Good books to read to prepare me for twins

[starshaker]

That it really. Would like to try and read up a bit about what to expect and anything that would be usefull.

bump x

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please don't read parenting books they are all a load of shite that plant these perfect parenting seeds in your head and then you come home with twins and it all goes tits up and you end up rocking on the kitchen floor becuase its not all gingham bunting.

don't do it is my advice.

extreme motherhood by jackie clune is a really funny account of a woman with a toddler who then has triplets

it makes having 1, 2 or 3 sound easy in comparison

I supose im just worried about how i will cope at the start. I will have no help and will probably have had a section (or will need sectioned).
The whole birth is really scaring me and i still have ages to go

here is where all the multiple birth mums chat

go say hi!

Don't read books. Find out if you have a twins group in your area and go and talk to people instead. Much more sensible.

Starshaker - can I echo the other nutters multiple mums on here and try and coax you over to the loony bin multiple mums thread? Please remember that whatever they say about me (unless it is good) is just lies

Nothing will prepare you more than the real life stories of the multi mums. We're on the d'y' ever threads. Come say hi. We don't always bite!

Congratulations :-)
I'd agree that most books are useless but if you're hoping to breastfeed I found the la leche leage book "Mothering Multiples, Breastfeeding and caring for twins or more" by Karen Kerkhoff Gromada helpful.

Hi Starshaker!

I second the La Leche League book - I found it great. Also Twins And How To Survive Them by Emma somebody and I even [whisper it quietly] read Gina Ford's Contented House With Twins which I found great for the routines [whisper even more quietly] - if you can get your twins into a sleep routine it will give you some much-needed rest during the day. My two used to go down for a sleep for an hour every morning at 9am and then for about 45 mins at midday and then another 45mins or so at about 4pm from about 3m old.

My advice is feed them lots and lots during the day in the hope they will sleep at night. It worked for us, if they cried I fed them, and they were sleeping 11pm-7am at 12wks.

Every experience of twins is different but I did feel the books helped me (but I am that type of person who tries to over-prepare for everything)

I've just bought and read the Gina Ford one whch helped me feel there was a chance we might get some sleep sometime in the not too distant future. It's hard to really get your head round all the routines and timings before you've actually had the babies though - well for me anyway.
Also an awful one by Dr Carol Cooper about raising multiples (can't remember exact title) which put the fear of God into me re. bad behaviour and lots of details of scary pregnancy complications, steer well clear - have abandoned that one now!

The Emma Mahoney one is pretty funny, and the Gina Ford one is ok although I am not sure I can be that organised. I also bought a US one by somebody Leith (a doctor) and to be honest it completely freaked me out as it goes on and on about all the problems you can have in twin pregnancy.. so I'd avoid that one if I were you.

I just wanted to echo the recommendation of Jackie Clune - Extreme Motherhood! It is her account of having triplets, not twins but as a twin mum I still found many parallels and it was a fab read. Also it is not preachy, it is truly honest, funny and made me laugh a lot and cry a few times. Fantastic book...

I was bought the Gina Ford book by a well meaning friend - was handy for adjusting the leg of the dining table to stop it wobbling but that was the extent of it's usefulness!!! Not knocking anyone who finds it helpful - just not for me and my twins.

Nothing can prepare you for having twins, but reading lots of threads, old and new, on here helped me get my head around it

I liked Mothering Multiples - I am a very attachment parenting/breastfeeding on demand kind of twin mum. I hated Emma Mahoney and Gina Ford, but lots of people in my twins club loved them. Whatever you read, take the bits you like and ignore the bits you don't.

Having twins is the most difficult and stressful and amazing and rewarding thing I've ever done.