Your newborn twins have arrived. Your days are filled with joy and excitement when you bring them home from the hospital.
There are snuggles on the couch. Naps with on your chest. Walks during the witching hour. Those early newborn days might be long, but they are truly pretty awesome.
Then reality strikes…a few weeks have passed and likely it is time for your partner to go back to work. Now, you’re rollin’ solo, raising two babies and juggling this enormous task. . . ALL DAY LONG!
Just when you were settling into your new routine and miraculously accomplishing simultaneous diaper changes, tandem feedings and late night wake up calls. . . BAM! It feels like your life has been turned upside down again. It’s time to strategize.
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Your world might be about to change, but these few simple tips will help you survive days alone with your tiny army when your partner goes back to work after birth!
Prep Ahead of Time
This will take you farther than you think. It may seem like you have plenty of hours in the day to accomplish household chores while your newborns snooze, but the reality is very different.
Whether it’s chopping and storing food for meals on Sundays before the work week starts, or actually preparing a week’s worth of pre-made meals, you will be glad you spent some time prepping in the kitchen each week. Make sandwiches the night before, or grab snack sized baggies and portion out healthy snacks to have on hand. Almonds, cheese and apples are great on the go!
Skipping meals only makes surviving these days alone that much harder and can have an impact on your milk supply if you are a nursing mother! Overnight Oats are a great option to have on hand in the fridge for anytime of day. Did you know that eating oatmeal can be a great way to boost your milk supply?
Create A Schedule
Even if you aren’t a scheduled person, mapping out an idea of what your day will entail will be super helpful in making you feel more accomplished or productive. Think of your time like a day at the office, with scheduled appointments and meetings. Write everything down, when the babies need to be fed, when YOU need to be fed, naps, loads of laundry, walks etc. The more specific you are about what you hope to accomplish each day will help the time pass in more productive ways. When your partner comes home to find you in the same spit-up covered clothes, without your teeth brushed for the third day in a row, you will have proof that you were in fact very productive!
Where Are your People At?
Being home alone with infant twins can feel very isolating and lonely. Getting out of the house alone can seem like an impossible task which makes socializing even more difficult, although with some practice you can totally do it! In the interim, make plans with friends and family, asking them just to stop by for a cup of coffee or a brisk walk at least a few times a week. Trust us, if you are having one of “those days” that we all have as parents, you will be glad you have someone stopping by with hot coffee to talk about something other than babies. 
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Want out of the house? Schedule an outing with a friend, asking them to come to your house first to help you get the babies organized and out of the door. In return, you can drive and treat her to lunch, which also means you have extra hands in the car when Baby A screams bloody murder.
Rethink How You Cook
Your meals don’t have to rival Rachel Ray everyday! This isn’t for the long haul, just in the interim while you are learning how to function in your new role after your partner goes back to work. You aren’t going to have as much time to cook like you might have had in days past, especially if you have other children.
The slow cooker or InstaPot are going to be your new BFFs. There are a million recipes on Pinterest these days to help new moms make healthy meals for their families in half the time. Find a few that you can add to your weekly menu and you’ll save a ton of time, not to mention stress, from your new daily routine.
Eliminate the Things in Your Day That Are Tedious and Overwhelming
Eliminate the things in your day that overwhelm you.
Is it the endless pile of bottles in your sink?
Is running laundry upstairs every time a kid has a blowout getting under your skin?
Whatever it may be, rethink and reorganize the way you roll. If you can’t stand the bottle build up in the sink, create a system that moves them out of sight. Or find ONE time a day that you devote to washing them. . .and leave it at that. No need to stress about the small stuff. . .you’ve got bigger fish to fry now.
If you hate the pile of laundry thrown on your couch, grab a laundry basket and throw it at the base of your stairs. When you finally make it upstairs later in the day, you can simply bring it with you. No more endless piles!
Overwhelmed because your partner is stuck in traffic and you are doing bedtime solo?
Don’t panic. You can’t change what you can’t control!
What you can do is make a few adjustments to your routine when a wrench is thrown into your day. Small adjustments will set YOU up for success and reduce your anxiety. Maybe it means eliminating bath time for that day. Or maybe you need to feed each baby separately while the other lays and plays in their crib.
The key to surviving days alone after your parter goes back to work after birth is to get organized, be flexible and give yourself a little grace, this is a brief period in your life that will pass you by quickly!
You can do it! Do you have any other tips for new and overwhelmed twin moms that we missed?
Share in the comments below so all moms can benefit from your experience!
