Double trouble? Coping with newborn multiples

Coping with one newborn can be hard enough but how do you manage two, three or even more? It really does help to be organised if you are expecting multiples, a few strategies can make all the difference between feeling out of control and having a handle on things.

Colour code your babies

Crazy as it may sound it does help to give each baby a colour. If your multiples are identical you can tie a short piece of braid or ribbon round their ankle or wrist to avoid any confusion. Even if the babies look nothing alike you can use the colours to identify feeding bottles, medications, record books and a dozen other things. Before long you will see the colour and know immediately which baby the item belongs to, so even when you are sleep deprived you won’t risk giving one baby a double dose of vitamins. If you have any older children don’t forget to give them a colour too!

Invest in a whiteboard

Choose a wall and put up the biggest whiteboard you can find. Life is about to get complicated and this really will help you to keep track, especially when you’ve been up all night or don’t want to repeat yourself to every helper. You can use it to note things like:

GP, Health visitor and hospital phone numbers
Contact numbers for grandparents, your partner at work, the cleaner etc
Shopping list
Jobs that need doing
Feed times
Notes on each of the babies (in their colour)
Phone messages

Have a plan

With twins, feeding on demand is difficult and with three or more it’s pretty much impossible. It really does help to have a plan, which you can write on your whiteboard so everyone knows what is going on. Include times you expect the babies to feed (although of course you may need to change this if they are hungry earlier than expected) and when you will do things like laundry or running the steriliser. Most importantly, plan times to eat and rest yourself and make sure everyone knows that feeding mum is just as important as feeding the babies! You will probably make adjustments as you go along but having something written down can be a real comfort, at least you know what you are adjusting. If you follow the plan, even roughly, all the important things will get done. Everything else can wait.

Make it easy for people to help

When you have multiples you will probably find that you have lots of offers of help. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to accept the offer if you have to give a long explanation or can’t find anything. Think of all the jobs you might want someone to do, laundry, putting clothes away, food shopping and so on and make it easy. Label the cupboards so your mother in law will know where to put the sheets, stick a notice by the dishwasher to let people know how to turn it on. The easier you make it, the more people can do for you leaving you free to spend time with your babies.

Photography: Nate Davis @Flickr