Preparing your home for triplets or more

The more planning you do before your babies are born, the better. While you are pregnant, it’s a good idea to anticipate potential stress by simplifying your lifestyle, and organising the house and your finances.

Each baby will need their own cot and car restraint. There are prams available for multiple babies, and a baby sling or pouch can help you carry more than one baby at once. You could also consider buying a change table and baby bath, but these are not essential.

Make sure all the baby equipment you buy complies with Australian standards, including any second hand equipment you may be given. For more information on safe baby equipment, visit Product Safety Australia.

You will need a good supply of nappies — approximately 6 to 8 nappies per day for each baby. Make sure you have plenty of clothes so you always have some spare. Buy baby suits, cotton singlets, cardigans, bootees or socks, muslin wraps and blankets.

To help with the costs of raising multiple babies, the Australian Government pays a Multiple Birth Allowance for families who receive Family Tax Benefit Part A. For more information, visit the Department of Human Services.

It’s a good idea to set up your home so you have easy access to spare clothes, nappies, wipes and feeding equipment in the rooms where you will spend time with the babies. Speak to other parents of multiples for tips on what has worked for them by joining a support group through the Australian Multiple Birth Association.

Multiple babies and sleep

Even if your babies shared a cot in hospital, it’s safest for them to have their own place to sleep at home. If you do sometimes need to put 2 or more babies in one cot, place them head to toe at opposite ends of the cot. Your babies should not share a cot once they can move around.

Putting your babies to bed at the same time will encourage them to develop similar sleep patterns. Always follow safe sleeping guidelines by placing the babies on their back, keeping their head and face uncovered, and ensuring a safe sleep environment. For more information on safe sleeping visit Red Nose.

Your babies’ individual sleep patterns depend on their weight, not their age. They will start sleeping through the night when they are ready. Encourage night time sleeping with a calm, quiet environment and a consistent routine.

Going out with triplets or more

It can take a lot of planning to go out with multiple babies. Before you leave your home, make sure you are organised and have a good supply of nappies, wipes, changes of clothes, and bottles and formula if you are using them.

It can be easier to travel with one baby in a sling or pouch and the others in a pram or stroller. Plan your route and try short outings at first.

Your multiple babies as they grow

Even if it’s hard to tell your babies apart at first, in a few days you will start to recognise them as individuals. As they grow, they will develop their own personalities. Multiple children often have a special bond, but it’s important to encourage them to have their own friends and interests and to spend time apart from each other.

Try not to compare them with each other, and remember to celebrate their individual achievements.

Multiple babies are at higher risk of disability since they are more likely to be born prematurely. Having a child with disabilities brings its own unique rewards and challenges. Read more about parenting a child with disabilities here.

Older siblings and multiple babies

Having multiple babies affects the entire family, including older children. You can prevent sibling rivalry by explaining the changes to your older children in advance and involving them in the care of the babies. Make sure you spend individual time with your other children every day, but expect them to be clingy and unsettled for a while.

Treating all of your children as individuals, dressing them differently and referring to the multiples by name rather than ‘the triplets’ or ‘the quads’ will help your single children to feel part of a large family, rather than separate to the ‘package’ of the multiples.

Postnatal depression after multiple births

Parents of multiples are at much higher risk of exhaustion, relationship stress and postnatal depression and anxiety than parents of single babies. Fathers can also experience paternal depression after the birth of children.

If you have feelings of being down, inadequate, anxious, have trouble sleeping, or find yourself worrying excessively about the babies, you may be experiencing postnatal depression. There is plenty of help available from these trusted resources:

• PANDA — 1300 726 306
• Beyond Blue — 1300 224 636
• Pregnancy, Birth and Baby — 1800 882 436