Drink Alcohol, Use Drugs, or Smoke. It's never advisable to drink alcohol excessively, smoke, or take drugs, whether you are pregnant or not. When you are pregnant, doing so exposes your unborn babies to toxic substances, raising their risk of birth defects and chronic illnesses.
Eating the proper foods and the right amount of calories is critical in a twin pregnancy. Whereas single-born pregnancies require 300 extra calories a day, most experts agree that twin pregnancies need around 1,000 extra calories a day. Frequent and healthy snacks can help you reach your caloric goals each day.
If everything progresses normally during your twin pregnancy, you may not require bed rest. However, if you do experience complications or certain other conditions, your doctor may recommend bed rest.
Multiples are about twice as likely as singleton babies to have birth defects, including neural tube defects (such as spina bifida), cerebral palsy, congenital heart defects and birth defects that affect the digestive system. Growth problems. Multiples are usually smaller than singleton babies.
Conclusions. The risk of DS per fetus/baby is lower in multiple than singleton pregnancies. These estimates can be used for genetic counselling and prenatal screening.
Over 60 percent of twins and nearly all higher-order multiples are premature (born before 37 weeks). The higher the number of fetuses in the pregnancy, the greater the risk for early birth. Premature babies are born before their bodies and organ systems have completely matured.
You can take maternity leave any time from 11 weeks before the start of the week when your babies are due. Your obstetrician will give you an idea of when your babies are due, as twins or more tend to arrive earlier than singleton babies. Mums-to-be of twins usually start their maternity leave at 26 weeks.
And when it comes to helping twins or multiples co sleep soundly, there's no best practice when it comes to positioning. Though most twins sleep side-by-side for the first month, you should feel free to let your twins shift to head-to-head, feet-to-feet, or side-by-side diagonal without concern.
Though if one twin consistently wakes his other twin, and they share a cot, separate cots may help. As your babies grow, there will be less room for them to be comfortable in the same cot, and their waking patterns may start to differ. You may want to move them into separate cots when they begin to roll over.
Full-term for twins is the same as full-term for singleton babies, technically: 39 weeks pregnant. But if your twins are born at 37 weeks, that's as close to actual full-term as many twins get. At that point, they have full lung maturity and should be able to leave the hospital within a few days of delivery.
Even in your third trimester of pregnancy, bending is still considered safe for your baby. You'll probably find it becomes increasingly difficult for you, though, if not impossible. Apart from your extra body weight, the size of your belly is increasing.
The birth process is similar to giving birth to a single baby. If you're planning a vaginal birth, your health team may recommend that you have an epidural for pain relief.
Yes, if you are using bassinets instead of cribs, you will need one for each baby. Bassinets are smaller than cribs and designed for one baby each. One bassinet won't be big enough for twins to share.
Sleepiness, lethargy, and exhaustion during the first trimester can be enhanced because the body is working overtime to nurture more than one baby. In some cases, the fatigue can be attributed to other factors (work, stress, poor nutrition, having other children), but it can also indicate multiples.
Keep Babies Close
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends babies sleep in the same room as a caregiver, on their own sleep surface, for at least the first 6 months of life (ideally, for babies first year of life). Having the twins in your room will make tending to them through the night much easier.
You may like to sleep your twins in their own Moses baskets or cots from birth, or you may decide to co-bed them in the early weeks and months. Co-bedding means siblings share the same sleep surface during any sleep period, for example by being in the same cot together.
How your babies lie in the womb. The most common way for twins to lie is both with their heads down - the best for birth. There's not a lot of room in your womb, so it's quite common for one or both babies to be feet or bottom down (breech).
A little more than half of twin pregnancies end in preterm delivery (before 37 weeks). While 40 weeks is the full gestation period of the average pregnancy, most twin pregnancies are delivered at approximately 36 weeks (range 32-38 weeks depending on the type of twin pregnancy).
The findings of this study point to 37 completed weeks of gestation as the best time for the delivery of twin infants, for both short-term and long-term outcomes. This is the first time that data has been obtained which supports the current clinical guidelines.
Depending on the type of birth you're having and any complications you or baby might have, expect to stay there between 2-4 nights. I had a Cesarean with twins and our insurance would have covered four nights but we opted to stay just three.
With a twin pregnancy, your body makes high levels of pregnancy hormones. So morning sickness may come on earlier and stronger than if you were carrying a single baby. You may also have earlier and more intense symptoms from pregnancy, like swelling, heartburn, leg cramps, bladder discomfort, and sleep problems.
Always having to deal with comparisons is another negative that comes with being a twin. Jakeece explained, “Everyone always compares us to one another and makes it seem like we are the same person with the same personality. It gets so annoying, because although we look alike we have way different personalities.
While there are risks associated with all twin pregnancies, dizygotic (fraternal) twin pregnancies usually bring about the least amount of complications, carrying the lowest risk of all types of twins. Worse complications are possible with monozygotic (identical) twins because the embryo is dividing.
Regarding #1 (co-bedding), the conservative/mainstream school of thought in the western world is that it's best to separate the twins “early on” since they'll need their own sleeping space eventually. The attachment parenting contingent refutes this, saying twins can sleep together indefinitely and are happier for it.