? for those with twins and now a new little one

I know there are several who have had a new little on added to their family lately. We are currently pregnant with our 4th, our first one after the twins. The twins are 2.5 years old. Just wondered if you could share what you have learned so far about having preschool aged twins and a baby. I guess what I mean is, did what you planned for seem to pan out. Stroller situation, getting out and about, rooming situation, schedules with the twins and the baby, breastfeeding, etc. Some real life stuff some those who have been there done that would be great. Is there anything particular that was totally different than you planned or thought it would be? Thanks for sharing.

 

I hope you get some good replies. This is our 3rd baby on the way, (twins were my first pregnancy) and the twins will be 2 years and 9 months when she comes along.

 

Can anyone help? THANKS

 

Let's see both of you have older kids than I did. The boys were 23mos when Brandon came along. By that time Nathan was already rebelling from the stroller so my initial plan was to stroll Brandon and William and let Nathan walk. This worked fine until Nathan decided he wanted to ride again and meltdowns would ensue over who would ride. I put up with it for about a month before I broke down and stopped carrying the double stroller altogether. I broke out the single stroller and made both the boys walk, end of story no other option. This worked for us. You can pretty much assume as soon as you start to feed the new addition (be it breast or bottle) the kids are gonna start calling your name for some crazy reason or another. Your's are going to be old enough to explain that this is babies feeding time and they are going to have to wait. They won't like it but they will understand it. I planned to nurse Brandon as long as I could and I managed to make it to 13mos before I called it quits (the little bugger took to biting). The older kids didn't make any difference in this matter since he was going to be breastfed come **** or high waters. Remember what life was like when you had newborn twins and you were all by yourself, sometimes one of them is just going to have to cry while you do for the other(s). If you breastfeed you will learn how to walk to the bathroom and wipe a kid while the baby is still attached (I didn't have to worry about potty breaks but did many of other things with that baby latched on). Oh and remember how hard you tried to keep your twins on such a set schedule, throw the idea out the window with the new one. Train the baby to sleep anywhere at an early age and you will be free to leave your house. If your older kids still nap during the afternoon, try to make sure the baby lies down for at least some of this time. You will want a break from all their smiling and not so smiling faces. I know it seems scary to add another into the mix, but you are no longer first time moms. You have survived twinfants and a singleton is going to seem like a walk in the park (unless they are like mine and refuse to sleep through the night until 10-11mos). You already know that green poop is normal, that the rash around the babies mouth is due to drool, a temp of 99.2 isn't worthy of going to the ER, the baby isn't easily breakable, and eventually they will grow up just as fast as your older kids have. So there you have the ramblings of a tired mommy to 4 (i hope they are at least somewhat coherrent at this hour).

 

My girls were older when my son was born they were almost 4. I bought a single stroller and my girls walked next to me (but we stopped using a stroller when they were 3 and barely used one before that any way). When going out to like Walmart they would either ride in the big part of the cart or walk next to me and the baby was in the seat part. My girls also started preschool right after my son was born so I adjusted his schedule around my girls. He was bottle fed so I can't help with the bf part. I tried to keep my son on a three hr schedule the best I could.. If he fell asleep in his carrier I just let him sleep (especially on the days my girls had school it was easier letting him sleep in the carrier for the couple hrs they were at school then taking him out and putting him back in). Eventually I got it to where his one nap was during the girls school and his second nap was when they took their nap. Which having that quiet time when all three were sleeping was a must for him. For rooms my girls share one room and my son is in the other, but if I had boy/girl twins then I would have probably made them share a room until my son was over 1 and sleeping through the night and then put the two boys together. I was shocked that with my son I seemed to have more time and was easier this time around for me. He is a very easy going baby which is nice and was a lot easier for me to get with him and my girls than trying to get out with my girls when they were babies.

I hoped I helped some if you have any more specific questions just ask.

 

My boys were 20 months when Mason came along and I must say it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The first few weeks were a little rough with them testing boundries especially when I was feeding the baby but that settled down in about 3 or for weeks. I felt like during that time I was always saying "no" though. That being said, I brought Mason home from the hospital the same day we got our new house so I wonder if they really even noticed LOL

Stroller situation: Haven't worked this one out yet. I started going for walks right away with the boys in the double and Mason in a Snugli but he's now about 14lbs and a bit heavy to carry like that at the mall and such. We're planning on getting a triple stoller when we have money...


Getting out and about: It's tough but not impossible, I just find I needed to be better organized and even still it takes a long time to get out the door. It helps to have diaper bags always packed & shoes, coats, hats, etc...in the same place. C&C are pretty laid back so they just go with the flow most of the time.

Rooming situationL C&C share a room & mason has his own -Although right now Mason is still in our room/bed because I need as much sleep as I can get! is this what you mean?

Schedules with the twins and the baby: I always make sure they all have their afternoon naps at the same time not matter what! So if this means keeping one of them up 30 minutes longer than they should, that's what happens. I always need either a good sleep or time to myself every day. So far it's worked out great!

Breastfeeding: Mason was way easier to BF than the twins. They seem to know when he's eating and are good about it.

If you want to know anything else, let me know - we're just going through it!

 

This was a good thing to read as for I have now PG with our 5th child the first one after the girls and they will be 16 months apart when Annabell gets here in Febuary. Was not sure how I was going to hangle or the girls were going to handle it eather.