Before your little ones were born, you might have been concerned about your heart. Not your heart’s actual health, but with its size – specifically, could one heart really be big enough to share love between multiple babies at once?
Now you know that your heart has more than enough room to fit all your babies. But while you get more comfortable letting them share the space in your heart, you might find yourself starting to wonder about how much else they can share. What’s better to get one of, and what should you buy in bulk?
Cribs
Many parents put their multiples in the same crib during their early months, when they’re too small to move around. However, the official recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics advises against crib-sharing. The AAP recommends that parents buy one crib per baby to keep them as safe as can be.
A room
For the most part, parents of multiples report that twins, triplets, and even quadruplets quickly learn to sleep through a sibling’s cries. One baby’s crying might wake the others up, but your multiples are also likely soothed by each other’s presence, so separating them might actually stress them out more. For the time being, don’t worry about keeping them in the same room.
Clothes
You’re going to need a lot of clothes for your babies. While it’s fine to mix and match between them, make sure that you have an adequate number of outfits so that you’re never empty-handed. And once they start developing a sense of ownership with their things, you will probably want to let each child have a couple of articles of clothing that are just their own to help reinforce their individualism.
Toys & gifts
Like with their clothing, it’s fine for your multiples to share their toys (especially the fun ones!). This being said, it’s not as fun if three different babies keep getting one toy to share between them. Try to alternate between group and individual toys and gifts so that the multiples aren’t consistently expected to share everything they receive.
Photographs
It’s easy to get pictures of all your children together – they’re just sooooo cute next to each other! But make sure to take pictures of them on their own too so that they can look back and see their own adventures as babies or toddlers.
Your attention
A beautiful thing about multiples is that they can rely on each other for distraction and comfort. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want your attention – quite the opposite! Your babies will love being around you and will need consistent one-on-one time with you, so make sure to find ways to fit in some time alone with each of them.
As time goes on you’ll figure out how to split things between your kids. And as they get older, they’ll be able to give you more elaborate feedback on what they’re willing to share and what they prefer to keep to themselves. A rule of thumb: when considering ways to best accommodate the multiples, keep your mind as open as your heart is!
Sources
- “SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Expansion of Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment.” AAP News & Journals. The American Academy of Pediatrics. October 2011. Web.
