7 Twin Milestones to Watch For During the First Year

It’s so fun to watch babies reach milestones. With our firstborn, I remember being delighted when he discovered his hands and would stare at them in awe. Each milestone he met was so exciting. And with twins, those twin milestones take on a whole new meaning.

First off, they don’t always reach milestones at the same time, so that feels a little funny.

Second off, there is a whole set of milestones that only has meaning to twin parents.

These twin milestones are things your babies start to do that are either unique to twins, or drastically make your life easier.

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Twin Milestone #1: Your Twins First Notice Each Other

My twins were born 8-weeks prematurely so they were behind developmentally.

It seemed like it took FOREVER for them to notice each other.

I was constantly thinking, how can you not notice this other person that is lying right next to you!?

It was crazy.

But the moment that they first discovered each other was absolutely priceless. I think it was by far my favorite twin milestone.

Twin Milestone #2: The First Time Your Twins Smile Simultaneously

If you’ve had a singleton, you know how awesome it is when your baby smiles at you for the first time.

Just wait until your twins smile at you at the same time!

It is a feeling unlike any other to have two babies grinning up at you.

The cuteness makes up for all of the pain during twin pregnancy!

This pillow is called the Twinz and it was one of my favorite twin products ever. I used it for monthly pictures, tummy time, bottle feeding, and basically anything you can think of. You can buy the TwinZ pillow here.

Twin Milestone #3: They First Interact With Each Other

Twins interact with each other way before they can even talk to each other.

The whole concept of twin language is definitely true as well!

My girls constantly babbled with each other in their own little twin language.

They interact before the babbling even begins though and it is so fun to watch!

Their first interactions will be soft touches as they learn to explore.

Twin Milestone #4: The First Time They Play Together

Twins play together at an earlier age than most babies simply because they have a built-in playmate!

Their play looks much different as babies as it will as they get older because it’s parallel play, and this is perfectly normal for their age.

As they get older they will actually interact while they’re playing instead of playing next to each other.

Twin Milestone #5: Their First Simultaneous 5 Hour Stretch of Sleep

Since our twins were preemies we were required to feed them every 3 hours all through the night for the first 10ish weeks of their life.

Once they had gained enough weight that they could go longer stretches between feeds, it still took a little while for them to go 5 hours.

The first night that you get 5 solid hours of sleep is the most wonderful feeling in the entire world.

Of course, the first time this happened to us, our two-year-old woke up from a nightmare!

I have an entire post dedicated to how we got our twins to sleep through the night if you need some help in that area.

Twin Milestone #6: They Hold Their Own Bottle

This is a GAME CHANGER. Bottle feeding twins is very challenging (you can read my tips for bottle feeding twins in this post).

My back was always achy from leaning over and holding their bottles.

Once they could hold the bottles themselves it made my life so much easier! Of all the twin milestones, this is probably the one that made my life the easiest!

P.S. How stinking cute are they?? You can buy the TwinZ here.

Twin Milestone #7: They Feed Themselves

I know that baby-led weaning is all the rage right now, but we started with purees, which we only did for a short time.

Spoon feeding hungry twins can be quite stressful.

I basically got whiplash because I couldn’t feed them fast enough!

We switched over to finger foods as soon as we felt they were ready and it made life sooooo much easier when they could feed themselves.

We love these Graco high chairs and still use them 2.5 years later!

Have you experienced all of these twin milestones with your babies? If so, which one was your favorite? And if you haven’t, which one are you most looking forward to?

To keep up with our twin journey, follow us over on Instagram!