Two To Kiss, Two to Love: Sick Twins

Two To Kiss, Two to Love: Sick Twins

When you have one child who is sick, try and keep yourself healthy. Drink lots of orange juice, wash your hands, don't let your child breathe on you, etc. But when you have twins, do the opposite. Take their snot-covered tissue and wipe it all over the other one. Let it slide when your one twin takes the other twin's cup of milk. Okay, that first one was a little gross...but I'm almost serious. You might as well be getting the other twin exposed to those germs as fast as possible. Why?

Well, let me tell you. Twins share everything. They want to hold each other's hands, comfort each other when they cry, and hand all of the food they don't want to eat to their twin. Germs are flying everywhere and unless you take one twin to grandma's house for a short vacation, forget about it keeping it all separate. The faster the other gets sick, the less time you're dealing with sick babies. Because what's worse than dealing with one sickness one week, just to deal with it again the next week? Having your toddler get extremely sick, just for one twin to get sick the next week, and the next twin a few days after that. Yup...that's worse. Last week, on Tuesday, we were traveling home from Elko, Nevada. We stopped in Boise to see my sister-in-law for the night. When we woke up, my toddler was extremely sick. Sicker than I have ever seen her (even when she had croup). We had planned to leave that morning, but got stuck in Boise since they shut the freeway down due to snow. It was a blessing in disguise as Bree ended up throwing up phlegm in the morning, and actually throwing up later that day. Can you imagine that all over my car? Gross. That day, her fever spiked and she was extremely hot. Not having a thermometer to check her with, I can only imagine she was about 103/104. :( Thursday, we headed home and she slept the entire time. Friday, she threw up again, and at this point hadn't eaten anything but spaghetti noodles and a fruit snack in three days, so I took her to the doctor. Bad news: just a virus, and she'll have to get over it on her own. I was told to watch her fever (which went between 102 and 103 now that I was home and could check), and make sure it didn't last more than 72 hours. I was to give her some anti-nausea meds that the doc prescribed her. Soon after, Bree ended up getting super goopy eyes, and had her fever for way more than 72 hours. Thankfully, 5 days later, her fever was finally gone, and she seemed to be getting better. Her eyelids were still bright red, and her face looked like Casper, but she was a bit better. Today, she looks normal, plays normal, but has a lingering cough and snotty nose. That's a pretty bad week + of gross symptoms.
 NoseFrida I tried keeping the twins as separate from her as I could, but to no avail. Delilah got sick, and then Colette got sick. And currently, they are still very sick. And I assume, if this is anything like what Bree has, they won't be better until early next week. However, Delilah got sick first, and Colette after, so I'll have an even longer recovery period. Today is the first day Delilah has woken up where her eyes weren't crusted shut. Colette still wakes up with snot dried all over her face and blocking her nose. It takes quite a few wipes to get it all off, and then a bit of suctioning to get all the snot out. I'm not sure how she's breathing through it! So, even though it may sound like getting the other twin sick on purpose is a horrible idea, maybe it's actually not? Have any of you twin mamas found better ways to deal with this? Do you try and keep them separate or just let them both get sick as fast as possible? At least for me, here are a few things that help the babies get through the sick period without being completely miserable. Give them a warm bath. My girls LOVE the bath in general, but it seems to really put a pep in their step as well. They get to have a little bit of fun with all of their bath toys, and all that running water--about the only amount of fun they can handle while being sick. And afterwards, I swear they feel a little better. Keep their nails cut. They will touch everything on their face as snot comes out, and they have crusted eyes. So, make sure their nails are short so they can't give themselves cuts near/in their eyes, or on their face.
 Tubby Todd Lotion Lotion them up! Keep lotion handy because their cheeks, around their nose, and possibly their mouth, will get very dry from all the snot being on it. If your twins are in diapers, put lotion on them at every diaper change--easy way to remember. Otherwise, create a reminder in your phone to do it every few hours. Keep on top of meds. If they have a fever, and Tylenol is keeping it down, make sure to actually give them the Tylenol when they need it, instead of waiting for the fever to be really bad. Again, setting a reminder on your phone may be the best way to remember. And if they are in any pain, it keeps that at bay too. Cuddle them. As annoying as it is to have a sick kid who just wants to be held 24/7, love on those babes as much as you can. My one twin just wants to sleep, and she sleeps on her own, in her crib, for hours. She must know she needs the sleep to get better. However, the other twin just wants to be held and fall asleep on my shoulder. And how am I supposed to hold her while also packing up a house so we can move in a week?! I have no idea! BUT, I do know that she needs the love, and I might as well soak it up now before she's a teenager who won't love cuddling. Am I right?

Good luck with those sick kiddos this season! It's not fun, but hopefully won't last long! And kinda pray both twins just get it at the same time. :)


*The “Two to Kiss, Two to Love” series is a helpful series for all you twin mamas out there! If you have a twin related question, comment below, and I’ll answer it for you!*
Back to blog

1 comment

[…] I brought some pillows and blankets in, and made little beds to relax in. Thankfully, they were both sick at the exact same time, and we all know that is a huge blessing. So, when one twin threw up, I knew the other one would […]

Two to Kiss, Two to Love: The Reality of Living

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.