Double trouble - multiple births are on the increase...

Multiple births are on the increase and more parents are facing the challenge where every aspect of parenthood is turned upside down.

There is one message that comes across from parents faced with bringing up twins.

It's a fantastic experience watching them grow and form a unique bond with each other, plus the added bonus of going through the same stages at the same time is priceless. However it is a life-changing roller-coaster ride that you can't get off.

There are now 11,000 multiple births each year in the country and the Twins and Multiple Births Association (Tamba) is a charity set up by parents of twins, triplets and higher multiples.

Founded in 1978, it's the only UK-wide organisation that directly helps tens of thousands of parents to meet the unique challenges that multiple birth families face.

Tamba wants all families with twins, triplets and more to share the same opportunities as other families, so they can enjoy their unique experiences to the full.

That's why regional groups associated with Tamba are so vital when it comes to reassuring, advising and helping parents of multiples.

Caroline Smith runs the Sunderland branch which is based at Hendon. She is a mum of twins and used the group herself when she was expecting her daughters, Sally and Eve, six years ago.

"It hadn't been running long when I first went along," she said. "It was great for me as the group gave me a lot of support.

"Being able to hear what others had been through was really reassuring.

"The group is so friendly and open and there are a number of different age ranges with varying experience.

"That's why we need more new mums to keep coming along to keep the numbers up so it can continue to help expectant parents."

The group began in May 2000 when city health visitor Margaret Swinney recognised the need for support in the city for mums of multiples.

The club meets once a month at Valley Road Community Primary School and offers parents and carers of twins the chance to get together and share stories and provide an informal network of support.

Margaret started Sunderland Twins Club as it had become obvious working as a health visitor supporting families, that advice given to a mother of a child – for example about feeding, sleep management or behavioural problems – did not transfer to the parenting of two.

The group provides the experience and support of real families, where their everyday dilemmas can be shared and learned from.

Caroline, 41, who lives in Ashbrooke, was not shocked when she found out she was expecting twins and her partner Darren Cuming laughed when he saw the scan.

She said: "It runs in the family so I wasn't surprised but still... seeing two there on the scan takes your breath away.

"Darren spotted it first and he thought it was funny. He's really laid back but I cried for a week.

"I started preparing really early once I knew and I had piles of nappies as I used to pick more up every time I went shopping. Don't leave everything to the last minute because you just won't have the time."

Caroline gave birth naturally after 24 hours in labour and left hospital two days later. She was lucky to find breast feeding a breeze. "I took to it really well and so did the babies, I breast fed for six months.

"They always fed at the same time so I had a V-shaped pillow which I put on my lap – it was a godsend.

"I've been quite lucky but I'm quite positive anyway. I just got on with it."

The group currently has 15 members but Caroline would like to get new mums to come along. She said: "The group is beneficial to everybody whether you have had your children or are expecting. It's great support network.

"Everyone always concentrates on the babies but really as a mum you need support and you need to be able to run questions by other people.

"Just knowing someone else has gone through it makes you feel better."

* The next group will be held on September 7 at Valley Road Community Primary School, Hendon, from 7pm - 9pm. For more information email casmith@rac.co.uk For more information on multiples go to www.tamba.org.uk

rte - J-Lo wants to spend more time with twins

Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez has said that she wants to spend "every free moment" with her twin babies.
According to People magazine, the 39-year-old star said: "[Most days] I get up early with them. Then when the nanny comes, I can take a shower and give them their breakfast. She's there to help me get things done."
Referring to returning to work, she said: "It's gonna be a learning experience. How will I do both? I try to take breaks from work."

"I'll do a little work with the choreographers and then come back. I try to spend every free moment with the babies."
"When they see you and have that big smile on their face - I live for that," she said.

bridlingtonfreepress - Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will have to - so how do you cope with twins?

Following news that Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins, we look at what she and partner Brad Pitt will be going through in the early days and ask the experts how they'll cope as they welcome the babies into their family.
Hollywood's golden couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – already the parents of four children – are now celebrating the birth of twins.Angelina, 33, gave birth to a boy, Knox Leon, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline, by Caesarean in a hospital in the South of France. Brad, 44, was by Angelina's side. The tiny pair –- weighing around 5lb each – join Cambodian-born Maddox, aged six, Vietnamese-born Pax Thien, four, and Ethiopian-born Zahara, three, as well as the couple's biological daughter, two-year-old Shiloh.The wealthy superstars undoubtedly have already experienced some of the highs, lows and demands of parenthood with their multicultural "rainbow" family. But having twins is a uniquely challenging – as well as joyful – experience according to childcare experts and other famous parents of twins.TV presenter Alice Beer, mother of five-year-old twin girls Dora and Phoebe warns: "No matter how much money you can throw at it, those early months with twins are inevitably blooming hard work! So although having twins is incredible it's also non-stop and exhausting."There are around 11,000 twin and multiple births each year in the UK and that average is set to rise as women delay parenthood until after 30 and are increasingly overweight – both factors which raise the likelihood of twins. Alice, co-author with leading baby expert Gina Ford of the book A Contented House with Twins admits: "Nothing quite prepares you for the reality of having twins."Those first weeks were quite a shock. I had a Caesarian like Angelina and so I was not only sore and fragile after having an operation but also having to cope with two babies instead of just one."There are have been reports the first photographs of the film star couple and their twins are going for £8 million – a fee they plan to donate to charity.Alice, 43, says that she agreed to a Hello! exclusive, with the fee going to charity Tamba (the Twins and Multiple Births Association, www.tamba.org.uk). Alice jokes: "I'd advise Angelina not to rush to have those photos done. I must have been high on some kind of hormone when I agreed to it!"The twins were only about four months old when the magazine came and I was still finding it pretty stressful even to get myself organised enough to leave the house with the twins in tow, let alone getting them both looking perfect – at the same time – in their best outfits for photographs!" She adds: "You can't anticipate how much of your life is going to be stolen by these tiny babies. It's unbelievable."My husband Paul and I, who pre-twins were incredibly organised and punctual, found we always got everywhere two hours late – if at all."And she has some advice for Brad and Angelina. "You need to be a team. That's the way Paul and I got through. He would hold one baby and walk around with her while I fed the other, or we would be cuddling them both together.
With twins both of you always seem to have your hands full with one of them."For Brad and Angelina there will have been the initial joy and relief at the birth of healthy babies – twins are more likely to be premature and Angelina's planned Caesarian was brought forward for "medical reasons". GP Dr Carol Cooper, who is also a parent of twins and author of Twins And Multiple Births, says the higher risk of post-natal depression is not surprising: "Think two babies crying at different times, waking at different times and wanting feeding at different times. Life can become just looking after the babies 24/7."Brad and Angelina are privileged and wealthy, but for ordinary couples there may be the added stress of affording two of everything, perhaps even having to get a larger car or house. It can all add to the strain."Family and friends may underestimate the early challenge of twins, she adds. "Naturally everyone is happy for you when you have a baby – and especially two which may be a novelty in the family. But if everyone around you keeps saying, 'You're so lucky! How marvellous! Twins!' it can heighten your feelings of inadequacy if you're actually not always feeling lucky but are anxious, worried you're not coping and feeling low following the births. "Things that are straightforward with a single baby become difficult if not impossible with two. For instance, if you're holding two babies you have no hands free so you can't shut a door, make a snack or answer a phone – all possible when holding just one baby. It's helpful if family and close friends offer to do practical things for you to give you a break." Dr Cooper had an son of two when her twins (now 21) were born. "In general, a child that age can find it hard to adjust to the arrival of one baby – let alone two. They feel jealous and pushed aside and once it dawns on them that the babies are not going to be sent back – young siblings often think this is an option in the early days! – they can be quite troublesome."It's all attention seeking and will usually settle quickly as long as the parents give the child separate attention to make them feel special, too."Rumour has it that Brad and Angelina have already sought advice from other celebrity parents of twins particularly Julia Roberts and Danny Moder – who have a son and a daughter now three, Phinnaeus and Hazel.Brad is said to have asked Julia (Brad's co-star in Ocean's 11) whether there were different rules for bringing up twins as opposed to single children, to which she replied: "It's the same – only twice as hard!"

Daily Mail - Fergie: Manchester United's new Brazilian twins have a bright future at Old Trafford

Sir Alex Ferguson believes his new Brazilian twins will have a bright future at Manchester United.
Right-back Rafael Da Silva played in the whole of United's friendly win at Peterborough on Monday.
And his twin Fabio played 45 minutes, replacing Patrice Evra on the other side of United's defence.
Ferguson said: 'The young players were fantastic and young Rafael the right-back was a sensation for me.
'I thought it was a real eye opener for us. He hadn't played for a year but he's played a full 90 minutes.
'His brother Fabio has played 45 minutes and he's also done well so we're really pleased by their contribution.
Asked whether Rafael could be on the way to a place in the first team, Ferguson said: 'You know what football's like. Sometimes it turns up some star, some little nugget maybe.
'I think we have got a good player here.'

daily express - Lisa Marie Presley expecting twins

Lisa Marie Presley is expecting twins, her spokeswoman has said.
The babies are expected in the autumn. Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley and actress Priscilla Presley, announced her pregnancy on her MySpace page in March, saying she was forced to go public with the news after photos of her looking heavier were ridiculed in the media. The 40-year-old singer has two children from her marriage to musician Danny Keough, which ended in 1994. She was briefly married to Michael Jackson and Nicolas Cage. Presley married music producer Michael Lockwood in January 2006."It's her time to celebrate with her husband," Priscilla Presley said in an interview. "My daughter is a very family girl. She loves children, and I know that she and Michael have been hoping for this for a long time." She said twins run in the family "on Elvis' side and on my side too. I have twin brothers, and then, of course, Elvis had a twin brother" who died at birth.

irishtimes - Double trouble

Getting two for the price of one means twice the challenge, and the birth is only the beginning
THEY MAY not be average parents in any other way, but film star couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt must have been very relieved to leave the hospital in Nice 10 days ago with two healthy babies. Getting two for the price of one inevitably increases the risks during pregnancy and delivery; twins are more likely to be premature and have a low birth weight.
But once the medical complications are behind you, the challenge of raising two children in tandem is just beginning. And only those who have gone through the experience of multiple births really know what it is like.
It’s hardly surprising then that Jolie and Pitt have reportedly been looking for advice from other parents in Hollywood circles who have had twins, such as Julia Roberts and Danny Moder, who have a son and a daughter, Phinnaeus and Hazel, now three.
At least celebrity couples are not short of helping hands. The latest additions to the Pitt-Jolie family, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, are likely to have at least one nanny each. With another four children in the household – birth daughter, Shiloh, who was born in Namibia in 2006, and three adopted children: Cambodian-born son Maddox, daughter Zahara from Ethiopia and Pax from Vietnam – there is plenty of work for an entire childcare team.
However, no matter how wealthy you are, early months with twins are tough. The hired help can only do so much. Jolie was reported to have breastfed Shiloh, but feeding twins is exhausting.
Charlotte O’Brien (41), the mother of twin girls Emilie and Lucy, managed it for six weeks and was then relieved to switch to bottles. “It’s too demanding with two of them, they don’t feed at the same time.”
But Corrinna Moore (37), whose twins boys, Cormac and Aran, were born six weeks early and spent 12 days in special care, says the hospital helped her by starting a routine where they were fed at the same time. “I don’t know if, left to my own devices, I would have achieved such a fine-tuned routine.”
When she left Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London, where she was living at the time, she continued to do what she had been advised – when one woke to feed, she woke the other and put one to each breast at the same time.
“Otherwise you wouldn’t have a minute to yourself.”
Their tummies were so small, they were feeding every one-and-a-half hours so even nursing them simultaneously was a pretty constant business.
“One day I was determined to get out of the house,” Moore recalls. “But by the time I had them fed, then the bag packed and was out the door, they started to cry: they needed feeding again. I sat down and cried too.
“You can’t breastfeed twins in public. You need your couch and your feeding pillows.”
As for any parent of a new-born, it’s the feeding and the sleeping which are the biggest issues in the first few months – but with twins it’s undoubtedly at least double the trouble.
“I will never forget those first six months of no sleep at all,” says O’Brien. She and her husband, Ashley, look back and say “how did we do it?”.
“Emilie never slept through until she was a year old. At one stage she was waking every half hour. For the first eight weeks they were together in the same room. Then we put them in separate bedrooms and that was the first night Lucy slept through.”
Out of sheer exhaustion, the couple hired a night nurse three times a week for a while, which was a life-saver for them. The moment she came in the door, the nurse took charge of the babies and sent the O’Briens straight to bed. Those were the months of physical slog but now, with the girls aged two-and-a-half, there’s a whole new set of challenges.
“They are very strong willed, strong personalities,” O’Brien says of the two fair-haired girls as they confidently explore the home of the Moores who live near them in Dalkey, Co Dublin.
“But they are very different and have been since birth. Emilie is quite demanding; Lucy is quieter and will sit and do things on her own.
“They both want to be with me. It’s very hard when there’s two children, one grabbing at each leg, and you can’t explain why you can’t pick them up at the same time. The moment they started to walk, it became difficult.
“They have no sense of danger and I have only one pair of hands. If I go anywhere, they inevitably want to go off in opposite directions. I do use reins but they don’t like them, they like the freedom.
“I went to Imaginosity which is quite big, with open spaces and four floors. Within five minutes I had lost one of them. It is a bit uncomfortable if you lose one,” she says wryly.
Moore laughs and says with her twins now aged six-and-a-half, she had forgotten what that was like. She recalls losing Cormac in Kew Gardens one day but at least she had a friend with her who could mind Aran while she ran “like a headless chicken” looking for the missing boy, thoughts of abductors and ponds racing through her mind before she found him happily playing hide-and-seek with her.
Like O’Brien, Moore’s twins were her first children, but she has gone on to have two more, two-year-old Lorcan and baby Aoife who was born last month. “In terms of practicalities, having one child at a time is easier,” she says. “But once you get twins to about two or three, it is easier than having a second child 18 months behind.
“I am glad I had the twins first. With subsequent children, the twins are so focused on each other they don’t care who comes after them. The sibling rivalry is for each other.”
Although both mothers emphasise that their twin children are very different individuals, in each case their rate of development has been remarkably similar.
“At 16 months, they started walking the same day, within 20 minutes of each other,” says O’Brien. “Emilie stood up, she was the first born; the other one watched her and then stood up too. I couldn’t believe it!”
“Aran and Cormac both crawled, stood and walked on the same days,” says Moore.
Before the girls started to speak recognisable words, they developed their own language for communicating with each other.
“They were quite definitely conversing and I would not understand a word. I found it amazing. They still do it in the mornings and the evenings; you can hear them chatting away in their room.”
The next milestone is toilet training. “I have bought two potties and from next week I am going to see where it takes me,” says O’Brien.
Moore did it with one potty with Cormac and Aran, encouraging them to pee into it at the same time, but that’s boys for you.
From age three onwards, the emotional issues can become more apparent as they start to socialise. Moore says it was only when the boys started playschool, and found people getting confused about who was who, that they started to be aware of being twins.
She and her husband Richard have been careful not to lump them together, by not dressing them the same or by calling them “the twins”. Although not identical, it is hard to tell them apart. Luckily they support different football teams, so spot a Liverpool shirt and you can be sure it’s Cormac, while for Aran it’s all Man Utd.
Emilie and Lucy wear the same clothes out of choice. “Initially everybody gave me matching outfits but now they won’t wear different clothes,” explains O’Brien. “If one has a spillage and I have to change her, I have to change the other one too.”
While the girls will be starting playschool in September, the boys are already two years into their primary education in separate classes. All the received wisdom is to separate single-sex twins at school if possible, says Moore, especially boys as they are so competitive.
“They had started bickering and we felt they needed individual attention. It has been brilliant. Separating them has diluted the competition.”
For all their talk about the practical problems in raising twins, and their shared guilt about the lack of one-on-one attention they can give, both mothers stress the joy as well.
“It is special, no doubt about it,” says O’Brien. “For me it’s an instant family; they’re company for each other which I am pretty sure will continue.”
Moore agrees: “You get double the pain but more than double the love back.”

marie claire - Brad 'very emotional' dad

The doctor who delivered Angelina Jolie's new baby twins has revealed that Brad Pitt was 'very emotional' at their birth. Michael Sussman told press outside the Fondation Lenval Hospital in Nice – where Jolie underwent a caesarean section – that both parents were 'calm' but 'very emotional'. He said that during the labour the couple 'were talking, they were together', adding: 'It was an epidural, so [Angelina] was awake and speaking and laughing. They were happy.' He said that Brad was the perfect bedside partner – 'he was my assistant', he joked – and revealed the actor even cut the umbilical cords. Sussman added: 'He was ... perfectly calm, totally determined, very pleased to be at the birth of his children, very moved and very emotional.' Asked whether the birth had been a textbook delivery, Sussmann replied, 'absolutely no problems', although he did admit to some pre-surgery jitters. 'It wasn't pressure on a medical level because I have been practicing for a number of years, but it's true there was pressure due to the couple's fame. [But], things happened as I wanted them to happen – simply and efficiently.' Sussman went on to praise the 'exemplary mother and father', saying they were 'people of great simplicity, of great kindness. She is a patient who was totally obedient, very calm, very kind.' When asked how long Angelina will remain in the hospital, he replied: 'She will stay for a few days. You know, in Europe it isn't like in the United States, where the patients go home after three days. They will stay a bit longer until everything is okay.' He added: 'The babies are fine. The babies are with the mother and father and they are fine.'

Mirror - Status Quo rock star Rick Parfitt on being a dad to twins at 59

Veteran rocker Rick Parfitt proudly shows off his baby twins - and says: "They've given me a new lease of life."
The Status Quo guitarist has become a dad again at the age of 59 after he and third wife Lyndsay had IVF treatment.
And he said: "I never thought this would happen to me at nearly 60 - that I would meet, fall in love, marry the girl of my dreams and then have two more beautiful children.
"I knew happiness was out there. I just couldn't seem to find it. It's almost as if I've started life again. Of all the things money can buy, nothing can buy you anything as valuable as these kids."
The Mirror revealed in December how Rick and Lyndsay, 47, were expecting twins Tommy Oswald and Lily Rose. The guitarist has two sons - Richard, 33, and Harry, 19 - from previous marriages. Rick, who now lives in southern Spain, said Lily Rose is named after his mother. And he and Lyndsay finally settled on Tommy for their boy after debating over names Max and Zach.
Rick said: "We could have named him after the place he was born, as some people do, but Malaga Parfitt doesn't quite work. So I now have sons named Tom, Dick and Harry."
Rick told Hello! magazine his former wild lifestyle meant he had not been the best of fathers to his elder boys.
He said: "Twenty years ago, the rock and roll lifestyle came first. I didn't think of it any other way. I was on the road with the band and that was my life really.
"I had these lovely kids, Richard and Harry, and I didn't see much of them. I was too preoccupied enjoying myself.
"Now I've had my heart bypass and suspected throat cancer but I've survived. lot of my colleagues didn't.
"I'm more together now than I've ever been. t's unbelievably fantastic to be a dad again."
The full feature appears in this week's Hello! magazine, on sale tomorrow

Telegraph - Angelina Jolie in hospital with her and Brad Pitt's twins on the way

After weeks of speculation - and one false alarm - the babies are now on their way.
Jolie checked in to the maternity unit at the Lenval Hospital in Nice, near the South of France home she shares with partner Brad Pitt.
A spokesman for the hospital said the 33-year-old actress was doing well and was not expected to give birth immediately.

"There's no urgency. It's been planned for a long time," the spokesman said. "She's very well. Everything is fine."
Jolie made her last public appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in May, when she appeared heavily pregnant. Her co-star Jack Black claimed the babies were due in August.
A bidding way is already under way for the first pictures of the twins, with reports that the eventual price could top $20 million.
The Hollywood couple would likely donate any money to charity, as they did for pictures of their daughter, Shiloh, in 2006.
Earlier this week they announced a $1 million donation to help child victims of the war in Iraq.
Jolie and Pitt moved to the South of France several months ago and have made their home in the hamlet of Correns, in the Provence region.
In addition to Shiloh, the couple have three adopted children: Maddox, six, Pax, four, and Zahara, three.
At the end of May, rumours swept the internet that Jolie had given birth, with reports even naming the twins as Isla Marcheline and Amelie Jane.
US television proramme Entertainment Tonight claimed that a source inside the delivery room had confirmed the story - but it later turned out to be a hoax.

Hello - J Lo and Marc touch down in Europe with their new babies

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's baby twins are getting their first taste of life on the road. Given their parents' superstar status four-month-old Emme Maribel and Max David are travelling in some luxury, of course.The family arrived on a private jet in Antwerp, Belgium, where Marc was due to perform. Jennifer emerged first cradling her little girl in a pink-trimmed blanket, while her husband carried the couple's son in a blue-edged boy's version.Since their birth the twins' dad has praised his 38-year-old wife as "an amazing mom". "I'm so proud of her. She's such a gem to watch," marvelled Marc. And it seems the Latina entertainer's maternal instincts extend to other kids, too. Earlier this week J Lo dropped by to perform her hit Let's Get Loud to an audience of autistic children at a New York primary school after they wrote to her saying it was one of their favourite songs.