What to Do When You're Having Two: The Twins Survival Guide from Pregnancy Through the First Year

by Natalie Diaz

Overview

The creator of Twiniversity delivers an essential update to her must-have manual to having twins, now with expanded info on twin pregnancy and tandem breastfeeding, and advice on the best gear to help save your sanity.

With almost two times as many sets of twins today as there were forty years ago, What to Do When You're Having Two has quickly become the definitive resource for expectant and new parents of multiples.

A mom of fraternal twins and a world-renowned expert on parenting multiples, author Natalie Diaz launched Twiniversity, the world's leading global resource for twin parenting information and support online. Now, with her expanded edition of What to Do, she includes new information on breastfeeding, gear, sleep, and having two when you already have one, as well as:

  •creating your twin birth plan,
  •maintaining a realistic sleep schedule,
  •managing tandem breastfeeding,
  •stocking up on what you'll need (and knowing what high-tech products are now available and what's a waste of money), and
  •building a special bond with each of your twins.

Accessible, informative, and humorous, What to Do When You're Having Two is the must-have manual for every parent of twins.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781583335154
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/03/2013
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	82,734
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Founder of the Twiniversity website and director of the Manhattan Twins Club, Natalie Diaz has been featured widely in the media. She lives in New York City with her husband and their seven-year-old fraternal twins.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 Make Mine a Double 1

Chapter 2 The Double Pregnancy 25

Chapter 3 Make Room for Babies 48

Chapter 4 We're Gonna Be Broke! 61

Chapter 5 Carriages, Car Seats, and Cribs… Oh, My! 75

Chapter 6 Delivery Day and Your Hospital Stay 96

Chapter 7 A Whole New World 123

Chapter 8 Feed Me 154

Chapter 9 Schedule + Sleep = Sanity 178

Chapter 10 Somebody Please Help Me 197

Chapter 11 Traveling with the Circus 221

Chapter 12 Keeping the Foundation Strong, or "Batman and Chocolate Milk" 240

Conclusion 251

Acknowledgments 253

Appendix A Birth Plan Checklist 257

Appendix B Twins Daily Log 261

Resources 262

Index 265

Editorial Reviews

11/04/2013
Diaz, a Manhattan mother of fraternal twins, founder of the Twiniversity Web site, and director of the Manhattan Twins Club, brings her experience and the collective wisdom of her online community to this niche offering in the What to Expect genre. As multiple births in America increase due to IVF treatments, older maternal ages, and better medical outcomes for preterm labor, the medical system has developed more standard processes for dealing with them. This handbook proves most successful in clarifying these processes, telling the expectant twin mom how to handle such things as bed rest, to avoid preterm labor; a delivery that may place in an operating room with medical students watching; and a likely stay in the NICU for one or both babies. Diagrams for tandem nursing and co-swaddling are clear and helpful. But Diaz wades into murkier waters with a mix of consumer advice, personal opinions about controversial topics like cloth vs. disposable diapers, breast vs. bottle feeding, and sleep training, as well as several half-formed advice beyond her expertise, in realms like baby proofing, financial planning, and marital issues. The book is most suitable as a supplement rather than replacement for standard baby books; parents will likely want the wisdom of the professionals as well. Agent: J.L. Stermer, N.S. Bienstock. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

2013-10-05
Twiniversity website founder Diaz delivers a comprehensive guide for parents of twins, from prenatal care through the first year of child development. Humorous at times--"I always liked bathing the twins in the sink because it forced me to do the dishes. That's the sad truth"--and exhaustive in the details, the author provides meticulous lists, tips, do's and don'ts, and compares brands of products, offering advice on what to purchase, including baby monitors, double breast-feeding pillows, Bumbo seats, jumperoos, exersaucers and baby swings. As a mother of fraternal twins, the author provides firsthand experience, and her desire is to ease parents into the oftentimes overwhelming moments of dual parenting. From health concerns during pregnancy, such as insomnia, morning sickness and how to handle bed rest, to an all-inclusive registry list to a debate over cloth diapers versus disposable, Diaz moves from one arena to the next with the efficiency of a drill sergeant, someone who's been there, done that and wants readers to learn from her trials and errors. Rounding out this how-to guide is excellent advice on how to breastfeed twins, when to start solid foods, finding time to sleep and setting schedules, bathing, swaddling, and how to navigate the ins and outs of car travel to and from the grocery store. Diaz even considers fellow airline travelers in her considerate and helpful hint of passing out earplugs to those seated around anyone with twins. "Nothing is off-limits here," she writes, "as we will delve into some pretty murky waters." For readers expecting a double pregnancy, Diaz's book should be the first purchase after that all-important moment when the doctor says, "Guess what?!" In-depth, supportive information on navigating the complex road of parenting twins.

Kirkus Reviews

03/01/2014
Diaz (founder, twiniversity.com) offers expectant parents a complete survival guide to babies' first year. While twins are hardly the unicorns they used to be, they require unique considerations for expecting, delivery, breastfeeding, scheduling, and more, and common guides to pregnancy and early infancy simply do not apply. Diaz, a Manhattan mother of fraternal twins, covers the major topics one would anticipate, as well as the more mundane but crucial ones, such as choosing a stroller. Her top six mistakes to avoid (e.g., not accepting help, not napping, etc.) are useful lessons, and she does a fine job of helping parents prepare for events such as outings to the grocery store (yes, they are that involved). VERDICT Diaz offers a detailed and on-target guide for parents expecting two; for libraries needing an update or addition to the parenting collection, consider this a worthy purchase.

Library Journal

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