A mom of twins was not prepared for the sight that greeted her when she checked in on how her partner was handling their bedtime.
There are millions of sleep-deprived parents walking, tired-eyed, among us. According to one survey conducted by mattress company Sleepjunkie, new parents lose an average of 109 minutes of sleep per night during their baby's first year.
In truth, though, this is probably a conservative figure that doesn't take into account especially fussy babies or those with more complex needs.
It certainly doesn't account for the complexities Holly Kingston and her partner Aaron face as parents of 11-month-old twins Amara and Aurora. "Bedtime is really tricky," Kingston told Newsweek. "With twins they often tend to unsettle each other or one baby will go to sleep but the other one will still be full of beans."
The couple had a whirlwind start to their life together. "We met on a dating app and exactly one year into our relationship found out we were pregnant and then a few weeks later found out it was twins" Kingston said.
The family currently live in a one-bedroom apartment, which the mom admits is a "massive squash" for them right now, but something her partner is working on changing.
He's been busy setting up his own scaffolding business, meaning long hours away from his family. For a few months, Kingston was solely responsible for putting the twins to bed. However, that has changed more recently.
The mom said the twins were "very bad sleepers" who wake between three and 15 times a night. More recently, bedtime has also become an almost insurmountable challenge for her to take on alone.
"I used to do the bedtime routine by myself but now they are almost one, it has become even more difficult as they are more strong-willed," she said. "So after bath time Aaron is hands on and helps do the bottle feed and I even have him doing a baby massage routine with me."
Having him at home during these important hours has helped take the pressure off Kingston, while also providing Aaron with a chance to further bond with his daughters. Parenting can be tiring but any mom or dad will tell you there are moments of magic sprinkled through every bit of the day-to-day grind.
Kington was lucky enough to capture one of those moments between the girls and their dad in a video she shared to her TikTok, hollytwinmummy.
Every child has their own bedtime routine. For Amara and Aurora, right now, that involves having one parent sitting by their cots as they drift off to sleep.
"Sometimes they need some time in the cot in a 'happy environment' to show them that it's not such a bad place and that we are still here if they need us," Kingston said.
That's what Aaron was trying to do on this particular night. "He was trying to settle them. Sometimes when they are fighting sleep we find that if one of us stays in the room [it helps]."
Although, as the video shows, it wasn't working all that well on this occasion. A "danger car nap" had wrecked their routine and the twins appeared very much awake. Despite this, seeing her partner on the video interacting with their daughters and finding the joy in this most stressful of times was heartening to Kingston.
"Just a Twin baby and Daddy's Moment with his two baby girls sharing bedtime struggles rather than snuggles," she wrote alongside the video. "These are the little moments that make my heart the fullest."
Aaron might not have been able to settle them, but there, in that moment, he probably felt like the luckiest man in the world.
English (US) ·