How to Juggle a Newborn (0-5 weeks old) With a Toddler

Here is what I did to give myself some sanity:

As far as nursing goes- I tired to makes sure that Cooper was occupied while I was nursing, especially because I am tandem nursing and it is really hard to watch him and nurse at the same time. The hardest time for me to nurse was the 4pm nursing because he was around. I made sure to have a snack, milk, and his favorite things on his blanket. Even if he was watching a DVD, I made sure he stayed on his mat/ blanket.
7am nursing, Cooper still in bed
10am nursing, Cooper in Independent Play Time
1pm nursing, Cooper was just put down for his nap
4pm nursing, Cooper has blanket time or DVD
6pm nursing, Cooper is with Daddy
8pm nursing, Cooper is getting his bath or getting ready for bed

As far as getting them down for naps- This was hard for me. It still continues to be a challenge, but it is getting better. The girls wake time at that time was about 40 minutes. After I was done nursing them, I would swaddle them and place them in their swings/ bouncers. I would watch them until their eyes got heavy and start to shut. I would them pick them up and place them in their cribs. I found that if I swaddled them after they started to get sleepy at that age, that they would wake up and fight going to sleep. Plus, I had Cooper running around begging for my attention. It was hard to bring them into to their rooms and spend time shush/ patting them when Cooper was following me or whining and waking them up. So the swing and bounce were my friend for a few weeks. I did not have to turn the vibrate on or the swing on all the time. It was just being swaddled and cradled in their swings/ bouncers that helped. I did buy a great bouncer seat that I swear by. It really helps my girls to relax and get ready to sleep. www.target.com/Bright-Starts-InGenu… Luckily Cooper was somewhat occupied while I was putting the girls down for their naps due to their short awake time. Here is what I did with Cooper while trying to get the girls down for their naps:
7:40 Cooper Still in Crib (he stays in crib from 7-8am)
10:40 Cooper still in Independent Play Time
1:40 Cooper still napping
4:40 I put Cooper in our game room that has a gate so that he cannot leave the room and follow me. I made sure he had on a DVD for the 5-10 minutes that I was gone. (Cooper’s TV hours was between 4-5 which is when I had to nurse and put my girls down for their nap while Cooper was awake, not occupied, and with me).
6:40 The girls napped in bouncers/ swings if they slept at all. So I did not worry about Cooper at that given nap time
8:40 Cooper was in bed for the night and it was the girls bedtime. My husband helped me put them to bed at this time.

Now that the girls are 9 weeks old, I don’t put them in their swings and bouncers that often anymore before their naps to get them drowsy. It seems that they have just figured out how to go to sleep on their own. I watch for their sleepy cues. As soon as I see them, I swaddle them, and lay them in their cribs. But from the time they got home from the hospital until they were 7/8 weeks old, they always were allowed to get drowsy in their swings/ bouncers (whether they were on or off). But just remember, I swaddled them first, then put them in their swings/ bouncers. If I swaddled them after they got drowsy, they would fully wake up and then I would have a hard time getting them down for their naps.

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My Best Friend Twins Plus Nursing Pillow

UPDATE: I am still using this pillow and my twin girls are 12 months old. We are still going strong on nursing and I am still tandem nursing them. Without this pillow I would have given up nursing a long time ago. I LOVE THIS PILLOW. I can nurse both girls in under 15 minutes now. They both still fit on the pillow just fine and I could not be happier!
I have been nursing my twins for 10 weeks now. I am tandem nursing them, which means I am nursing them at the same time. I bought my first twin nursing pillow which was the EZ-2-Nurse Twin Nursing Pillow from Double Blessings. It worked pretty well. I was able to tandem feed, but I found it difficult. There is not a very good back rest. The pillow is not very wide, not giving the twins a lot of room to lay on the pillow as they get bigger. My twin girls also seemed to roll inward on the pillow and I was also having to reposition them so they did not totally fall off the pillow. I got frustrated with the pillow so I decided to break down and buy the Best Friend Twin Plus Nursing Pillow. I am so glad that I did!

Here are all the benefits of the Best Friend Twin Nursing Pillow:
1. It is wider, giving my girls more room to lay comfortably.
2. It has a better back support, making it more comfortable for mommy to breastfeed.
3. The pillow is ticker, raising the twins up higher to my breast which means I don’t have to lean over (and that keep my back from aching).
4. The velcro closure is a lot easier to secure the pillow around our body with. It also has a clasp that is easy to release and secure the pillow with.
5. The pillow is firmer. This keeps my twins from rolling inward.  This allows me to keep my hands free because I do not have to hold onto the girls to keep them from rolling off the pillow.

This is a must buy if you want to tandem nurse!

http://www.mybrestfriend.com/twins

For more information about breastfeeding twins and multiples read my post:
Breastfeeding Twins: https://blogginaboutbabies.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/nursing-twins/

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Car Crash Saftey

Nothing got accomplished today. I went to run some arends and I got in a car accident. Luckily all the kids were okay and so am I. I drive a Honda Pilot and I was hit by a very large F150 pick up truck. It was a side impact and the truck hit right were Cooper (20 months old) was sitting, on the passenger side middle row. All the air bags deployed, the glass windows all shattered on Cooper’s side of the car, and the door was totally crunched in. But by the miracle of God, Cooper only suffered a little seat belt burn from his carseat and he bit his tongue. My twin girls were safe and totally unharmed as well. The collision center that is trying to determine if it is totaled, which they think it is, was amazed at the amount of damage done to my car. The guy actually hugged me and said, “I am so glad you and your kids are okay. That was a really bad crash.”

I am writing this because I wanted to share what carseats I own. My son Cooper was in a Sunshine Radian carseat. That carseat did not budge and kept him completely secure and snug. The police on the scene and the EMTs were all raving about how well the Radiant handled the crash and were telling me that I made a great carseat purchase. The girls were in Chicco Key Fit 30 carseats and again I was told there were excellent carseats. They were amazed that the bases kept the girls snug and sustained the crash well. I will buy all new carseats because after a crash you are not suppose to reuse the carseats as the structural integrity of the carseats could be ruined.

I am just so thankful that I bought a safe car and safe carseats. I am glad we did our research up front!

My insurance company is going to replace all 3 carseats! But I thought I would pass this information on to you about the Sunshine Kids Randian carseat. They are willing to send me a replacement for free because the carseat was involved serious crash. Here is the link about the Crash Restraint Exchange by Sunshine www.skjp.com/crash_exchange.php

Here is some other helpful information about carseat replacement and insurance coverage check out this helpful link: www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=9…

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