Tracking two: twins and siblings
Updated: 5 days ago
With two, everything doubles except the sleep.
Who fed when. Who had the bad night. Who is due a nappy. Who had the last dose of anything. Whose turn it is to go first. Twins especially, but a new baby and a toddler will do it to you just as fast.
Tracking one baby is mostly about remembering. Tracking two is about remembering and not mixing them up, usually while holding one of them.
What changes with more than one
With one baby, a vague sense of "they fed about two hours ago" is often good enough. With two, it is easy for details to blur, like which twin had the last feed or whether a dose of something has already been given. Writing it down takes that job off your memory.
The questions parents of twins say they ask most:
Which one was that? The single most common question, especially overnight.
Did they both feed, and how much? Twins often feed quite differently from each other.
Who is due next? Particularly if you are trying to keep them roughly in step.
Is one of them different this week? Sleeping less, feeding less, more unsettled. Easy to miss when you are looking after two.
For a baby with an older sibling, the questions are different but the problem is the same: two sets of needs, one tired brain.
Separate records, side by side
The answer most families land on is a separate record for each child, kept in the same place.
Separate, because each child's patterns are their own. Twins are two different people who happen to share a birthday. Averaging them together, or keeping one shared log, hides exactly the differences you most need to see.
Side by side, because when you are looking after both, you want to see both at once without switching between two notebooks or two apps.
In Littles, one account holds a profile for each child. Each child's feeds, sleep, nappies and anything else you log stay in their own record, and switching between them is a tap. Both parents can log into the same account and add to either child's record, so the twin fed by one parent at 2am and the twin fed by the other at 2:20am both end up in the right place.
Nothing is averaged. Each child's week stands on its own.
A baby and an older sibling
Tracking a new baby alongside a toddler is a different kind of juggling. The toddler usually does not need their feeds logged, but they may well have their own medicine doses, a bout of illness, or sleep that has gone sideways since the baby arrived.
Keeping a simple record for the older one too, even just for a few weeks, can help with the questions that come up: when did they last have a dose of paracetamol, how many nights has the early waking been going on, did it start before or after the baby came home. A new sibling is a big change for a small person, and a bit of disrupted sleep for a while is very common.
A few things that help
From parents who have done it:
Log at the time, and log the right child. It sounds obvious. At 4am it is the whole game.
Keep an eye on the one who is easier. The quieter twin can go under the radar precisely because they are not demanding attention.
Split the work, not just the nights. One of you on feeds, the other on everything else, can be easier than one each.
Expect them to be different. One good sleeper and one poor one is extremely common, and nothing to do with anything you did.
Getting support
Looking after twins, or two small children close in age, is hard in a specific way, and there is specific support for it.
Twins Trust, the UK charity for families with twins, triplets and more, runs Twinline, a free, confidential helpline on 0800 138 0509, open Monday to Thursday, 10am to 1pm and 7pm to 10pm. It is staffed by volunteers who are parents of multiples themselves. You do not need to be a member to call.
For anything about your babies' health, feeding or weight, or how you are coping, your health visitor or GP is the right person to speak to. It is worth mentioning when you speak to them that you have twins, or a baby and a toddler at home, because it changes what help is useful.
If you are struggling with your mood or how you are feeling, please tell your health visitor or GP. The NHS has a page for parents of twins and multiples about how you are feeling, and you are far from alone in finding this hard.
Littles is free to download, and logging feeds, sleep and nappies stays free for as long as you want it.
Your baby's own 24 hour sleep needs, and the rest of the analysis screens, are part of premium. Two weeks free to try, then £6.99 a month or £50 a year.
Sources: Twins Trust helpline information; NHS guidance for parents of twins and multiples.
Related reading: What a week of tracking actually shows you
