Having twins means double the trouble but twice the fun too.
After battling a whole host of problems that came along with my sweet little twin girls, here's my advice to all mummies-to-be of multiples:
(1) Get your husband involved. Remind him (everyday!) that these are his children too. He needs to know that you'll need him to help out (a lot!) and that he'll need to take on some babycare duties too! My husband didn't quite understand that and the first few weeks were hell for me as I struggled to juggle housework and caring for the girls at the same time. It also has meant that, till today, he hasn't got a clue how to prepare their formula milk or change their diapers... and has no interest in learning how.
(2) Get the rest of your family involved (if you can). If not, get a maid early. You're gonna need a lot of extra pairs of hands. But be careful who you select. Make sure this person shares your feelings and beliefs about childcare (or, at least, follows them). My mum-in-law helped me with the girls for the first few months and she was great at teaching me how to feed and care for the babies, but it also became blatantly obvious, as the weeks went by, that she and I had entirely different parenting styles - when the babies cried, she yelled at them, while I cuddled them. It's still a source of contention and friction in the family today...
(3) Don't expect too much of yourself. I tried to breastfeed both my girls simultaneously. But I just couldn't manage it. So, if both girls were hungry at the same time, my mum-in-law bottlefed one of them, while I breastfed the other. We always swopped at the next feeding to make sure that both of them got some breastmilk daily.
(4) Remember that it's okay to cry. But get help if you can't stop. I had horrible post-natal depression and the fact that nobody in my family understood what I was going through didn't help one bit. Fortunately, I finally snapped out of it when the girls were 6 months old, but the emotional damage had been done by then and I've never really been able to bond with my girls, even now. I'm fond of them but they've never really felt like 'my' babies... And I'm still much more comfortable in the office than at home.
(5) Always tell yourself that it'll get more fun later on. It will!
After battling a whole host of problems that came along with my sweet little twin girls, here's my advice to all mummies-to-be of multiples:
(1) Get your husband involved. Remind him (everyday!) that these are his children too. He needs to know that you'll need him to help out (a lot!) and that he'll need to take on some babycare duties too! My husband didn't quite understand that and the first few weeks were hell for me as I struggled to juggle housework and caring for the girls at the same time. It also has meant that, till today, he hasn't got a clue how to prepare their formula milk or change their diapers... and has no interest in learning how.
(2) Get the rest of your family involved (if you can). If not, get a maid early. You're gonna need a lot of extra pairs of hands. But be careful who you select. Make sure this person shares your feelings and beliefs about childcare (or, at least, follows them). My mum-in-law helped me with the girls for the first few months and she was great at teaching me how to feed and care for the babies, but it also became blatantly obvious, as the weeks went by, that she and I had entirely different parenting styles - when the babies cried, she yelled at them, while I cuddled them. It's still a source of contention and friction in the family today...
(3) Don't expect too much of yourself. I tried to breastfeed both my girls simultaneously. But I just couldn't manage it. So, if both girls were hungry at the same time, my mum-in-law bottlefed one of them, while I breastfed the other. We always swopped at the next feeding to make sure that both of them got some breastmilk daily.
(4) Remember that it's okay to cry. But get help if you can't stop. I had horrible post-natal depression and the fact that nobody in my family understood what I was going through didn't help one bit. Fortunately, I finally snapped out of it when the girls were 6 months old, but the emotional damage had been done by then and I've never really been able to bond with my girls, even now. I'm fond of them but they've never really felt like 'my' babies... And I'm still much more comfortable in the office than at home.
(5) Always tell yourself that it'll get more fun later on. It will!