Features « How Do You Do It?

Features

Regular Features on How Do You Do It?

Ask the Multiple Moms (Wednesdays)

Have a question about life with multiples? Wonder how to get through airport security, feed two at once, or just plain get out of the house? Use the comments below to ask your burning questions, and every week we’ll pick a topic and compile our responses.

Foodie Fridays

Ah, feeding our children. A constantly evolving ~~challenge~~ joy, from their first hours through teenage years. On Fridays here at How Do You Do It?, we’ll discuss food-related topics. Something you want us to talk about? Ask in the comments!

Product Reviews (Weekends)

Babies seem to come with or require a lot of stuff. Multiple babies mean even more stuff (though not always two of everything!), so we need to be even pickier about what we need and what we don’t, what works and what doesn’t. Every weekend we’ll tell you what real moms think of something “they” say you must have.

23 Responses to “Features”

on February 22, 2008 at 4:03 pm1 Christina of The Twin Set Moms

Hi Ladies. You tell it like it is, are hilarious and helpful. What a perfect combination for us bleary-eyed moms of multiples. Keep up the awesome work. As you know, moms of multiples work their butts off every day caring for their twins and we need to support each other. Do me a huge favor and check out the blog I’ve been writing with my buddy. We are at twinsetmoms.com. Our blog isn’t as cool as yours because we’ve mostly been focusing our attention on this book we wrote about caring for young twins. The book is going to rock because it includes strategies and anecdotes from moms of multiples all over the country. It was a ton of work for us to write a survey, post in on line, field the results and incorporate them into our book, but the result will truly be helpful to future moms of multiples. The book, Twin Set, comes out in July 2008. We can’t wait to share it with amazing moms like you. Thanks for being so cool. Your fan, Christina
on February 22, 2008 at 4:04 pm2 Christina of The Twin Set Moms

p.s. We’d be honored if you could put our blog on your blog roll. When we figure out how to do ours, we will reciprocate, of course!!! Thanks. Christina
on February 24, 2008 at 4:21 pm3 Heather

Hey all if you need another moms input let me know, cuz we all know that there is NEVER enough advise out there.
on March 19, 2008 at 2:58 pm4 Amanda

The question I keep thinking about is my babies are only about 5 months old right now, I keep thinking to myself how am i going to do this when they are in the stage of crawling and the beginnings of walking? And when they are out of their infant car seats!?! My double stroller is a life saver but i dont always bring that everywhere!! How do you get around at stores in the shopping cart? Its not like you can walk into the store with two on your hips……… can you? It just seems like a nightmare to even go anywhere at that age! Please prove me wrong! : )
on March 28, 2008 at 2:46 am5 Jaya

Having twin girls, who’ve just turned one, I felt at sea most of the time. The early months are a blur, where I managed to lose touch with work buddies and the outside world!

Since my hubby, K, travels a lot on work I have had to take on the responsibility of parenting both kids. I must confess, I feel overwhelmed most of the time.

So as of now I spend my 15 minutes of free ‘me’ time reading this great blog. Thanks for voicing concerns and making this journey of motherhood a wee-bit more entertaining.

As for your segment, “Ask the Multiple Moms,” I have a question.
My daughter, Chellu, has been waking up nearly every second night, screaming as if in pain. The doctor says, it’s night time terrors. A term that did little to make the problem go away. He says it will stop on its own. But it is going to be a month and my little girl continues to wake up crying. I have tried rocking her, carrying her and walking, but none of this helps. I even tried to wake her up, switching on the lights in the room, but the screaming doesn’t seem to stop. During the day, she seems fine and even naps well. Any suggestions would be welcome at this point because I’m functioning on very little sleep and running out of patience.
on April 7, 2008 at 3:44 pm6 Jessica

Hello fellow MOM’s! It’s been great reading all perspectives. I am a first time mom to 14 month old b/g twins. And, I have a question!

We are working towards saying ‘buh bye’ to our plugs, pacis, nuks, whatever the word of the day is. At this point, nap time and bed time is the only time they are used. We realize that this in and of itself is a big accomplishment.

Here is the problem.

Any given night, at least one is going to wake up crying for some reason or another. I, needing my beauty sleep, go on pluggy patrol. Find the pluggy as quick as I can, and insert into mouth as quick as I can. Sleepy time continues. Sounds good to me.

Not to dear husband. He thinks we’re giving in to a bigger issue. We should let them cry it out and learn to soothe themselves. Fine by me. BUT, they share a room. And I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon. So, if I let one cry it out, I’m sure the other will wake up, and we’ll have two little ones ‘crying it out.’

Any suggestions?

Thank you!
on April 10, 2008 at 1:33 am7 lyna

i’ve a question, it may be a bit off-topic because it concerns my eldest daughter, not my twins, but i’m sure all parents face this problem.

my daughter is almost 3 1/2 yrs old, and she’s not potty trained yet. i tried a few times, and sometimes she succesfully ‘goes’ in the potty. she gives up so easily though, because everytime she has an accident she will insist on putting on her nappy back. the longest we manage to keep her off her nappy is half a day. she’s not all to be blamed though, i’m guilty as well. sometimes i’m just too lazy to deal with it that i keep putting it off. especially when i’m busy with the twins or anything else. i’m also dreading when the time comes to potty train the twins!

seriously, potty training is the most difficult part of parenting i’ve had so far. so please, help!
on April 10, 2008 at 2:57 pm8 Betsy

Here’s my question: my twins are newly mobile and their sister (a mere 18 months older) is suddenly VERY territorial. I’d expect that, I suppose, but I’m wondering if any of you have any advice on how to encourage the singleton sibling to share while at the same time recognizing that two against one is hard to deal with. Any thoughts?
on May 2, 2008 at 12:14 pm9 Tricia

I was wondering if any of you have tried to tackle the topic of post-partum depression in any of your posts or blogs? I remember reading a statistic that MoM, for various reasons, sometimes have a higher rate of PPD than singletons do. Have any of you experienced this, if so to what extent and how did you get help? This would be excellent advice for expecting/pregnant MoM or new MoM with newborns. Its such a serious, potentially dangerous problem that needs more support from all of us mothers, particuliarly MoM. Thanks!
on May 4, 2008 at 10:00 pm10 courtney

Hi, I really enjoy this site…you guys are doing a great job! My question is a very much “How do you do it”. I have an almost 5 year old, almost 3 year old, and 7 month old twins. The last 7 months have been the hardest in my life so far. I feel like there is never enough time in the day. How do you find time for every one? I feel like I’m spread so thin, anyone else feel this way? And most recently our biggest problem is sleeping. For almost two months we’ve been trying to get the twins to sleep in their own beds. We’ve got the going down part, but the staying asleep part is not going well. They wake every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. We’ve let them cry, fed them more, and given them motrin (teething). Nothing is working. We are so sleep deprived I’m considering quiting nursing and starting formula. Did anyone else ever go through this? How did you make through? Any advice/tips/pointers would be awesome!
Thanks
Courtney
on May 7, 2008 at 4:36 pm11 courtney

Oh and I would also be honored if I made your blog roll

Thanks
Courtney
on May 20, 2008 at 1:30 am12 lyna

hi. my fraternal g/g twins will turn 1 next month. my problem is they can’t seem to stand each other! Twin 2 always snatches things out of Twin 1’s hands and Twin 1 would sometimes fight back, but most of the time would just scream her heart out. recently, they’ve started fighting by pulling at each other’s hairs, clothes and hitting each other. it will always end up with either one of them crying or both screaming at the top of their lungs! i’m at a loss, i mean, aren’t they supposed to be the bestest friends? i don’t want to take sides, but i sometimes tend to attend to Twin 1 as she seems like the weaker one.

i wonder if MoMs at HDYDI ever face such a problem and how did you handle it? i long for the day when they would play nicely and happily together…
on May 30, 2008 at 1:18 pm13 Shelley

I’m a mom of boy/girl twin 10 month olds in Noblesville, Indiana. Summer is FINALLY upon us and we are trying to plan some weekend trips, but I’m not sure what the babies will enjoy. Other than the zoo, what activities are popular with 10-14 month olds (we’re planning through the beginning of the fall)? I’ve looked into a couple of small amusement parks and water parks with “toddler” areas, but wasn’t sure what age is appropriate for this, so that they’ll really be able to participate. We are also looking into the beach, but I worry that we will spend our time trying to keep them from eating the sand. Any help is appreciated. I think I’m just looking forward to leaving town after a LONG winter!!!!!

Shelley
on June 2, 2008 at 10:33 am14 Nicole

Hello, lovely Mommies!
Im wondering about cloth diapers. I’d love to try them, but am overwhelmed by all the different options out there. Have you ever used cloth diapers? Can you recommend top brands to me?
on June 23, 2008 at 1:25 pm15 Maren

HELP!
How do you breastfeed twins in public? Or do I just stay trapped in my house for a year? My twins eat every 2-2.5 hours during the day, so I’ve only been out to take a quick walk around the neighborhood or a quick trip to Target.
And I bought nursing bras and they are super uncomfortable. Any recommendations for nursing bras that are comfy and not too expensive?
on June 24, 2008 at 11:52 am16 Nicole

Hey! I have g/g 4month olds! They are getting to the point where they are no longer content laying down on a pallet and playing during the day. They want to be moving, but they don’t like the confinement of the walker or the jump and go. They prefer being walked around the house. Does anyone have any suggestions? We have been trying to work on fine motor and gross motor skills on the pallet, but they are not as satisfied. Thanks!
on June 26, 2008 at 1:20 pm17 Brandi

Question for the experts on feeding & bedtime… I have 4 month old b/b twins who would be content going to bed around 7:30pm. However, they simply haven’t had enough to eat for the day by then and still need 1 more feeding.

We have been pretty much letting them set their feeding schedule from day 1. They are currently content eating about 5-6oz five times a day (for a total of 25-30oz.) They currently weigh 13 & 15lbs. The problem is that they want to eat about every 4 hours throughout the day. We wake them up at 7am for their first meal then they eat at 11, 3, and 6:30. At which point they have had 4 feedings for a total of 20-24 oz. We would put them to bed after that 6:30 feeding, but they simply haven’t eaten enough. They aren’t interested in eating more per feeding, nor do they want to eat any more frequently. So what we end up doing is letting them fall asleep in their bouncy seats around 7:30 and catnap on and off until 9:30 or 10 when we feed them again (typically only 4 oz, and sometimes getting them to stay awake through that is super tough). But 20-24 oz for kiddos that weight 13-15lbs just doesn’t seem like enough.

Bless their little hearts if we put them to bed at 7:30pm they still sleep until we wake them up at 7am the next morning. So should we just give up on this late night feeding and put them to bed? Or should we keep it up until they are eating more during the day?
on June 26, 2008 at 6:35 pm18 Nancy

I have 16month g/b twins. i am looking for help at bedtime and sleeping schedules. Just after their first birthday, we moved. Before that, we had one crib in our room and one in their room. They always slept in the crib(in both rooms). In the new house, we put both cribs in their room, thinking they would go to sleep in their cribs.
They are sleeping longer and some nights, they will sleep all night long. More often in the last few weeks, g and/or b will wake up in the middle of the night and my husband or I will just put them in bed with us. In the morning I might have two extra in the bed. I must note that my husband goes to work by 6am. He uaually is up by 4am to prepare and sometimes will bring to our bed a child or both before he leaves.
I have been trying to set a schedule for bedtime, but i work full time outside the home and the evenings are not always well planned out. Bedtime could be anywhere between 8pm and 11pm. I don’t want them going to bed with a bottle/sippy cup in their crib. We usually start out on my bed w/ a sippy cup of milk and cuddle, read, listen to music until they fall asleep. Then I will move them to their crib. I have been doing research on my own on co-sleeping and other sleep schedules for toddlers, but would like some real world experience/advice.
Thank you.
on June 27, 2008 at 10:36 am19 jannaholm

Camping w/ twins?
They’ll be five months old the end of August and we’re going tent camping. Any advice, recommendations, etc… GREATLY appreciated!
Thank you!
on July 2, 2008 at 12:37 pm20 Josy

Hi,
I have a nap advice question: my five month old twin girls are sleeping pretty good at night now, waking to b/f only twice in the night but the naps are all over the place! they always seem to wake at the 45 minute mark and only a few times do they go back to sleep. I have let them cry up to an hour after waking up (what the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby suggested) and they hardly ever go back to sleep. So they aren’t rested and can barely handle being awake for an hour before they need another nap. Its frustrating b/c I feel really tied down to staying at home and getting all these short naps out of them but it would be so much nicer to take my older kids to the park or somewhere else, if the babies would wake from a good 1 to 2 hour nap and I could plan on leaving for an outing with everybody rested.
Any thoughts on how to get a longer nap to happen?
Thanks!!
on July 6, 2008 at 10:12 am21 mommamiriam

I am hoping that the collective mother of twins wisdom on this site will help me decide if I should persist with trying to exclusively (or mostly) breastfeed my twin boys or accept that I can’t and look for other options. I don’t want to face the heartbreak of giving up something so important to me without seeing if there is anything else I could be doing differently. But I don’t want to keep believing I will be able to do something that may not be possible and is hard on my family and my babies.

I am in my 10th week of trying to exclusively breastfeed my preemie twin boys, and I am wondering if I will ever be able to make enough milk for them. My babies were born at 5 lbs each at 34.5 weeks and spent 7 days in the NICU getting tube fed and bottles (with some breastmilk that I pumped in the hospital.) After working with a local LC, one baby has been bare breastfeeding (without nipple shields) for about 6 weeks and one for 3 weeks, but they are just getting stronger at nursing now.

I have been breastfeeding (initially with nipple shields for only a few minutes at a time), supplementing with bottles, and pumping after almost every feeding since we all got home from the hospital. But with bottle supplements (a mix of formula and breastmilk) and help from family visitors, it has been a challenge to even get 8 feedings in a day. Even now with 8 semi-scheduled feedings a day, we sometimes go longer than 3 hours more than once at night and sometimes during the day.

Over the past two weeks, I tried to reduce the bottle supplements during the day with the advice of a local LC, and the babies cried more and needed more soothing. But I thought it was just a matter of time before their nursing demand would bring in more milk. However, when I went to the pediatrician last week, she said they were “falling off the growth chart,” and I needed to supplement them more not less. They were close to 8 lbs at 10 weeks. The baby who had been nursing longer had grown 9 oz in two weeks and the other had only grown 5 oz.

I am now breastfeeding them 8 times a day and supplementing with 60 ml bottles afterwards 6 times a day. The LC has recommended skipping bottles twice a day, bringing more fussing, which I can hardly imagine continuing much longer. I am afraid that this much supplementation (still a mix of breast milk and formula) will make it even harder for me to exclusively or even mostly breastfeed them.

I have worked really hard to get the babies to nurse, but I have only had them on only breastmilk for a week here an there. But the LC and pediatrician have said that having babies who were bigger and stronger would help bring in more milk. I have pumped 6-8 times a day with a Symphony pump, but that has not brought in enough milk for two babies without the help of strong nursers. I am taking 10 ml domperidone 4x a day and herbal teas, which haven’t made a dramatic difference in supply so far.

I want to have realistic expectations about breastfeeding my babies, but I also don’t want to give up too soon. Does anyone know if you can still develop a full supply this late in the game? If so, what could I do differently while still feeding my babies enough?

Thanks for any shared advice or experience,

Momma Miriam
on July 10, 2008 at 8:08 am22 TwinMommy

Can you please take a poll on how many MOMs work outside the house AND how they handle it? I’ve been back at work for 3 weeks now and I flip flop about how I feel about it almost every day! Today I want to be a sahm but yesterday I was happy that I am successful at my job.
Help!
on July 16, 2008 at 6:58 pm23 Sarah

HELP!!! I’m a first time mom who is wondering how to transition my 4 1/2 month old boys from four naps to two or even three naps a day. They become fussy and inconsolable within 1 1/2-2 hours after their first four feedings of the day. Once they are put down, they take great 1 1/2-2 hour naps, with the exception of after their 3:30 feeding. They usually only nap 45 minutes and then are up until their 7 pm feeding. It seems this last nap could be eliminated but they become overtired and extremely cranky whenever we’ve tried to do this. If I sit and occupy their EVERY moment from 3:30-7, I’ve managed to keep them up and prevent them from continuously crying but this is obviously not a rational decision! They are great sleepers at night, going down from 10-6, but I have heard that eventually they will even sleep from 8-6ish. Does this come with fewer naps in the day? I’m just a little confused on how to make this transition without messing up our whole schedule or to know if they are even ready to make this transition. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you can give me!