Questions about twins

trisholio · February 2013

I am a nanny and I am currently looking for a new family. I have experience with newborns, but never newborn twins. I am going to be interviewing with a new family soon with twin boys and I wanted some advice.

What is the easiest way to care for twins? Feeding ideas? Rocking two babies to sleep at the same time? Ect

I also know there is a couple on here that has twins that is from Columbus, Ohio. I wanted to know if I could pick your brains in person. I'm sorry for not remembering who it is :-) If you could please contact me either by commenting on here or emailing me at pmgates@yahoo.com

Thank you all so much!!!!

mhkd042206 · February 2013

I think that would be me. I'd love to chat ... I'll send you an email.

leapgirl8 · February 2013

You should also try posting this on the Multiples board as well, since that is 100% twins-or-higher families.

As far as care, it depends on what set-up the family has. When we needed to rock them at the same time we put them in their Rock'n'Plays - rocking them at the same time in a rocker is fine, but it's hard to get them settled when you don't have someone to hand you the second one. For feeding we mostly propped them up on Boppies and held a bottle in each hand, but you can also just have them laying flat, or one on either side of you on the couch.

I'd say the main thing is just know that one or the other of them is going to be unhappy most of the time - they are very little, and very needy, and you only have two hands. You have to let go of your guilt and know that it doesn't mean you're not providing good care.

JoySeattle · February 2013

I don't have twins but have worked with many as a postpartum dou.la. I'd recommend:

asking the family what works for their babies
reading through and/or posting on a twins forum, such as the Multiples board
reading a book about caring for twins. There are tons. Some that are not fully pregnancy focused that families I work with enjoy are:

Twins! Pregnancy, Birth and the First Year of Life, Second Edition by Connie Agnew, Alan Klein and Jill Alison Ganon
Raising Twins: From Pregnancy to Preschool by Shelly Vaziri Flais MD FAAP
Twinspiration: Real-Life Advice From Pregnancy Through the First Year (for Parents of Twins and Multiples) by Cheryl Lage

Best of luck!

IUIBaby · February 2013

Feel free to PM me.

trisholio · February 2013

Thank you for all of your suggestions and offer to help! I am going to post on the Multiples board too, that is a great idea! I mainly just post on this board so I didn't even think of that.

thiswillbe · February 2013

Just chiming in late to say that if I were looking for a nanny to care for my newborn twins, I would want to know more about the intangibles than the specific tools they planned to use to care for the kids (though of course it's worth studying up on those as well). I would want to know that the nanny understood and was completely OK with never having any downtime (sure, sometimes you win the jackpot and the twins are happily "scheduled" and nap at exactly the same time, but you shouldn't count on it). I would want to know how they planned to engage both of them at the same time, while giving each special contact time (e.g. I'd often hold one kid during feeding time to give them that contact, but I'd make sure to make eye contact/interact with the other kid also during that time). If you are a babywearer, I'd work on some ways to wear them both at the same time (I never got into the wraps and stuff, but even with just a basic bjorn I could strap one to my chest, scoot him/her over a little, then pick the other one up and hold him/her with my arm). I'd also be happy to hear from a prospective nanny that they knew about appropriate development tracks and had ideas about how to foster development through play and activities.

GL and let us know how it goes (went?).

trisholio · February 2013

Thank you for the advice. Those are all good suggestions and good things to think about. I will think about some of the things you mentioned and bring them up during the interview. I have an interview tomorrow for twin boys that are 14 months old. Then I am waiting to hear from another family that has twin boys that are 4 months old. So I am up to my ears with twins :-)

thiswillbe:
Just chiming in late to say that if I were looking for a nanny to care for my newborn twins, I would want to know more about the intangibles than the specific tools they planned to use to care for the kids (though of course it's worth studying up on those as well). I would want to know that the nanny understood and was completely OK with never having any downtime (sure, sometimes you win the jackpot and the twins are happily "scheduled" and nap at exactly the same time, but you shouldn't count on it). I would want to know how they planned to engage both of them at the same time, while giving each special contact time (e.g. I'd often hold one kid during feeding time to give them that contact, but I'd make sure to make eye contact/interact with the other kid also during that time). If you are a babywearer, I'd work on some ways to wear them both at the same time (I never got into the wraps and stuff, but even with just a basic bjorn I could strap one to my chest, scoot him/her over a little, then pick the other one up and hold him/her with my arm). I'd also be happy to hear from a prospective nanny that they knew about appropriate development tracks and had ideas about how to foster development through play and activities.

GL and let us know how it goes (went?).

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