How does it differ having twins?

14 comments

1. For many items, instead of just buying one thing, you will have to buy two of them.

2. Damn 😳 Been there! People say crap like “it’s not difficult” “it’s not really like having two babies at once” etc.
   That’s crap! It IS twice as hard and it IS twice as challenging! Lol!
   You do have to be in two places at once.

   But remember this…

   It IS twice as rewarding 👍🏻❤️
   It was without a doubt the most incredible experience of my life.

3. Take all the hard stuff about raising kids and double it

4. Congratulations! The early days are difficult, feeding two, manoeuvring a double pushchair in spaces made for one, chasing after two crawling babies etc BUT then it becomes easier as they have a constant best friend to entertain each other and they are better at sharing than a singleton.
   It is the absolute best thing in the world and it is like being in a special club when you spot other twins.
   Top tips
   -get a three wheel pushchair with decent wheels as easier to move around (out n about are great)
   -visit a twin baby group as only those parents will ‘get’ it.
   -do your shopping late as you will get stopped constantly.
   -if they are dcda twins they might still be identical. Not all midwives know this!
   -feed together. If one is still asleep, wake them up for it.
   -if you are tired, don’t be afraid to say no to visitors. You need to recoup energy where you can.

5. Good luck!

6. Congratulations. We have twins and they are a delight. We also have elder kids and honestly, the two twins are not double the work of one child. They do play together, and entertain each other. They are each other’s best friend. It’s hardest when they are newborns, as breastfeeding can be challenging. You might have to accept the need to bottle feed. You will need a decent buggy and get used to car seats. I know people with twins of the same gender and they save money by not differentiating outfits. Unfortunately ours are boy-girl so that doesn’t work any more, but when they were babies we just dressed them in the first babygrows to hand.

7. Firstly you have to design some kind of test to determine which one is the evil one, then you have to decide whether to drown it, as is traditional, or simply exile it to the colonies on its eighteenth birthday

8. It’s demanding… Aside from the obvious thing of having to do everything twice, a big thing for me was the inability to do anything (and I mean ANYTHING) alongside looking after the babies – with a single baby you can carry him/her in one arm or even use a sling, leaving you with at least one arm free to potter about doing things around the house – it just doesn’t happen with twins. It took me a while to accept that being a SAHD meant focusing entirely on looking after the girls; cleaning, cooking etc all had to wait until the other half got home from work.

   There are massive plus sides though. One was seeing how much of a difference their own personalities made right from the off (one of mine was a fairly ‘easy’ baby, the other more sensitive, and this has held true right up to today despite them recently turning three). I suspect every parent wonders if they’re doing it right (particularly when social media will have you thinking everyone else is doing better), but having twins made it clear to me that some babies just are harder work than others.

9. Some good news and bad news: when everything is in order and they’re on a good ebb (eating, sleeping, not being ill) it’s not that much harder than looking after a singleton (we already had a 2.5 year old) since you’re kind of committed to feeding, naps, nappies and so forth.

   However, when it gets bad (they’re ill, generally whingey, having disturbed nights) it is *exponentially* worse. You’ll have very, very little in reserve to call upon when they’re sapping you from 2 angles and schedules.

   Ours are now 3, happen to be lovely and the pay off is that they play brilliantly together, liberating me from being their playmate.

   Good luck!

10. I have twin girls and I’m not going to lie, it was very hard work in the first few months. Ideally you want to try and get them into a schedule where you are feeding/changing/entertaining both at the same time as otherwise you go crazy from lack of sleep and energy.

    Be prepared for the possibility of the end stage of pregnancy not going completely smoothly and spending some time in ICU. It puts enormous stress on the mothers body carrying two and you can’t get to full term (I think the mother is induced 4 weeks earlier than full term). We were lucky in that only one of ours had a few issues with feeding and was in ICU for a week, but we had friends (through NCT classes) that had many more problems as their babies were born at 36 weeks. Thankfully it’s rarely serious it just throws your planning off.

    Twin buggies are expensive, don’t automatically assume you can breastfeed and have formula ready if you can’t. Stock up on muslin cloths and wipes. If people ask if they can help, get them to bring food rather than supplies as you will be so frazzled you may neglect eating yourself.

    There’s billions more tips I could give, however I will say it’s amazing when they arrive and my girls bring joy to my life every single day. Cherish those early days as they don’t last long.

    You are going to get so many people telling you what they did with their single child to make X or Y work and you just have to do what works for you. Ultimately you will work it out your way.

11. Another member of the twins club.

    It’s really, really hard when they are younger, but as they get older and have each other to play with, it does get much easier.

    Biggest tip I can give is to get a feeding pillow like this

    https://peanutandpiglet.com/products/twin-breastfeeding-pillow-plt001

    Bottle or breast, it will make feeding them both at the same time much easier. You’ll feel a bit of a muppet strapping it on but it was a lifesaver for us. They are expensive but you can get most of your money back on eBay.

    On the feeding part, we had a daughter before the boys were born. The pressure to breastfeed our daughter was very high, and we did. When the twins were born the direction was breastfeed if you can, but do what you need to get through, and that means no guilt about bottle feeding. It is a contentious subject and not one I’m not qualified to opine upon.

    We found a pushchair that was 2 in-line was much easier to use everyday than a side-by-side. When they are little your twins won’t care who is at the front.

    Don’t be surprised if parents of singletons wax on about how twins are a massive blessing, how having twins is an efficient way of growing your family, or how it is less than double the effort of having 2. Either tell them to piss off and ignore them, or grin and bear it, and hope they get struck with twinmageddon at some point in their lives. Similarly, you will soon know, in excruciating detail, who in your life is a twin, has had twins, or knows someone who has twins.

    We found the discounts available through the Twins Trust to be useful when ours were little (they are 8 now) We still get the “multiple matters” magazine, I really should cancel.

    Some of this may sound negative, and it’s really not meant to be. Our twins are lovely boys, very different characters. They have a special bond, which is evident in the rare times that they are not fighting with themselves or their sister.

12. I have twins, now eight. If you can synchronise their feeds at night you’ll be laughing. If not you’ll be crying! It is hard work but the GREATEST thing there ever happened to me. Watching their similarities and differences blossom is amazing. Congratulations my friend

13. Congratulations!! Our twin boys are now 27. I know, I am ancient. What used to be called TAMBA and is now the Twins Trust had good advice and had a local support group. This info is about 27 years out of date. Our boys were behind in some areas to their peers which is a twin thing. In primary school we were told basically that they were borderline special needs. One now works in the space industry and the other is a process chemist. Hard work to start but oh so worth it.

14. Speaking as a twin myself, when they’re old enough to want to wear their own clothes separate from eachother… PLEASE DO IT!!!