Else: I'm only four months in, but this is the hardest and best thing I've ever done. A couple days ago Alice started really giggling out loud, but she only giggles at her brother! The feeling of watching your children bond and interact like that from the very beginning is unbelievable. Without a doubt the best part of having twins so far!

Awesome! Congratulations! Here's us:
2 babies (b/g born 11/30/12 @ 36+0
Best advice: (I have lots...sorry!) Definitely do your best to keep them on a schedule, but don't let it drive you ( too) crazy. Also, EVERYTHING is a season, and with twins, something will always be getting better as something else gets worse! And take pictures...in the long run, you will be happier about having awesome pictures over detailed logs. I promise you will know if someone needs to poop or be fed And have fun! Almost every twin MOM I know says it's ultimately easier.
Best baby item: it's a tie between the white noise machine and blackout shades!

For Current Mamas:
Name: g / tequiero21
# of Babies: 3
Age of Babies: 29 months and 1.5 weeks
Biggest Piece of Advice You Can Offer: don't be afraid to ask for help! My mom helped me for a month. My mil has helped from about three months to now.
Baby Item You'd Most Recommend for Twins: definitely my Brest friend if u will breastfeed together. I definitely used the video monitor. Still look at it to this day!
Anything Else: every stage is different. Newborn is so hard because of lack of sleep, but they are so dependent on u. kind of miss that with my twins. They grow to be toddlers, which definitely has its challenges, but they talk so much now and it's amazing to see how much they've grown up. Three under three is tough! Let's freak out together!

@marionberry: right now, my mil and my mom are helping me, so I do get lil breaks here and there to do my own thing and take rests, but, my mom is only helping out for a month, so I know there won't be as much time in the future. :T

Yay! I love talking with other twin mamas.

For Current Mamas:
Name: sunshineandsushi
# of Babies: 2
Age of Babies: 20 months, identical boys
Biggest Piece of Advice You Can Offer: Stick to a schedule!! The saying "never wake a sleeping baby" does not apply to twins. Instead, go by "one up, both up." This worked wonders for keeping my boys on the same schedule. (However, this may not work as well with fraternal twins)
Baby Item You'd Most Recommend for Twins: Video monitor! Still use it to this day. A big recliner that is wide enough to rock with both babies at the same time. We bought a big leather recliner for our family room, which is where I would rock them, instead of in their nursery. It's also where I clocked hours upon hours of time with them while on maternity leave.
Anything Else: It gets easier! Promise! And I think twin mamas actually have it easier in the long run, we just put in more work up front. We put them in a crib to sleep from the very first day home from the hospital. Worked great and it eliminated any worries for us to have to transition them later from a PNP or something else into a crib. They slept in the same crib until about 3.5 months old.

@sunshineandsushi: Oh yay. Glad to hear yours slept in the crib together for that long. There is hope that I will not have to own 3 cribs. I hate the thought of having 3 cribs when big sister will probably not tolerate being confined in hers for that much longer.

And I never had a video monitor for LO 1, but it seems like everyone so far says it's definitely worth it with multiples. Any specific reason why?

Name: Caly
# of Babies: Fraternal twin girls
Age of Babies: 10 months
Biggest Piece of Advice You Can Offer: Like @twodoghouse: said, take it one day or even one crisis at a time. Give up on any expectations, wether that be the state of your house, breastfeeding, the perfect schedule for the babies or the birth, things may or may not go the way you had planned in your head...the sooner you let go of those plans, the less disappointment there will *hopefully* be. I've always been a planner, like order & want to be able to control situations and how things are done. I learned quickly to let go for my own sanity.

Baby Item You'd Most Recommend for Twins: Hmmm...I will think on this & come back if I think of something not already mentioned.

Anything Else: It WILL get better, promise! The first few months were complete hell for us. To the point that (this sounds terrible but I'll admit it) I honestly thought we'd made a huge mistake. It continues to be a lot of work but it improves drastically & becomes a ton of fun. Nothing beats their smiles, giggles & cuddles.

Ours slept horribly in their cribs, so, for the first 4-5 months they slept in bouncy chairs. They loved & slept much better (or as well as a newborn sleeps) in those chairs. After that they slept in separate cribs. One moves around WAY too much & would wake the other, one crib would be impossible for us.

Name: Nicole
# of babies: although mine hardly count as babies anymore I have four.
Age: right now I have 3 five year olds and 1 two year old. In November it's will be 6,5,5,3
Best piece of advice: ignore everyone's advice and figure out what works best for you and your family. It is awesome to gather information and get advice but don't let it get to you if it seems like you're not able to follow that advice. There is so much information about breast feeding, scheduling, sleeping and sometimes you just have to test things out and see what works.

Twins is a whole new ball game and it seems like one with no rules. Actually I shouldn't say no rules. There are rules and only your wee babies know the rules and their #1 rule is once mom and dad figure out the rule it's time to change it. I know that might sound daunting. Infant twins was the hardest thing, but so so so worth it! I love being a twin momma.

Equipment: twin nursing pillow. Even if you bottle feed it was an awesome way to hold them together for snuggles. It was actually the only way our twins would calm down for the first few months. Even my husband would put it on (ummm... He might be pretty embarrassed for me to say that) and sit on the couch with them to snuggle and relax them. Also we had two swings. Ours we colicky and had reflux for 3 months so it really helped to be able to sit them up after feedings. Also detachable infant car seat carriers. It takes awhile to get the double baby hold down. It's even harder to double baby hold and get your car door closed and your house open. The infant seats helps immensely.

Anything else? I will try to answer some of your questions. The hardest thing for me was sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation for me snow balled into a lot of other issues. When I am tired I am cranky and less patient which makes taking care of fussy babies harder, and made me snap at my family easier and made me feel worse about my self esteem.

The biggest difference between 1 and twins (although I only had 8 months of living with a singleton) was the loss of flexibility. And the amount of work. With one baby I was on his schedule. When I was tired from multiple night wake ups I napped with him. We went places in between his nap time. With the addition of two more my life seemed very chaotic. I couldn't just nap with my older son any more because there were two other babies needing me. I couldn't nap with the new babies because the older one needed me. I often felt like there wasn't enough of me to go around, but there was. It's all about survival in the first few months. Each day when I went to bed I would laugh and say "well, I kept us all alive so that's a good thing"

For 3 months they slept in our room in swings or bassinets. I would wake up and feed whoever cried. I would nurse them while laying down and inevitably fall asleep with them in bed with me. When the next one cried my husband would wake up (laugh at me a little for falling asleep with my boob hanging out) and take the first one back to its bassinet and bring me the crying one. I would flip to my other side and feed the second baby. Then rinse and repeat all night long. Then we moved them to one crib until they were about 6 months. I still nursed them in bed and at 6 months they each got their own crib. At about 6 months my husband was going crazy with having them in bed so when one woke up I woke up the other and went and tandem nursed them on the couch. Again I usually fell asleep and spent the rest of the night on the couch with my twin pillow and my babies.

You know for all the crazy sleepless nights, and frustrating endless days there is so much joy and love. All the struggles fade and things change as they get older. You can look back and laugh at all the crazy things you did to survive and look at your beautiful twins and know that it doesn't get much better than two sweet peas to love.

@marionberry: you definitely can. It might be stressful at first but you will adjust to your new normal quickly!

# of Babies: 2.5 (#3 is due in January)
Age of Babies: 18 months
Biggest Piece of Advice You Can Offer: Be gentle with yourself, and accept all help that us offered! Having multiples--especially when they're little, but really anytime--can be overwhelming at various stages and your experience may not look or feel like what mamas of one experience. Give yourself a break; it's a big, but wonderful, challenge.
Baby Item You'd Most Recommend for Twins:
Anything Else: the Twin My Brest Friend Pillow and "baby containers." I always needed a safe place to set down one baby while I handled whatever the other baby needed or to out both babies so I could go to the restroom, etc.

Every new stage with twins has new challenges to work through, but I LOVE being a mama of twins.

@marionberry: we used RNPs, and they were nice because thy are so easy to move from room to room. I would just say as a cautionary thing to make sure that you rotate which side their heads are turned because some people think the RNPs lead more to flat spots since the sides are kind of curved up. We didn't have any issues with that though.

As for gear, we had one bounce seat and one swing to start off with. Out boys both only tolerated the bouncer, but loved the swing so we eventually bought another swing. I would wait and see what your kiddos both like before buying doubles of any big ticket items.