As International Multiple Birth Awareness week moves closer to its conclusion, Lorna Hibberd takes us through why it is important to consider support for the whole family.
The arrival of twins, triplets or higher-order multiples is often portrayed as a unique joy. However, alongside the excitement, multiple birth families frequently face additional emotional, practical and financial pressures that can affect wellbeing across the whole family.
One group whose experiences have often been overlooked are fathers. The EBMBC collaborated with Twins Trust last year to explore multiple birth fathers' experiences. Through interviews and a survey reaching 107 respondents, many fathers reported a significant impact on their mental health, describing the first year as a period of "survival mode", characterised by exhaustion, financial pressures, and concerns about supporting both partners and children alongside a return to work (Hibberd et al., 2026). The fathers had mixed experiences seeking and receiving appropriate support. While becoming a parent is challenging for many families, fathers of multiples described unique experiences arising from simultaneously caring for more than one baby that should be acknowledged.
Arising from work conducted with multiple birth fathers, the EBMBC has secured funding to look further into experiences of parental conflict in multiple birth families. Part of this project includes a review of the literature around experiences of parental conflict and stress in multiple birth families. This builds on other work by the EBMBC and others that has found that multiple birth families can be at risk of reduced family wellbeing.
Another focus of our work at the EBMBC has been exploring the support needs of older siblings during neonatal admission, in recognition that multiple birth babies are overrepresented in neonatal care. Family Integrated Care (FICare) has transformed neonatal practice by recognising parents as active participants in care, yet siblings often remain overlooked. Reflecting on their experiences, parents and neonatal staff highlighted that older children may struggle to understand why their baby brother or sister is in hospital, why parents are spending long periods away from home, and how family life has changed. The inclusion of siblings in FICare practice is still in its infancy for many Trusts.
Through a range of projects, the EBMBC has begun broadening its lens beyond maternity care to give voice to family members who have not always been invited to share their stories. These projects illustrate that supporting multiple birth families is not simply about improving outcomes for babies or supporting parents in isolation, but about examining missed opportunities for whole-family support. These projects remain ongoing, and we are looking forward to sharing the results in the future.