The new Mum survivial guide

Accept ALL meals offered and if they're not offered rope someone in to provide some for you cos you won't have a chance to cook anything.

I agree with Lisa85 about a routine. I'm loosely following the Gina Ford 'Contented Little Baby/Contented House of Twins'. I know it's not some people's cup of tea but you can take what works for you from it and my girls have been sleeping through the night from 11 wks (5wks adjusted).

Oh and my latest can't do without is the Natures Sway hammocks. They've saved my sanity and the girls are so much happier now they are getting decent day sleeps. Can pick them up on TradeMe.

Edited by Danda08

Ha Im sure I am the only twin mum I know who never did the routine thing, I just went with the flow from one screaming baby to the next, altho I think with Noah and Lola having such bad reflux a routine wouldn't be doable.

I swear by the swing and bouncers to we had 2 of each, Noah spent alot of nights in the swing as he wouldnt sleep anywhere else.

If bottle feeding have lots of bottles, we would make up enough to last the day so i didn't have to worry about it.

I'm a routine mum too - if one baby was up, so was the other. And my bouncers....awesome!!! Particularly for those days when I was by myself - I could bounce one with my foot while I fed the other...

I would also say take whatever offers of help you get. I got none and it would have made my life so much easier having someone to even just vacuum while I dealt with the girls. Mum dropped off one meal, as did the ex's grandmother, and conveniently the ILs invited themselves over for tea on those nights - that's not so helpful

Oh - don't get fabric/canvas highchairs. PITA to clean.

1. Have a slow cooker, you can make soup, all sorts in it, it's fast to chuck in some meat and dinner will be done 8 hours later

2. If you are planning to BF, invest in an electric pump, that way you can pump out milk so others can help if you are tired and feed the babies for you.

3. When they are older, hire an exersaucer, our boys loved to play in it for hours, and jolly jumpers. Great things.

4. Have a twin pram, if it all is getting too much, put the babies in the pram and just go for a walk and get some fresh air.

5. Cleaning is not a big deal, so don't stress about the housework! The babies will not tell you off if you have a mountain of washing!!

Hehe Floss we are not big on routine here I seriously admire twin mummies who manage to keep their two on the same schedule.   I try my best but by mid day its usually I remember the first three months as totally chaotic.

I have a friend who works as McCains who gave us two big boxes of their frozen roast chicken dinners they were so handy to have as did not have time to prepare anything for my lunch when on my own and its still important to eat well when BF.

I was lucky that DH took leave for the first 3 weeks and we limited visitors in that time (basically our parents only) as you feel so tired I usually was in PJ's til midday in the first few weeks! so you don't really want to see anyone! We told everyone that before the babies came so they wouldn't be offended.

After DH went back to work. My mum used to come for a couple of hours 3 x a week until the babies were about 3mths. I was so lucky she would bring the washing in/ or out of dryer and fold it up, help with the babies and make me a snack. Thanks mum!

Capsules than clip into base are so good, we nearly bought ones that didn't and the snap and go is great too.

hey everyone i have a 3 1/2yr old girl stella and Danika is 22mths and twins due end of may begining of Junes so fab to hear all the must haves!! have to agree about hammocks my second daughter was born 5lbs 6oz with horrific reflux and the hammock saved my life!! totally worth the investment... ive bought another one so i have 2 for the new additions. has anyone had twins with older little monkeys already on the scene any tips... trying to start thinking of routines etc now so i can be as prepared as poss but i know you still have to go with whateva happens...

Find the time to sit on the floor and play with them...

In 20 years are you going to remember that you had all the washing done and floors vacuumed?
Or are you going to remember playing peekaboo with the blanket?
The giggles errupting when they knock over towers of blocks?
Them sitting on your lap while reading to them and they lean back to give you a smile? (one of the newest AWW moments in our house right now!)


I guess the other thing too is to think about how you want your babies to sleep... do you want them to fall asleep in your arms every night? do you want them to sleep in your bed? do you want them to be rocked to sleep every night? If you do, then cool, do it... but if you don't... make sure you don't start it! Don't get me wrong, we all have days where the baby just needs to be rocked to sleep to give you some sanity, but if you can work up enough energy once they are asleep to make sure the next time you put them to bed you do it in the way you want them to be used to.
You can't force a baby to sleep and there are so many reasons why people have trouble getting babies to sleep. There is no one solution to getting them to sleep. But I do believe the fact that we were so 'tough' on our girls has made the difference as to why they have been sleeping so well. They have been sleeping 14 hours straight since about 6months (3 months corrected), and we did have huge troubles with one of our girls with getting her to sleep and rocking her - although helped in the short term - was the worst thing we could have done! We later figured out she just needed lots and lots of cuddles/one-on-one time before bed. It's the only thing which works. Talk about feeling likea bad mum when you realise the reason your baby won't sleep is because they don't feel loved/special enough!

All babies and families are different - just don't rock/co-sleep/etc on a regular basis if that isn't what you want long-term :)

Some really great tips on here..I am going to need them as I will be having not twins but triplets! Due in January but average gestation is only 32 weeks so prob some time in November..totally big on the routine idea..and will def get some swaying hammocky things...am expecting total chaos but have a lot of support, especially from hubby and my two older girls who are 18 and nearly 20! Crazy I know, why am I doing it all again? Because its so much fun I guess...thanks for your tips and ideas.

Davina, That's good you have older kids! You can enlist them to help you ;-)

Congratulations on your girls!!! Come join us in the other thread We are a lovely helpful bunch!!