"You never know who needs you. Good energy is contagious"
Ok. Twins.
I'm quickly approaching the 1 year mark with my twinnies (I have lived to tell about it). I thought I would compile a nice little list of tips and gadgets to help new mommies of twins cope the the utter shock of two babies at once! Here is a little insight to how I make it work when you have two:
I'm quickly approaching the 1 year mark with my twinnies (I have lived to tell about it). I thought I would compile a nice little list of tips and gadgets to help new mommies of twins cope the the utter shock of two babies at once! Here is a little insight to how I make it work when you have two:
1. JOIN YOUR LOCAL TWIN CLUB.
Okay this may sound weird... a twin club? Yes it is actually called the Mom's of Multiples club. The club has mainly twin mothers, but there are also triplet and quad mamas (GOD BLESS THEM!!!) This club is my sanity. Almost every major city has a club to join. It is wonderful because the group is a support system for the shocking and overwhelming world that is multiples. Become a member and be active in the group. Go to the meetings (it gets you out of the house and you will meet new mommy friends), and attend those play dates! Other twin mom's are so helpful at play dates because they Get IT! I felt better knowing I had friends going through the trenches with me. So join your local club. Find that support system and utilize the group. Go to those play groups, attend the mom's night out, drink, and laugh about the crazy stuff your twins did that day.
http://www.nomotc.org/ Here is the link to search for your local club. Not all clubs belong to the National Organization. So if you can't fine one in your City do a simple Google search for a club near you!
Okay this may sound weird... a twin club? Yes it is actually called the Mom's of Multiples club. The club has mainly twin mothers, but there are also triplet and quad mamas (GOD BLESS THEM!!!) This club is my sanity. Almost every major city has a club to join. It is wonderful because the group is a support system for the shocking and overwhelming world that is multiples. Become a member and be active in the group. Go to the meetings (it gets you out of the house and you will meet new mommy friends), and attend those play dates! Other twin mom's are so helpful at play dates because they Get IT! I felt better knowing I had friends going through the trenches with me. So join your local club. Find that support system and utilize the group. Go to those play groups, attend the mom's night out, drink, and laugh about the crazy stuff your twins did that day.
http://www.nomotc.org/ Here is the link to search for your local club. Not all clubs belong to the National Organization. So if you can't fine one in your City do a simple Google search for a club near you!
2. BE MONEY SAVVY, YOU ARE NOW BROKE!!.
Face it you are poor. Twins are financial leeches. I hate when people say, "Oh.. two for the price of one." Um… I will hit you. As the saying goes, "the only thing my twins share is a birthday and my uterus." You will have two of everything including double the formula and dipers. Soooo you need to get money savvy.
- Join a Sam's Cub or a CostCo. Ask for a membership for a baby shower gift. You will use it all the time. If you are a mom who is using formula buy the generic Sam's or Costco formula. It will save you sooo much money. My pediatrician told me to do this! By buying the Sam's brand of formula it saved me almost $70 a month.
- Buy Amazon gift cards at your local grocery store that have fuel perks. My local stores usually give more off per gallon when you buy gift cards. So get some amazon cards and buy diapers, baby food, toys.. whatever you want and get some fuel perks as well.
- Sell your crap! Remember that twin club I told you to join? Well, almost all the clubs have an annual or a bi-annual sale. Sell your stuff that you are no longer using. In my club the average seller will make about $400. One member made almost that much just selling clothing! I also was able to buy some really nice infant toys for the girls at a fraction of the cost at the sale. Shop at baby consignment shops may cities have them and nice quality items. Here in Columbus they have Once Upon A Child. You can shop and sell your items there as well.
-Hit up your pediatrician for formula samples. Yup, I said it! Every time you go to an appointment ask for formula samples. Most of the nurses will take pity on you and give you a few cans. #noshame.
Face it you are poor. Twins are financial leeches. I hate when people say, "Oh.. two for the price of one." Um… I will hit you. As the saying goes, "the only thing my twins share is a birthday and my uterus." You will have two of everything including double the formula and dipers. Soooo you need to get money savvy.
- Join a Sam's Cub or a CostCo. Ask for a membership for a baby shower gift. You will use it all the time. If you are a mom who is using formula buy the generic Sam's or Costco formula. It will save you sooo much money. My pediatrician told me to do this! By buying the Sam's brand of formula it saved me almost $70 a month.
- Buy Amazon gift cards at your local grocery store that have fuel perks. My local stores usually give more off per gallon when you buy gift cards. So get some amazon cards and buy diapers, baby food, toys.. whatever you want and get some fuel perks as well.
- Sell your crap! Remember that twin club I told you to join? Well, almost all the clubs have an annual or a bi-annual sale. Sell your stuff that you are no longer using. In my club the average seller will make about $400. One member made almost that much just selling clothing! I also was able to buy some really nice infant toys for the girls at a fraction of the cost at the sale. Shop at baby consignment shops may cities have them and nice quality items. Here in Columbus they have Once Upon A Child. You can shop and sell your items there as well.
-Hit up your pediatrician for formula samples. Yup, I said it! Every time you go to an appointment ask for formula samples. Most of the nurses will take pity on you and give you a few cans. #noshame.
3. GET ON A SCHEDULE AND KEEP BOTH ON THE SCHEDULE
You have to think of day to day life with twins like running a daycare. You need to plan when to feed, when to sleep, and when to play. When I had newborns I put them on a three hours schedule. I would feed them at the same time every 3 hours (6 am, 9am, 12p, 3p, 6, p and so on). My suggestion is to keep both babies on this time clock. If you are breastfeeding you can try to tandem feed (my friend with twins mastered it. I think this would be the easiest if you can do it. That way you are not always having a kid attached to your boob.) If you are bottle feeding(I pumped and supplemented with formula) hand one off to hubby to feed. When you are solo during the day, place children in bouncy chairs and feed at the same time. As they get older keep the kids on the same schedule! Have meals, play time, snacks, and naps all at the same time. KEEP YOUR SANITY it is important! If you don't do this you will have one kid going to the left and one going to the right and there is only one mama!
I also wanted to give some links to resources for feeding that I like to use. They are great resource when coming up with nap and feeding schedule. Here is a sample of an 11 month plan... but they have one for each month: http://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/11-month-old-schedule/
Here is also another wonderful link for guidelines on how much to feed baby. My friend gave me this resource, it is from her peds office. I love it ! http://www.hilliardpeds.com/Protocols/InfantNutrition5-13.pdf
You have to think of day to day life with twins like running a daycare. You need to plan when to feed, when to sleep, and when to play. When I had newborns I put them on a three hours schedule. I would feed them at the same time every 3 hours (6 am, 9am, 12p, 3p, 6, p and so on). My suggestion is to keep both babies on this time clock. If you are breastfeeding you can try to tandem feed (my friend with twins mastered it. I think this would be the easiest if you can do it. That way you are not always having a kid attached to your boob.) If you are bottle feeding(I pumped and supplemented with formula) hand one off to hubby to feed. When you are solo during the day, place children in bouncy chairs and feed at the same time. As they get older keep the kids on the same schedule! Have meals, play time, snacks, and naps all at the same time. KEEP YOUR SANITY it is important! If you don't do this you will have one kid going to the left and one going to the right and there is only one mama!
I also wanted to give some links to resources for feeding that I like to use. They are great resource when coming up with nap and feeding schedule. Here is a sample of an 11 month plan... but they have one for each month: http://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/11-month-old-schedule/
Here is also another wonderful link for guidelines on how much to feed baby. My friend gave me this resource, it is from her peds office. I love it ! http://www.hilliardpeds.com/Protocols/InfantNutrition5-13.pdf
3. PUT THEM TO BED EARLY
My world changed once I learned this. I was informed of a book called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby. So I bought the book. At first I didn't look at it, but when I was going on week 8 of no sleep... I became desperate. I turned to this book that I had purchase before the Twinkies came. I just skimmed through it and discovered some interesting theories and tips. So I thought, "what the hell? I'll try it!" Well, well, well, after 2 weeks of an early bed time and a nighttime routine we had our kids sleeping. I am talking about LONG sleep stretches! I was shocked and it was awesome. They would wake up at midnight and sleep until 7am after putting them to bed at 7:00pm. Starting at 4ish months they dropped the midnight feed and slept for 12 hours (WOOT). To this day they still sleep 12 hours straight with 2 naps a day. The theory is "Sleep Begets Sleep" The more sleep a baby get the less over tired they are and the better they sleep. I tell all new moms about this book. It works for singleton and twins. This author has one for twins as well. Give it a try
Here is the amazon link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Twins/dp/0345497791/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407678182&sr=1-1&keywords=healthy+sleep+habits+happy+child+for+twins
My world changed once I learned this. I was informed of a book called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby. So I bought the book. At first I didn't look at it, but when I was going on week 8 of no sleep... I became desperate. I turned to this book that I had purchase before the Twinkies came. I just skimmed through it and discovered some interesting theories and tips. So I thought, "what the hell? I'll try it!" Well, well, well, after 2 weeks of an early bed time and a nighttime routine we had our kids sleeping. I am talking about LONG sleep stretches! I was shocked and it was awesome. They would wake up at midnight and sleep until 7am after putting them to bed at 7:00pm. Starting at 4ish months they dropped the midnight feed and slept for 12 hours (WOOT). To this day they still sleep 12 hours straight with 2 naps a day. The theory is "Sleep Begets Sleep" The more sleep a baby get the less over tired they are and the better they sleep. I tell all new moms about this book. It works for singleton and twins. This author has one for twins as well. Give it a try
Here is the amazon link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Twins/dp/0345497791/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407678182&sr=1-1&keywords=healthy+sleep+habits+happy+child+for+twins
5. GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF THE HOUSE!
OK. Here is my last tip. It is a long one, but an important one.
You must get out of the house.
You must get use to doing it yourself.
You must just deal with the stares and looks from strangers.
Do not place yourself under house arrest. You will go crazy.
-Prepare you diaper bag. Do this the night before or while children are sleeping. Take five minutes to just do it. Always have it ready to go with diapers, formula, snacks and toys. This way you are ready to get out the door and aren't doing it while your kids are crawling all over you. You will forget something when you pack while they are awake.
- Get a Double Snap-N-Go. Use this thing until you can no longer use it. You can put stuff from your Target runs in the bottom of the basket. Use it like a regular shopping cart. It is wonderful for just popping in an out of places. It is a sad day once the kids out grow the infant car seat and you can't use it anymore. Here is the link for this stroller they usually don't have it in store you have to order it online: http://www.buybuybaby.com/store/product/baby-trend-reg-snap-n-go-universal-double-stroller-frame/1040847849?Keyword=triple+snap+n+go
- Buy a Buggy Bench. Once the twinks are bigger, and can sit unassisted you can use this gem to do shopping. It holds up to 40lbs. The picture to the left is the buggy bench in action. I was on the way to get some food. What you will do is park next to a cart return and bring the cart to the car. Put the bench in (so easy!), unload the kids, and you are off to shop! It is a wonderful product and designed by a mom of twins. Here is the link: http://www.buggybench.com/
- Be prepared for stares: Twins are fascinating. They will naturally draw a lot of attention from the general public. You will get tons of stares and drive by comments. You will also run into people who want a full medical history. People always want to know "Do twins run in your family? Depending on my mood I will engage people with their questions. If I am simply on a mission and don't want to be disturbed, I will not make eye contact in the stores. But if do stop and chat have this basic response rehearsed. .
Curious Stranger: "Are they twins?"
You (your rehearsed response... trust me on the one):
"Yes they are fraternal/Id (offer this info before they ask it) they are ____ (insert age here) months. Their names are ___ and ___. Yes they run in my family."
Ok... but what if they don't run in my family? It doesn't matter... you say they do and here is why:
People always ask, "Do they run in your family?" This is their way of asking you if you had help getting pregnant. People want to know if you did IVF, Cloumid, IUI for example. I don't know why people are so fascinated with this fact... but they are. It is no one's business how your twins came to be. My twins are known as "Spontaneous" or as people like to say, "Natural" and we don't have a strong history of twins in my family but, I always say they run in the family. My friend who went through IVF also responds to this question with, "Yes they run in my family." We twin mom's say this to avoid unnecessary questions. You will never see that random person again. Plus, it is a true statement. Even if you don't have twins in your family, you do NOW! So moral of the story... just say what you need to say to move on with your day without having to divulge your entire OB records and family tree.
So there you have it. My tips and tricks for twins! Hoped some of this helped!
OK. Here is my last tip. It is a long one, but an important one.
You must get out of the house.
You must get use to doing it yourself.
You must just deal with the stares and looks from strangers.
Do not place yourself under house arrest. You will go crazy.
-Prepare you diaper bag. Do this the night before or while children are sleeping. Take five minutes to just do it. Always have it ready to go with diapers, formula, snacks and toys. This way you are ready to get out the door and aren't doing it while your kids are crawling all over you. You will forget something when you pack while they are awake.
- Get a Double Snap-N-Go. Use this thing until you can no longer use it. You can put stuff from your Target runs in the bottom of the basket. Use it like a regular shopping cart. It is wonderful for just popping in an out of places. It is a sad day once the kids out grow the infant car seat and you can't use it anymore. Here is the link for this stroller they usually don't have it in store you have to order it online: http://www.buybuybaby.com/store/product/baby-trend-reg-snap-n-go-universal-double-stroller-frame/1040847849?Keyword=triple+snap+n+go
- Buy a Buggy Bench. Once the twinks are bigger, and can sit unassisted you can use this gem to do shopping. It holds up to 40lbs. The picture to the left is the buggy bench in action. I was on the way to get some food. What you will do is park next to a cart return and bring the cart to the car. Put the bench in (so easy!), unload the kids, and you are off to shop! It is a wonderful product and designed by a mom of twins. Here is the link: http://www.buggybench.com/
- Be prepared for stares: Twins are fascinating. They will naturally draw a lot of attention from the general public. You will get tons of stares and drive by comments. You will also run into people who want a full medical history. People always want to know "Do twins run in your family? Depending on my mood I will engage people with their questions. If I am simply on a mission and don't want to be disturbed, I will not make eye contact in the stores. But if do stop and chat have this basic response rehearsed. .
Curious Stranger: "Are they twins?"
You (your rehearsed response... trust me on the one):
"Yes they are fraternal/Id (offer this info before they ask it) they are ____ (insert age here) months. Their names are ___ and ___. Yes they run in my family."
Ok... but what if they don't run in my family? It doesn't matter... you say they do and here is why:
People always ask, "Do they run in your family?" This is their way of asking you if you had help getting pregnant. People want to know if you did IVF, Cloumid, IUI for example. I don't know why people are so fascinated with this fact... but they are. It is no one's business how your twins came to be. My twins are known as "Spontaneous" or as people like to say, "Natural" and we don't have a strong history of twins in my family but, I always say they run in the family. My friend who went through IVF also responds to this question with, "Yes they run in my family." We twin mom's say this to avoid unnecessary questions. You will never see that random person again. Plus, it is a true statement. Even if you don't have twins in your family, you do NOW! So moral of the story... just say what you need to say to move on with your day without having to divulge your entire OB records and family tree.
So there you have it. My tips and tricks for twins! Hoped some of this helped!