Came here to say this. |
I feel the same way when people with Irish twins say it’s just as hard as regular twins. |
Ehh. I think it would be harder. Two small kids who are at different stages. Plus none of the twin identity weirdness moms of twins have. |
Brittney Spears and Tori spelling both have Irish twins.
I had 2 in 23 months. It was hard for the first year. Now they are 5 and 7 and it’s so fun. Im so glad they are so close and we aren’t held back by siblings so much younger. |
As a nanny I have had the experience of actual twins, Irish twins, 2-under-2, 3-under-3, etc. (I’ve been a nanny for a looong time! ![]() The biggest thing you can do is to prepare your older for the baby by thinking through your routine and making space for newborn care. —outings: where are the small, fenced-in local parks? Will the season mean that you need to do some indoor outings too? If so, which ones are both manageable with a newborn and relatively less germy. —sleep training: if your first isn’t STTN reliably, make that a priority ASAP. Get a solid nap schedule in place and a solid bedtime routine —meals: make sure your first can self-feed safely to some extent. Plan ahead and choose a few favorite foods to stock up on (e.g., if your toddler likes oatmeal, I would be batch-cooking steel cut oats with fruit and cinnamon and whatever else and freezing in individual portions). Muffins tins are great for freezing the right amount for one toddler meal. You want to always have at least one low-maintenance food you can quickly serve. Think about your toddler’s diet and try to move towards easier foods where you can. E.g., if your kid like steamed carrots, see if you can get them into baked sweet potatoes because those you just stick in the toaster oven and forget about vs. having to supervise something as it steams. —house rules: think about the rules you currently enforce and how they might need to change due to having a baby. Does the current routine require you to lift toddler into the high chair, for example? Replace it with a chair he can climb into. Does your toddler know how to wait a minute for something he needs? If not, introduce some silly games, songs, stories, finger plays, etc. that you initially do together with your toddler (think “itsy bitsy spider”), then over time you can transition to doing less until you can just sing the song and your toddler does the motions. This helps you to distract him while you prep a bottle or burp a baby. Physical space—It is hugely helpful to create a “room of yes” where your kid could be locked in and remain completely safe if necessary—furniture bolted to the wall, outlets completely covered, no choking hazards, nothing climbable, etc. You may need to stash toddler somewhere in a diaper emergency, so it’s useful to have a way to lock them in, whether that is a gate on the door or reversing the handle. Mostly, though this room is for you to sit and nurse the baby somewhere that the toddler can freely run and play and you won’t have to stop to rescue him. Routine: Build a space into your daily routines for you to focus on the baby for a moment. E.g., with 2 you twins and a newborn, I trained the twins before the baby was born to color for about 5 minutes before each meal. They would sit at their little table, get crayons out, get paper and sit and color. For younger kids I have done play-dough or sensory bags/jars. But build it into the routine so that you can pause and focus on the baby for a minute without having to come up with something in the moment to distract toddler. |
Yeah you’re definitely not a parent. Real parents don’t have time for this. Wait until you have your own - it will be completely different, I assure you. |
Tori Spelling had her two kids 10 months apart: Hattie and Finn so it can be done! |
Twins is by far harder. |
You have both? |
Wouldn’t it just depend on the kids themselves? I had an incredibly Easy first baby and an incredibly difficult second baby. If I had twins who were both like the first, it would have been much harder than a singleton I’m sure but likely still wouldn’t have been that bad. If I had twins where both were like my second baby, I don’t know how we would have survived. |
You can’t be that stupid. I hope this is a really bad attempt at trolling. My sister and I are 22 months apart. My sister and brother are 19 months apart. None of us are Irish twins because we don’t fit the actual definition of what an Irish twin is. |
As it happens I am ALSO a mom of my own fraternal twins. Which part is SOOOO hard and unrealistic? Babyproofing a room? Sleep training? Meal prep? |
You’re just way too regimented. I now understand why. Having twins you would have to be, plus you work taking care of children. No one else puts this much thought into it. |
+1 Not to mention recovering from two separate childbirth experiences in such a short time frame. Way harder. |
Millions of women have survived so what's your problem? By now, you should know what creates babies--unprotected sex--so why don't you get some industrial strength birth control, your zDH gets snipped, or simply abstain. There is no excuse for getting pregnant with all the birth control options available except laziness! |