The Positives of having twins

[penny92]

This twin pregnancy will be me and my partner's first children and we are super excited, but pretty daunted at the moment.

Now, I'm not daft - I do know that having twins is going to be harder in many ways, but so much of what I read here is people rightly sharing how hard it is.

There's a lot of that available, and I will read everything I can so I am as prepared as possible. I definitely don't want to live in la-la land and then be totally unprepared and overwhelmed when the time comes.

However, I would love to read some of your top favourite things about having twins.

Things that are unique to twins and twin parents. Nice things to look forward to. I'd love to hear it!

Congratulations!
My twins are just 4, they were our last babies, babies 4&5.

They are an absolute blast!

The newborn days when they snuggle together - adorable! then they start moving and gradually take more notice of each other as they get into the toddler years it's so lovely.

Mine really are best friends, they play together all the time. Yes they argue, fight at times but they just adore each other.

It's a lovely relationship to watch grow.

Honestly I didn't find the newborn days any harder than my singletons - if you can be as organised as possible, and try and get a good routine you'll be fine!

Twins are brilliant!

Twins are 100% a blessing. My girls have just turned 2. They play really well together, but they also fight well together which can be hard.

Your heart will explode the first time that they make each other belly laugh. My girls tickle each other and do "this little piggy" on each others toes. Neither of them has enough patience to get to the end before they succumb to the tickle. One of my girls always gets hiccups about 30 seconds in lol

I agree with the PP, being organised and into a routine is critical. It saved my sanity in the early days.

Everything with twins is more extreme, so you laugh your socks off at them playing together and they can also make you cry with despair. We're in the terrible two's stage and it is so so challenging, but it's also a lot of fun.

So to summarise, it's amazing, fun, difficult, exhausting, frustrating but 100% we feel very very lucky to have our girls.

Good luck with your pregnancy

My twins are middle children. I have an older daughter and a younger son too.
Yes it is hard work but it is also a joy and a privilege.
One thing I was totally surprised by was a huge amount of goodwill and positive attention. Everywhere you go people smile at twins in their buggy. People stop and comment. Other parents of twins stop for a word.
People can be so helpful. We travelled a bit when my eldest had just turned two and my twins were 4 months old and staff in airports and airlines were so amazingly good to us.

My twins are just turned 15, they are truly best friends their bond is unbelievable, they argue like cat and dog but no one can say a word about the other twin.
The newborn stage where they snuggle up to one another, when they sit up they play games with each other, that they laughed at each other.
My only advice is if they are the same sex, one twin has one particular colour and the other twin has another particular colour so you and they know who's toys is who's.
Enjoy and congratulations. X

My twins (B/G) are an absolute blessing. They are 13 now and so much fun. Two babies are hard work but as they’re your first you won’t know any different.

Once my babies were at playing age they had each other as a permanent buddy - much easier for me! They are there for each other when they start school, when friends are being less than friendly, always a familiar face in the playground. Now they are growing up together, sharing teenage trends and I know they’ll carry on being there for each other.

They argue of course but I think sibling spats are a really important life lesson. They really do love each other and although they don’t understand it, I can see they have a special bond unlike anything else.

My twins are 10. My top tip is:
If one wakes for a feed in the night wake the other and feed both or you will never sleep!

huge amount of goodwill and positive attention

Mine are still cooking but I just wanted to echo this. There is a ridiculously strong twin parent network near me and they are so lovely and supportive. We haven’t bought a thing this pregnancy - every time I ask for advice about a product someone says that they have one their kids have outgrown and will drop it round. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

My twins are 6 months and honestly I'm finding it easier than when I had a Singleton. Twins are amazing 🥰🥰 here's what I love so far

Newborn days when they snuggle together in the cot - I'd put them at either ends but they'd still wriggle to find each other

Their faces light up when they see each other and they kick their legs and get really excited

Their "chats" (although not so much in the middle of the night when one wants to wake the other up!) - they have been very vocal from about 12 weeks and Chatter away to each other (very different from DD who didn't really make those kind of noises until 10 months)

They are their own little unit - happiest when they are with each other which actually means they sleep better than my Singleton did - they don't want to co sleep etc with me

Agree with other posters about everyone stopping to talk to you - having been locked down and shielding for so long it's been nice to talk to people - and a LOT of people stop you to ask about them - I'm always happy to do so (it drives my husband barmy though that a visit to the shops takes longer because I'm chatting away 🤣!) it's also a great confidence boost as everyone says "don't know how you do it" "you're doing so well" "you're amazing" etc etc and on days when I'm a bit tired and struggling it's been a really good pick me up

I'd totally have twins again! (Although my bank account wouldn't survive!) - I do actually have 2 embryos left so could put both back in again but physically the pregnancy was brutal and the birth was dangerous for all 3 of us

Absolutely agree :) everyone was so kind, all the children's centre staff were brilliant, everybody seems so much quicker to help. Lots of people stopping to chat to you (really lovely if you're just out and about for a trip out, slightly trickier if you're in a rush)
They are so damn cute together (even now at 2). One of mine is an absolute horror to the other but we went to a soft play recently and another kid is roaring at T1 and T2 comes running over and squares up to him (a foot shorter than the other kid) and says 'no! Not my brother' very cute!

The newborn stage was interesting - we never had the whole 'they only sleep on someone' as they shared a cot until 8 mths so that was great! (we had to leave it a couple more weeks as T2 cried so much on his own )

Definitely feed them at the same time - best advice I was given

My twin girls are nearly 18months and have just started to cuddle each other. It made me cry the other day as it was just so cute.
They make each other laugh a lot and it's so special to witness their bond.

I agree with other poster that we didn't have any issues with them only wanting to sleep on us as they were so used to being put down. My girls are actually quite patient (at the moment) as they are used to having to wait whilst I deal with the other one.

I love seeing their little individual traits and personalities. My girls couldn't be more different and getting to nuture two independent little ladies is very special.

You have a special bond with other twin parents who just “get it”. Definitely try and get along to a local twins group.

Yes, there is a lot of joy when people realise we have two- always a talking point.

Seeing their differences and similarities as they grow is really interesting.

Really my twins as a unit are no more work than my singleton first was. They seem to be less needy babies than singletons.

Cute matching outfits!

Thank you so much for all the thoughtful responses so far. I really cannot wait for them to arrive - and whilst I'm being realistic about the amount of nappies and feeds and crying, I also know there is so much to look forward to. From being friends with twins, I know how much love they have for each other and the bond they share that can't be replicated with any other relationship on earth in my opinion.

Our twins are little treasures. They've never been hard work, time consuming and tiring in the early days but no worse than some singletons. Their bond is adorable. Ours were baby 4 & 5 so a hectic house, they're 6 now and very excited to be becoming big sisters next week.
I would have another set of twins.

You are in for a treat. For me, pregnancy was the hardest bit. They have been a joy for all the reasons above since birth. Now 7.
Hang in, I reckon you’ll be through the toughest stage before you know it! 😊

Firstly - congratulations! I remember how overwhelming it felt considering life with twins, but honestly they are ace.

The best bits? When babies learn to smile and laugh, your babies will smile and laugh at the sight of each other. When babies learn to babble, yours will have deep conversations with each other in utter nonsense language.

When they are newborns they will probably mistake each others noses for nipples and have a bit of a baby snog, which is comedy gold for 18th birthday embarrassment.

My boys are now 3 and they are the best of friends. They make up games together, sing songs together, jump on each others heads shouting 'wake uppppp' every morning....

You will get special treatment and people will want to talk to you wherever you go (sometimes a blessing, sometimes not!) And you do get to be a bit smug and feel like super mum when people with singletons say 'I don't know how you manage with two!'.

The most magic part for me is how completely different my boys are in every way, despite having the same experiences of life so far. I think you appreciate that babies have these little personalities from day 1 so much more when you have twins.

It is really hard at first, but you will cope, it will all be OK, and you will be rewarded for your efforts with two hilarious little people!