Bringing home a new baby is a precious time for any parent, but it can also be stressful.  When there are twins or multiples that stress is amplified.  It seems as if you will never have a restful sleep again when you have one baby, but when there are two or more at one time to care for, sleep deprivation is an even bigger issue.  Sleep deprivation along with Mom’s hormonal changes and possible depression wreak havoc on the emotions of everyone involved.  Even when the parents are experienced and have help from family and friends, multiple babies are still a handful to say the least.  It takes a lot of thought and planning when you are going to be bringing home twins.  The following will cover common mistakes made my new and experienced parents of multiples and how resolve some of these mistakes.

Sleep Deprivation:

Since we covered this problem in the beginning paragraph, we will discuss how to resolve this issue first.  Newborns typically nap for at least a couple of hours at a time, so when they sleep, you should take that time to nap.  This is not the ideal sleep pattern, but it will help get you through and stay more alert, fresh and less cranky.  This rule is for Mom and Dad respectively.  You can take turns and/or get help if your twins or multiples do not sleep at the same time.

Running Out of Necessary Supplies:

It is way too easy to fail to keep up with supply in demand with twins.  You need double the supplies to handle the demand of two babies.  That means double the diapers, double the clothes, double the bottles, double the formula and food and double all other necessary supplies.  Smart and detailed planning is an absolute necessity with any newborn’s arrival, but especially with twins.

Baby Confusion:

This may seem odd, but confusing the babies is common.  Which one did I just feed?  Which one did I just change?  Which one is which?  This confusion is due to identical twins as much as it is from sleep deprivation and hormonal changes.  You can solve this problem by using a chart (it is well worth it) to track feeding, changing and nap time.  If you have identical twins, you can simply put a little colored nail polish on a toenail to tell them apart.

No Asking for Help:

It is common for new parents (or over protective experienced parents) to fail to ask for help from family and friends.  That’s a big mistake since multiples are so demanding.  Recruiting help results in being able to get the rest you need.  All you have to do is delegate tasks to the person or people that are helping you and be organized about it.  You can familiarize them with the chart(s) and your system to keep things balanced at home.  You will have no trouble finding help as people love to help with babies.

Becoming Reclusive and Isolated:

It seems that many parents of twins and multiples tend to forget to socialize.  It will help if you find other parents with multiples to be around.  You will be able to pick their brains and naturally they will be happy to offer up advice about handling twins.  It is also a great support system and release for you.

Lack of Flexibility:

There is no one way to take care of twins that will work for everyone, so trying to follow textbook examples and advice will not always help.  You have to be flexible enough to work with the family as a whole to schedule around everyone and establish a routine that fits your household lifestyle.

Losing Your Perspective:

It is easy to forget about how things will get better and change when you have bad days with the babies.  You are so busy trying to maintain some semblance of order that you fail to enjoy the precious moments that will soon be gone.  They are only babies once and you need to stay focused in order to enjoy the new baby smell, first smile, cooing and snuggling that you have with them now.  Keep in mind that things will get easier every day.

Keeping Your Priorities in Order:

Again, it is easy to lose sight of your priorities with just one newborn much less with twins in the house.  Do what you can to keep things as simple as possible and don’t try to overdo or extend yourself too far.  Remember that it will be some time before you are able to manage the extra little things you used to do before the babies.

Let’s briefly summarize how you can avoid common mistakes with your newborn twins.  Take time to enjoy them, keep things simple, be organized, make charts, delegate tasks, get some rest when you can, socialize, get advice from veteran parents of twins and relax.  You will find more joy and pleasure with your twins when you keep things in perspective.