re: Calling all Twin parents

IF you have no kids already then you won't know how hard it is handling two. Booze helps.

Wish I could’ve gotten on the first page.

Dad of identical girls here - twin life is great but the first 3 months are quite the marathon.

1. Get Podee bottle adapters if you have Dr Brown’s bottles. They are hands-free and allow you to feed them both at the same time without having to sit there with them. They work best with Enfamil nipples (and spare 3/8” silicone tubing) but most will thread on and work. We used them for a year until they could hold their own sippy cups.



2. Expect a NICU stay. Ours were there for 23 days. The wife will be purging estrogen and may have a tough time leaving them at the hospital (you will too but not as viscerally). Support her the best you can and get sleep while you can. Take it as a time for a deep breath before they come home.

3. Get them in their cribs immediately. The NICU conditioned them to cribs and the Owlet monitors actually showed us they slept better in their own room. They only spent 2 nights in ours.

4. With the Podee adapters, only one of you needs to wake up to feed them. We thought we both needed to wake up every time but one of you must be recharging while the other feeds.

5. Love every second of it. You’ll see their relationship blossom and will be amazed at their own way of communicating.

EDIT: also asked the wife her suggestions - “ Ditto to moms on call. Weighted swaddle from nested bean. Magnet PJs. Baby shusher and a portable diaper caddy. Night nurse for a couple days a week early on (so you both can actually sleep with no intervention at all). Get a baby sitter squad from sorority girls if in BR (or any other college town)”

The first 4 months were the worst of my life. We never fight and it could've gone either way. Dang near got divorced. You're just so tired.

After that though, it's easier. They always have someone to play with and never get bored, at least my kids never have. They're 15 now. The only difference is whatever everyone else pays, you pay double. It can be crazy expensive if they turn out to be girls. School cheer/dance runs us about 11 grand a year before fundraising. That doesn't include competition cheer, private lessons, dance classes, ballet company, competition dance, cost of outfits, cost of pointe shoes, etc.

Pray for boys...

That being said, I'm sure they get destroyed with travel ball prices. Pretty much kids are awesome, but crazy expensive.

Triplets here, plus one.

Have a system, stay organized, and don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s tiring as hell but honestly that was easier than currently (11 year old x 3 and 13 yr old). Now it’s busy busy busy. Just stay positive.
My trips went through a gallon of formula a day and 35 diapers a day ??

Girls are awesome. I honestly love our daily life. Like I said, they're just expensive.

quote:

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Or they run in opposite directions when there's only one of you.

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this

Hire a nanny

My twin boys are almost 7. Feels like a lifetime ago they were infants.. but I must have done a good job blocking the hard times out of my memory. Can confirm about the Mom's On Call sleep guide. I remember we would take shifts at night and keep them on the same schedule the best we could. Having the twin feeding pillow (forget actual name) was a live saved for one parent feeding at night. Lay them down and your able to hold both bottles at the same time. One was born extremely healthy, the other was in the NICU for a week. He required a bit more attention in the beginning. Be prepared to buy 2 of everything and double the daycare costs.

Good luck and Godspeed.

Had twins when wife and I were 42. Get lots of help the first few months. It’s insanity the first few weeks and you need to have friends and family come help with the kids, cook, do laundry etc so y’all can get some rest. Take care of your wife even if she seems like she went bat shite crazy. Having twins takes a lot out of a woman. She’ll return to normal soon enough.

I’m not gonna lie, the first few weeks were tough, so be prepared. Once we got the boys on a sleep schedule (let them cry it out), things got better. Then once they started crawling, that was another game changer. Be prepared for that…lock everything and make sure they can’t crawl up book cases, etc.

Our boys are 5 now and having twins even at a late age has been one of the best things to happen to us. You’re gonna love it.

Last thing, even during the craziness, always try to take time to soak it up when they are young. They grow quick and it’ll seem like they are out of the house in the blink of an eye. Sometimes after they boys were asleep and I was dog tired, I’d stay in their room and stare at them in amazement. Good luck, baw!

Added: I second the Merlin suit. Also, get a baby breeza. Basically it’s a Keurig for formula. Saved us sooooo much time.