The hardest thing about having twins is... “Managing the movement of two babies. Carrying them both up and down the stairs, getting them into the car, etc.” —Simeon R. “Often having to make one baby wait!” —Catharine D. “Being outnumbered—the logistics of two on one is definitely the hardest.
Moms of multiples will tell you that the first three to four months is a stage of pure survival mode and sleep deprivation. The babies are colicky, gassy, and don't even offer a smile in return. Tandem breastfeeding is awkward, and you still have to cradle their heads.
The reality is that raising multiples is hard. You have double or triple the feeding, diapering, and laundry and, as a result, less time to spend cuddling and getting to know each baby. To be sure, there will be days when you feel as if you're walking up a down escalator.
Twins do get easier when they start being able to do some things for themselves and when they are able to start playing with each other. For twin babies, raising twins gets easier when they have a longer time between feedings and are able to be on a schedule.
Twin baby development at 8 weeks
You can see them both on ultrasound now and your provider can detect heart beats. Their cells have been multiplying and are differentiating into different body systems and body parts, and their organs are forming rapidly.
If you're expecting twins or higher-order multiples, you could also possibly start to show before the end of your first trimester. Your uterus must grow larger to accommodate more than one baby. So whereas someone expecting a singleton may not show until after 3 or 4 months, you might show as early as 6 weeks.
In a typical identical twin pregnancy, an egg splits during its first week after fertilization. But in a mirror twin pregnancy, the egg splits 7 to 12 days after it's been fertilized — long enough for the egg to have developed a right and a left side.
Beyond the usual rivalry and spats between brothers and sisters, there's the additional pressure and frustration that comes with always being lumped in with, and compared to, another person. From an early age, twins often feel intense competition as they struggle to forge their own identities beyond one half of a duo.
It's equally unsurprising that a Danish study found that twins are less likely to get married than non-twins. As twins have a partner from birth, the study suggests that they may not have the same desire for marriage as singletons.
This is called co-bedding and is perfectly safe. In fact, putting twins in the same cot can help them regulate their body temperatures and sleep cycles, and can soothe them and their twin.
9- 12 months your babies may be able to sit unaided for a short time and might be starting to attempt crawling or the first stages of moving.
For women born 1870-1899, moms of twins averaged reproductive spans of 14 years 11 months versus 14 years for singleton moms. Both results were statistically significant. Moms of twins also were older at the time of their last birth.
It is likely that twins' awareness of one another starts sooner than seven or eight months of age. An article by the late doctor, T. Berry Brazelton, observed that at age three to four months, an infant identical female twin seemed disoriented when her sister was removed from the room.
Vaginal Birth of Twins
The good news is that even though you have two babies, you only have to labor once. Once the cervix is open, each baby will have its own pushing stage. This means you will have to push twice, but the majority of the time the second twin is born much more easily than the first.
Being a twin has its benefits—tricking people, having a lifelong companion, sharing clothes—but it also has downsides. Many twins struggle to cultivate their own identities, while being so similar to one another. And that struggle lasts a lifetime, according to a recent study.
Multiple birth babies have about twice the risk of congenital (present at birth) abnormalities including neural tube defects (such as spina bifida), gastrointestinal, and heart abnormalities.
For a given pregnancy, the odds of conceiving fraternal twins are only determined by the mother's genetics, not the father's. Fraternal twins happen when two eggs are simultaneously fertilised instead of just one.
“Having twins is not twice as hard—it's exponentially more difficult,” says Natalie Diaz, author of What To Do When You're Having Two and CEO of Twiniversity, a global support network for parents of twins.
Similar to the mind-reading myth, there are things that can't be explained. There are twins who say they have felt each other's pain. And their close relationship and nearly-identical physical structure means there could be a sliver of truth in the theory — as pain can be psychological and can be felt empathetically.
Some twin researchers believe that a tightly bonded, close relationship between twins can actually impede their ability to develop outside friendships since peers have a harder time breaking the “twin code.” Since twins spend more time with each other than with their parents, siblings, and other peers, they often ...
Monoamniotic-monochorionic Twins
These types of twins share a chorion, placenta, and an amniotic sac. This is the rarest type of twin, and it means a riskier pregnancy as the babies can get tangled in their own umbilical cords.
The Science of Fraternal Twins. Mixed-gender twins are the most common type of fraternals, some 50 percent are boy-girl.
Superfetation is when a second, new pregnancy occurs during an initial pregnancy. Another ovum (egg) is fertilized by sperm and implanted in the womb days or weeks later than the first one. Babies born from superfetation are often considered twins since they may be born during the same birth on the same day.