how? how? how?

Dear twin parents,

I have 3 month old b/g twins and am finally moving out of the fog of post-partum sleep deprivation and WTFness. I've been extremely lucky to have loads of help for the past three months – and even now, I have a live-in nanny and fill-in babysitters. But this can't go on indefinitely. I need to learn how to manage my kids by myself, even as the thought stops me cold and makes me want to run away screaming. I cannot ask my nanny or babysitter to do this unless I can do it myself. 

So, this is the question— how does one take care of two babies by oneself? I need details. For example, how do I feed two babies at the same time (one is exclusively breastfed while the other is almost exclusively bottle-fed)? How can I bounce baby E to sleep while baby Q is still feeding (he takes for-freaking-ever, thanks to acid reflux)? How do I make sure they sleep for the same amount of time, instead of baby E's 15 minute bullshit naps while baby Q happily sleeps for an hour or longer (this is not conducive to synchronizing their schedules)?

Any advice would be appreciated. I'd like to hear your strategies. For daytime… Thankfully, we have easy nighttime sleepers. Hallelujah!

And those of you who have an older child in the mix- please tell me how you refrained from sending that child to boarding school for toddlers. Hah. I'm joking. Kind of.

Thanks,

Simi

Possible Talk on Babies and Sleep by Beth Grams Haxby

Beth Grams Haxby gives talks on young ones and sleep. I asked her if she'd be willing to do one geared specifically to families with twins and she said yes. If you are interested, when would be doable days / times for you? What about sometime like a Saturday 1-3 pm, or 10 am - 12 pm? (I would like to avoid a 6-8 pm weekday time, as I've seen her do!) She's looking into having it at the Cooley Dickinson Midwifery Center meeting space. Besides hearing her perspective, it could also be a great chance to hear from other twin parents about practical experiences & tips.
please leave your comment to this post if you are interested in attending and let us know what time would be best.
Benita

Introducing Solids

I remember having a great time introducing foods and making all my own purees....i loved a book from the library i got called "Baby Blender Food" by Nicole Young.  An online site I'd often find myself referring to was wholesomebabyfoods .

I used "the magic bullet"....loved it for the purpose of making baby foods.  Do a batch of your puree, pour into ice trays and, once frozen, dump all the puree cubes into freezer bags.  So nice to spend a bit of time filling your freezer and then you are set for several days (or weeks) without having to prepare anything new.  I still do this to some extent for my 2-year olds - portion sizes just got bigger and stopped blending.

As for "the magic bullet", loved that it was small and portable.  There were a couple of times we went to grandma's or did a timeshare, and i brought "the bullet" with us.  There are other similar blenders out there too.  The annoying part was that the blender came with all these cups that i knew I'd never use.  

How do you respond to needs of both babies?

Hi All,

Thanks everyone for contributing. I have to chuckle at nap schedules, cuz it seems soooooo far down the track for us. Our little ones are just three weeks old and I'm still in the very early stages of figuring out what it is that they want/need at any particular time! But I was SO PSYCHED to find this discussion group AND to see that you've started a facebook group, Benita. Thanks so much.  I must admit I'm a bit slow and resistant to the whole email/facebook thing, but I'm starting to warm to it now that I'm feeling pretty isolated and desperate to reach out to other parents of multiples. 

I look forward to much sharing and learning from fellow parents who are experiencing similar stuff with multiples. 

Here's a question for the group - how does one respond to the needs of both babies when one is screaming and the other is quietly lying there? I have one baby who is definitely more needy - she has some reflux stuff going on and is generally more fussy, so I end up attending to her more often than my little boy. And then I look over at him just lying there looking around and I feel so guilty and torn and wonder how to give him the attention he needs. Any advice? I can't seem to really achieve this balance unless I have an extra set of loving hands here, helping out...And unfortunately, that isn't always possible.

Also, can anybody recommend a book about twin care that they really enjoyed and that didn't make them feel like they were doing a bad job ( I just remember being given a book on this stuff when I had my four year old and how I cried trying to institute what the book said and then failing).

I'm trying to learn more about scheduling feedings/naps/ structuring the day, and general care.

Thanks again,

Dana

Welcome!

Welcome!!  I've been facilitating the twin group at Cradle for the last year and wanted to create an online venue for discussions, questions and sharing of ideas.

Please join the "Pioneer Valley Twins" blog!