5 Hints for Twin Moms Part 1

1. ANY diaper pail will be obsolete in the battle against the war of the never ending diaper. Yes they CAN help with the lovely smell of that 2 am diaper ambush, but while those liners can usually last a week with one baby, you will be looking at going through at least three a week with twins. (I know the math doesn’t add up there but trust me, for some reason twins seem to always make three times as much mess as a single baby in any aspect.)  You are better off, saving all of those grocery bags you get and then just double bagging the little bundles of smell.
2. Don’t feel bad for propping bottles. When I was home alone with my twins for the first time since they came home from the NICU I was lucky enough that I had had a few weeks to heal myself ( not that having babies in the NICU is lucky ) but it was still a fun time learning how to handle two screaming babies when they were hungry at the same time. I was lucky enough that I received two travel swings at my baby shower. (One item I would HIGHLY recommend getting in pairs.) I figured if I held one baby while propping the other baby during feedings then i could prevent the screaming. The trick is to switch babies half way through the feeding when it was time to burp. I would burp the one I was holding then put him in his swing and prop his bottle, then I would pick the other one up and burp him then hold him for the rest of his feeding.  (Never prop a bottle while you are away from your child, in the car or at night time. In addition to the chances of aspiration or choking, continuos and long term propping can cause ear infections, baby bottle teeth and also deprives your little one and you of great bonding time) 
3. Don’t feel bad if you get them confused. Now obviously this isn’t for everyone. I had identical twin boys.... YEP double dose of boys. There were a few small differences at first. One was a little bigger, one was a little redder. But in the end, I can’t guarantee that I wouldn’t have fed the same baby twice in the middle of the night if I hadn’t had painted their toe nails.  ( Be cautious with this one if you have silly family. My brother decided to switch the nail polish on the twins one day when I was at work.  Luckily I trust my brother enough to know he knew which one was which in the end.  Although to this day I still wonder if I ever switched them up and A is really B and Bis really A.... )
4. If your twins are not your first children then you have an idea of what to expect as they get older. I.E. MOBILE!  However I said an IDEA. Think back to what your older child got into.... now double that and that is most likely SOME of what your twins will get into. Even when they are safely tucked in their cribs for nap time it is not always safe to assume they are not getting into something. Let me paint you a picture. You just put the twins down for nap, you finally have 2 hours to yourself and you decide a nap and a shower are in order. You decide to check on them after an hour, like every other day, however this time you open the door to see they have discovered their diapers contained this great finger paint that looked soooo much better than the baby blue walls you picked out before they came home. THAT was a great day.... lets just end that story with them getting MY shower, and me getting to use up the last 3 magic erasers I had. 
5. It may seem easier at first to cater to each of their individual schedules, but trust me thats just setting yourself up for exhaustion, 48 hours with no sleep for you and a very frazzled home life.  When one wakes up to eat, WAKE THE OTHER ONE UP. Same thing for diaper changes if the little sleepy one needs it as well. Doing this takes a little longer each time since your dealing with both of them, but it will save you from finally laying down at 3 am just to be woken up at 3:10 am by the other one. Doing this is most likely what saved my sanity those first few weeks after they came home while we all adjusted to them.