I am so not a night-person. Getting up to feed the babies was an immense struggle. All. The. Time. And with twins. OMG. I made it through in a dazed state every night, ignoring baby cries by being too sleepy to bother. To this day, many moms still ask me how I did it. There are some tips to handling this situation in a calm and sane manner.
1. Prepare bottles of formula beforehand. So you can just pour water.
2. Warming up pre-expressed breast milk is a tad harder though. From the fridge, they will be cold and take at least 5 mins to warm up. 5 mins is an eternity with little babies. If you're latching on direct, you'd have no problems. So it might be good to do that for night feeds.
3. Don't fret if one of the twins are crying. Unfortunately, if there's only you, they'd just have to take turns. That said, it can be extremely stressful when one baby is screaming in the dead of the night while you're trying to handle the other one. But unless you're latching on both at the same time, there's no choice but to let baby wait. Take care of one first, and then the second one -- diaper change, milk, diaper change. Proceed to second baby. If first baby needs more milk (God knows why they sometimes drink so much milk and poop so much!), handle second baby first, then go back to first baby. They won't die from screaming, so don't worry. It's just that your family (or the neighbourhood) might be awakened by the cries.
4. Diaper changes – you have to learn to do them fast, especially in the night. I was somewhat of an expert, able to change two babies in the same time the lady at the next door cubicle in the mall was able to change her one baby. Haha....
5. Sometimes your babies might not want to sleep when you put them back in the bed. This one is a bit of a problem. I mean, you're exhausted and wanna go back to bed, but baby wants to play?! (Or babies!) I'd say pray hard, rock them a little, put them down, and use helping aids like musical mobiles and such. You could cuddle one to sleep, but hopefully the other doesn't need your attention so much.
6. Go to sleep ASAP. You never know when the babies are gonna wake up again! Try to rest as much as possible.
7. If you need help, don't be afraid to ask. Hubby was doing the "night shift" one day and came to ask me for help because one of the girls kept wanting milk and refused to sleep. He left her on the floor and didn't know what to do anymore. Think he fed her 3 times...
8. Get someone to do the morning shift while you get a good nap. I think a 4 hour nap for new mothers should suffice, enough to recharge your body and energy. Rotating in shifts works better for our mental and physical health. If you can, get the husband or someone to do 6 hour rotating shifts for the night and morning. During confinement, hubby did the 12-6am shift, and then I woke up to continue while he went to bed. It was much better than two people being stoned all day because they had to struggle for the night feeds.
9. Cry if you have to, but wipe it up, thank heavens for your baby, and soldier on.
10. Thou shalt all pass. Time flies, and you'd look back and marvel that you made it through. I know I do!
Take care mommies (and daddies)! Ganbatte ne! You can do it. :)
xoxo,
mommy of the crazy twin girls
