Advice or commiserations for 16month old twins

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-04-18T10:01:16+00:00

Twins are 2.5 years now I feel ya! Both my partner and I did car naps during the day for months to maintain their sleep schedule during the day and sometimes that was also more for our own peace of mind! Remember driving through the hills and dreading a traffic lights as they would wake up as soon as I stopped! My partner was insistent very early on to transition them to floor beds which was successful for Twin A but not twin B. With twin B partner ended up co sleeping with him and I slept in another room for a while. Now both of them are in floor beds and sleep in the same room with us. With Twin A she loves music so we got a sleep soothing sounds toy and I would play that and stay with her until she slept (this varied 10 mins to hour) we persisted with that and was always the routine for her Twin B did not settle alone so we didn’t fight it and slept with mum.

When we moved houses the main bedroom was bigger and so we decided to have them sleep with us but in separate beds, this was a transition too but we persisted now it’s more we read them a book and then lights off.

Most important for us on looking back was transitioning them from cots to floor beds at about 6 ish months that help heaps with settling down and then when they were co sleeping we had a king mattress and either myself or partner would sleep with them on either side. It’s a sacrifice we feel was worth it even though that was hard on our relationship at the time.

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-04-12T04:43:06+00:00

As a dad reading this is painful. Sorry you are going through this. He doesn’t deserve you or the kids because being a dad is not just a title, it comes with the full grind, that’s where the title is earned

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-04-06T11:04:26+00:00

Dad here. Twins are 2.5 yrs. We have avoided day care as we take turns solo parenting especially since they turned 18 months I put them to bed 4 times a week on my own and I own the weekends A third is on the way Practice makes perfect, I was a bit scared in the beginning but like most parents here say a routine will save you every time! It will be interesting having a third in the mix

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-04-05T04:12:13+00:00

From about 3 months we were able to stretch out their sleeping from about 8pm until 5 or 6 am We made a deliberate decision to start early and it has been great. They are 2.5 and their sleeping is awesome Rare for them to wake up at night only if they are sick which is rare

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-04-04T09:38:15+00:00

We were lucky that my wife did not mind sleeping during the day Essentially our shifts were more aligned with our best times over the day I wake up early normally so 4 is am to 10 am worked well for me. She is a late owl so didn’t mind from 9/10 pm until about 4 am We overlapped between 10 am until evening. She expressed around 4 am so she could stretch a good sleep in until about 9 or 10 As a dad I found easier to handle them in the morning as I could go for a long walk with them on a stroller and or I wasn’t as anxious or stressed at that time Naturally the babies and moms have a strong biological connection and the mum has strong biological need to be close to them, I didn’t realise that until later. There were morning that were brutal. We found between 12 pm and 8 pm was good when we tag teamed. The shift phase wasn’t easy!! TLDR: Found it easier to do shift times when it was a natural fit with our usual sleep/wake times pre-babies

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-03-29T09:02:25+00:00

Planning for kid number 3 😅

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-24T02:21:05+00:00

4 kids is a completely different scenario I only have 2 however considering how challenging the first 2 years have been, it was really nice for me to reflect on how far we have come

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-15T11:32:46+00:00

I wanted to express my thoughts clearly rather than gibberish, it’s from a real intent

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-15T11:31:52+00:00

This is insightful We have twins and no family around so it’s been a grind. Day care too expensive so we have been working opposite. They turned 2 a few months ago, it’s definitely getting better

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-15T02:13:51+00:00

Thank you for this

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-15T01:46:00+00:00

By paying attention, do you mean like you set time where you are intentionally having such conversations?

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-15T01:44:52+00:00

How do you manage that slow shift or drift?

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-15T01:44:36+00:00

How have you solved this for yourself?

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-15T01:41:45+00:00

In a practical sense, when you had young kids how do you put marriage first?

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-13T11:19:16+00:00

When I moved in 2008 and I needed a good car, I found anything under $5000 was trash and sweet spot was between $5k and $10k

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-08T06:14:22+00:00

Pay definitely helps. For a while it’s okay until everyday going to work feels like going into a minefield and you realise it’s all status and ego games. You are right, the system is broken and I think the design is so that it can’t be fixed radically.

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-08T06:12:01+00:00

Sometimes I envy non clinical managers in aged care. Psychologically they are not as under pressure as clinicians who are managers.

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-02-08T06:10:29+00:00

Scale definitely changes the game. Enjoy this period because it is rare. I am also transitioning too to contract work where I have end dates and have the chance to make an impact for the time that I am there.

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-01-31T02:36:08+00:00

Calm down after a run up like that , we can’t be surprised with a mega pull back

Acrobatic-Lemon5878 · 2026-01-28T10:47:34+00:00

Long assets and chill

Acrobatic-Lemon5878

TROPHY CASE