Last updated on January 25th, 2024 at 12:45 pm
We have all been there! Sleep deprived beyond what we could have ever imagined possible. So that you know you’re not alone in the crazy things you do while sleep deprived, here are a few confessions from parents of multiples.
I was driving to an appointment and forgot where I was going on the way there.
– Anna
About into our third week of having the twins I put formula in my coffee. Not once but twice.
– Tim
I lost my wallet. I thought one of the twins got a hold of it, turns out I put it away with the dishes.
– Francesca
I went to make a bottle in the middle of the night, scooped out two scoops of formula, looked down and I had no bottle in sight. Formula all over the counter!
– Amee
I peed through my underwear; I had pulled down my pants but forgot my underwear.
– Kelly
At 3:00 am I thought a water pipe had broken in the ceiling because water was dripping everywhere on the floor but hubby and I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Turns out my breasts were leaking. I hysterically laughed for an hour!
– Michelle
While dealing with two sick kids, I thought it was garbage night. So I dragged both garbage cans to the curb and then took out all garbage from the house. After realizing none of my neighbors have any garbage out, I had to double check the calendar, then drag it back in. I also made the kids do their homework for the wrong day.
– Teresa L.
I cried and cried one particularly hard night cause one baby wouldn’t nurse, wouldn’t even wake up enough to nurse. All the while my hubby was trying to console the other baby who had already had his turn nursing. About 30 minutes of thinking I may not survive I turned on the lights and realized I had the same baby I had fed first! I actually then couldn’t stop laughing… sleep… so overrated…
– Tammy
My twins were only about 2 weeks old and it was the middle of the night. We didn’t want to sleep with them in bed with us for fear of accidentally hurting them because we were so exhausted. So my husband wakes me up in the middle of the night and says, “Do you have a baby?” And I said, “Yes.” So he gets up and comes over to my side to put the baby in the bassinet. And he goes, “Where is the baby, Kathryn?” I was like, “Right here in my arms?” He says, “There’s no baby, Kathryn! It’s just a pillow you were holding! Where is the baby???” And we both search for the “missing” baby forever before we realize that they were both asleep in the bassinet.
– Kathryn
The first week we were home with the twins we wanted to make an easy dinner so we bought a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and just popped it in the oven. I’m in their room and I hear a scream and crash from the kitchen. My husband went to take the chicken out of the oven….without an oven mitt!!! The chicken went on the floor, the stone broke and his hand had a bit of a burn (did we still eat it though? Hell yes!)
– Mallory
Was sitting on the side of the bed rocking back & forth with a baby in my arms muttering to myself “why won’t this &*%^$^%$ baby go to sleep?????”. Rocking & rocking with no success. My husband came in and gently pulled our elderly, tiny dog out of my arms (who, I’m sure, was down for any attention she was getting as it had decreased dramatically).
– Stacy
Last week I could not remember the word “high-chair”. I was walking my daughter to her high chair after changing her and I kept saying, “I’m going to put you in your couch”, knowing it was the wrong word, but literally couldn’t find “high-chair” in my brain. There should be disclaimers when sleep training twins: brain may not function properly.
– Shelley
When I was breastfeeding my newborns and they started cluster feeding. I was sleeping about 45 minutes here or there for 3 days. Opened the door to the FedEx guy delivering something with a boob out of my shirt. Didn’t realize why he was rushed and not chatty lol then made coffee without grounds so just a pot of hot water.
– Ginni
I have so many, but my favorite is when I kept calling my littlest twin “Franklin,” for weeks because I couldn’t remember his name. Franklin wasn’t even on my possible name list!
– Vanessa
I used bottles with liners to make for easy clean up.. I was so tired i forgot to put liners in BOTH bottles and dumped the powder in, so it ended up all over the kitchen counter. Both my boys were on Nutramigen, which is freaking expensive. I basically wasted two bottles worth because I dumped it on the counter. I spent a good five minutes bawling and cursing while I threw away the powder.
– Jess
I was home alone with my twins for over a week and one day I left my car running. A neighbor saw and let me know. I live in a city environment so I’m lucky nobody stole the car. Also, I was in such a sleep-deprived state that I had the nerve to get mad at my neighbor for telling me about it, followed promptly with hysterical tears. It was a low moment.
– Colleen
For the first week that the twins were home, I NEVER slept. I mean… I slept for 30 minutes at a time max, every 4 hours or so. It got to a point that I was mildly hallucinating. I would be laying in bed and I’d open my eyes, and think my pillow was my babies head. It was only for a split second…. but it was terrifying. Then one night I was sleeping & my husband was awake. And he saw me wake up, cradling my arms as if there was a baby in them (even though there wasn’t), walk over to the bassinet, and gently set down absolutely nothing.
– Dylan
After making a much-needed cup of coffee, I put the half and half away in the cupboard and my coffee cup (full of hot coffee) in the fridge and promptly forgot about it. Found it hours later and bawled because now I didn’t have half and half for more coffee ? my husband got me some non-dairy creamer powder to keep in the pantry for emergencies after that.
– Jane
I woke up to feed the babies one time (this was the getting up every 20-40 mins through the night time period) and twin A wasn’t in her crib. I PANICKED. Turned on the light and found somehow I had put her in twin Bs crib from the last time I had been in there. ?♀️ I’d like to say that was the only time I did that, but another time I went to grab a baby and was so confused as to what I was grabbing in my sleepy daze.. only to realize I had yet again stuck one of the twins in the others crib…but this time ON TOP of the other baby OMG. And in general, I’d wake up in their room, baby on breast and had no recollection of ever waking up to go in and feed them. Zombie life was a real thing-especially when hubby couldn’t be bothered to get up and help feed and change diapers – ever. ? Whenever a singleton parent told me they remembered how exhausted they were from getting up a few times a night to feed their baby, I wanted to kick them in the shin.
– Mary
My husband had a seizure when they were 9 months old triggered by lack of sleep. He got his head stuck under a crib and stopped breathing! Beat that lol?
– Linnae
My worst moment wasn’t too bad, just fell asleep on a poopy diaper after forgetting to throw it out during a middle of the night change during the newborn phase! It’s was all folded and fastened up, though. I also forgot to use soap one morning when I was showering after just returning back to teaching after maternity leave. About an hour and a half into the morning, I thought one of my middle schoolers forgot deodorant. Nope— just me! Thank goodness for baby wipes and an extra stash of body spray and deodorant in my car ? my twins were three months old then.
– Emily
I’m a single mom. I was waking the other up to feed and change if only 1 woke up and we were getting into a good routine with it. Well about 2 or 3 months old, some new mom with a singleton is going on and on about on-demand feeding and how I really should let the other one sleep if they’re tired so I tried it…. the twins took turns on me so one was always awake. after about 40 hours without a second of sleep, I fell asleep, deep. My neighbor was also my landlord. She would come over at 4 am to help me…. because she was a self-proclaimed baby-aholic and her boys were too old now (youngest was 8 I think). Apparently, my babies were screaming their heads off to the point where she let herself in and woke me up. I felt so bad that they were screaming like that and so grateful she heard and was willing to help.
– Traci
My worst sleep-deprived moment was after I had my second set of twins and after returning to teaching when they were 7 weeks old (a whole other story?.) I left work one day and drove 30 minutes home and forgot to pick up my first set of twins from daycare two blocks from my work. The worst part is I didn’t even notice. My mother-in-law pointed it out a few minutes upon me getting home. ?♀️?♀️?♀️ Pretty sure I will never get over the embarrassment and shame. Man, twins are a humbling experience. You realize how strong you are and how weak you are all in one life experience.
– Jessica
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