Raising Twins: Real Challenges & Helpful Tips

Raising Twins: Real Challenges and Helpful Tips

Raising a baby is challenging enough, but when two arrive at the same time, the experience can be as wonderful as it is overwhelming. Raising twins (dizygotic or non-identical twins) involves twice as much love... and twice as many challenges. In this article, we explore the main difficulties faced by families with twins and share useful and realistic strategies to navigate this stage with confidence and serenity.

Raising twins requires teamwork, organization, and a lot of empathy.

Common Challenges in Raising Twins

The first few months can be especially intense. Here are some of the most frequent challenges:

• Lack of sleep: Nighttime feedings, diaper changes, and awakenings double, profoundly affecting caregivers' rest.
• Synchronization of routines: Getting both babies to eat, sleep, and calm down at the same time isn't always possible, and that can add to the stress.
• Emotional and physical load: Burnout can bring feelings of guilt, anxiety, or frustration. You are not alone: it is normal to feel this way.
• Less individual time: It's harder to devote exclusive attention to each baby, which can lead to questions about bonding and development.

"Caregivers of multiples often experience higher levels of stress and fatigue, especially during the first year of life."

How to deal with it? Practical tips that do help

1. Establish routines, but with flexibility. Although it sounds impossible, creating predictable habits (mealtime, bathing, sleeping) helps reduce chaos. Try to get them to sleep and eat at the same time, but without forcing if it doesn't work at first.
2. Accept help without guilt. Family, friends, or even community support services can be key. It is not weakness to ask for help: it is self-care.
3. Divide tasks and communicate as a couple. If there are two caregivers, a clear and loving division of responsibilities prevents tensions. If you raise alone, prioritize the essentials and delegate what you can.
4. Take advantage of skin-to-skin contact. Encourage bonding with each baby separately when possible. Physical contact improves the attachment, breastfeeding and emotional regulation of the newborn, according to the WHO.
5. Prioritize your mental well-being. Self-care is not luxury: it is survival. Sleeping in moments, eating well or simply breathing deeply can make all the difference.

What about breastfeeding with twins?

Tandem breastfeeding (breastfeeding both at the same time) is possible and beneficial, although it may need more support and learning. According to the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, mothers of twins produce enough milk and simultaneous sucking even stimulates production more.

For many women, using special cushions, adapted positions and the accompaniment of a midwife or lactation consultant can be essential. There's no one right way: the important thing is to find what works for you and your babies.

Breastfeeding with twins is possible and can be strengthened with support and practice.

Individual time: is it necessary with twins?

Yes. Every baby is unique and needs to feel seen and loved as an individual. While it's not always easy, brief but meaningful moments — like talking directly to them, stroking their face, or looking into their eyes as you change them — strengthen the bond and support emotional development.

A study published in Infant Behavior and Development showed that twins with more individual interaction with their caregivers showed better self-regulation and less mutual dependence in later stages.

Love is also doubled

Although the road can be strenuous, raising twins brings a special connection between siblings, an incredible ability to adapt in the parents, and a daily dose of double tenderness. Every smile shared, every achievement achieved at the same time, every gesture of complicity between them will be a reminder that all the effort is worth it.