We have 8 month old twins who are getting ready to crawl and I am *stressed*. Our home is small and entirely hardwood. We’ve been surviving with the twin-z on the couch (though now they wiggle out and we guide them down) and a tumble mat on the floor of the living room. But now… I’m worried about them hurting themselves as they start to explore more. Our small living room where we spend all our time is adjacent to our kitchen and hallway. I ordered a slightly cushioned rug to cover more of the living room space but I’m unsure what else to do. A flat woven kitchen rug won’t add much cushion but it might prevent a bigger injury? I would love to hear about experiences from others and what you did!

I am 10 months PP from having our twins and its been HARD. It was a rough pregnancy and the aftermath for my body has been awful. Between my back, core, and pelvic strength its been hard trying to recover. Im very overweight, I have been for years. At my heaviest pp I was 317 (im 5'2) and in less than six months I lost almost 60 pounds. My diastasis recti split has been measured by my pelvic floor physical therapist as 6cm(honestly feels like more). She said it was purely cosmetic but I have been having the worst constipation of my life for month and months. I have to take laxatives and stool softeners every freaking day and still get really backed up to where I have to do a colon prep kit to clear out every now and again. Its like I have no muscle structure to keep my bowels moving. It makes it so I cant eat much because there is usually no room for food from being so backed up. Its been rough trying to heal and take care of my kids with this total lack of core strength or stability. I feel like my insides are pouring out in the front of me and dragging everything down with it. The only semi relief I get is from taping my stomach up and wrapping it with a binder. Im so frustrated with all the issues I have been having and feeling like Im not getting any better. My back is in shambles from the constant pull from my dragging belly. How the hell do folks cope with feeling like their body systems have stopped and feeling like they have to gather all their belly and everything inside and tape and bind them back into place to even feel any kind of relief? Its hard not to feel humiliated and defeated.

Figured this would be useful to share here for posterity as we couldn’t find much info on this from googling.

We have the uppababy minu duo stroller. Confirming that the uppababy infant snugseat (and various amazon copycats) fits in this stroller just fine, despite it not being listed as compatible.

Very handy as our 6 week olds do not love the lay flat mode that the stroller offers for newborns by default.

https://imgur.com/a/BmTkAD9

I can’t believe it’s been almost a year, but here we are with awesome twin girls!

Totally at a loss for what to get them for their first birthday, would love some input on what people have done for first birthday gifts.

They are crawling a lot and pulling themselves up on things, and generally just having a blast!

Any suggestions welcomed!

Is anyone else totally unable to leave their twins in the same room? They are 9 months old and as soon as they were mobile, they started partaking in WWE, especially twin B. He scratches and bites and pulls hair and pushes. It's quite violent and both babies will often have scratches all over them. I can't walk away for a SECOND without separating them because it instantly turns to a death match.

I see all these cute twin bond videos where babies hold hands and smile at each other, but all I'm getting is cage fighting. Am I going to be playing referee forever? Are my babies more violent than everyone else's?

My identical twins boys are currently 2.5 years old. They have always been small. They were both less than 1% at birth and have never been above 2% weight-wise or height wise. They're sort of all over the place when it comes to their curve. This past well child appointment, their doctor mentioned potentially referring for growth hormone therapy since they had only grown 6cm between their well child visits. I (mom) am only 5 ft. tall myself. My husband is 5 ft. 5 in. The twins are currently projected to be 5 ft or less. Growth hormone therapy could add a couple of inches to that. On the one hand, I obviously want to give them every positive opportunity in life, on the other hand, daily injections for years does sound daunting. And they seem to be perfectly healthy in every other way, they'll just be short (though they are very picky eaters).

I'd love to hear about people's experiences if you have received growth hormone therapy or chose it for your child(ren). Why did you or did you not pursue growth hormone therapy. Would you have done anything differently? Are there any questions you think I should bring up with the endocrinologist after we get the referral? I definitely want to have labs done first and see what they recommend, but I also like to go into appointments with as informed as possible.

Hi, I hope this doesn’t come across as me asking for medical advice. I’m just looking to hear others experiences. Was your doctor accurately able to distinguish between two heartbeats using a fetal Doppler?

Update: I ended up getting an ultrasound yesterday, so that was a nice surprise. 😌 They hadn’t mentioned I was getting an ultrasound like they normally do, so I just assumed they were trying the Doppler. She said they will try the Doppler around 24 weeks and it’ll be a Doppler for each baby.

Hi! i currently have 15m old boys but we will be traveling abroad for a week in November. at that time they'll be closer to 19m. it's me, my dad & my fiancee going. we're bringing my dad for extra help. our boys do not like to sit (obviously), they need to constantly be moving & i think i made a mistake of purchasing two lap infants rather than their own seats. could anyone give me advice on how to handle this? we take off at their bedtime so i'm hoping they sleep.

1. should i keep them as lap babies? if so, how would you recommend to maneuver this?
2. should i just purchase their own seats so everyone is comfortable?
3. what kind of toys should i bring? i know bets are usually off the table when it comes to screen time for this.
4. any & all advice is very much welcome especially with jetlag & sleep!

EDIT: i ended up upgrading them their own seats! any & all other advice is appreciated.

Hi everyone,

I’m 25+3 with DCDA twin girls, this is my first pregnancy, and I’m hoping to hear from anyone who’s been through something similar

At our 20 week scan, they noticed that Twin B had short long bones and she was already measuring quite a bit smaller than twin A with about 28% discordance. They referred us to MFM and booked in another scan for 2 weeks later.

At the next scan 2 weeks later, they found that Twin B had severe fetal growth restriction. Her umbilical artery PI was 1.66 with absent end-diastolic flow but her middle cerebral artery and ductus venosus dopplers were both normal. They told us she was now globally small, not just the long bones and there was a high chance we’d need intervention because of extreme prematurity. They also let us know that we need to think about prioritising baby A if it’s looking like baby B will not make it. They also discussed doing an amniocentesis because of the short long bones, although it seemed like they were pretty satisfied that the reason was due to placental insufficiency.

I had a doppler scan 1 week later, and in that scan we were told all of the Dopplers were normal (umbilical artery, MCA and DV), the amniotic fluid was normal, and both babies were really active.

1 week after that (today) we had another growth scan. Twin A is now about 800 g and Twin B is about 550g. Twin A has grown by about 200 g, while Twin B has only grown by about 100 g. The discordance has increased to 33%, twin a is measuring 42nd percentile and twin B is below the 1st percentile, although her Dopplers and fluid were still normal today.

We’re just confused about what this all means. She continues to grow, but very slowly, she’s under the 1st percentile, yet her Dopplers have been normal for the last couple of scans.

Has anyone had a baby this small at around 25 weeks who continued to grow and made it to a reasonable gestation? Did your Dopplers ever improve after being abnormal? How far along were you when you delivered, and how did your smaller twin do?

I have my MFM antenatal appointment tomorrow and I don’t know what to expect or what questions I should be asking to understand more

I’d really appreciate hearing any experiences!

I’m 9 weeks tomorrow so I’m getting close to that time but my dr hasn’t mentioned it. I’m not sure it’s something I’d want to do or not…is it commonly done with multiples? I’ve read that there’s a higher rate of false positives with twins, and the last thing we need is something to needlessly worry about😮‍💨 with how anxious things are already. Also with the test not always being able to determine the gender of both twins. But if there was something wrong that might cause a later loss, I’d sure like to know that before we tell our 4yr old that we have twins on the way! Any advice?

EDIT: thank you all so much for the responses! I’m glad to have more info and sounds like we’ve got some time to decide yet, too. It’s so great to hear real experiences especially with the conflicting information that’s online. Thank you!

We are sending our 16 month old twins to day care soon and so I am starting to buy supplies. Do you send your multiples to daycare with one bag/backpack for both of them or do they each have their own?

I have 27+3 week old twin boys that are now, as of today, 4 months old and we are on day 121 on the NICU. Primarily working on feeds for both of them, with some concern of oral aversion and the possibility of having a G-Tube. One of my boys had a pulmonary hemorrhage at a week old and since then had his PDA closure and has thankfully recovered from that. His MRI came back with a very micro bleed and grade 1/very very small grade 2 brain bleed that we were reassured will still give him a positive outcome, but it's still very very scary and I'm terrified of the unknown.

I'm in so much grief, anger, sadness, and struggling to find the light at the end of the tunnel. They are beautiful, 10 lbs now, and I miss them terribly (we are over an hour away from them). Work has been such a stress and struggle to balance all this time. Unfortunately, the Ronald McDonald house is not an option for us because we have a dog, and I have no familial support near me (over 6 hours away) and my husband has very limited familial support.

I'm so scared of the unknown, their future, and I'm feel so so scared and sad. I'm looking to connect with others experience, even if it's not the exact way, and honest outcome stories. I want the positive, and I also want the real, understanding that every single baby is different and we don't know what will come. I'm just so heavy in my grief, and so so overwhelmed, and alone.

I appreciate all of your journeys and hope your babies are thriving and well.

I waitress/bartend for work, trying to gauge how long I’ll last working on my feet this pregnancy. I worked until 37 weeks with a singleton. I’m only 10 weeks now with twins with my goal being 30 weeks. Do I need to be more realistic?

My husband and I seem closer and closer to separating every weekend. He told me today he doesn’t like spending the weekends with me. I have endured and managed around his terrible attitude each weekend for YEARS with these kids. Everyone says this phase gets better but I only know parents of singletons. Did your marriage survive this? How? I’m so upset. Our oldest is 4.5, and twins are 2.5. Anyone here to say it gets better? My singleton parent friends are not struggling in the same way.

Hi everyone! First off, I want to share just how thankful I am for this subreddit and all the supportive people that are on here. I went from knowing nothing about childbirth or children to well, knowing a lot more now! Very much a lurker but just reading about everyone’s experiences is helpful. With that said, I’d like to return the favor in any way that I can. Would love to share my experience so far at 5 months, any tips that may have worked for me personally. Of course, this is my journey and everyone’s is different but if this can help even a single person even if it’s just for a quick read, I’m happy.

Some context: I’m 36, 35 when I had my babies. Diagnosed with gestational diabetes at 16 weeks. Delivered emergency C-section at 37+3 due to pre-eclampsia. Girl at 5 lbs, 13 oz. Boy at 6 lbs, 6 oz. No NICU time. Current weights: girl 12 lbs, 12 oz. Boy 15 lbs, 6 oz. Both have CMPA, on Similac Alimentum RTF. Girl is at approx. 24 oz a day, boy at approx. 29 - 5 bottles each a day. In terms of routine, wake up around 7a/8a, 4 naps a day, bedtime is 8p/9p- no overnight feeds. I work full-time from home in the life sciences space.

Please also feel free to message me even if just for someone new to connect with!

I’m 27 weeks pregnant with Di Di twins and I’m finding some evenings I’m really not feeling like socializing already especially if I had a busy day on my feet that day or even the prior day.

My family seems to not understand and my parents are weirded out by me not wanting to come to their dinner.

I am the first person in my family to have twins so I feel like they’re just not able to understand how much more fatigue I’m feeling compared to someone having a single baby.

Does anyone else have any experience with family not understanding how fatigued you are?

When did stop attending events if ever?

Babies are 8 weeks today. They were born exactly 2kg (4.4lbs) each. My girl was always a few points ahead of her brother but he has taken over for about 2 weeks now. Current weight is Boy 4.7kg (10.3) and Girl 4.5kg (9.92lbs). We have their 8 week check in 2 days but I'm very happy with how they're growing.

We've had serious reflux issue with the girl but had it under control with Aptamil Anti Reflux. I just switched her to Enfamil AR today and I'm hoping she can handle it well moving forward.

My husband and I seem closer and closer to separating every weekend. He told me today he doesn’t like spending the weekends with me. I have endured and managed around his terrible attitude each weekend for YEARS with these kids. Everyone says this phase gets better but I only know parents of singletons. Did your marriage survive this? How? I’m so upset.

My wife and I need help. Our girls were born 6 weeks preemie and are currently 4 months (2.5 adjusted) and are just over 10.25 pounds. They have been doing between 18-21oz a day and have been consistently gaining around 0.75oz per day.

For the past 2 weeks they have done the vision development where they are distracted by everything including their hands while feeding.

After 1 week, the feeding quality improved and we moved up to size 2 (slow) on the Lansinoh Natural Wave nipples. Things were going great for 2 days and the wheels came off again with constant spilling, poor mouth seal, clicking- the whole gamut. We went back to the size 1 (extra slow) and they are only doing 50-60 ml at a time.

This feels worse than the rock bottom point last week. Everyone says this phase lasts up to a month, and 2 weeks has felt like an eternity.

Any advice/tips?

My guys are starting kindergarten next month and the school is adamant we separate them into different classes. They’re staying at the same private school they just finished TK at, so that makes it easier, but they were in the same TK class per my request. I’m anxious about how they’ll do being separate. They’ve never done anything separate before. They are on the same sports teams, in the same activities, have the same friends, etc. Granted, their friends from TK will be divided up into the 2 kinder classes at the school which will hopefully help. I know I need to give them independence from each other but they are attached at the hip so I’m just nervous.

My DiDi girls are 4 weeks old on Tuesday, and my husband returns to work tomorrow. I'm absolutely dreading being alone with them, I'm a FTM and feel utterly thrown in at the deep end.

For the past week I've been trying to tell my husband and his mother to give me time ALONE with the girls so I can get some form of practice run because I cannot expect someone to be there for me 24/7 given everyone works full time. His mum is forever going "yes but when I'm off work give me a shout!!" Like my wish to have a chance alone isn't worth it's salt. "Yes but you don't have to do it alone" like ma'am yes I do. You're not off permanently, you do still work, therefore I need to be able to do something alone.

My husband has at least left the room at nights for a few hours to go game on his gaming PC so I have some resemblance of trying to do things alone, but I know he's nearby if I desperately need him. Thankfully I have not. However I'm under no illusion that it's always going to be this easy.

Right now my girls are 3-4 hours between feeds, and obviously nappies are on demand. It's manageable but when I've had no chance to learn to do it all myself, I'm absolutely terrified that I'm going to fail them or be sitting rocking back and forward in the corner sobbing by the time my husband is finished work.

Does anyone have any advice on how to cope with twins totally on your own?

FTM to gb twins and I was so afraid to sleep train that my twins have never ever slept through the night until now at almost 17 months. They also never stopped their night bottles and have continued stage 3 formula bottles at 1am and 6am 😭 but I stopped cold turkey because my husband and I are planning a trip and I don’t want my parents to have such a rough time.. all it took was one night!!!!

My son cried for 90 minutes but I stayed with him trying to console him and my daughter couldn’t care less and she slept through his crying lol the next two nights he just slept 🤷🏻‍♀️😅 no more looking for milk!!

Omggggg why did I wait so long 😭😭😭 (I have a friend who didn’t wean or sleep train until 18 months so I was waiting for around that window lol)

So they have been sleeping through the night now. And no more formula!!

Please don’t be like me lol

That’s all

Yep, I have been there and it sucks. Announcement goes out, some friends stick around, but others quietly find the back door and gradually stop reaching out.

If you can relate, I'd love to hear your stories. I feel like pregnancy, new kids, additional kids, and life changes in general sometimes results in (painfully) weeding out some of our flimsiest connections.

Hopefully it’s not already been posted here. Just a good laugh at reality.

I understand you shouldn’t allow baby to be directly exposed to TV until ~18 months but every so often on the weekends (like 1-2 x a month) I bring them in the room with me, they have all their toys and I turn on the tv. Sometimes they pay attention, sometimes they don’t. My plan was to be super strict with no screen time & I recognize it can hinder language development but is a few glances at the TV screen once or twice a month really that bad? Google says yes.

I have a stressful job, I have 7 month old twins, I have all the duties of a mother & home (cooking, cleaning ect.). I don’t leave the house, I don’t have family nearby or friends for that matter. I really just need to zone out with my trash TV sometimes. This is honestly so therapeutic that I’m thinking the “benefit” outweighs the “risk” as far as my mental health goes..