The weight of my twin babies and their placentas are now gone, all the extra water weight I was carrying for months is leaving me, and my organs and joints can breathe a huge sigh of relief as the pressure is off of them! Yes, I am tired, sore from a c-section and stretched out, but my babies are finally here. Now the fun part begins — parenting.
I could probably label this post “Things I’ve learned parenting” — period.
But since my first go at parenting is with TWO newborns, it’s a little different than your average first time mom.
During my pregnancy I read all kind of books on babies, parenting and multiples. While they all had some pieces of good advice, a lot of what I would read wouldn’t logistically work with multiples and/or just didn’t have any advice on parenting multiples. Until I found a book by a mom of triplets written for moms of multiples — The Multiples Manual by Lynn Lorenz. It’s a great resource for anyone with multiples.
It doesn’t sugar coat anything and she tells you what to expect. She gives you good tips on how to handle certain situations, things that are must haves and then things that are good to have but not a NEED. I highly recommend this book for anyone expecting multiples. No, it won’t tell you everything you need to know about raising multiples, or even come close to it. But it does help and you learn to take every little bit of help you can get.
Of course experience is the #1 way to learn… our babies are 3.5 weeks old and in the first few weeks here are some things I’ve learned (experienced) thus far…
Sleep: Think its tough when you don’t get sleep with one baby…try it with two. When one falls asleep, the other is usually wide awake, then when that one falls asleep, the other one wakes up because he has been sleeping the whole time. Then maybe both will be asleep at once. There was one night in the last week that I didn’t go to sleep until 6:30 AM because this is what kept happening, in between feedings of course.
We have tried putting the boys in the same crib/pack-n-play to sleep/nap and they tend to keep the other up. Not with crying, but moving. They just don’t really get the sleep they need when they lie next to each other. So we have them back in their little individual bassinets and they sleep better. It also helps that they are reclined and not laying completely flat on their back. They both tend to spit up when they are flat on their back.
Preparing bottles: Our boys are on two different formulas. Hayden is on a high calorie formula to plump him up — and it seems to be working because he is getting some little cheeks on him. Ian has been on 4 different formulas including soy and has now been put on Nutramigen for a milk protein allergy.
We got a tip from a friend that mentioned using the Dr. Brown’s formula mixing pitcher to mix a batch of formula and then make bottles for the day. We went out and got the mixing pitcher and it has been great since making all the bottles for the day. The pitcher helps reduce air bubbles in the formula tremendously and with a baby who has gas issues, this is a HUGE help.
Diaper changing: We have 2 boys and changing a boys diaper is a little different than changing a girls diaper. Boys have a water fountain attached to them and that fountain starts to spray anytime air hits it. What we have started doing is placing a cloth diaper under them when we change them and then pull it up like a diaper in between taking the old diaper off, cleaning them off and putting the new diaper on. That tends to help with water works, but not always!
Feeding two babies at once: When feeding time comes and you have 2 hungry, fussy babies, it will quickly become apparent why humans are not meant to give birth to more than one baby at a time. I’ve had to get creative with feeding techniques since an extra appendage was not a shower gift I received… can you imagine if it were though?! I mean, think of all I could get done with 3 arms/hands – diapering one baby and still feeding the other, all at once! Or cleaning bottles while making the next batch of formula… oh the possibilities!
I have learned to feed both babies at once — and it only took 3 weeks to figure this out. I try to only do this at night because I do like the bonding time you get with each baby when you feed them individually, and during the day I have time to do this. Anyway, by feeding them at once it cuts down our feeding times from 2 – 2.5 hours to 1 hour. Then you have to get them back to sleep. Sometimes this is easy and they fall right to sleep, other times it takes 30 minutes to an hour, or longer. The hardest part of feeding both babies at once is the whole burping process. This is when the third arm would come in handy. You still need to hold the bottle for one of the babies while burping the other one and supporting their head so it doesn’t snap off and roll under the crib. So, while I’m not a supporter of propping bottles, I’ve found you have to for a minute or two while you burp the other one (and with our babies you have to burp them every ounce or so or they will spit up, not drink anymore, get fussy, etc.)
Some of the other random things I’ve learned are:
- Amazon Prime for Moms is awesome…free shipping on certain products
- You can never have enough diapers…especially pampers newborn
- Preemie diapers are kinda expensive, and hard to find…so we just stuck with newborn
- Preemie clothing is almost non existent in most stores, but walmart does carry some…my almost 1 month old babies still don’t fit into newborn size clothing.
- You’ll find dirty diapers and wipes in the most random places around the house…
- I’ve never been more concerned about poop as much as I have in the last 3 weeks…baby poop that is. Consistency, color, smell etc (gross)!
- Going anywhere with our suburban stroller and two infants will draw attention to you
That’s a short version of what I’ve learned so far, I should have more lessons as they get older — but for now I should go heat up a bottle, I hear one of the munchkins getting restless.
And of course, I’ll leave you with a picture of our beautiful baby boys!
