Twins the First Year

A wonderful twin mommy and blogger writes on the experience of twins the first year.

Twins: Year One

by Angel Rodrigues

After I survived the first thirty days of bringing twin newborns home and still caring for my two year old, I had to reassure myself that it will get better. Despite adversities like postpartum depression, a newly developed thyroid problem and having recently moved to a new state, where I knew no one, I managed to survive the first year of having twins, as did they, with barely a scratch on them. Okay, maybe that one time, when one baby rolled on the changing table down onto a toy, as I caught him in mid air, but not in time to prevent the lump on his head from banging the table leg on the way down. Then there was also that time the cat ran across the room, as my toddler was chasing her and she ran across a baby laying on the floor activity pad and scratched his face along the way. The horror and screams that followed were enough to give us all nightmares. However, the first year of raising twins was not only the hardest time of my life, but the most rewarding.


Now that I am on the other end of a year long search for the answer to whether it will get better or not, I can honestly say, it does. All those countless mom’s I ran into in the grocery store or pediatrician’s office weren’t lying to me and just trying to make me feel better. It really does get better.

A large part of the twin the first year is finding what works and what works for one baby doesn’t necessarily work for the other. However, forced schedules are key to survival for all involved. Feeding the babies one right after the other and accepting that the one waiting will cry or complain in some way shape or form is an inevitability that you will have to accept. If you have the luxury of someone to help you then by all means, feed them at the same time. I had further adversities in the form of Colic and Acid Reflux or GERD as they call it in my twins. One twin had both and the other had Colic alone. So special formula’s, gas relief med’s, baby cereal in bottles, propping up after feedings and during sleep time. All part of the package of having babies. You never know what fun things they are going to come home with to make it all that more interesting. By the fifth month, we added Zantac to GERD babies daily regime and the rolling crying sessions from colic and GERD came every day off and on, but like clockwork, at 5pm everyday, they cried for what seemed like an eternity. I dreaded going out, in fear that I would be stuck somewhere and 5 o’clock would roll around and I’d be inflicting my crying clan on others or worse, where we were would upset the babies more and make the crying worse. I really had to accept that babies will cry. A sound you never really get used to, but learn to over ride with the thought that there is nothing you can do, but let them get it out.


Putting my boys to bed at the same time every night with the same bedtime routine was essential to survival. With GERD and colic though, there was frequent wake ups and crying sessions. Then by the time that worked itself out in month six, the teeth started coming in. Learning to roll with the punches is how you survive motherhood. Learning to predict the punch and duck is how you survive year one with multiples.

When I look back on what I could have done differently with twins the first year, I come up with a short list of things that I did at the time, because they worked for my first child. My first singleton child had his pacifier for what I consider, too long. He had it until he was two years old. We weaned him from it and the last year he was only using it at bedtime, but he would not sleep without one and in the event that one was lost or forgotten, all hell broke loose. So when the twins came, I said “never again.” So we weaned the twins off at three months, just as the books said to do. Well, now I have a baby that sucks on a furry blanket to sleep and cannot sleep without the blanket and the other sucks on his hand to sleep and constantly has a wet, wrinkled hand. So in hindsight, I would have let them have their pacifiers. I cannot take away a hand and now getting rid of a blanket is harder, as I cannot satisfy that loss with something else. But since I am not about to run out now and get pacifiers and digress my children, I live with the crying that is sometimes not satisfied in any other way. Again, in hindsight, I would have kept the pacifiers longer.

Living in the past and regret though is no way to enjoy the first year or the coming years of motherhood with multiples. To see them sitting around talking baby talk to each other that only each other understands. This is an experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. To see them cuddle with their older brother and hug each other and say I love you, is enough to bring tears of happiness to your eyes. The independent play and then group play amongst the multiples is so enlightening. How each one learns differently and at different rates. How each of your multiples shows you how strong and how weak you are all in the same moment. Life with twins the first year is a big blur, but when the picture comes in you will be glad you tuned in.