Adjustment to motherhood after twin birth

Abstract

Adjusting to motherhood is an intense process and is unique to each mother. Motherhood brings with it a series of gains and losses, the mother has to arrange her lifestyle to suit this new role and she would be in great need of support to undergo this change. The aim of this study is to explore how mothers adjust themselves to the role of motherhood after having twin babies. An exploratory non-experimental research study was designed and data was collected by means of face to face semi-structured interviews. Perceptions were sought through the experiences of each corresponding mother. Ten mothers, each of whom had twin babies agreed to participate voluntarily in this study. Manual thematic analysis was used to identify the themes from the interview schedules. Findings suggested that motherhood brings with it positive and negative perceptions; in mothers of twin babies the negative aspect is higher. Respondents in order to build a relationship spend a lot of time interacting with the infants, and they aim to spend quality time not only while caring for them. Respondents reported that individualisation of the infants is very important to them because the twin babies are two distinct individuals although they might look alike. Moreover they experienced several stresses which perhaps mothers of singletons are unaware of They established various coping strategies and made changes in their priorities in order to cope with this change. Support was a vital factor in this transition and it mostly consisted of physical, emotional and some financial help. Some limitations included the use of convenience sampling and that the study was carried out retrospectively, on the past (last three months) experience of the mothers. In view of these findings, several recommendations for further research, practice and education were put forward.