"How do you do it?"...I will be blunt!

So, what a day I had today! I went to Target to meet up with another local mom of twins- her twins are 1 month younger than my girls. They were so cute too- a boy and a girl...we browsed around while sipping some Starbucks, got lots of stares, lots of comments but...get this! We ran into 3 other moms of twins in the book aisle! 5 sets of twins in ONE aisle!!!!! WOW!!!

Afterwards, I stopped to see my good friend Michele. I seriously love this woman! She was my "boss" when I was her intern in college and she continues to keep in touch with me, help me out with career moves, etc..not to mention that she basically ROCKS and her and her family are awesome people! Anyway, she kept asking me how I do it...she said "no, really Jess...how do you do it?" and I just shrugged and gave my stand-by "I just do" response. Though, lately, I have been itching to tell people how I really do manage it...so, I will be blunt and here it goes. Watch out! :)

I can't even go into the pregnancy right now- I don't have that much time. So, we'll start from birth. Breastfeeding twins? You have two boobs, you have two babies! Plain and simple. Though, that approach does require some assistance, especially with preemies- one will latch, you get the other one on only to have the original baby come off...its a mess. When Jason went back to work and I was alone (gasp!) I would cry all day because I was just surviving from one feeding to the next. I always had some anxiety as feeding time approached and a sense of "well, at least they are fed" after each feeding. I remember crying to my friend one day and she said to me "stop pumping Jessica!"...That's right, I was pumping, nursing, tandem nursing (nursing both at once) as well as supplementing with bottles. My gosh! Talk about all the work and none of the benefits. I can't speak for all twin moms but this is what I ended up doing when Jason had to go back to work- I got up with them in the morning and they got a bottle of 100% formula. Then, I pumped once they were satisfied. Then, I made bottles for the day- it took about 8-10 bottles of 50% breast milk and 50% formula mixed together to get me thru the day. Those bottles were for ONE baby. I nursed the other one. So, next feeding at 11 or so, I would nurse baby A and baby B would get a bottle. At 2:00, I swapped. This went on until bedtime bottles...at bedtime they got 100% formula, I pumped and went to bed. Those two pumpings gave me enough to make 50/50 bottles all day and freeze some for the future. Plus, I got to nurse one and one and experience that.

Here are the girls- totally milk drunk after a tandem nursing session:


These were MY essentials for nursing twins
Medela hospital grade pump:


EZ 2 Nurse Twin Nursing Pillow


Now, bottle feedings- I put both of them in a large Boppy pillow side by side and sit on the floor in front of them and feed them. At least once a day they get one on one feedings with me and ALWAYS one on one snuggle feedings at bedtime.

Two sets of needs that need to be met? You have two hands and you have two kids. Period. You learn very quickly how to do the "double scoop" and I found that picking them both up at once worked much better as they got more head control. For awhile it was pure hell because I literally had to do everything twice- walk in, pick up Addisen, take her in the living room and get her settled. Go back and do it all over again with Parker. I could not feed them both at once for awhile either (and didn't really want to). I had deliberately spaced them out about 30 minutes between feedings so that I never had two sets of needs(i.e. two babies screaming at me) at once.

Now, I just scoop them both up in my arms and away we go. I can open doors with both of them in my arms, I can pick things up off the floor wiht both of them hanging from my arms...it just works. I think you get used to it.





Solid feedings- one bowl, one spoon, a bite to A, a bite to B...back and forth. Its just that simple. HA! Or so it sounds. When one won't eat, one wants to eat faster...it can get hairy when they are first learning but now we have it DOWN!

Two mobile babies? We are venturing in this territory and are buying a CAGE tonight actually. This is what we are getting and I personally, cannot wait!



Going out in public? Invest in a variety of double strollers, front carriers, etc. I never grocery shop alone unless its a small trip. I refuse to drag a cart behind me with a stroller in front of me...I get stopped enough by stupid people- that is the last thing I need- to draw more attention to myself! HA HA! My friend uses a Bjorn front carrier for one twin and puts the other one in the cart to shop...not a bad idea. With my luck, whoever was in the Bjorn would be screaming while the one in the cart would be falling out. Lovely.

We have spent over $400 on two strollers and are still searching for that perfect twin stroller...good luck! They don't make one. A tandem and a side by side are both equally important in different situations. I love my jogging stroller! Love it!





My final response to "how do you do it?" with going out in public is that I ignore people. I have a 2" bubble that I put on and I do not even pretend to hear what people say in passing, I walk fast and move along. Comments like "Oh twins!" and "Double trouble" are not clever...we have heard it before. Move on people!

If you have ANY questions about other logistics of doing things with twins...ask away! I love to share!