Support for mothers of twins ‘lacking’

The NHS is failing to support mothers who give birth to twins with many feeling abandoned or unaware their babies may be premature and need specialist care.

Tamba, the Twins and Multiple Births Association, said their research highlighted the need for significant improvements in maternity ante-natal care for women having twins, triplets or more.

In the survey, 22 per cent of mothers complained about being “abandoned” and struggling to look after more than one baby in postnatal wards.

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Tamba’s survey found that 21.3 per cent of parents expecting twins or more were not prepared for the increased likelihood that their babies might be born early, with over half then needing to have one or more baby in neonatal care.

The survey also showed that almost one in 10 mothers (9.1 per cent) had one or more of their babies in different hospitals from each other or themselves, causing severe logistical problems for families.

One woman told the survey: “My babies were transferred to another hospital with available special care beds. It was two-and-a-half hours away from my home.

“We were separated for four days while I was still in the hospital.

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“I then had to make the five hour round trip journey to see the girls for seven days while trying to recover.”

The separation figure is an improvement on Tamba’s 2008 survey, which saw 13 per cent of mothers affected by separation of their babies.

Other problems encountered were inflexible ward visiting hours which left fathers unable to support their partners properly.

One in three parents thought feeding advice was poor or very poor and surprisingly one in four mothers said they received no feeding advice at all.

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GP Carol Cooper, Tamba’s honorary consultant in family medicine, said: “The emphasis on woman-centred care seems to have left multiple birth mums behind.

“The experience of birth and the immediate post-birth period is still negative and unnecessarily stressful for many multiple birth parents.

“Tamba’s survey shows that adequate preparation can make a big difference to expectant parents.

“Multiple-specific classes help reduce social isolation and even the risk of postnatal depression.”

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