The under/over/around 1 Twins thread for support, tips on how to survive and enjoy twin parenthood!

[DreamingOfPeace]

BB3: dcda non id girls Sept 2011 (plus ds)
TwelveLeggedWalk: DCDA DD and DS 14.09.11 (PFBs)
Tiggersreturn twin boys (?!) (plus ds age 5)
Wherearemyearplugs twins (plus ds)
Ceeveebee b/g twins 21.11.11, PFBs
minesapintofwine: non-id boys 02/02/2012. dcs 1&2/pfb on good days.
ClaireMarathonFeeder: Boy/girl twins born 08/02/2012, no3&4, dd1 (2001) and dd2 (2004)
rednellie nonID boys 13.03.2012 + DD 03.02.10
Lemele: id boys (plus ds)
Skitoo : DCDA Non ID Boys, 01.04.12 DC 1&2
DreamingofPeace: dcda non id boys, 4.4.12 DC 2&3 (DD Sept 2010)
beyoglu: dcda non id girls 21.4.12
Bigboobsatlast ID twin boys 30.04.12 DC #2&3 (DD Feb 2010)
Scollister mcda girls 3.5.12 plus DD age 4
Twin2makes4 mcda girls plus 2 ds,age 8 & 4

Again, sorry for mistakes, doing this from my phone!

Settle in ladies :)

Oh, and how, how do I teach my DT1 to self settle without howling/ cc involved?? I feed him, he's either asleep or very much awake. He doesn't do 'drowsy'. If he's put down awake sometimes he'll lie there for up to 10 min. He never goes to sleep. The room is dark ish- getting darker as days get shorter, obviously, white noise is on (mainly for DT2), he's had his bath etc so knows its nighttime. he has a soft comforter thing he likes to hold and suck. Very occasionally, later in the night, I can get him back to sleep by holding in a dummy and back patting with him on his side but he never sleeps for long after settling like this. Last night he never slept longer than an hour.

I still think he's too little for cc and it'd break me first, but wits end springs to mind.

How does everyonr else teach their babies to self settle???

Evening all - really should be packing but is one of my least favourite things to do. How do I know now what I might want to wear next week and now have that problem x 3!!

Beyoglu, I'd definitely complain, that wording is not on .

Dream, sorry no help on the sling front. I've got a close carrier and there's so much fabric that wouldn't be an option, also have a baby bjorn but DH wears that. Any progress with the multiples meeting? It's my turn next to host my ante-natal groups meeting but I love it when we get together. There's 5 of us so 10 babies but we all understand the madness of having more than one and brilliant to catch up on what everyone is doing.

Baileys if you're still thinking of swaddling, I'd recommend the Swaddleme www.amazon.co.uk/Summer-Infant-72014-SwaddleMe-Cotton/dp/B004H5EGYA/ref=sr_1_2?s=baby&ie=UTF8&qid=1346784846&sr=1-2 . It has got Velcro fastenings but never had any issues with them even when mine started their Houdini antics. They were just so much easier once they were too big for self swaddling in sheets. I've actually got 2 that we bought as spares in case of middle of the night accidents, that have never been used and still in packaging, I'd happily post them to you if you're interested or indeed to anyone if they get some use.

Kazaar I'm not sure how supply copes with different demand on different days. I have struggled with oversupply and found it v.hard when the boys first started sleeping through the night but after a while your body does get used to it. I always found breastfeeding easier when on my own and for about the first 4 months always tandem fed them when at home on our own, just thought it was always easier and quicker to get them both done at the same time. It then became difficult to tandem feed as they got bigger and fussing as more easily distracted so stopped. They have always been on a 3 hour feed schedule though, so predictable. I am now in the process of weaning them off the breast as I've decided that when I start them on solids I'm going to switch to just formula. So far it's going ok and my supply is working itself out, only find myself bursting first thing in the morning, especially when DT2 decides to sleep in to 8.30 as he did this morning .

Bigboobs, mine love the cloth thing too, so I bought them some muslins with pictures on them which they now associate with sleep and really helped us sort out the daytime napping. DT1 so cute with his as he pulls it up over his head, rubs his eyes and then snoozes off under it.

Right better get some of this packing done...

dream, I doubt this will help with DT1 night waking, but for going off to sleep in the evening... post about 15 weeks I couldn't ever get the girls to go off unless it was pitch black. I taped tinfoil to their bedroom window.

skitoo my twin friend is taking her wee ones away on holiday and is going through the same thing! Will it be warm or cold, who knows... I have less of an issue with this because, erm, mine are still in babygros!

I'm just going to totally jinx myself and say woohoo, I think they're weaned off the swaddle! As DT2 awoke at 4am for her second night feed (grr, 4 month sleep regression) with a flailing arm as usual I thought, f*ck this, I'll take her out the swaddle and see what happens. She chattered for about half an hour but I just ignored her and she went to sleep. Now both of them are upstairs sleeping in their sleeping bags for the morning nap.

We went to the baby clinic yesterday and they're now both exactly 14lb! Clever. Not surprised DT2 has caught up with her sister as she's been drinking loads. I spoke to the HV who wrote the "artificial feeding" thing and got the usual "I'm sorry you feel that way" NHS non-apology so am going to complain. Also realised that she's the one who mixed up their weights at 6 weeks, making it look like DT1 had lost weight, and made me worry unnecessarily about their feeding! Also I raised with them that they've been filling in the growth chart wrong - for premature (earlier than 37 weeks) babies they should put their measurements on the main chart at their corrected age i.e. what age they would be if they had been born at 40 weeks. Took this up with said HV and she very condescendingly tried to explain to me that they would only correct to what they would be if they were born at 37 weeks - I have just looked up the WHO guidance on this and I'm right and she's wrong, and it means the girls have been between the 25th and 50th percentile since they were born i.e. normal normal normal. God, she spoke to me as if I was really stupid as well. Why why didn't I say to her, look, I currently work as a statistician for the Bank of England and spent 10 years working on statistical process control and chemical kinetics in chemical manufacturing, so I can read a f*cking growth chart?

Just wrote a really long post and site went down how annoying is that!

I'll be a bit more brief!

skitoo same here meant to be packing off for a week tomorrow can't wait but packing is scary!

beyou were your dts born at 37 weeks like mine? I don't think it's right that they don't correct the age after this time regarding development. a) 40 weeks is full term no matter how many babies. b) I can see my dts are 3 weeks behind developmentally.

The other thing that happened was though I knew my dates to the exact date due to ivf but the dts measured a week ahead at scans. So they induced them at nearly 37 weeks according to that but according to the correct-cannot-be-argued-with date they were induced at 36 weeks. Which totally buggers up the whole correctional age thing! Some dts do stay put longer so are they overdue at 39 weeks I wonder? The fact is most multiples arrive early i.e before 40 weeks so 37 weeks is 3 weeks early imo.
Also I work in a baby clinic have never seen the term 'artificial feeding' she sounds like an insensensitive h/v but not thinking rather than forcing her opinion on ff. For one I have never felt guilty about ff and all health professionals have been very supportive in my decision. It's the cost that gets to me!

dream what else can you try? you've done it all! will he sleep in his swing or pram? could you leave him there at night for a bit? I used to bring dt2 downstairs and push him in his pram at night during his period of non sleeping. I'm in awe of your multiple mum hosting but I bet it will be fab! I wish there was something like that here all the twin mums I've met just don't seem particularly interactive/ sociable . I go to baby groups and stuff though where there's mums of single babies so it's not too bad.

Right..less typing more packing.

Hi mines, mine were born at 36+5 - so only only just premature! She wasn't arguing that they weren't premature though, just about how much you correct by on the chart if they are - she was suggesting that you only take away the weeks before 37 but you don't, you take the weeks away up to 40 weeks. TBH I think they should correct at any point up to 40 weeks. Like you, I can see that my girls are about 3 weeks behind what you would expect - they're just having the 17 week screamy madness described in The Wonder Weeks just now, for example, even though they're 20 weeks old on paper.

Lucky me my antenatal clinic was a twins one and have seen aaaalll the IVF babies, so once they knew it was IVF they just did "egg collection date +35 weeks = induce at 37 weeks".

You're being a bit more charitable to that HV than I am prepared to be! Writing "artificial" takes longer than writing "bottle" or "formula" so I'm guessing she has a reason...

beoyou perhaps she found a new word for the month or likes to practice her joined up writing.... . Twins aside the whole bloody world seems to be a bit that's what makes it go round-why would we expect it to be any different! I have never heard of a twin antenatal clinic how lovely! Was it just twins or multiples i.e dtrips too? was your birth in a specialist hospital? I definately missed out there! Though all the girls on the postnatal ward were great. A few of us were snowed in (weird talking about snow in this heat where has the year gone etc..) as they sent as many home as they could think we all felt as if we would never leave!

Thanks dream just marking my space will try and catch up with everyones stories and come back :)

Hello all. I'm so brain dead I can't remember what's going on with everyone, but lovely to hear from you boobs. You have been missed.

We're all a bit tired here. Dt2 is getting much better. Turns out he's got very sensitive skin so took a while to find something we could put on his skin. However he's gone back to his nightly bouts of inconsolable crying. I've been averaging 5 hrs a night but broken into one or 2 .hr chunks. My dear mum has been trying to help but its knackering and she almost 70. Its made me realise that basically I'm not giving to be able to ever have a break. At least not until they're feeding less.

Which brings me on to weaning. They're both so ready for it, each reaching for my plate, but I don't feel ready. My poor third brain just can't work it out. Doesn't help that we're still not in our own home and I haven't got high chairs etc. Anyway ling winded way of asking how people do it?

Btw beyoglu my buggy has got those poppers . Annoying eh?

Just a quick one from me, I'm also giing through a diwn patch... Sleep is better but getting to sleep is a different matter! That aside it's the sheer physical demands of looking after two babies that are really taking their toll. added to that getting ready for the move... Not ready at all.. I don't want to leave my friends.

rednellie I know what you mean, I kept postponing weaning and it drove my older dds potty as they were so keen but I kept saying "another few days"... It's such a fuff, and so time consuming.. We're on three meals now, and its so much more work, the cooking, feeding, cleaning, changing dirty/wet clothes, washing aarrgh!

Dream if you find out the secret to selfsettling I want it too! Today I let dtg suck on my finger in desperation as she was exhausted and no amount of rockibg or feeding was working. Clearly NOT a ling term solution though.

Sorry cant do more personals, I keep reading during my night feeds, but cant manage posts.

Sorry for the moany post..,

I'm feeling a bit down too Claire. Sleep is not improving here, in fact, now DT2 has stopped sleeping well (? 4 month sleep regression a little late as he was 2 weeks early?) . Plus my baby DD was 2 today and I feel a bit emotional about that too! 2!!!

Last night was one of our worst ever, I had way less than 3 hours sleep, Dh and i were horrible to each other in the night and i felt bad that I was having to force myself to be really cheerful for DD in the morning for her birthday. She has had a lovely busy day with a little party this afternoon though.

Anyway, bed now.

Hope you're feeling okay Claire, a move away from friends- yours and your older dds- must be so tough with baby twins.

With you on the sudden realisation there is no chance of a break red but glad your mum is so supportive.

Just a quickie from me - top tip, how not to make life harder for yourself - think it'll be a good idea to take your 5 month old twins on holiday, aaarrggghhh!!! 4 days in and DH and I have concluded that it's hard enough when you're at home with normal surroundings, everything where it's meant to be, know your local area etc so why on earth would you take off to a strange house, all the things you need all over the place and every time you go out and about, you have no idea how long it'll take you to get there and exactly what facilities might be there when you get there .

But it has been nice, journey down was good and timing of stops ideal for boys feeds/naps and we lucked out with the weather the first 3 days, so have been to the beach and have had a good stroll round some pretty places (will skim over none of them having pavements wide enough for double buggy) but man has it been hard!

Mines, hope you're enjoying your trip and if you're reading and have any useful tips for making it easier, please post . Oh and packing consisted of throwing in anything that fits them, which isn't much as they're just about growing out of 0-3 months but 3-6 way too big.

Beyoglu, my hv charts weights with actual age and then draws dotted line back 6 weeks for gestational age, which makes sense to me.

Dream, Claire, Red, sorry its all a bit rubbish. Have you tried to do any of the textbook stuff? I read Baby Secrets by Jo Tantum which was written in collaboration with a twin mum and whilst a load of it was ott, I definitely took bits from it which helped us with sleep routines and settling etc. But hey, I'm a first tim mummy who had absolutely no idea .

Right off to watch Murray on the iPad!

Ah skitoo, I know what you mean. Being at my parents, I've only just worked out a routine/places to put everything/equipment so that now I can just about do things as efficiently as I did back at home. Then we're moving up to London next week and I'll have to start working it all out all over again. Boring!

Things are better here, DT2's skin is much improved and I'm just praying it doesn't flare up as soon as I stop using the steroid cream. I'm moisturizing him within an inch of his life and he looks like a different baby. And they're both sleeping better. Last couple of nights they've stirred in the evening, but I've managed to settle them and then they both wake around about 2.30am and I feed them and then they sleep till morning. Course, I've told you lot that now so the sleep jinx will get me, but at least I feel vaguely human. My body is falling apart though from the lack of sleep/exercise. I just don't know how to get the time to do anything to keep myself fit, apart from all the walking and lifting etc. Am going to try and find a good dance class once we're up in London.

Speaking of which DH is sorting the house so hopefully we'll be going up very soon. The move has been AWFUL, very disorganised for me which I have found painful - it's hard releasing control when you're a control freak...

Anyway, hope you're all ok. And yeah, any weaning tips gratefully appreciated (not so much what to feed them, I do remember that from DD, but more the practicalities)

Super quick one, I'm in the midst of being packed up, if we're not careful babies might be boxed up too.,, I hate moving!!!

Hello. Snowed under here prepping for 1st birthday. Somebody pass me the ...

Oh twelve I'm with you, I need a large one today!!

Happy first birthday twelveleggedtwins

First birthday twelve?!

Oh, and now DD has been 2 for three days, so i no longer have three children under two but its not easier

Birthday in 2 days time - a funny one with the whole NICU experience, might be a tad weepy...

Then somewhere between 20 and 30 people, including a terrifying number of babies, coming for a naming ceremony and lunch the day after. Am quaking at the thought of so many people in my house - no idea where everyone is going to sit, how it's going to work, whether FIL will be his usual uncontroversial self... arrggghhhhhhhhh.

Sorry for lack of reading and posting, am about to go and write the shopping list of doom! Wish me luck!

And happy birthday to DreamingBigSister! She's probably a bit young for but here's some for Dreaming for being a legend!

Oh good luck Claire. Hope your move goes a bit smoothly than ours!

Happy birthday to all the little legs and mini dream. Everyone's growing up. Sob.

Right ladies I've tried to catch up on the thread but its so hard when your on the phone and tbh i rarely get on the laptop now :)
(just incase anyone missed my name change i was goingmadtrying)
baileys kazar hope your babies have settled in and your coping ok, have your dh/dp gone back to work now??

rednellie how awful for your dt2 hope he is getting better, any progress on the move for you?

dream i hope dt2 has started to settle more for you, i have to say although you seem to have had it tough your coping remarkably well :) hope your dd had a lovely birthday x

skitoo hope your well and enjoyed your holiday, what age/weight did you start using the seat unit on the donkey?? I too was lucky enough to be brought mine as a gift but absolutely love it i love the carrycots but have found it so easy with the school run if we take the car using the car seats and also to pop to the shops!! Its so easy to push love love love it :) and always getting comments about it

bigboobs lovely to see another familiar face hope things are going well for you too

Waves to everyone else and sorry for not being able to Do a personal post to everyone

just a quick update from me, my girls are 11 weeks old now which has flown by, this has been the single most hardest thing i have ever done but so worth it, my gorgeous princesses are now 9lb 13 and 9lb 7 and are smiling and cooing away it feels as if weve turned a corner although still struggling with colic and screaming early evening but I've learnt to live with it and have made it a little easier with using Dr brown bottles, we are only waking once a night and have had a couple of nights where dt2 has slept through, the last feed is around 8-9pm and they then wake between 3-4am and get up around 6-7 so not too bad and much better than some i know :) they don't like tummy/floor time yet but hoping that comes soon and have just started staring at the toys above them,

wow that turned into a mammoth post better get back to sleep as they have gone back off, lovely to catch up with you all xx

Hi all I'm back from the holibobs. skit where did you go? we went to Cornwall near Padstow. The holiday was good weather wasn't great. The boys didn't settle well at night which was a first for us have been so chuffed and silently gratful for having good evening self settlers and sleepers since 3 months. The cottage owners loaned us cots (I know, i KNOW) and they weren't the best quite old and erm...rickety. The first night dt1 woke evry 2 hours and they had us up at 5.30 every morning until the last 2 days which was the usual 6.30. This is unheard of. Also they took over an hour to settle one night and another we had to go out and but a sleeping bag for dt1 who had thrown up and I hadn't been able to dry any clothes as ity had been raining....anyway we stayed out and got chips (bad BAD people) and finally put them down at 10pm when they took ages to settle again. They then got up at 6am. I wasn't sure if it could be teething as they are really bothered but came home tonight and they are out like proverbial lights in comfy cots... plus dt2 has been constipated for about 4 days (looks like he's been collecting pebbles off the Cornish beaches) that plus teething, not sleeping well, not settling well, rah rah rah. We had a good time overall but skitoo I came home and said I definately don't appreciate how nice it is to have all our things around us at home!

Whinge whinge whinge....

Happy Birthday to little dream and twelve congrataulations on surviving the first year you did it! Hands . To twin2 congratulations on the first 11 weeks it definately definately gets better after 12 weeks despite all my moaning!

red glad your dt2 is better and hope you are to you are always so positive but we all have these tough times we get through them which brings me to claire and also dream. So sorry you are feeling down I've been up and down the last few months and the down days are so hard but the up days are just around the corner don't put too much pressure on yourself. You are going through such a busy time with the packing and the move claire and you with no sleep dream take a minute for a cuppa or whatever, recharge and know that it isn't forever. and for you too. I'm off now as I have to put a second wash on (about another 3 to go!).

Bet you've all missed my typos!

Woohoo we made it back too and whilst it was a nice break, it was blody knackering! We went to Kingsbridge, South Devon and yes Mines*, we had hit and miss weather. Sorry to hear that it unsettled your boys, we were obviously very lucky in that ours coped well and only had 1 night time waking from DT2 and I only had to pop in for a little reassurance and he dropped straight back off. Conclusion was that we tried to have the type of holiday that we had pre babies which was just too much hard work with them in tow. We did have a fab day on the beach though, me and my boys camped out in our little pop up tent .

One thing that definitely worked for us and I'd recommend if you have to make a long journey is to do it as it were bedtime. So coming home we bathed and fed boys at 6.30pm, then at 7 popped them in their carseats instead of cots, in their sleep bags and drove home. Made great time doing journey at that time and when we got home just transferred them from carseats to cots. Have done it a couple of times now and makes a long journey a lot less painful.

Twelve, happy birthday to the little ones. Hope you all had a fab day and everything went smoothly. Am in awe of your organisational skills for all the celebrations.

Red, having done the week away, my heart goes out to you and the moving around you have had to do. I really hope you'll all be settled in your new home soon. Fx the better sleeping has continued and yes I'm completely with you on the lack of exercise making me feel cr*p. I popped in to the crèche at my gym (the one I have paid membership for but not used in the last year ) and whilst I was impressed I'm not sure I'm ready to leave my little men in there yet....

Dream, sending postive vibes for the application.

Twin2 sounds like your little ladies are doing great. I found mine changed loads around the 12-13 week mark, nice when they start focusing on toys etc and it was about then that they went through the night with just the dream feed. Don't worry about the tummy/floor time, one of mine great from early on as he naps on front but the other hated it until one day, not that long ago it clicked and he's now rolling front to back and belly shuffling quite happily. We changed the buggy seats about 2 weeks ago when they were 5 months and guessing about 12lb. They are fab and have made such a difference as they were not at all happy in the carrycots, they wanted to be upright and able to have a nosey. I'd say the big thing is to make sure they've got good head control and they'll be fine. We got the seat liners to pad them up a bit (they're still a little bit diddy) but the harness holds them in well and we have them in the first recline position, so not bolt upright. They love it and now nod off happily in there which they weren't ding in the carrycots. And totally agree about the car seats, makes little trips out and about v.easy .

Hope everyone else is well and enjoying what might be the last nice weekend of the year.

Quick check in while I feed dtb. We moved into new house today, still have have a million boxes to unpack but the worst shoul be over..,
I am v impressed with all of you attempting holidays with the twins!! We've had to stay at hotels for our move and it's been such a nightmare I dont know when when we'll feel like having a holiday again

Our routines are as you can imagine, all over the place, need to start all over again and have no idea how to. I will soon be doing bedtime on my own again and I cant spend two hours trying to settle them, it just isnt fair on my older two. They have been brilliant so far, but they need more time with me when I can focus on them alone.

Any advice greatly appreciated

red hope you're little one's skin is much better