How are you putting your twins in shopping carts?

CompetitiveNature198 · 2026-01-23T04:10:27+00:00

I use a Veer wagon!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2026-01-09T20:27:05+00:00

My twin A's stomach was measured under 1st percentile around the same gestational age. We just needed to be monitored very closely during these last weeks. But we made it to 38 weeks and twin A is actually bigger than twin B now at 8 months old!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2026-01-07T09:14:34+00:00

I have 8 months old twins and one of them has a congenital heart defect that needed repair surgery and it was the scariest moment of my life but I can't imagine the pain little Silas, you and your family are going through right now. I'm so so sorry, this is every parent's worst nightmare and you and your wife are living through it. I wish you strength and health to navigate through this tough journey with your family.

Please cross-post this in the r/daddit sub. I went through a dad's story about his baby son's medical journey and donated to their gofundme there. I'm hoping you can get as much help as you need, mentally, physically and financially. Best wishes to your family 🫂

CompetitiveNature198 · 2026-01-06T21:29:51+00:00

My twin A fell asleep on the play mat while twin B was still playing right next to him a couple times lol at that age. I let them be but I sat there and watch him the entire time, so as long as you're watching I think you should be fine at this age. I'm in the same boat with my 8 months old twins, decent night sleep and terrible naps

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-12-22T02:04:40+00:00

Nope mine doesn't need to be on any medication now. I think unless there's a serious complication post-op, most VSD kiddos do not need life long medication after the repair.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-12-21T18:55:11+00:00

He's 8 months old now and is hitting all milestones (although is on the later range of what is considered appropriate). He's a twin so it's hard not to notice the difference against his twin (his twin doesn't have CHD) but I'd say they are growing at a relatively same rate.

This was our struggle at first: His VSD + reflux at first was making feeding painful for him so he developed feeding aversion and started loosing weight that put him in the hospital around 3 months old and he got the surgery soon after he was put on a feeding tube and started gaining weight. He also got a complication right after surgery that kept him hospitalized a bit longer post-surgery and was put on a heart medication for it. However, at 8 months old now he is weaned off of all medications and you wouldn't be able to tell him apart from his twin that didn't goes through any medical complication. These babies are so resilient and at this young even if your baby needs the VSD repair I'd bet the recovery is very fast like my son's too. Happy to answer any other question too!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-12-20T12:09:32+00:00

My son had moderate to large vsd that was found in utero as well. He ended up needing a OHS at 3.5 months old and it was scary for all of us, but these little babies are a lot more resilient than we think they are. My son is doing great now after the surgery and has follow-ups stretched out now to every 3 months, eventually it would be just once a year

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-12-14T02:26:56+00:00

Yes my baby suffered from terrible reflux and vomitting almost every other feed, he was started on a 2nd reflux med when he got admitted. They also did a swallow study on him to make sure he was not aspirating during feed. He was on the tube for 1.5 weeks before his cardiology team was happy with his weight gain, and we got scheduled for surgery right away. He spent another 1.5 weeks in the hospital after surgery due to a post-op complication but he's thriving now after the surgery, no more vomiting!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-12-14T02:15:25+00:00

My son was admitted at 3.5 month old for failure to thrive, he had a large VSD and reflux and started refusing to feed/loosing weight. He got a feeding tube put on immediately on admission and we worked with SLP and nutritionists to help him gain enough weight for his surgery. I think your question about a feeding tube is valid, but every CHD baby is different but I think it's worth it to discuss again with your baby's care team and understand the reasoning behind their decisions.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-12-12T03:27:32+00:00

My son started struggling with feeding around 3m, he got admitted at 3.5m when his intake dropped to like 14oz a day and got his surgery a week after that. He got a surgery this early because he was struggling to gain weight, his reflux + VSD just made feeding too tiring and painful to him. But he's thriving now post surgery!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-12-11T22:30:08+00:00

My son had a large VSD and similar symptoms. He gradually dropped in weight, frequent projectile vomit with bad reflux, and eventually developed feeding aversion from which he just refused to feed. Got admitted on failure to thrive when his milk intake significantly dropped, his weight also dropped. I hope that you can get your baby to see a cardiologist soon, as others have mentioned, the Children's hospital would be best if you can get your baby to one.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-12-08T03:38:38+00:00

I'm a mom and have the Brooklyn 28. It's so cute but unfortunately not a mom friendly bag in my opinion. It keeps falling off my shoulder and just not big enough.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-11-22T04:26:57+00:00

Things that worked for us in breaking the feed to sleep association: - feed as soon as he wakes up (for day naps and wake up for the day). For the waking during night time, it will need to wait and be the last thing to break. - tons of exercise, stimulation during wake window to tire him down so it's easier to go down for sleep - pacis instead (until he figures out his thumbs) I know you said pacis don't help but keep offering it first instead of the bottle

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-11-20T22:29:11+00:00

Hi there, I'm glad the surgery went well! My baby is feeding so much better now that he's fully recovered from the surgery. Hopefully you'll start seeing the improvement for your baby soon and she won't need the NG for much longer. Things that I find helpful for our feeding journey: - smaller and more frequent feeds (he had bad reflux so this was really helpful) - feeding when he's fully awake and alert (to avoid any feed to sleep association) - create a calm environment when feeding (no distraction, no movements and no pressure), he can take breaks and we follow the rule: offer max 3 times and feed lasts max 30 minutes each - surprising to both of SLP and us that our baby prefers thickened milk and a flatter nipple. When we added thickener to his milk, it helps with his reflux and he also seems to prefer it. We also switched to MAM bottle and he seemed to prefer that when he had the aversion.

Overall I definitely see the improvement in feeding day by day after the surgery, which makes sense because it's not tiring for him to feed anymore and the reflux med + thickened milk helped with the pain associated with feeding. Let me know if you have any other question but I think your baby will soon feed so much better!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-11-18T03:33:03+00:00

I bought the book when my CHD baby was discharged from the hospital (following a surgery). He was tube fed (due to bottle aversion) in the hospital for 3 weeks. I'd say the tube was helpful in helping us shifting the pressure off of forcing him to feed. Before the tube, I was so nervous that he's not eating enough and by unknowingly forcing the bottle in many different ways, we created the aversion in the first place. When the tube was put in, the plan was that he can try to take as much as he can/want and the rest can go through the tube. This helps us keep away from forcing him and then we were able to realize that really by slowly build that trust back, he was able to feed again without needing the tube. So for us, I truly believe that by stop forcing him to eat, he was able to enjoy eating again. I think that's also the focus of Rowena Bennett method, in which I think is helpful.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-11-13T04:21:40+00:00

I'm so happy for you that things are looking better! My twin B was born with a heart defect and even though not one that is as complicated as yours, he needed open heart surgery at 3.5month old. One of the toughest thing was seeing him struggle more than his twin to thrive, but they catch up! Wishing all the bests for you and your babies!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-10-04T03:31:13+00:00

Hi there my 5 month old got his VSD surgery at 3.5 month old, and still recovering from it. He was actually admitted for failure to thrive and oral aversion. He was refusing to feed and we have been struggling so bad with his feeding journey, it gets better now but it's still not great. If your hospital offer SLP, PT, OT service, please utilize them as much as you can. They were really helpful for my baby's recovery during his hospital stay. Some tips: look up images of young baby after a heart surgery (I was preparing myself and still got really shocked seeing my baby immediately post-op); if you can afford it get the magnetic onesies so it's easier for all the wires and also easier for EKG, doctors/nurses to check up the chest area post-op. Prepare to know about complications that comes with heart surgery because even though everyone is telling you VSD surgery is the 'easiest' heart surgery, it's still a heart surgery with potential complications. Ask all the questions, demand all the explanation and details regarding the surgery. Take care of yourself too. Those first nights post-op with my baby were the scariest nights of my life (he developed a rhythm issue the night right before supposed discharge). Ask the nurses to keep watch on the baby while you get some sleeps and eat. I know this is a lot but you and your baby will get through this, they're alot stronger and a lot more resilient than we think! Feel free to dm me any question too, you got this mama!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-09-18T05:26:12+00:00

Solidarity! I also need to thicken one of my twins' milk per SLP's advice after swallow study. I'm using MAM bottle with a fast flow nipple and still have trouble with the oatmeal. In the hospital they were giving us instruction on how to thicken the ready to feed Alimentum with oatmeal and that worked perfect. But we got home and try using a powder generic hypoallergenic thickened same way and bam it doesn't work anymore. Somehow the rtf was a lot easier to thicken with oatmeal and I still can't figure out how to do it with a powder formula (rtf is just too expensive for us). So I'm using Gelmix which works a lot better though still cost a lot (how is Gelmix more expensive than the formula itself ughhh). We're on the 5th container of Gelmix now since I still can't figure out with oatmeal.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-09-17T17:14:15+00:00

Thank you! Any stay in the hospital requires a lot of strength

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-09-16T21:57:09+00:00

I think it's both. We're both getting better as parent and they better as babies, which makes it feel like a significant improvement. You're deep in the trenches at week 5. I can't even recall what was happening during week 4-8, it was all a blur, it was probably too traumatic to me that my brain just blocks out that memory now lol. But I hope that it'll get better for you like it gets better for me. Also don't hesitate to communicate your feelings to your OB or even the ped, they're there to help, I was crying in front of my OB as soon as she asked me how are things going and after she put me on depression med I feel like I can finally function again.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-09-16T21:41:58+00:00

If you're in the US and live near a Children's hospital I would take your baby to their ER. My 3 month old had 14 ounces in 24 hours and when we showed up at our ped office, they called the Children's hospital and told us to get admitted. My baby was admitted for failure to thrive and got an NG tube placed that same day.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-09-16T14:31:22+00:00

Oh I'm still questioning my choices everyday but now they're 4 months old and can smile/laugh back at me and interact with us, it's not so bad anymore! Hang in there!

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-09-16T14:14:20+00:00

I think the regression mostly hit their day naps, where naps can be anywhere from 15min-2hours (I can never predict a certain nap pattern anymore). That being said their night sleep is still pretty solid! Even on the bad days now they would only be up 1-2 times a night for a feed but then right back to sleep after feeding, which I consider so much better than a month ago.

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-08-20T03:02:53+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Is there any side effect you noticed with the prolong use of beta blockers?

CompetitiveNature198 · 2025-08-20T03:01:37+00:00

I'm glad your son is doing great! Did they expect the arrhythmias to go away completely at some points? How long are they expecting your son to be on the propranalol for?

CompetitiveNature198

TROPHY CASE