Same... or different?

Would you expect Abby and Sean to be very similar, or different? They have the same parents, shared a womb for 38 weeks, were born within 30 minutes of each other, and haven't really been apart for the first weeks of their life. How different could they possibly be?

Even at this young age, there are quite a few differences we've noticed. Want to play a game? Try and guess which ways they are the same... or different.

Options: Looks, usage of nappies, eating/burping/chucking, sleeping, crying.

And the answers:

1) Looks - depends who you ask. You can clearly tell them apart if you know what to look for, but when you find yourself holding one of them at 3am, and can't directly compare to the other its easy to make a mistake. Here is another gratuitous photo of them. Can you tell who is who?






2) Usage of nappies - different.

Sean uses about twice as many nappies as Abby. How does he manage this? Step 1 - synchronise your poos to start shortly before you are due for a feed, and refuse to attach until your nappy is changed. Step 2 - continue your poo during the feed, and stop feeding until your nappy is changed. Step 3 - finish your poo with a flourish after the feed is over, and refuse to sleep until your nappy is changed.

How many nappies does an average newborns use a day? Usually around 8. They get 6-8 feeds a day, and need a change at each feed. Then they might need a change or two if they wake up between feeds with a particularly wet or dirty nappy.

3) Eating/burping/chucking - different.

Abby tends to feed quickly, and will have at most two session each time. It is really hard to get her to burp, even though she really needs it before she will sleep. She rarely chucks (that's slang for vomiting).

Sean stays attached for much longer, and seems to always want to come back for more. He burps very easily - sometimes he even burps himself during the feed! And he chucks several times each feed, often through his nose (poor thing!).

4) Sleeping - same... but different.

Both of them sleep soundly for 3 out of 4 sleeps, and have 1 or 2 very bad sleep sessions a day. They are different in that they don't synchronise their poor sleep times. They have tended to have their unsettled times during the night, but would take turns so that we end up with very little sleep. Unfortunately we haven't been able to catch up during the good day sleeps, because Owen is awake and wanting attention.

We've kept going with the swaddling, which is supposed to help them sleep longer. They both try to free their arms, and in this photo were partially successful.






5) Crying - Different.

When they were born, Abby sounded like a cockatoo, and Sean like a piglet. Want to hear it? Click here.