Half a Dozen Baby Tricks

Sometimes I feel really grateful for having had twin babies for our first mothering experience if only because we figured out such great coping skills that have been completely applicable to having singleton babies as well (but that I don't think we would have necessarily figured out if it weren't for the insanity of the twin baby thing). This post is a compilation of "baby tricks we learned from our twins" that I hope one of you might find helpful at some point.

The thing about having two babies at once is that you have to get kind of creative in the department of baby entertainment, assuming that you want to keep your babies relatively happy most of the time, and that you also want to have time and space to do regular human things like eat dinner with your wife or hang out with your friends in the evening or get any amount of sleep at all. At the same time, we also felt strongly that this "baby entertainment" be of the non-battery/electricity-requiring variety since neither Lena nor I can tolerate anything plastic or otherwise mechanical that lights up and/or makes noise. In our quest for solutions we did break down and try some things that we had previously considered to be in the "we absolutely won't do that with our babies" category. For instance, when the twins were 3 weeks old, I sent Lena out to the store to buy both pacifiers AND a wind-up baby swing. We were desperate (the pacifiers did nothing for us, the swing-o-matic was lovely for a few months).

Anyway, here are some of my favorite ways to keep our babies happy and make the whole first year much, much less stressful (I suppose I assume it goes without saying that the top two ways to soothe a baby are: breastfeeding and babywearing, possibly in that order, or possibly simultaneous (that's Leo's favorite at the moment--nursing in the sling), thus neither of those priceless tools are listed here):

1. Take That Baby Outside. We learned early on that Luke and Jaz were nearly always perfectly content so long as they were out in the fresh air. The same was true for Zeb and Leo. Sometimes even just a few minutes of standing under the sky can completely shift a baby's mood. The textures of the natural world (grass, leaves, dirt, bark) are also hugely entertaining for babies who have reached the tactile stage.

Leo, in a pile of leaves
4 months old

2. Remove Clothing! A naked baby is often a happy baby. Aside from Zeben (who never much liked being naked, and now today is probably the least naked-3-year-old ever), all of our babies have loved, loved, loved to be naked. With Jaz it was an especially magical solution, and since he was our fussiest baby of the bunch, I'd often find myself stripping him down all over town! For the most part, we employ this trick during dinner time, when the rest of us are hoping to do some eating in peace, and when babies are often not in their most easy-going states. We have an absorbent pad that we lay on the floor for little babies, so if they pee it's no big deal. Once they start crawling, it can get a little messier, but I'll take a peaceful dinner with a puddle of pee on the floor over dinner with a fussy little one any day.

Naked at Dinnertime
Leo, 3 months old

3. Bathe With Your Baby! Babies love water. They especially love water if they feel like they are safe in a parent's arms. All of our babies have been instantly soothed by a bath with one of their moms. With Luke and Jaz, I used to sometimes take 3 or 4 baths a day just for the calm that bathing provided. I do not believe that there is any reason to worry about the temperature of the water. Trust your instincts and your baby's reaction. You will know if the water is too hot (or too cold). It should be comfortable for both you and your baby (and for those who really must have a number, I generally suggest a water temperature of about 100-101°F).

Co-bathing
Me with 3-month-old Zeb

4. The Laundry Basket Trick. Put your newly sitting, not-yet-crawling baby in a laundry basket for some low-frustration play time. The basket keeps your baby's toys within easy reach. Plus, babies just like to be tucked into cozy spaces like that.

Laundry Leo,
5 months old

5. Hang a Swing Inside! The indoor swing is one of our most favorite parenting tricks. All of our babies have loved swinging. We find it's especially helpful for Leo during fussy times when he's craving motion (and thus simply being in the sling while I stand at the counter preparing a meal isn't enough for him). And it's especially, especially helpful if you have older children in your home who can help with pushing the baby and making faces at him while he's swinging. We got a swing from a swing set supplier and hung it in the doorway between our kitchen and our dining room. The swing allows the baby (or toddler . . . or 6-year-old!) to face in either direction, so Leo can watch his brothers draw at the dining room table, or watch me cook dinner. I suggest not hanging a swing with chains (we did this originally in our new house, using our outdoor baby swing, but have since replaced it with a chain-less version), and instead using rope (we like climbing rope best). You can get swing-hanging hardware at your local hardware store. In some previous homes, we've found a joist in the ceiling and hung a swing in the middle of the room, but the doorway is an easy solution if ceiling joists aren't easy to come by in your house or if the rooms are too small to accommodate something swinging back and forth inside them.

Swing More, Fuss Less
Leo, 5.5 months old

6. Put Your Mattress on the Floor. We did this right away with Luke and Jaz since we were intending to co-sleep with them from the start. I knew that I didn't want to have to worry about two babies rolling off the bed in the night. It worked so wonderfully for us, that we've put our mattress on the floor for all of our babies once they hit the rolling stage (and generally we've left it that way until they've learned how to safely crawl off of a higher bed). I truly believe that the key to getting good sleep with a newborn--or a baby of any age who is not sleeping through the night independently (lest I make it sound like it would be typical for a non-newborn to be sleeping through the night independently, let me remind you that one of our nearly 7-year-olds is not yet sleeping through the night independently, and none of our kids (thus far) hit that milestone before the age of 2 years)--is to share sleep with your baby. And by "share sleep" I do not mean "sleep when the baby sleeps" (such great advice that is entirely inapplicable to those of us with twins), but literally sleep with your baby, in a bed together. And I think the best way to make co-sleeping actually work for your family is to be doing it in a big enough bed that is as close to the floor as possible (low bed frames work for some families, but I do think putting the mattress directly on the floor is the easiest solution). Sleep deprivation has hardly ever been an issue for us (I went through a rough patch with the twins in the middle of their second year, but that's it), and I attribute this parenting anomaly to our fabulous Family Bed and realistic expectations.

I'd love to know what baby tricks--conventional or, especially, unconventional--you've come up with. Please share in the comments section!