Author: Veronica Jack
In the past I’ve written about my experience of mothering twins, but I think with the perspective of time, my understanding keeps evolving.
I’m learning that the first 18 months were the hardest. The slow paced cuddles, and moments to connect through eyes, body and mind were hard to find. The bonding, the getting to know each other, the all encompassing sense of ‘wholeness’ with my new baby was stolen from me.
Author: Laura Wilson
The first year of your babies’ life you’re navigating your new life and then all of a sudden, it’s your twins first birthday and you’re thinking what do you even get one year olds. There’s always somebody in your circle who tells you they don’t need anything or they won’t remember the day anyhow. But you want to celebrate, especially having multiples, it’s a huge achievement to reach one!
From 12 days postpartum, I’ve been counting down to reaching one year. I’m the type of person who really likes to focus on goals and achieving those goals. And having the goal of reaching one has been good for my mental headspace. But for the past six months, I’ve been trying to navigate what to do when we did reach one year old. I’d always appreciate connecting with other mum’s with babies of similar age to see what they were doing and throw around ideas. So I’m writing this article to share how I navigated my twin’s first birthday in the hope that it might just help you do so too.
Author: Anita Sweeney
A mum I know just told me about her prem singleton (now school age), currently undergoing numerous medical tests. I bawled my eyes out in bed that night. Instantly I recognised that while the information was upsetting, my reaction to someone else’s problems was potentially bigger than it should have been?
The very next day, my son Patrick, comes out of his classroom on the home bell sobbing and I am immediately thrown into panic and emotional overdrive before I even know what is wrong.
Patrick was born at 32+5 and 1.3kg after months of only just putting on enough weight each scan to keep him in. He was a fighter and went straight to the Special Care nursery while his identical twin brother Liam at 1.7kg did not cope as well with his in-utero time being cut short and spent his first two weeks in NICU.
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Author: Belinda Smith
Unless you are an A list celebrity, nothing can prepare you for the attention and infamy that multiples will attract when you are out and about in public. People in general see more than one baby at a time and lose their collective minds. I personally have had people follow me down escalators, through shops and even out to my car just to get a look at three babies at once.
I am sure many of you reading this have experienced all the different scenarios from staring, whispers and sideways glances, to the people bold enough to come up and ask questions/give opinions/give advice (most of which is not helpful in the multiples world as we all know!).
Author: Stephanie Ernst
Did you know that being raised bilingual can give you an advantage? Studies have shown that children exposed to two languages from birth have an advantage in concentration in school, as well as helping them with language development.
In our house, we have 2 dominant languages (Dutch and English), and a third (German) that comes out at family gatherings. We chose to raise our twins in Dutch and English. We put a lot of research into how we would do this, and in this article, I wanted to share some of the tips and tricks we learned, as well as try to work through some of the myths you might face.
Author: Anonymous
They say it takes a village. But what do you do when your family don’t seem to be interested in helping with your twins.
If there’s one piece of advice you’ll hear a thousand times as a parent-to-be, it’s this: accept all offers of help! Even more so when you’re expecting multiples. And it’s good advice. The ability to ask for help, and accept help when it’s offered, is a major life skill. Babies are a 24/7 job, and it makes perfect sense to get as much help as you can.
“Do you have family nearby?”
In amongst all the usual questions people ask when they find out you’re pregnant with twins, one question I was asked a lot was “do you have family nearby?”
The answer was yes – most of my immediate family, and my husband’s family, live locally. But it’s so hard to explain to a work acquaintance, or ultrasound tech, that having family nearby didn’t mean we were expecting any help with our babies. Because when we had our eldest child, we discovered our families really weren’t interested in helping out. All that great advice about asking for, and accepting help, didn’t do us a lick of good. We tried! We really did. But the help just wasn’t there.
Author: Amy Lucas, Tylumo Creative
Just when you thought you had it all together, you turn and look at the backseat. Fitting 3 kiddos across the back is going to be a challenge!
Before you panic and run out to buy a Kia Carnival (unless you want to, of course, in which case you will be in good company at multiples playgroup!) check out our updated information below for purchasing slimline car seats in 2022.
Good question!
If you’ve walked into a baby store recently or typed “baby car seat” into Google, you’re probably feeling a little overwhelmed. We’ve all been there!
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Author: Laura Wilson
Especially when you’re expecting twins or triplets, you want to be as organised as you can be. You’re trying to balance things so you don’t spend too much money as well as ensuring you have the best for you and your family. While preparing for twins, here are my 10 things I’m really glad we had before my twins arrived.
I loved our co-sleepers. The house we were living in when our twins were born was a two-storey townhouse. I don’t think I realised how much you need to be able to have somewhere you can put down a baby let alone two until you’re juggling two babies. For us, having one upstairs for at night and the other downstairs for the day worked great. It meant whilst I was recovering myself, I could have both babies sleeping right in front of me and I could keep an eye on them the entire time. I chose the Joie co-sleeper which included features, on wheels, able to rock, mesh windows, and side can come down and be attached to the side of your bed.
My sleep mask was a lifesaver over and over. Whilst recovering in hospital, I had a tv on that no one knew how to turn off, but when you’re in a hospital, there are always some sort of lights that can interrupt your sleep (as if you need more help not getting sleep). Everyone tells you to sleep when the babies sleep, so sleeping in the middle of the day is sometimes a necessity when you’re in hospital and as well when you’re back at home, having a sleeping mask to help you get there sooner.
Books are wonderful to share with your little ones. Books that are childhood favourites or about love. Some of my favourites when my twins were newborns were Bee Mine, Madeline and Possum Magic. For me and my twins, I would read a book or two to my twins when they were struggling to settle. At 1 or 2am, it was particularly good for my mindspace as well as my babies hearing my voice in a calming and rhythmic tone.
I found board books were particularly a good investment as they made for good bedtime reading books – easier to navigate reading to two babies. Some books that have been particularly great past being newborns have been Pink is for boys, Good night Miffy, Froggy Green and Where is the Green Sheep.
Buying two Cushiis were fantastic for us. They are a baby cushion which is easy to take anywhere and offer a cozy place for your baby to sleep, be observant or play. We used them all the time when our two were tiny. We could go visit friends and take the cuhiis with us for ease with our babies. But in our instance, they also became very helpful in feeding both babies at once their bottle. I would put a cushii each side of me on the couch with the babies in them, and it could be easy and comfortable for all three of us as well as time effective. I still use them for my twins’ morning tea and lunch time bottles at 9 months old.
Slippers, particularly fresh slippers are so good when you’re in hospital and when you’re back home. Especially as your body adjusts again. Whilst you’re at it, fresh pjammas are great to go with your fresh slippers in helping your body adjust. They really do make the difference to your wellbeing.
Showers can feel so good when you have little babies. It’s a moment to yourself and to feel fresh. Showers can also help you wake you up for the day or help you find your calm for some sleep. There are two Lush shower gels that helped me immensely. To help wake up, the Dirty Sprinwater shower gel which with a engerzing boost of spearmint. To help go to sleep, the Sleepy shower gel with very comforting and calming lavender.
Being up at different hours of the night, you need light, but you don’t want to have to turn on every light in the house. For in hospital and for when we were home, we had a couple of these Fravita night lights. They’re wireless (USB charging), can provide enough soft light and can fit in your hand or pocket. To turn it on, all you have to do is turn it the right way up. Whenever we need to come help one of our twins in the middle of the night, we just grab one of these lights, turn it over. Being wireless and a warm soft light, it makes life easier at that hour. I’m also less likely to pick up my phone and spend too much time looking at it and interrupting my sleep.
Washing bottles so often and giving them sufficient time to dry, having a good bottle drying rack is so helpful. I’d get one drying rack for each child. On top of all the bottle parts you’ll be drying, dummies and panadol syringes on here, so one with different elements to be more versatile is helpful. I had the Boon drying racks and accessories which look like a grass patch and a flower and tree.
Newborn sleeping bags are wonderful for giving your babies a safe, natural form and cozy way to sleep. They can also be a helpful way for the to get closer to understanding the difference between night and day (even if you’re feeding them every three hours day and night). They’re also great at giving you some comfort of mind whilst you try get some sleep too.
When you are preparing for your twins arrival, you’re probably going to feel silly buying so many, but you sure will be thankful. I recall one day, my mum washing and folding 6 facewashers for me. It was so helpful and we sure did use them. You can get fantastic facewashers that are small in packs of 10 from Target.
What I will end this article on, you definitely don’t have to have everything perfectly amazing, I didn’t. But it’s amazing how everything can just work out. Particularly friends and family who already had children understood what we were going through and came to our rescue if we didn’t have something or needed help.
Laura Wilson
Twin Mum
Follow Laura on Instagram for play ideas and her multiples playgroup started
Author: Sarah Lavis
As I reflect on my twin journey so far, there are so many things I wish I shared with friends and family before my girls came into the world. It would’ve helped make my journey an easier one.
I have put together some of my top tips on supporting a family member or friend who has twins or multiples. I truly hope these tips shine a light on how challenging it can be and how you can make someone’s life just a little bit easier. Simply put – bringing multiple babies home is a different experience to bringing one child home.
Being a parent of multiples comes with its own unique stuff – higher rates of PND/A, longer hospital stays and challenges like feeding multiple babies at once (don’t worry, there’s a special cushion for that!) or getting multiple babies into a cafe that isn’t pram friendly.
Be an awesome friend and provide some support. A little goes a long way! And, don’t forget that the support needed doesn’t just stop at the newborn stage.
Author: Anonymous
If you’re a mum with six-week-old twins and you apply for a new job like I did, you’re both totally commendable and a little bit nuts!
I’ve been with my employer for about eight years and during that time I’ve worked my way up the corporate ladder quite nicely. My “professional self” has been a strong part of my identity for as long as I can remember.
I started maternity leave as planned at 32 weeks and my twins arrived at 35 weeks, slightly earlier than anticipated but they were healthy, and we all went home within the week. The twins have been amazing since getting home too. My babies seem to sleep reasonably well (which is also why I can write a blog post!) so I can say it’s been smooth sailing so far, knock on wood. Regardless of how great they are- newborns, especially multiples, are exhausting! Sleep deprivation is extreme, even with the sleepiest of babies; and ‘mum brain’ has been scientifically proven… at least I think I read that… somewhere.
When the twins were five or six weeks old, my workplace advertised a new role. While I was confident my employer wanted someone else for this position, it was a promotion and one I felt I’d be qualified to fulfill. It had been a long time since I’d updated my resume, but I thought I’d be crazy not to ‘give it a crack’. I managed to pull together the written application around all the regular baby interruptions and I was happy with the final document. It did however take all my willpower not to answer the Selection Criteria of “Ability to work under pressure to meet tight and conflicting demands” by simply saying “I have twins and a toddler!”
I got to interview stage.
