Twinning It

Entertaining twins and creating opportunities for them to play when you don't have Blue Peter-level skills, whilst also not creating too much competition (or mess!) can feel so hard. Also coming up with enough ideas for play can feel like one thing on the to-do list too many. So we loved chatting to our latest guest, Five Minute Mum AKA Daisy Upton, bestselling author of three books and the well-loved face behind the Instagram account @fiveminutemum.

From playing games with twins, to speaking generally about playing with little ones (why do we find it so hard?!) Daisy gives us a refreshing take on keeping 'em entertained. You'll definitely feel well equipped for a rainy day indoors after listening to this episode. You might also get rid of a load of toys they don't really need after all!

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Banks and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have wanted to chat with mum of four (including one set of twins) Shakira Akabusi for a long time but she's a hard lady to pin down! Author of The Strong Like Mum Method, Shakira's amazing knowledge about our bodies and accessible tips to help mums keep active means you might already be familiar with Shakira from her regular appearances on This Morning.

We chatted to Shakira about juggling our fitness with the demands of twins and she also gave us some great tips on moving our bodies postpartum, as well as keeping it very real!

You can find out more about Shakira's Strong Like Mum Method on her Instagram page. 

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Banks and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Potty training is one of those milestone which just feels like an impossible task when you're faced with a little one or TWO little ones who might be ready. How do you know if they are ready? How do you juggle potty training with TWO toddlers at once? Should you even attempt to do both at the same time or just one at a time.

Yep, it's fair to say we had a few questions for Louenna Hood aka @nannylouenna who really did have ALL the answers to our questions so we hope if you're at this stage with your twins, this will be a great help for you too.

Nanny Louenna is a Norland trained nanny and the creator of the brilliant Louenna app and has oodles of experience with potty training many twin families.

This episode is sponsored by Kiddiwhizz, the business behind The Multi-award winning Whizzer, which is the worlds’ first innovative Compact portable Unisex Eco-Toilet. A leak-proof family travel essential, and  game changer for potty training and disabilities. Head to kiddiwhizz.com or check it out on Instagram @kiddiwhizz to find out more. GET 15% OFF WITH THE CODE 'TWINNING IT'.

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Good and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Love the idea of travelling with the twins but can't quite comprehend the logistics of juggling all that luggage and twins? Well, us too so we were grateful to catch up with Karen Edwards aka @travelmadmum who is mum of four, including toddler twins, and currently living and travelling in Sri Lanka.

As well as giving us some cold hard facts about travelling with children and twins (which she says definitely adds a different, ahem, 'harder' dynamic to the equation) Karen also shares some unique and incredibly helpful tips and tricks for travelling as a family. While Karen doesn't sugarcoat the realities (which was refreshing to be honest!) we came away thinking it's still worth the effort for those wow memories that will stay with you forever.

You can find some really helpful advice and inspiration on Karen's blog Travel Mad Mum.

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Good and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Season 2 of Twinning It!

Baby sleep is such a huge part of the twin parenting journey (especially when you have twins and you're trying to achieve the impossible like tandem naps etc) and just when you think you've nailed it, they become toddlers and you have a whole new round of issues on your hands! Like, the transition from cots to beds. When those lovely rails AKA the cot cage come down. With one child this might not seem that significant but when you have toddler twins in the same room, life can become one big party once they're no longer confined in their cots at night. 

While Alison had already made this transition with her twins fairly seamlessly, Jenna is still living in complete fear about it! Her twins have just turned three and in this episode we speak to Baby Sleep QUEEN Sarah Carpenter Norland Qualified Nanny and co-host of The Sleep Mums podcast and co-author of Sleep Better Baby.

If you're going through this stage, this episode is a MUST listen. Prepare to feel calmed by Sarah's knowledge and tips - there are quite a few surprising ones too!

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Banks and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to season 2 of Twinning It!

There’s no doubt we’re all superheroes for parenting twins but we were very excited to speak to Kate Ball about parenting, not one but TWO sets of twins! Oh and two other children. Wow. 

We had a great catch up with Kate as she spoke to us about the realities of a large family and about her incredible business Mini First Aid which has no doubt saved countless lives since its inception in 2014.

As well as giving us her tops tips on this mega juggle, Kate also regaled us with a fascinating insight into what it’s like to walk on to BBC’s Dragon’s Den and come away with funding and brilliant Dragon Sara Davies.

This episode is sponsored by Mini First Aid. Find out more about Mini First Aid classes near you or to buy a Mini First Aid kit head to minifirstaid.co.uk.

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Banks and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the end of season one of Twinning It and in this episode, we’re addressing us! Twin mums and our sense of self after having twins. To help guide us through this and give us some much needed tips our guest today is the brilliant Dr Jemma. Not only is Jemma a twin mum herself but she’s also an empowerment coach for mothers.

We chat about how to create a (twin mum friendly) morning routine that will set you up for the day, how to find and come to terms with your new identity after having twins and also why it's important that we actively learn how to rest when we do get those odd moments of twin-free time.

This episode is packed with insight and tips and will hopefully help you feel a bit less alone.

You can follow Dr Jemma on Instagram here.

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Banks and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

We'll be back after the summer with season two of Twinning It - we've got some great episodes lined up already!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here on the Twinning It podcast we like to cover a whole range of meaty twin topics, from feeding to starting school, but that doesn't mean we can't cover the lighter side of twin parent life. And in this week's episode we chat to content creator and mum of twins Lucy Jessica Carter about all things fashion!

She chats to us about dressing her twin bump with style, what she wore in those early newborn days for comfort and the joys of shopping on Vinted for our kids' clothing.

We also chat about travel and holidays - Lucy is former cabin crew - and get some twin mum tips from her!

You can follow Lucy on Instagram.

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Banks and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Primary school has arrived for you - but should you separate or keep your twins together?

It's the BIG question that twin parents agonise over from the time their twins take their first steps!

On this episode we are joined by Twins Trust's Victoria Morrell (who also happens to be mum of TWO sets of twins) who kept her twins together and the award-winning blogger Helen Copson from Twins Tantrums and Cold Coffee, who decided to separate hers.

There's no right or wrong answer to this MAJOR twin-parent conundrum, but this brilliant conversation will definitely help you to navigate this the best way for your family. And with Alison's twins about to start school and Jenna already thinking about it even though hers are just turning three, we loved hearing both sides of the story and the pros and cons of both options. 

Twins Trust has some brilliant resources on this:

Our top tips when making school applications for your twins, triplets or more

Prepare your twins, triplets or more for starting school

Together or apart?

And Helen's blog has some great info too:

Separating twins at school - everything you need to know

Separating twins into different classes - why I'm glad I did it

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Banks and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest on this episode is the undisputed Queen of Weaning! Annabel Karmel has been writing baby and children's recipe and food books for over 30 years. From her first book - The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner in 1991 – a book that has become the 2nd best-selling non-fiction hardback of all time to her most recent, a gorgeous picture book for children Where Does My Food Come From?

We chat to Annabel about weaning twins to get all of her top tips and advice. We also chat about handling fussy eaters and pick up lots of great ideas along the way.

Where Does My Food Come From? is available to buy now and you can find out more about Annabel on her website.

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Banks and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest on this episode is Kathryn Stagg, a certified lactation consultant who offers breastfeeding support to hundreds if not thousands of mums.

As a twin mum herself, Kathryn breastfed and received such amazing support that she wanted to pay it forward and so set up a Breastfeeding Twins and Triplets UK Facebook community. That community has grown to be a charity that offers advice and support to many.

We chat to Kathryn about her own breastfeeding experience, she shares her views on how the UK isn't set up to support breastfeeding parents and she gives some great advice on what to do if you want to breastfeed but finding it hard.

Follow Kathryn on Instagram and check out her Facebook community.

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Good and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our second episode, Made in Chelsea star Ollie Locke speaks to us about expecting boy/girl twins with husband Gareth Locke. Ollie talks openly about the twists and turns of their surrogacy journey, revealing how they're planning for the arrival of their newborns and even discusses baby names.

He also tells us about new children's book series The Faraway Adventures of Henry Bogget. Henry Bogget is an ordinary boy of just eight years old, with a secret about magic in London...

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Good and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode one of Twinning It!

In our first episode, psychotherapist, author and podcaster Anna Mathur gives us her top tips on to how cope with the emotions that often arise through being a twin parent: overwhelm, burnout and mum guilt.

You'll take away some amazing light bulb moments to help navigate every day life with multiples! Check out Anna on Instagram @annamathur and her latest book The Little Book of Calm for New Mums is out now. 

Twinning It is brought to you by pre-school twin mums Jenna Good and Alison Perry, author of OMG It's Twins. We're passionate about finding as many tips and trick from our experts and other twin mums to help make life that little bit easier. And also, find some much needed solidarity during this unique parenting ride! Come follow us on Instagram!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.