8 July 2021

Giving birth to twins, triplets or any multiple birth experience should be one of the most amazing experiences for women and their families.

Monday 5th July marked the start of Twins, Triplets and More Week – the week where we celebrate multiple births and raise awareness of the specific challenges multiple birth families face

Triplet babies in a row

This year the focus is to encourage expectant parents to ensure they’re getting the correct care according to the NICE guidelines for multiple births. Expectant multiple-birth families should receive specialist care from a hospital twins/multiples clinic and Twins Trust can help you make sure you get that care. In addition, we’re also celebrating 30 years of the Twins Trust helpline service. A service that supports parents expecting more than one through to adult twins, triplets or more. You can download Twins Trust's antenatal checklist that details the level of care that you should be receiving. This includes details of when you should meet with healthcare professionals and when you should receive scans.

Every maternity unit in the UK, should be providing antenatal care for expectant multiple-birth parents via a twins/multiples clinic – check to see if your local hospital has a clinic. If it doesn’t let Twins Trust know. You can access care from any hospital in the UK. You do not need to attend your local hospital.

If you need support or want to talk anything through, your midwife and Twins Trust helpline volunteers are ready to listen. You can visit the new Twins Clinic page on their website and the brilliant multiple pregnancy care checklist which supports this.

Dr Matthew Jolly, National Clinical Director for Maternity and Women's Health NHS England and NHS Improvement said: “We’re really pleased to be supporting Twins Trust’s Twins, Triplet and More Awareness week.

We’re working closely with Twins Trust and maternity units across England to ensure that expectant multiple birth parents are receiving maternity care according to the NICE guidelines.

If you need support or want to talk anything through, our helpline volunteers are ready to listen, just as they have been for 30 years!

One caller said: “Thank you for your quick response and words of encouragement!

“I had no joy contacting my midwife so called again and when I mentioned the NICE guidelines, was transferred from antenatal to a centre where I spoke to a midwife.

“They have now sent an email to antenatal to arrange a consultant appointment that I should have received at 16 weeks.

“They advised that the hospital normally scan from 28 weeks.

“It would appear that even though I'd had my booking appointment, nothing else beyond the 12/20 week scans had been arranged.

“Not the best start for someone that's already anxious but hopefully things will improve.

“Many thanks again for your help.”