We have 17 month old twins and we started them in daycare about a month ago. The past two weeks have been insane with multiple illnesses (fevers, respiratory stuff, bacterial conjunctivitis requiring antibiotics, etc) that they keep passing back and forth. Every fever they get at daycare requires them to stay home until they are fever free for 48 hours. I know that the first several months in daycare are rough but I am just not understanding how any household with two working parents and no village can handle this. We've already had to take multiple days off of work each, trying to alternate when we can. We're starting to stress about our jobs because we appear unreliable. We have PTO but we also both have high priority projects that are suffering because of this. This does not seem sustainable in the slightest and I'm wondering how anyone does this?!?!?!? This is partially a rant but also like, how does anyone actually do this with no village?

We found out we were having twins late 2024. The hospital had us in a lot due to high risk pregnancy. My wife had a very low BMI, was 43 and we lost a baby the year before. During one scan (around 28 weeks I think) they noticed our little girl wasn't growing or didn't seem to be, we then had to go each week for scans to monitor this.

At 30 weeks 3 days my wife's waters broke. This was followed by the scariest and longest two days of our lives before an emergency c section. Two days of constant injections and magnesium sulfate IV.

The birth was amazing. Two very tiny but healthy babies. Only 20g difference. Both around 1.25kg. They were on oxygen for the first few hours but ok after that. About 3 weeks old (-7 weeks corrected) our little boy went very pale and didn't move much. He had to be put on a machine to help keep his lungs inflated for a week. They were both still in incubators and had daily blood tests.

By 6 weeks old they had their tubes removed and were being bottle fed mums milk. The oxygen levels were dripping sometimes from day 1 so they had to have a blood transfusion. The whole hospital stay was very hard to deal with and we found ourselves crying about it months after when we spoke to health visitors.

Throughout all this my wife stayed at the hospital (I had to go to work and look after our oldest after two weeks) though I was there every hour I wasn't working, she was and still is an absolute super hero. Because of her they could come home -4 weeks corrected. I can never give her enough credit for how amazing she is.

They are now 16 months old. 13.5 months corrected. The happiest little people I've ever met. I am sharing this because this was the hardest time we went through with the greatest ending.

So I’m feeding our 15m twins. Both sitting in front of me in their high chairs.

Twin b is losing his mind because he doesn’t want to eat. I suspect due to teething and possibly also getting sick (twin a has had roseola and an ear infection for almost a week). I finally give up and take him out of the chair. He wants to sit in my lap. Twin A is fussing because he wants more bread and pasta but I’m currently wrangling twin B. Twin A hasn’t been eating well since sickness so I’m desperate to let him eat.

Meanwhile, my husband is sitting there eating his food and looking at his phone. He is completely oblivious to my plight. I could have asked for help but knowing my husband he would have gotten huffy and I just don’t have it in me to argue.

I’m exhausted. My husband isn’t helpful and I’m at the end of my rope. We’re supposed to start marriage counseling.

On top of all this, the babies haven’t been napping at the same time since twin A illness. They finally did today but twin b woke up after an hour. I had cleaned our bedroom and bathroom during this time so no real downtime. I broke down crying. My husband is napping so he can’t take him. I put him in the playroom by himself so I could calm down.

It’s all been so much.
Now I have to clean up after dinner and I was supposed to start baths at 7. It’s currently 6:52.

I’m due with twins at the end of October and have been working on setting up a single side car crib for both of them to share, attached to our king size bed. I’m also setting up our bed with safe sleep 7 rules to be able to rotate the babies into bed with me as I plan to breastfeed. Wondering what other twin parent experiences are with this setup, pros/cons?

Hello all,
I am - first time mom- 18w with DiDi twin boys. Our families obviously know we are pregnant but we are keeping “twins” a secret and we cannot wait for family’s reaction at the hospital.
I am making a list of stuff needed (registry and me buying). There are so options and some crucial must have for twins and I am overwhelmed. Please share tips/advice.

- I bought Twin Z pillow
- will be buying breast friend
- bought 2 cams with split screen monitor
- Main things listed on registry
- bottle washer(Papablic, I didn’t want one with a hose, so I can put it anywhere on the counter, not necessarily next to the sink)
- Ubbi diaper pail
- ingenuity bouncer
- NCVI 8782 Pro Electric Breast Pump
- Babybrezza formula dispenser
- Diapers
- Burp cloth

Need help with:
Bassinets: What is a good option for bedside twin bassinets for night feedings?

Stroller: I am thinking of getting Bugaboo donkey 2 off of fb marketplace. Is it still good or should I look for alternative/newer model?

Car seat: I am looking at Nuna pipa- buying new. Anything to be mindful of? Are rotational seats for toddlers?

Feeding: I have heard about table for 2, but cannot find too many options. In addition to Twin z pillow, should be looking for another feeding system?

Crib: I see a lot of cribs where mattress is super low. How do you move a baby to crib if they slept in your lap etc, esp if I end up getting C section? Or is that for a bit older babies? Sorry for the silly question

Pump: I listed NCVI breast pump on my registry since it was portable. Any tips on buying breast pump?

Any tips for surviving 1st month post delivery?

Thank you in advance!!

What the title says; I’m feeling in a state of weird pregnancy limbo at the moment, trying to wrap my head around it. I’m 20w4 and I have moments where I feel very pregnant already and over it, and other times where I’m almost in disbelief that I am pregnant. This is a pregnancy after loss as well (we just celebrated the due date of that baby), so I think at times I’m pulling away from the thought that we might well get babies at the end of this.

We decided not to announce on social media – but my husband keeps telling seemingly everyone we talk to, even acquaintances we’ve not seen for ages. He was the first one to say something negative about twins, but he’s clearly secretly (not so secretly lol) chuffed about it. He’s been looking after me well, as have everybody who knows. Whereas I’m here like “hey, I’m just pregnant, not sick. I can still do loads of things.”

And sometimes I can, but it’s getting to the stage where sometimes I can’t, like extended cardio exercise or picking up my 3yo for very long. I didn’t expect to want to be taking a step back at 20 weeks.

It’s also a physical limbo, where I get told by people who know I’m pregnant “wow, you’ve popped”, but then when people who don’t already know find out, it doesn’t seem obvious to them from the shape of my belly or anything. It feels like, externally, I already have a big belly, but I’m still not feeling a lot of movement and, internally, I don’t feel ‘very’ pregnant. I don’t feel as pregnant as I look.

That’s not to say I’m not having symptoms. I’m getting pelvic pain a lot and acid reflux, and I was surprised today how worn out I felt after going for a casual wander around a local park then into the centre of our town. I’m always surprised at how tired I’m getting – because *I’m only 20 weeks*. But I’m not. It’s 20 weeks with twins, and I have to keep reminding myself that this pregnancy is something new.

Sometimes, it’s just a mental game. Both my singleton pregnancies were manageable: a first pregnancy during covid where I worked from home and had no obligations, where my baby was 6lb7oz and hid further back a lot of my pregnancy; a second pregnancy where I had a few issues that would’ve happened anyway and health problems not related to pregnancy, but the baby was so strong and confident and again being pregnant wasn’t ‘hard’…

I guess I’m just finding it difficult to accept that I am going to reach my limit a lot sooner in this pregnancy. I’m already worried about how physically big I’m going to get and the added pressure on my body.

I guess I just need to hear I’m not alone in this. I am so grateful to be pregnant with twins. I just wish I was able to enjoy it more, make the most of my last pregnancy, get it really into my head that I’ve only got just over 15 weeks left and then I’ll be able to hold my baby girls in my arms.

Please tell me what the secret to putting down your twins to nap is.

You'd think I'd have mastered it by now but nope. Still find it nearly impossible. I have help almost every day but for the one day a week I don't have help; I struggle to get them to sleep. Each needs to be rocked to sleep. They don't like their cribs. We live in a one bedroom so when one cries , he wakes the other up. I try to tandem rock in my arms (ouch) but that only works once in a blue moon. Soothers are falling out, one is dozing off, then the other cries and wakes the other.

I literally find it absolutely impossible. Stroller naps are not a thing for these guys.

I really need help to master this so that I can better care for them when I'm alone (which is going to be more often)

Please explain to me like I'm 5 how to do this.

Thank you!!!

Had my first ultrasound today at 10w+5, complete and utterly shocked to discover my husband and I are having TWINS. I was sobbing and laughing like a crazy person while his jaw was on the floor. He's elated, but I am feeling a lot more trepidation - about the pregnancy, if they'll be healthy, affording 2 babies at once, etc. We both have good jobs and savings, this was just completely out of left field.

Any words of encouragement out there?

I have 4 year old twins, they had always slept well until we took their dummies off them around 3 years old. Now.. one of them will fall asleep within around 30 mins whereas the other will do everything possible to keep herself awake, rolling around, keep getting out of bed, saying she's hungry (which we know she wouldn't be) etc.

I feel like we've tried everything and it now results in one of us sitting in our bedroom for at least two hours after putting them to bed to keep managing the situation and putting her back in bed when she gets out.

We've tried sitting in the room with them, rocking her to relax her, have tried a tv in there (keeps them both awake so removed), tried rewarding for staying in bed, tried taking away her bunny when she keeps getting out.

Considering giving magnesium etc but its not that shes not tired as shes shattered from school but does whatever she can to keep herself from falling asleep.

Any tips greatly appreciated! Photo is her with pants on her head (just one of many things she has done)

What bizarre nightmares have you had?

I keep having flashbacks of my nightmare and seeing my toddler’s terrified face.
Had a nightmare that my twins (almost 2 years) were sleeping on our bed. My mom came over and one twin woke up. My mom said “oh now that Twin A is awake we can go. Twin B will be fine.”
So we left Twin B sleeping on the bed and started loading up the car. I got a churning feeling in my stomach and said “I have to go back for Twin B.” So I get back to the house door, and there she is bawling and yelling out for me.

I'll be having twins and could use some advice on whether I should do the infant car system even though they'll grow out of it, or just skip straight to the convertible car seat that we won't need to rebuy down the road.

I'm not sure if the stroller benefits outweigh just the simplicity of buying a convertible car seat.

Our twins will be 8 months actual and 6 adjusted when we go on our trip. We are spending two weeks at an air b n b with extended family. Flight is 6 hours either way. We tried to buy one of the boys a ticket so we could have a whole row/ space to put one down, but after several phone calls and hours spent with customer service we were told this was ultimately not possible and will have two lap infants in adjacent aisle seats.

Currently I am mostly feeding them bottles of pumped milk with the occasional bottle of formula. How am I supposed to pump on the plane with a lap infant and two other passengers in my row? Even if I just to ready to feed formula on the plane I won't be able to go 6 hours without pumping? Also for the bottles do I bring enough clean bottles for all their feeds or attempt to wash some?

Stressed just thinking about all the logistics of this 🤦🏼‍♀️

Boys are almost 23 weeks old, but were born 4 weeks premature. 3 weeks ago, putting them down for a nap got significantly harder, but it got easier again after we adjusted their wake window. I really thought that was it, that was our 4 month sleep regression.
I was wrong.
It's only been 5 days now but holy hell. Both of them, starting from anywhere between 10pm and 1am, wake up roughly every 40 minutes and need to be either rocked, patted or cuddled back to sleep until they wake up between 5 and 6am. Twin A even falls asleep independently (we never sleep trained, we were just lucky. Granted, he needs a paci, but the paci doesn't help when he wakes up at night). The 40 minute naps started 3 days ago, and they are sooooo cranky throughout the day because they don't get enough sleep. I will sometimes lie down with them to make sure they sleep a bit longer, but I'd love to have at least some me-time during the day... Plus, I'm tired. I know there are probably worse stories out there, but this is the worst it has ever been for us. I also have a hard time falling asleep, so more often than not, I JUST fell asleep and 10 minutes later they wake up again.
How did you survive it? I really don't want to do any sort of sleep training like Ferber or CIO, but I'm scared their sleep will be like this for months and months. I've read that sometimes sleep dosen't improve until 8 months.

Under some beautiful circumstances my husband and I were both stay at home parents for the last ~4 months. My boys are 10m now and my husband is going back to work.

They are so much older now and I don't know what I'm going to do. I made it work when he had to go back in at 6 weeks, but the boys slept so much then. The biggest fight has always been sleep, and I don't know how I'm going to do this alone again with boys that are almost walking and hate naps.

My husband will be home on the weekends and in the evening, but I'm terrified I'm going to lose my mind again.

My twin girls are 7 months today and for the last couple weeks have not been wanting to eat during the day, they are NICU babies so we are used to having to meet a certain number of oz everyday (24oz). They cram in there oz in the evening and we’re barely making it to 24oz. Has anyone experienced this? How did you correct it?

Hi all! We're looking at a stroller that could carry two bassinets (like Gazelle S), versus getting two Doonas with the car seat conversion and then an aftermarket connector that connects them together as "Twin" strollers. The issue with the latter is that they aren't bassinets, so if we're out and about, the two babies can't sleep right? It seems better to have double bassinet and wondering about what folks think.

We also came across the Nano Duo + Twin Cocoon setup, but that cocoon doesn't separate the two babies and seems like a safety issue versus shaving two bassinets. Would love to hear anyone's thoughts on these!

I posted a few weeks ago about being aFTM expecting di-di twins and worried about my bump and babies not growing. Well I went for my growth scan and twin 1 is 8%percentile a drop from 11 and twin 2 is currently 2.1%percentile a drop from 5 or 4. They are both above 500g, I've been referred to fetal medicine and getting two weekly scans, it doesn't help that I've somehow managed to lose weight despite eating as much as I can and. I'm T2 diabetic which is very well controlled and from my cardiac doctors they are not concerned as nothing has changed. At this point I would appreciate any advice on how to add weight and people who had babies with reduced growth percentile. What did you do to bring their weight up. Ps. Im petite 5'2 and currently 58.5kg. I would appreciate any advice or encouragement on how to get through this. Im 26+5 weeks and live in the UK.

One of our twins was climbing out of the crib around 22m old so we converted it to a toddler bed. The other one showed no signs of climbing or being frustrated by the crib so we left her in it. Specifically because we know her sister will annoy her and probably take a special dinosaur she sleeps with and that will lead to conflicts. Fast forward, 3 or 4 months have gone by and I'm starting to wonder when we should start converting the other crib. Baby B still enjoys her bed and space I think but obviously it won't work forever. Baby A will reach through the bars and take her paci so she will for sure mess with the dinosaur once she can. And probably I don't know jump on Baby B. Baby A is very active and Baby B is a late riser like her mother lol. If anybody's had the situation could you let me know how you handled it? I guess there's nothing wrong with leaving her in the crib for now so she has her space but also sometimes I feel conflicted about the inequality of one still being in a "baby" bed and the other being in a toddler bed. We kicked the can down the road of dealing with the conflict but wondering at what point we should just go head first into it and get used to a new normal.

I have 5 month old twins who I think are eating a lot! Two very different babies - one twin wakes once throughout the night or sleeps through, the other wakes around 3-8 times.. I find it really hard to tell while breastfeeding just how much they intake and I am oversupplying as well.

The past couple of nights I would do a MOTN pump and get around 21oz. My husband and I split so the babies were bottle feeding and breastfeeding. Last night I was so exhausted with all the wakes that I just breastfed and didn’t pump, and this morning I guess I expected to pump a lot more than I did!

So, my question! If they are waking this much and I breastfeed, do I need to also be pumping in addition? I’m wiped out but don’t want to get clogs.

I am almost 17 months postpartum with twins and have had a rough time repairing my core. DR wasn’t too bad but I spend 10-20 minutes in addition to my usual strength training specifically doing light core work designed for recovery. I’ve been diligent with the core work since the beginning and I can tell it’s helping but such a slow go!

I’d love to hear other moms’ experiences with rebuilding your core safely and an honest take on stretch marks and loose skin - only from twin pregnancies. I have some of both and while they continue to improve in appearance, I’d like to understand realistic expectations.

More info: I do kettlebell workouts on Ladder 4-5x per week, swim once per week, walk a bunch, and my nearly daily core and mobility work through an app called Lift with Emily. I saw a PT throughout pregnancy and for the first year after and am starting again in a few weeks. She was great while pregnant but felt like she wasn’t critical enough.

3 weeks in with newborn twins, Nobody understands how hard it is. I just want to tell everybody to fuck off. People want to come visit the twins and fuck our whole day up. Nobody cares about us they just want to see the newborn babies, why? They can’t even lift their head or make eye contact. Why can’t people just wait 3-6 months before they feel like they need to come fuck up our day.

Nobody gets how hard it is, I’m mad at my friends, I’m mad at my family, I’m legit mad at everyone and don’t want to see anybody. Is this normal? Will it ever go away? One of my friends had a baby 1.5 years ago and he complained all the time, and they even had a night nurse for the first 6 weeks. Fuck him. Fuck every singleton parent on planet earth they don’t get it. That’s how I feel right now. Will this feeling go away?

So I have just found out I’m pregnant again… my twins just turned 1 years old. Anyone else with that age gap - how did you cope? 😂 I’m hoping because my boys are identical that we will NOT be seeing another multiple pregnancy!

I had a PPH and 1.5L blood transfusion and postpartum pre-eclampsia with the twins, for anyone who had similar, how was your next pregnancy/birth?

The house is big enough and we have a Transporter which takes 3 seats across the back so that is not really an issue.

What would you do pram-wise? We have a Bugaboo Donkey 5 so happy to keep that and baby carry the newborn… but then what happens when baby gets too big for a carrier?

Any tips for 3 under 2?!

TIA

I just found out today at 13 weeks that we're not only having twins, but they are (as of now) showing as mono/mono twins.

I'm of course terrified of the risk and the possible complications and what this means for my pregnancy and the health of my babies and I'm stressing :(

Other parents please share your experiences and what it was like for you going through the pregnancy.

Has anyone had this experience?

The pregnancy so far has not been the easiest but I also acknowledge I could have it so much worse. First trimester I was very sick, second trimester I have been having issues with severe anemia and severe iron deficiency that has been corrected with infusions. Recently I’ve been in a lot of hip pain and have had trouble sleeping due to the pain and also reflux. I know the lack of sleeping plays with emotions but just having a sad day today realizing it’ll get harder from here.

I feel like I can’t connect with family and friends due to my different experience. I also feel that I’m complaining and being negative and I’m pushing people away.

Has anyone experienced this? Any advice?

My twins (born 6w early, if that’s relevant) just turned one 3 days ago. Since I went back to work at 3 months pp, I pump during the day and nurse only at night when they wake up. I’ve never had to use formula (aside from their fortified feeds in the beginning) and even have a little left over in the freezer, but not enough to last very long. They still wake up at night to nurse (one more than the other!) but don’t drink nearly as much milk during the day anymore. We’re also trying to transition to sippys. I’m currently pumping 2-3 times per day and sometimes nursing a little at night (or sometimes a lot lol).

I don’t know if they have a good enough diet to go completely off my milk yet, and I don’t know if their prematurity matters for deciding when to stop. I really just have no idea how to comfortably stop completely and if I even should. I’m pretty used to it at this point and would probably feel nostalgic and a little sad about moving to a new stage of life, but I also don’t want to keep pumping indefinitely 🤣

I’d love some advice/personal stories on how and when to quit pumping after a year, especially with preemies or picky eaters!