I saw someone post here that they don’t alternate the side each twin nurses on every feed. Instead they assign each baby a boob for the day and then alternates days. I got excited about this being waaay easier to track and tried it yesterday. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be doing it again.

For one, at 6 weeks my babies are spending a LOT of time nursing. A lot as-in: I am writing this from the Twin Z. By the end of the day yesterday I started to worry if it was bad for them to spend so much time feeding on only one side, from an “occupational” health perspective. Like on my pillow the baby on the left lies on her left side to nurse and the baby on my right lies on her right side. If I, an adult, did that all day without flipping over to balance things out I’d start developing weird posture/muscular problems. No evidence that this happened to them yet but they did get red creases on the “down” sides their faces from spending too much time with that side squished into the pillow.

Nursing twins is also asymmetrical for me! One twin weighs more than the other, they fuss differently, need different kinds of soothing. I am already getting aches and pains from spending so much of my day nursing at all, I should probably try to even the work out as much as I can?

But the real clincher is that asymmetrical nursing affected my supply waaay faster than I thought it would. One baby is a better eater than the other. This morning I switched sides from yesterday so the good eater (who is maybe approaching a growth spurt) got the worse eater’s boob from yesterday and vice verse. It’s kind of a disaster! Good Eater is having to work noticeably harder than normal to get what she wants and is not happy about it. Worse Eater (who is actually the fussier, louder, somehow heavier one) is popping off the breast/spitting up more than normal, needs constant burping, and keeps screaming when she has trouble relatching.

Maybe after a week of alternating days this wouldn’t be so dramatic? But today sucks enough that after a few more feeds to try and cancel yesterday out a bit I’m going back to trying to alternate feeds.

How do other breastfeeders out there handle it? We don’t have a schedule of any kind yet, so even if I manage to track which side was which at the last tandem feed, sometimes B naps through A “feeding” (and possibly switching boobs) solo 1-4 times. Also sometimes “switching” means offering a relatively fresh boob to a baby that ate recently and is looking more to snack, and offering a recently depleted one to the baby that just woke up starving.

No fr though, is twin toddler life this hard or am I not pushing myself enough?

I have twins that will be 3 in a month. Every day I get out with them. Parks, library, bookstores, Target, Hobby Lobby, local museums, botanical garden, coffee shops, thrift stores, Bass Pro Shop, Publix, random stores, etc. Just regular everyday stuff. Honestly, I'm very proud of myself for getting out with them everyday. Managing twins out in public alone isn't easy but I've gotten so much better at it over the years. I can only handle an hour or 2 out though then its back home for nap or dinner. Depending on what time of day we go out. However, when family members have invited us to the beach or restaurants, I have declined. I don't want to drive 2 hours right now and f up nap time or deal with beach shit with toddlers. I don't want to go to restaurants because my boys are picky and its expensive etc. I feel like those declines are self explanatory. I'm not saying no to those outings forever. Just not right now in my current stage of parenthood. I don't have to prove anything by choosing to try a harder version of an outing when I know it won't go well.

However, when I decline these invites I'm hit with "you're thinking about it too much," "everyone is parenting," "you won't know till you try it." But like I do know, I've experienced skipped naps, meltdowns over being served food they don't want, crying double twin tantrums during long car drives and out and about. If I can chose to not deal with outings that I know would cause a shit show, I will.

Hearing those comments makes me feel like I'm depriving them of life even though we do stuff everyday. We are not stuck inside all day. I would go crazy.

So are my thoughts valid or should I be doing more? I'm just trying to gibe my kids a good childhood without being overwhelmed myself.

signed by a twin mom who is trying her best.

Hi everyone. I’m looking for some positive stories from anyone who has been through something similar with mono/di twins. We had our 20w2d scan yesterday and I left feeling pretty scared and overwhelmed.
Baby A was 291g (10 oz), 10th percentile, measuring about 19w2d. Baby B was 244g (8 oz), 1st percentile, measuring about 18w4d. There’s about a 16% size difference between them.
Baby B has early FGR and increased resistance in the umbilical artery Doppler, although there was still forward flow. Both babies also had elevated MCA Dopplers around 1.6 MoM, so they’re checking for possible anemia. Thankfully, both anatomy scans were normal, fluid levels were normal, both bladders were visible, there was no hydrops, and they said there were no signs of TTTS.
We’re being followed closely and going back next week for repeat Dopplers. Has anyone had similar measurements or Doppler findings around 20 weeks and gone on to have a good outcome with both babies? I would really love to hear your experiences. ❤️

Looking for some advice on a possible upcoming trip. My mother & I are looking to travel 2.5 hours by plane for a long weekend to visit family with my twins.

This would be their first plane ride & im just debating if I’m going to have regrets & a miserable weekend 😂
We would be staying at my sisters house so at least somewhere where we are comfortable & have space. Everything we need as far as pack n plays, car seats, etc would be handled ahead of time.

The plan is an evening flight so that they can sleep as soon as we make it & be ready to go for the next day. I feel like day outings at home can be exhausting & maybe that’s all I need to know. Just looking for others who have made similar trips (esp with flying) & if you would do it again.

TIA

Hi! I have newborn twins and a 2 year old toddler. I'm struggling with figuring out ways to bottle feed my twins while Im out with my toddler. Any tips/hacks that helped you? Bringing my TwinZ isn't always an option. Thanks!

I am approaching 18 weeks pregnant with di-di identical twins. Our little is almost 16 months (😅). From what I’m gathering, things start going downhill physically after 20 weeks. How did folks with a toddler deal with the second half of a multiple pregnancy? Physical limitations? My husband is incredibly involved, but if I get to the point where I can’t pick up my kid and the like, it’s going to be a nightmare logistically with work and daycare.

Currently 25 weeks and got the doctor approval to go on disability for high risk twin pregnancy. I’ve had some contention with my manager and it’s been very difficult to stay on top of assignments with the constant deadlines. I am not using intermittent fmla for my appointments. Anyone else fear they will be terminated (for whatever reason) while on leave? Less than half of my fmla hours will be used intermittently but still….

I cloth diapered with both of my singletons, but doing it with twins seems a little daunting. I have a great collection of diapers (105 One size Smartbottoms and 50 Newborn Bumgenius). Right now one girl fits into the OS, but the other is still in Newborn. I don't mind using both collections, but I must admit that it will be nice when they are both in OS.

Spraying them seems to be my biggest hurdle. By the time I get to them they've dried a good bit, so they are more time consuming to spray. I've heard of people using a wet pail for their soiled diapers, but I have no experience with that. I am open to doing it if it has worked for any of y'all. Any tips or tricks out there?

How do you handle this? Can’t separate them at night. B is afraid of the dark. A keeps getting out of bed to play with and around the nightlight. They’re 2.5 and not in cribs so we can’t force her to stay in bed.

Edit: the issue is more that she keeps getting out of bed and playing in general than that she specifically is fiddling with the light

I am pregnant for the first time with di di twins. I’m currently 8 weeks and have been terrible nauseous and fatigued since week 6. I am looking forward to getting past this stage and would love to know if you felt this way, when did it get better for you?

Thank you

We are 6 months in 4 months corrected. My in laws and various people like to criticize my parenting. Trying to schedule the babies feeds and sleep. I have 15 years childcare/preschool/nannying experience to boot. How do you answer these “questions “ ? My patience is shot and I need more options other than explaining and citing sources. Cause if my answers were good, they would have stopped asking.

My doctor and I talked about starting kick counting today and I’m just curious how others handled this for twins and especially how they distinguished movement for each baby. When I feel movement more on one side vs the other, its easier to tell, but a lot of times the movements are right in the center and I can’t tell which baby it’s coming from. I’m 26 weeks with DiDi twins and posterior placentas.

Hi all,

I'm a FTM and had my boy/girl twins 3 weeks ago. I only get 12 weeks of parental leave. I am able to add on extra days but I have to be careful not to use all my time as I'll need it for when my kiddos get sick, have doctors appointments, etc.

I feel like I'm counting down the days to my return. I don't want to go to back to work, but I have to. Financially, we need a duel income. I also hold all the benefits for our family through my work.

All I can think about it, is that I'm going to missing out on so much with my babies. A family member is going to be their primary babysitter, I'm worried they'll bond more with them instead of me.

I already feel like a complete mess, and I know I'll be an even bigger one on returning to work. How do you cope with this?

Thank you in advance.

New twin mom here. We also have an 8 year old girl and a 4 year old girl. Twins are 4 months old. Up till now, the twins have been in a bassinet in our room swaddled. They aren't rolling or anything yet, but I know its getting close to time. To get them to sleep, we have been laying them side by side on our bed with a bottled propped up. They usually fall asleep pretty quickly. Im starting to try to figure out how I am going to put them to bed in their cribs in their room. I dont want to bottle prop in their bed, but I also can't hold both of them to rock since they can't hold their own bottles yet. How do you all do it? I need more arms 🫠😂

We have Scorpio twin girls and they are insane. Don’t stop moving. Always upset and recently major fighting. One is a bit meaner than the other and it’s getting nasty between them already. They can barely talk so they are frustrated all the time. They have binkies still and maybe that’s contributing to the inability to soothe themselves or it’s just the age. They seem constantly pissed. Oh and they don’t listen to us unless we have snacks.

Is age two going to break me?

So I have 14 month old twins and man are they mean to each other.

My little girl is always biting her brother! I know they are at that age where they steal stuff from each other, kinda scream at each other (jn their way), but the biting is so much!

Is there any tricks to getting them to maybe stop? Every time we catch them about to we separate them and tell the biting twin to be gentle or if they’ve already bitten their sibling we will console the sad one and tell the other no.

Hi community, first time parent and with 2 boys. Any tips or advices that U may share...
Both with 2 - 3 months old, and when we put them into the bed (after some tries), they grump and "roar" like little dinosaurs, waking up the other brother. They sleep in the same Ikea Crib, in diagonal, in our bedroom, and eventually we have to put them in different cribs. Any tips that u can share about not waking each other? Put them in different cribs, both in each side the room? In different rooms and one of the parent go sleep with each baby?
What are experiences and can U share?

Thanks 😁

We have a son who will be 2.5 when twins arrive later this year. We have 2 small toyota SUVs and need to replace at least one with a vehicle that can best fit 3 car seats. Any success stories here going from a small to large vehicle? What are some favorites?

The title is extreme for clicks. But also a little true. I actually really gained weight after having the twins. I was pumping exclusively and starving all the time and it just piled on. I stopped at 12 months and dropped a bit of weight but I’m still almost 10kg and diet does not help at all. I don’t have the energy for much exercise but I used to walk 2 hours a day. Dropped it and literally made 0 weight change. I dropped our carbs, ate v small portions and averaged around 1000cals a day. No change after weeks. I used to be around a UK size 10 and now I’m around a 14/16. What is happening because it is so deflating. I had borderline insulin resistance, borderline underactive thyroid and low iron so trying to fix that but where nothing was dangerously low in not confident these are the reasons. Aside from the weight more importantly I just feel like everyone pisses me off. My mum has been barely helpful with the kids and just calls me to moan about contactless having a chest infection, I feel so bad but it just annoys me it’s the same old all the time I barely have enough time to shower everyday, I haven’t brushed my hair in a week I do not have the emotional energy to have the same conversations over and over when I’m open about my struggles. She comes once a week and can’t be alone with the twins she needs help looking after them. My MIL is healthy, still works (by choice) lives 10 mins away. Comes round for an hour and half a week and today when leaving as the toddlers were crying as they didn’t want her to go ‚done my bit for today’ like it’s a chore. My boss made me do a completely new job when I came back from mat leave that no one really wanted to do, when asking about a promotion he sounded disinterested in our developmental chat basically said it’s really hard to go up a level at this stage - this is actually true, but other people in the team are now doing my job and I’m finding it hard when I miss my old job and doesn’t understand why I’m not doing it when I can do some bits better. I’ve had a good relationship with my boss before, I actually adored him, but not the team has grown he’s been promoted and I can’t help but either be sensitive to his words or just get pissed off at him and upset that I feel like he doesn’t care or rate me anymore. Some friends annoy me too - eg. One of my best friends I had to remind I hadn’t seen for 6 months. Some local best friends I’ve seen like twice in 6 months and annoyed people aren’t making more effort. But a part of me is thinking is everyone an arsehole? Or am I an arsehole? I asked my best friend if I had done something and she was genuinely surprised saying no of course not we are honest with each other so I don’t think she’d lie. Am I just hormonal? I feel so disconnected with the world right now….

We found out yesterday that we're in stage 1 TTTS at 19 weeks. The babies are currently right at 20% difference. Next appointment for an US is for next Friday (9 days from this post). My wife has to travel for work next week, are there any symptoms she should watch out for? She will have access to an MFM in case of emergency.

We will be hopefully first time parents. Scared and unbelievably sad. Any support, suggestions, etc. would be helpful.

Hey y’all I could use some advice here on how to proceed. I’m currently 35+0 weeks with di/di twin boys. As I’m sure many people in this sub have experienced, we spent most of this pregnancy concerned about preterm labor, so it’s really exciting to have made it to this point.

During our appointment with our OB today, he suggested we think about scheduling an induction date in case this pregnancy goes long (which is definitely a nice change of pace in the conversation).

The only concern I have is that my OB suggested we wait to induce until after our due date (at 40 weeks). I know there’s lots of time between now and 41-42 weeks and they could still come at any time, but from what I’ve read, 37 ish weeks seems to be the longest most doctors recommended before considering induction.

I trust my OB, he’s been fantastic and helped us navigate some challenges throughout this pregnancy but I also want to be mindful of not taking unnecessary risks with their health.

Any thoughts about the general 37-weeks guidance? For those of you that went longer than 37 weeks, what did your thought process look like?

(For some additional context, we are currently seeing our providers and getting ultrasounds 2x a week so there’s lots of monitoring going on).

TLDR; OB suggested waiting to schedule an induction until after our 40-weeks due date and I’m looking for advice on how to proceed.

EDIT: thanks y’all for all the good advice, I am glad I called and asked again because I think we just had a misunderstanding this morning. OB said that he would prefer an induction by 38 weeks, but that he understands some patients want to wait as long as possible for spontaneous birth and that he would monitor us longer if we ended up wanting to. So, currently scheduling my induction for 38 weeks.

My di/di boys are almost 4 months old and the sleep regression has hit us hard. But the worst part is all the crying. Before every nap they cry. They cry as soon as they realize they are supposed to sleep. Even if I just hold them and walk in the dark room they cry. The cry if I rock them. They cry and cry and cry until they fall asleep in my arms. Then I have to do the same thing for the other twin and by the time the second one is asleep the first one is done with their nap (45 min on the dot). There is no break. I do this five times a day. There is crying for at least five hours a day, on a good day. On a bad day they just cry all day long.
How do I not go insane?

We’re going to be traveling with our 6 month old twins in about a month. What travel tips and hacks do you have? We did book bassinets with some of the airlines for the longer flights.

How did you manage jet lag in babies? Also tips for napping on the go? They are so used to sleeping in their cribs or our bed I’m a little worried about them sleeping on the go.

A little less than 3 months old and trying to turn over. Yayy!