Bringing up twins is no mean task and there are various logistical constraints like not being able to be in two places at the same time.Quiet early on in the game, i realised that the only way to wing it is incorporating routines into the lives of these tiny tots.
It need not become a very complicated affair however. Simple things like having a fixed time for activities like napping,eating,bathing helps to set the rhythm. So when my babies were very tiny we had to hover over them all the time as they needed to be fed every 1.5 hours round the clock.However, this tedious cycle eased up by the time they were 3 months old when the food intervals increased to 2 hours.Our routine was pretty much set around their feeding time.
One of the advantages of being in India is that one can outsource work by employing the right resources. So we had a masseur come in at sharp 10:30 in the morning right from the time my tots were a fortnight old. She would waltz in, do the whole routine of oiling, massaging and bathing the babies royally ignoring my "dekh ke" and "aaraam se" in the background.These reactions were a norm those days, typically occurring in the presence of another human being handling my babies.Later identified that as an outcome of the 'heart in mouth' syndrome i had acquired after my babies birth.
Once the children started solids at the age of 6 months the mealtimes could be bit more streamlined as frequency of food intake went down(from the earlier 2 hourly feeds). At this point in time i was in Pune with my parents and i had enrolled them in a mother toddler program. So our routine now also included 3 weekly visits to the program in the afternoon for an hour each. Now this was no mean task as the preparation time for this outing involved a good 2 hour process that included feeding the babies, burping ,fresh change of attire ( this could go up to a count of 4-5 changes by the time we made it out of the door) and packing the humongous and surprisingly, very resilient diaper bag. At this point we had also started taking them out in the pram for morning and evening walks.The walk thing can be actually be started quite early but being in Delhi the first quarter of the babies life and the risk of pollen in the air i decided to forgo it.
Routines can be centred around music too. For a while we used to wake up the babies to the chants of the Vishnu Sahasranamam , myself being captivated by the strains of these chants in most of the Telugu films i have watched. Meal times these days i find are easier to deal with, when the babies nursery rhymes are being played in the background. Evenings, i play my favourite Pandit Jasraj renditions (Kasturi Tilakam, Om Namah Shivaya). I have found that my babies always take on a magical disposition whenever any soulful music is played to them.
Now that the babies are a year old we have stipulated meal times wherein, early morning they finish their baths and join their papa for breakfast in their highchairs. They are taken to the terrace after breakfast to soak in the mid morning sun and toddle around, followed by a short nap.
Bedtime can actually be a fun time if the babies have exercised enough in the day time. I plan to include a story telling feature in this routine provided, the babies stop treating a book as the most delicious munchies mankind has invented.
I have found routines work if, one is flexible about them , a neat little contradiction in itself. For each day brings with it, its own flavor .By and large it's good if the habit of routines is inculcated early on as it sets the tone for everyone's day.
It need not become a very complicated affair however. Simple things like having a fixed time for activities like napping,eating,bathing helps to set the rhythm. So when my babies were very tiny we had to hover over them all the time as they needed to be fed every 1.5 hours round the clock.However, this tedious cycle eased up by the time they were 3 months old when the food intervals increased to 2 hours.Our routine was pretty much set around their feeding time.
One of the advantages of being in India is that one can outsource work by employing the right resources. So we had a masseur come in at sharp 10:30 in the morning right from the time my tots were a fortnight old. She would waltz in, do the whole routine of oiling, massaging and bathing the babies royally ignoring my "dekh ke" and "aaraam se" in the background.These reactions were a norm those days, typically occurring in the presence of another human being handling my babies.Later identified that as an outcome of the 'heart in mouth' syndrome i had acquired after my babies birth.
Once the children started solids at the age of 6 months the mealtimes could be bit more streamlined as frequency of food intake went down(from the earlier 2 hourly feeds). At this point in time i was in Pune with my parents and i had enrolled them in a mother toddler program. So our routine now also included 3 weekly visits to the program in the afternoon for an hour each. Now this was no mean task as the preparation time for this outing involved a good 2 hour process that included feeding the babies, burping ,fresh change of attire ( this could go up to a count of 4-5 changes by the time we made it out of the door) and packing the humongous and surprisingly, very resilient diaper bag. At this point we had also started taking them out in the pram for morning and evening walks.The walk thing can be actually be started quite early but being in Delhi the first quarter of the babies life and the risk of pollen in the air i decided to forgo it.
Routines can be centred around music too. For a while we used to wake up the babies to the chants of the Vishnu Sahasranamam , myself being captivated by the strains of these chants in most of the Telugu films i have watched. Meal times these days i find are easier to deal with, when the babies nursery rhymes are being played in the background. Evenings, i play my favourite Pandit Jasraj renditions (Kasturi Tilakam, Om Namah Shivaya). I have found that my babies always take on a magical disposition whenever any soulful music is played to them.
Now that the babies are a year old we have stipulated meal times wherein, early morning they finish their baths and join their papa for breakfast in their highchairs. They are taken to the terrace after breakfast to soak in the mid morning sun and toddle around, followed by a short nap.
Bedtime can actually be a fun time if the babies have exercised enough in the day time. I plan to include a story telling feature in this routine provided, the babies stop treating a book as the most delicious munchies mankind has invented.
I have found routines work if, one is flexible about them , a neat little contradiction in itself. For each day brings with it, its own flavor .By and large it's good if the habit of routines is inculcated early on as it sets the tone for everyone's day.
No comments:
Post a Comment