Bringing twins home from the SCBU

[glamourbadger]

I had my twins at 31 weeks and they have been in special care for a month. The doctors say we should be able to bring them home in a couple of weeks as they have put on weight and are starting to take most of their feeds (EBM) from the bottle.

Just wondered if anyone has had a similar experience and has any advice they can pass on? The NICU and SCBU are very noisy, always light, hectic and at least 26 degrees - I am wondering how they will cope in our quiet and comparatively chilly house!?

Would really appreciate any tips from Mums that have been through the same thing! :o

[frumpygrumpy]

Hi GB, and congratulations! I have no SCBU experience at all, my DTs were overdue. Hope you get some advice on here, I'll bump when I'm on so you hit varying times of day. See you soon maybe on the Do you ever... thread.

[fruitful]

Not much experience here, either - ds was born at 34 weeks and spent a week in SCBU and a week on the ward with me.

He definitely got used to it being light all the time - even for such a tiny baby he was disturbed when we switched all the lights off in our room at night, so I ended up leaving the bedside lamp on (with low watt bulb).

Did they put them to sleep on their sides in SCBU? Ds was, and still likes to sleep that way.

Our house is warm and noisy anyway. You could bung the heating up for a bit and then reduce it gradually? And put them in front of the washing machine a lot (good noise!).

Congratulations!

[TwoIfBySea]

Congrats glamourbadger.

Sorry to say I can be of no help either, my dts were born at 36 weeks and spent only one night in the SCBU. And that one is quite quiet, gently lit, all pastel colours and Winnie The Pooh, the babies are all separated in different rooms, the closer to the ward door the sooner they get home!

When they were wheeled out of SCBU they were put in the same goldfish bowl bed which is something I kept up until they were about 7 months old. It settled them more being together, when one woke up the other would wriggle until he went back to sleep! They were good sleepers from the start and I always put it down to that. They were small enough to share the moses basket at home and then their cot bed together in the corner of our room before getting their own beds which happened of their own decision (dts2 wanting to sleep longer than dts1!) Perhaps that would be of use?

After such a busy start your dt (g/g, b/b or b/g?) will enjoy being home.

[waterfalls]

glamourbadger
congratulations

My dts were born at 33 weeks and were in NICU for 4 weeks, I know what you ,ean about the noise and lights

When I got them home, they were immediately in a quieter and darker surrounding (at night) and they were perfectly fine, it made no difference at all, but I did have to keep the room a bit warmer for them, around 22degrees.

They also continued to sleep apart from feed and bath times for at least another 6 weeks, I would say they slept around 21 hours a day, which helped with getting used to jumping from 1 child to 3, then bit by bit they would stay awake for longer periods of time.

Other people I knew with twins said the first year was the worst, but I found it a breeze, now they are 2.6 yrs and its a whole different ball game

All the best

[waterfalls]

Also I agree with TwoIfBySea, my dts shared a cot til they were about 8 months, they have always been fantastic sleepers, I still get 12 hours uninterupted sleep from them every night.

[waterfalls]

We also had at the ready, a dimmer switch fitted in our bedroom, incase they could'nt sleep in the dark, and the plan was to make the room darker over a period of time, til they would sleep in the dark, but thankfully they did'nt need it

[TRIOMUM]

Congrats,

I had my dts at 32 wks and they were in SCBU for 5 weeeks. Once home, I placed them in a Moses Basket - head to toe, tightly wrapped in a shawl for the 1st couple of weeks and they settled no problem. Once they started kicking lumps out of each other they were placed in seperate moses baskets, still tightly wrapped up.
We were advised to lie them on their back at all times so they would not have the "premature long forehead look" and it worked.
During the day I placed my dts in a bouncy chair and this was a "God send." They used to drop off to sleep without having to be lifted, cuddled, etc which makes life easier if you have an older child like I did, and when they are older you could put a baby gym above them and they entertain themselves.
Good luck, let us know how things go.

[jambuttie]

congrats hun

I had my twins at 29 weeks and they adapted well at home. Just go about your normal business hoovering etc is my advise.

My boys hate it when it's too quiet

[mumof4faeries]

Hiya, I had my twin girls at 27 weeks and they spent 11 weeks in SCBU, 6 weeks at Lister in Stevenage then 5 weeks at QE11 in WGC. I think its really daunting, the thought of them coming home but by the time they are discharged, you are ready for it, you just want them home so badly - mine didnt have any problems adapting atall, the SCBU was light in the day but they turned the lights off at night, even played classical music to mine when they were in ;) If you would like to email me, please feel free, email addy is [email protected]

[throckenholt]

My twins were born at 35 weeks and were only in scbu for a day - so no real experience - but just thought I would point you towards www.twinsclub.co.uk - there will be lots of people there who have ben through it.

Mine shared a pram top for the first few weeks at home, and then shared a cot bed, in our room.

[speedymama]

My DTS were born at 34 weeks and the transition to the home environment went smoothly. During the day, I kept them in the bouncer and they slept during the night in their moses basket. They needed feeding every 3 hours, sometimes it was 2-3 hours and that was the hardest part for me (I breast and bottle fed up to 10months old). At night, I was lucky to sleep for a 2 hour stretch. Other than that, they were easy to look after. I remember one day being up at 6.30am when they were abot 10 weeks old. By 9 am I had done all the house work for that day, made the evening meal as well as fed and changed the twins, I sat down, looked at them and said "what now?". Once you have got yourself into a routine, you will have so much time on your hands. I really enjoyed it and now that they are 26 months old, I secretly yearn for that stage again. I would love another set of twins but don't tell DH.

[glamourbadger]

Thanks so much for the feedback - it's great to hear so many of you have had positive experiences. I room-in with the babies at the hospital from tomorrow so fingers crossed we will get them home soon!

[Tortington]

i stuck mine infront of the washing machine on spin. then went and lay down.

actually i brought one home 2 days later then the other 2 weeks later - that was bizarre

[frumpygrumpy]

Excellent news GB, best of luck.

[harrogatemum]

ooh congrats glamourbadger - what did you have BTW? AGain I can offer no experience of SCBU - I had to be induced with my twins.