If you are a parent of twins you must have thought about this and may have even asked a fellow twin parent – when does it get easier with twins?
I had a high-risk tough pregnancy with twins. I suffered from hyper gravida emesis that led to extreme nausea and vomiting for the entire nine months. I was hospitalized twice during the course of my pregnancy and was adviced bed rest all through. At that time, while sitting in one room gulping multiple meds, taking weekly injections, puking every second hour while dealing with sciatica pain, I would often wonder when would things get easier for me. And everyone in my family would say – it will get easier when the twins would arrive.
When my twins arrived and we brought them home, then began a whole new phase. The initial few months were like the survival mode – too overwhelming to understand anything beyond how to feed and pacify two crying babies. We were just sailing through our way into new things and a new routine. And we often wondered is it going to remain the same now or things will change and eventually become easier too.
A lot of twin parents say that things never get easier with twins, they only become different. But is it true? Now that my twins are 3 years old, I can easily say with every new milestone that kids achieved, they became a bit easier and manageable.
To share from personal experience there were a certain milestones that did make things easy for me with twins. Let me share them here one by one.
1.When they started semi solids (6-12 months)
Breastfeeding twins is usually a task. I have spent endless sleepless night simply expressing milk, feeding burping and putting two babies to sleep. So when semi solids started things became easier and all of us could sleep for a straight 8 hours at night.
2 When they started communicating (18-24 months)
Even simple words like ‘yes’, ‘no’ etc made life easier. And ofcourse fun too. We could understand what they need and that screaming and crying of one baby after the other reduced a lot.
3 When they started taking one nap a day (18-24 months)
This helped because when they were taking 2 naps a day we were almost home bound. They would just eat, poop, sleep, repeat. So when they shifted to just one nap we found other mornings and evening to ourselves and we could manage a lot of other activities.
4. When they began schooling (24 months beyond)
They learn so much from school – how to sit at oen place, how to enjoy activities. Their eating habits, sleeping habits etc everything improved once school began. Most importantly I started to get a two hours of breather at home to focus my energies on some other activities beyond kids.
5. When they started eating on their own (24 months)
No more long hours of holding the food plate and running after two kids to make them eat. They could sit at one place all through the meal time and feed themselves (without creating much mess ofcourse). And it certainly seemes a big task is off my shoulders now.
I won’t deny with every new milestone new challenges arrive too, but hey as parents don’t we get routinized and habitual? As kids grow, we parents too learn the art of handling two together and eventually learn a few tricks that work for us. Don’t we?
So to answer the question when does it get easier with twins? I would say they get easier every six months as twins grow and as we parents grow too and become more habitual of raising twins.
Did you find this post useful? Do share your views in the comments below.Β
This post is a part of#BlogchatterA2Z Challenge. You can find all 26 posts onΒ βA to Z of Twin ParentingβΒ under the hashtags #atozoftwinparenting and #themomsagaswrites onΒ FacebookΒ andΒ Twitter
Honestly, I feel the same way just about one kid! I agree with every milestone you have highlighted here.
I am mother of One and I agree with your milestones and highlights.
I salute you for your efforts dear. I can imagine the situation here, how many time I also feel stuck dealing with them.
My auny has twins so I know how diifficult it is to raise twins. It was nice reading your part of the story ?
I have the same feeling, even when raising one child at a time. And I so agree with your sentence that parents too get accustomed to raising the kids . It is actually a learning experience for both.
Parents and kids grow together. itβs a beautiful journey with twins. You have explained so well.
I am sure all twin parents will relate to this article. It was an interesting read.
I always feel that raising a kid is tough but with twins it’s twice as hard. It’s great that you’ve taken the hardships on your stride, Charu. Focus on the positives. ?
I just imagine how difficult it is to raise two babies at the same time. But as the time passes, we really become habitual of the routine, and the other stuff. You have written a very insightful post.
Raising a child is a tricky task and with twins this job becomes more challenging. Your milestones shows that you have done a great parenting. Hats off to you.
raising a kid is so demanding, sometimes i am in awe of mothers β who handle twins. great list of question and answers. i am sure will be helpful to many.
You deserve a salute for the efforts put in to handle twins. It is a task but you do it well.
I can understand you ..in my family ,there are twins parent andvi can imagine the initial days situation.. But as you said by time it will be more easier to handle and managable..