Higher Order Multiples
Not only does SSMBA support families expecting or raising twins - we also provide invaluable support for families with Higher Order Multiples - or HOMs as they are referred to colloquially. Not higher order as in extremely intelligent, but higher in number - triplets, quads and quintuplets and more!
If you are expecting three, four or more babies - congratulations! While you may at first have felt shock, disbelief, amazement, fear, do not worry! All HOM parents experience this incredible range of emotions upon being told there are "more than two".
In fact, in 2008 there were 62 successful HOM pregnancies reported to the Australian Multiple Birth Association (AMBA).
Over the past five years there have been between 70 and 100 HOM births each year.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the incidence of triplets is approximately 1 in 945 (based on year 2000), quadruplets 1 in 17,700 (year 2000) and quintuplets 1 in 156,000 (year 1998-99).
At the SSMBA, families provide advice and counsel on dealing with the emotional, practical and financial aspects of raising several children at once. From discovering that you are pregnant with three, four or more, through:
- Birth and time in hospital
- Coming home
- First months, breast and bottle-feeding
- First foods and feeding toddlers
- Crawling, walking and climbing
- Playgroup, pre-school, kindy and school
- Teenage years
There are people who can share their experience, what has worked and what hasn't.
As well as practical advice, other HOM parents are able to provide support and compassion in dealing with a range of situations, such as coming up with witty responses to strangers' exclamations such as "ooh, triple trouble" and "must be hard work!"
What we do
The SSMBA has a HOM Co-ordinator to support the local HOM parents. By phone, email or in person, HOM parents can ask questions and share their feelings with someone else who knows what they are going through because they have been there themselves.
The HOM Co-ordinator also organises coffee mornings and play dates especially for HOM families.
At the same time, HOM families are of course welcome and encouraged to participate in the general coffee mornings with all SSMBA members and many HOM families are active members in the Club's playgroup and area meetings.
The SSMBA's HOM Coordinator is Peta, mother to Beatrix, Lily and Harper, who were born in December 2007.
Other resources
AMBA has a special division for HOM families, which coordinates donations for new families as well as coordinating research and policy work.
There is also a quarterly national magazine produced called "Australian HOM Connection" which is written by HOM members and provides invaluable insights into many HOM issues.
AMBA now has a HOM email forum, where parents from across Australia can talk about their children, ask questions, share photos and obtain information and support about a range of HOM issues.
For further details, please see the links at the right of this page.