Discordant twins with the smaller baby appropriate for gestational
The Green Parent Baby Wearing Twins
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Transcript of The Green Parent Baby Wearing Twins
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Green Parent
WIN ORGANIC BEDDING FOR CHILDREN AND MORE
HOW
Make your
tree jou
CelebSam
PLUS BABYWEARING TWINS ASTROLOGY WELLBEING FASHION SEASONAL RE
OFF THE GRID
Baby signingThe role ofmidwife
ECO KITCHEN
9ways to a cleanergreener space
CultureTRIBAL
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2011 3.95 THEGREENPARENT.
EducatioSPECIA
Steiner schooWhat i
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Natural parenting
around the world
One familysexperiment
Green
Babies
TheTHE NATUR
PARENTIN
MAGAZIN
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TheGreen P
Ihadnt planned to wear my
children. Id bought a sling when
I was pregnant, but only because
it was next on the unfeasibly long
list of equipment I simply had
to have as a new parent. I spent hours
deliberating over pushchairs, deciding Id
almost certainly need a second stroller
too at some stage, and maybe even some
sort of o-road buggy. Josh was born at
28 weeks and spent nearly four months in
hospital. A fortnight after he came home,
I realised I hadnt used the pushchair at
all. He had bad reux and respiratory
problems, regularly turning blue as he
forgot to take a breath. Carrying him in a
sling meant I could not only see his face
but actually feel him breathing I was
much more relaxed and he was far happier
sitting upright. From that moment on
the pushchair was rarely used; instead I
fell in love with a Coorie pouch sling and
used a Kari-Me wrap for longer walks.
When I fell pregnant again later that
year, I resolved to wear my baby from theoutset and forget pushchairs completely.
But my plans were thrown into disarray
when an early scan revealed I was
expecting twins. I was so disappointed
that my intentions to babywear had
been thwarted; there was no way Id
be able to carry two babies and even
if I could, what would I do with Josh,
who would be just 15 months when
they arrived? I resigned myself to using
pushchairs again and ordered a monstrous
triple buggy from New Zealand.
When the babies arrived, life was
chaotic to say the least. It took so longto move them from Moses baskets to car
seats, from car seats to the buggy, and
from the buggy to play groups. I felt as
though our whole day was taken up with
logistics. In desperation I pulled out my
Coorie sling and slotted both twins into
it, where they snuggled up together as
I imagined they had done in the womb.
Sitting Josh on one hip instantly felt >
Emily Carlisle discovers that carrying twins is often
more convenient and easier than using a pushchair
Twin Bonding
Zina carrying
babies, Bo and
Luke froggied in
a stretchy wrap at
six weeks old. See
babywearingtwins.
com for more
inspiration.
GREEN BA
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72TheGreen Parent
> comfortable and thats how we made
short trips, where previously the buggy
had been essential. I felt immediately
liberated and started to explore other
options for babywearing my twins when
they got too big to t into one pouch sling.
Carrying three children simply wasnt
practical for more than the shortest of
walks and as Josh got steadier on his feethe got used to walking longer distances.
By 20 months he would happily walk the
half mile into town while I carried his twin
sisters in two pouch slings positioned
crossways across my body. Initially the girls
lay in the deep part of each pouch but the
method worked well as they got bigger,
eventually enabling me to wear them in
a hip carry, one on each side. The buggy
was still a part of family logistics, but
babywearing gave us so much exibility
and a closeness to my daughters I couldnt
get when they were in the pushchair.
Im far from the only twin-mum refusing
to give up on ideals of babywearing.
Jenny Kyles, 41, is from North Carolina.
She stumbled upon the concept of
babywearing with her older children,
Chandler, now 21, and Forrest, 19, but
found early carriers uncomfortable and
had no place to go for support. When she
fell pregnant with twins Arthur and Roland,
now 14 weeks, she was determined to try
babywearing again. This time around I had
the Internet to help me and I discovered
a whole new world of babywearing. Iknew that I denitely wanted to nd a
way to wear these babies. Jenny uses a
Maya wrap, a Sleeping Baby Productions
conversion ring sling and a Du & Jag Mei
Tai, although shes still experimenting
with the best combination. I had my rst
true double carry success using the ring
sling and the Mei Tai. I put one of the boys
on my back in the Mei Tai then wrangled
the sling over my shoulder for a hip carry
with the other. Its a bit of a circus, but Im
not afraid to be the centre of attention!
She admits that its far from easy, and not
always practical, but the advantages ofbabywearing mean its worth persevering.
Jennys already wondering how long it will
be before the combined weight of the boys
makes it dicult for her to wear them,
but it could be longer than she thinks.
Joy Mottram, 27, lives in Croydon with
her sons Seth, 6, and Malachi, 4, and three
year old twin girls Maya and Anya. Joy
soon abandoned using a pram with her
oldest child, quickly realising that putting
Seth in a wrap calmed him and lifted
the depression she was experiencing
following a rough start to motherhood. She
found thebabywearer.com and ordered a
Didymos wrap from eBay, complete with
instructions in German. When she found
out she was expecting twins, she had no
hesitation about continuing to babywear.
Id worn Seth and Malachi together fairly
frequently so I knew Id be able to tandem
carry the twins. I wondered how Id get
both up and down safely while out and
about, but I did a babywearing consultancycourse with Die Trageschule towards the
end of my pregnancy, which really boosted
my condence. Joy found it easier to use
two separate wraps to carry the babies
in the early days, so she could leave a
sleeping twin undisturbed if the other
needed feeding or changing. I used a
Wrapsody stretch wrap tied on my front,
and a shorter woven wrap on my back.
Joy is very positive about babywearing
with twins, and encourages other parents
not to over think it. Wearing any child is
an evolving journey, and wearing two even
more so. Be prepared to switch the carriesyou're using often, as your needs change.
She suggests identifying a local sling meet
to nd other mums who have tandem
carried to share tips and oer moral
support, and doesnt feel that babywearing
twins should be restricted to the early
days. I can still wear them now together
at three years; the biggest problem is
being able to see past their heads!
M
any twin mums are
worried about the
physical strain of
wearing two babiesand its important to
listen to your own body. Amanda Rutter
MSCP is a Chartered Physiotherapist from
Towy Physiotherapy in Carmarthenshire,
Wales. She explains that although slings
place strain on the spine and pelvis,
when used correctly there is no reason
for them to cause back pain, or even
to exacerbate an existing problem.
When tting slings and positioning
the babies, dont bend from the hips to
pick them up, she advises, and avoid
twisting and bending at the same time.
Kneel or squat to make positioning less
strenuous. When twins are signicantly
dierent weights Amanda suggests
alternating the position of each baby to
equalise the muscle usage in each area.
Having twins is an incredibly rewarding
experience. Theres no denying that the
practicalities can sometimes be daunting,
but in my experience theres little that
cant be overcome. Babywearing supports
the bonding process and gives babies
a feeling of security and contentment;
for mothers of twins, nothing could
be more valuable than that.
Emily Carlisle is a freelance writer and columnist living in the Cotswolds with her husband, four year old
son Joshua and three year old twins Evie and Georgie. Emily writes at morethanjustamother.com
slings and carriersMost parents of twins use a
combination of standard slings,
wraps and carriers to wear their
babies. The following carriers are
specically designed for twins;
Twin Trexx Twin baby carrier
Weego Twin baby carrier
useful resourcesslingmeet.co.uk
babywearingtwins.comthebabywearer.com
naturalmamas.co.uk
facebook.com/babywearingsafety
babywearinginternational.org
GREEN BABIES