The joys of twins

Having two is terrific

Twins have been steadily increasing over the past 20 years – in 2004, more than 5190 sets of twins were born in the UK. It’s thought this may be due to factors such as a rise in the number of women having fertility treatment, women opting to have their babies later in life and there’s even a theory it could be down to our better diet. Here, two mums share their stories about life with twins.

Liz O’Connor, 47, lives in London with her husband Jim, 50, and their twins, George and Martha, 22 months.

When we go out it’s phenomenal the number of people who stop and speak to us. I know some mums find the attention intrusive, but I feel very proud of my babies and they’re so lovely it doesn’t surprise me that people want to chat to me about them. As they get older, I think treating them as separate personalities will come naturally. Although constantly being on the go is difficult, having the twins has been lovely. Given that we weren’t planning to have any children, having two is terrific.

Liz’s advice

• Don’t turn down any offers of help. n Get into a routine and stick to it if you can, but try to be flexible, too.
  
• Stay calm and keep things in perspective.
  
• Enjoy your babies. I got anxious about things like breastfeeding, but it was fine in the end.
  
• Take some time out of the day for yourself.

It feels so right to have twins

Kristin Hulaas Sunde, 33, lives in London with her husband Daniel, 33,
and their identical twin sons, Oliver and Emil, 18 months.

Talking to other mums with twins, I realise organisation is the key. I have a changing table upstairs and downstairs, and keep nappies and wipes next to both of them as well as in the buggy and the car.
The biggest challenge is having two children of the same age with the same needs at the same time but only one pair of hands. I do get lots of help however, and having set up a local twins club, I'm always talking to other mums in my position.
It might sound a bit surprising, but I got used to having twins straight away. As soon as they were born, it just felt so right to have two. Now
I simply can't imagine life with just one. 

Kristin’s advice

• A tandem buggy is easier to get around with than a double. 
• Have changing tables upstairs and downstairs.
• If you bottlefeed, sterilise the bottles in the morning so they’re ready.
• Involve your partner.
• Contact other mums of twins, via the NCT or your local twins club. Log onto twinsclub.co.uk or Tamba. You can find out about Kristin’s club at twinsclubplus.schtuff.com.
  

 

Twin facts

• More than 10,300 twins were born in the UK in 2004.
• Mums over the age of 45 have the highest rate of twins, partly because of fertility treatment and partly because older women are more likely to produce more than one egg when they ovulate.
• There are two main types of twins. Identical (monozygotic) twins occur when an egg is fertilised by one sperm and the egg then divides to make two babies with the same genes. Non-identical (dizygotic or fraternal) twins occur when a woman produces two eggs or more, rather than the usual one, and both eggs are fertilised by two different sperm. These twins are no more alike than any other brothers and sisters. Around one third of twins in the UK are identical, and two thirds are non-identical.
• There's a much stronger chance of having non-identical twins if there are already twins on the mum's side of the family. It's not the same with identical twins - they can happen to anyone.
• If a mum already has non-identical twins, the chances of her having more will be higher. If they're identical, the chances are no higher.
• The average length of a twins pregnancy is 37 weeks

For more information

• The Multiple Births Foundation, call 020 8383 3519 or visit www.multiplebirths.org.uk
• Tamba, The Twins & Multiple Births Association, call 0800 138 0509 or visit www.tamba.org.uk
• Twinsclub, visit www.twinsclub.co.uk

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