Join The Twins Trust 

The Twins Trust (formerly TAMBA) provides a tonne of help and support for those expecting multiples and then for after the babies are born. We attended one of their courses before our twins arrived and it was invaluable. The £2.25 a month membership also gets you a monthly magazine and discounts at leading retailers such as Clarks, MAM, Start-rite and JoJo Maman Bebe. I’ve saved loads over the years

Stock up on basic clothes

Buy lots of vests aka bodysuits and basic sleep suits. I’m not saying don’t have anything for ‘best’ (I loved having beautiful, pretty sleep suits) but with twins there’s obviously double the chance of an outfit needing to be changed due to an explosive poo or massive possetting session. It pays to have plenty of easy-opening, non-fiddly garments on hand. Sainsbury’s stock plenty of affordable short-sleeved bodysuits

Invest in a roomy changing bag

It doesn’t have to be a mega expensive one, just one that has enough space for double the amount of baby stuff. It needs to have a few sections/pockets for separating feeding and changing paraphernalia, and for storing changes of clothes. However, I’d recommend not going for something with too many hidey holes otherwise you just spend your entire time searching for things (like I do in my handbag). A rucksack is a good alternative. Boots currently has a huge selection of changing bags starting at £14.99.

Changing tables

You don’t have to double up on everything when you have twins, but if you live in a property with two floors I can’t recommend enough having two changing tables. It saves you having to cart two babies up and down the stairs every time one of them needs changing. Check out sites such as Preloved UK or Gumtree to get good deals

Bulk buy nappies

Newborns have an average of 6-10 nappy changes a day, so there’s the potential for needing 20 nappies a day with twins. BumDeal is a great nappy price comparison website. It is updated very regularly with all the latest deals. When mine were older I bought Mega packs from Boots with 86 nappies in. They were pretty good on price and I got my Advantage points. Boots has a deal on right now: Nappies

Baby bath seat 

I invested in two baby bath supports. They just stick (very securely) with suckers into the normal bath. They were brilliant. It meant that I could have both, fully supported, in the bath at the same time. It also meant that I didn’t have to find a home for a big baby bath. This exact version can often be found on Preloved.

Just the one cot

I had my twins in Moses baskets to begin with and then when they outgrew those they shared a cot bed. They obviously got too big to share in the end, but it helped to spread the cost.

Second hand

This goes for anyone expecting, but even more so with twins: buy second hand to save money. Mum2Mum markets, NCT Nearly New Sales and the likes of Gumtree and Preloved UK can be treasure troves. There are also lots of great local selling sites for childrens’ things on Facebook. Similarly sell stuff when you’re done with it. I do this a lot. Read more about this here

Lower expectations 

You have to be realistic and a lot more flexible with twins as opposed to a singleton. Having felt that for baby number one I did things to the best of my abilities, I struggled a little when I was no longer able to do everything ‘perfectly’ with three. It’s not the end of the world if they have to wait a few minutes for a feed, you don’t have to rush over as soon as there’s a whimper, they can have a sleep en route to somewhere so that you can leave when you need to, there will be times when both babies are crying at the same time and you can only comfort one. That’s ok. You can attend to the other in a few minutes, they won’t hate you forever. In fact I think it’s actually quite good if they don’t get your attention straight away all of the time and that they too have to adapt a little

Feeding

If you’re breastfeeding I’d recommend tandem feeding (if you can). It was so much quicker to breastfeed the girls together. It wasn’t practical when out and about (no amount of muslins make tandem breastfeeding discreet), but whenever I could I did. I used the ‘rugby ball hold.’ Katherine Rosman has a very detailed guide about lots of breast feeding positions and methods. I found a breast feeding pillow (as in the above pic) very helpful, but you could just use cushions.

Try on a bottle asap (if you’re breastfeeding)

This is a very personal choice but from my experience, I’d recommend trying them on a bottle within a few days of being born. Health Visitors recommend waiting six weeks before trying a breastfed baby on a bottle to avoid confusion. However, I tried all three of mine a few days in on a bottle and there was no problem. Many of my friends that waited six weeks couldn’t get their babies to take a bottle. Having the option of a bottle really provides some flexibility as someone else can help out from time-to-time (and shock, horror, you might be able to go out). My husband bottle fed them my expressed milk for one night feed every night, a few weeks in, which really helped. Quite a few months later we switched the one bottle feed of the day to formula. Read: Breastfeeding a bottle fed baby

Invest in a good breast pump

If you plan to express, get a good pump. I had a hand pump for my first baby and soon changed to electric as it was really making my wrists ache and was very laborious and time-consuming. The electric pump was much better at extracting milk fast and efficiently. With twins, I upgraded to a double pump. If I had to do it again for a single baby I’d also get a double pump (certainly not essential for a single baby though). I personally found Medela to be better than Avent. I’d also recommend investing in a breast feeding bustier so that you can pump ‘hands free’!

When one baby wakes for a feed, wake the other 

Despite the fact that I was tandem feeding wherever possible, it took me 10 weeks of a ridiculous number of nighttime feeds to figure this one out: when one baby wakes up and starts crying for a feed, wake the other one up and feed them at the same time

First park walk at 4 days old (I’m 5ft so it’s quite a compact pram)

Research the buggy/pram/travel system

These things really don’t come cheap, so it really is worth doing the research. Think about the size of your front door. Would a side-by-side fit through easily? Are you going to be walking nearly all of the time or are you frequently going to need to fold/dismantle the thing to sling in the back of the car? Would it fit comfortably in the boot? Are you going to be mainly pounding the pavements of the urban jungle or will you be going ‘off road’ quite a bit? All of these things need to be considered and will ultimately influence what you buy.

I had the iCandy Peach Blossom and absolutely loved it. It was hugely expensive but had the seats and the carry cots (which I sold when outgrown), was really versatile, easy to push, didn’t look like a monster and completely fit in with all of my requirements. It was also compatible with the car seats making life that bit easier. The system lasted them ages and I was still able to sell it for a good price when I was done.

Oh, and you might want to prepare yourself… 16 Things You’re Likely to Hear When You Have Twins.

The post Twins: 14 Tips for Parents who are Expecting Multiples appeared first on The Parent Social.

2) You didn’t have to contemplate what designer dress you would wear on leaving hospital hours after giving birth and consider whether your choice would be well-received or slated. Your biggest style dilemma was probably whether to dress your – still very noticeable – bump in over- or under-the-bump leggings

3) Ok, being preened by others so you look wonderful sounds nice on the face of it, but would you really want people fussing about blowdrying your hair, applying your make up for ages and squeezing your still swollen feet into heeled shoes? A quick flash of a mascara wand, a touch of Touche éclat under the eyes and a bit of lippy = job done in two minutes and then out of there

4) You didn’t have a photo call 12 hours after giving birth, with the pictures ending up in every UK paper and around the world. You probably had a few private snapshots, which you may have shared on Facebook if you were feeling particularly brave. You certainly didn’t care about whether you had a VMPL (Visible Maternity Panty Line)

5) You weren’t constrained by tradition when it came to name choices for your baby. Let’s face it, she was never going to be Princess Daiquiri or Princess Audi (both appeared on the list of unusual baby names 2014)

6) The world and its wife didn’t debate about your naming decision let alone run a book on it. Although family and friends may or may not have ‘discussed it’ in private

7) You didn’t have to prepare for The Queen coming over when your baby was three days old. The Telegraph is streaming live updates on this and also includes this useful counter… WHAT ON EARTH?

8) You didn’t have to get your boobs out in front of ma’am and her entourage

9)  You weren’t touted as a potential ‘Breastfeeding Ambassador’

10) You could be yourself

The post 10 Reasons to Be Thankful You’re Not a Royal Mother appeared first on The Parent Social.

My firstborn (Sofia) arrived eight days before my 30^th birthday. I wasn’t going to be out partying but I knew I certainly wanted a good number of postpartum and ‘hello 30s’ alcoholic beverages! I was however breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding was going well. By day five/six my milk was already well established, so I tried expressing.  After a few attempts with fairly meagre results I was able to express enough for a full feed. I tried Sofia with the bottle and she went for it immediately. I reverted to breastfeeding throughout the night and then the following day, and then tried a further bottle in the evening. I found she was able to interchange between both feeding methods without any problems.  I was confident that by my birthday it would be fine, and it was.

I got in there with the expressing before the Health Visitor advised me not to. She was in fact quite surprised at the success I had, had (though she was supportive). However, many friends did follow the six-week advice to avoid what was described as ‘baby confusion’ and all found by this point their babies would not accept the bottle.

When my twins came along I started them on expressed milk on day three, and again they had no issue swapping between the two. I ensured that my husband gave bottles too. It offered great flexibility and was a lovely bonding experience for him.

There may be certain circumstances where you should wait, but from my experience – and others that I have spoken to – if breastfeeding is going well there doesn’t seem to be a problem with expressing and bottle-feeding early on.

What to buy?

With Sofia I got a hand pump and soon changed to electric a) it was so, so much better at extracting milk and b) I did actually fear I’d get arthritis in my wrist. With the twins, I got the best pump money could buy. It was a double one, which if I had to do it again for a single baby would get again (on reflection, it would save so much time for one baby). Double is certainly not essential for a singleton though.

I was able to sell my pump afterwards for a very reasonable sum. I found Medela to be better than Avent. Also I’d recommend investing in a breast feeding bustier – for ‘hands free’ pumping.

The post Bottle Feeding a Breastfed Baby appeared first on The Parent Social.