So, Beyonce is expecting twins. Here's some advice from one twin mum to another

Beyoncé just officially broke the Internet. Taking to her Instagram on Wednesday clad in her smalls and an oversized veil, Queen Bey casually broke the news that she and her music mogul hubbie Jay Z are set to welcome not just one, but two babies into the Carter family. Shut the front door!

But while the world is still reeling from the news (the post is the most liked in Instagram history!), I couldn’t help but stifle a wry smile. For I know just what is ahead for the popstress. For just over six years ago, I was dropping my own double bump bombshell. For the record, my announcement wasn’t nearly as elaborate (I wasn’t wearing a veil or my pants for a start!), in fact I think I just blurted out ‘I’m preggo and it’s twins!’ but the open-mouthed reaction of my friends was pretty similar.

I pretty much spent my pregnancy in a constant state of panicked fear ‘What am I going to do with two babies?’ ‘How will I birth two babies?…’ ‘What have we done?’ Of course Beyonce is already mum to 5-year-old Blue Ivy and so the whole first time parenting thing, won’t come as a complete shock. But parenting twins is quite the different experience, so I thought I’d share some of my insight into the crazy world of multiple motherhood.

Get used to the questions

The fact is that people find twins fascinating. So you can kiss goodbye to going anywhere in a hurry, okay mainly because you will never be able to go anywhere in a hurry ever again, especially as you’ll have three under five, but also because wherever you go people will stop to ask you about them. A. Lot. “Are they twins?” They are. “Are they identical?” Erm, one’s a boy, one’s a girl so nope. “Do twins run in your family?” My auntie’s cousin was a twin, does that count? And let’s not forget the killer Q “Are they natural?” None of your bloody business! No doubt Beyonce is used to getting attention wherever she goes, but for me it was somewhat overwhelming. Perhaps it would help to prepare some stock answers to the inevitable curiosities she will face.

People will give you lots of advice—only listen to twin parents

Yep, you can forget everything you learnt bringing up Blue Ivy because when it comes to twins classic parenting rules go out the window. “Never wake a sleeping baby,” they say, but in order to keep two babies on the same eating/sleeping schedule waking the baby is exactly what you need to do. The trick is learning the lay of the land from other twin parents who will have been there/done that and got the under-eye bags, sick splattered tops to prove it. So sign yourself up to your local twin club Bey. You won’t regret it.

Realise that done is good enough

You might be tempted to want to do everything yourself, but you need to accept that you will need help. In those foggy early days in order to try to take back some form of control over my life (in between wondering what my life had become), I took on the role of dictator. I literally micromanaged everything from how to load the steriliser, to how to change the perfect nappy. I was convinced I was the only one who knew how to do it, but of course I wasn’t. And really the name of the game with two, particularly when they’re brand new, is survival. So let Jay Z, Solange, or anyone that offers frankly help you out. Gradually I learned to understand that though people do things in their own way, the important thing is that the job in hand gets done. Oh and just for the record Bey, there really is no right way to change a twin nappy. If it’s on, backwards or otherwise, it’s changed!

Accept there is no such thing as the perfect double buggy

With Blue Ivy you likely had some sort of super sleek single pram, but you can forget about that for the twins. The truth is the perfect double buggy doesn’t exist. I know because I literally lost hours of my life searching for one. Tandems (where one seat is in front of the other) lull you into a false sense of belief that they’re almost the same size as a single. And when you’ve only got to transport two tiny newborns in them, they pretty much are. Try hoiking two hulking toddlers and a weekly shop up the kerb, then you’ll know what I mean. Side by sides? Easier to kerb crawl, but try manoeuvring one down the aisle of a Tesco Metro and see how many elderly ankles you take out? Prepare to get major single buggy envy! But then again, you are Beyonce so someone will likely make you an all singing all dancing twin stroller, for which I will be eternally jealous.

You can’t be a helicopter parent

When Blue Ivy crawled off in search of adventure, you were able to easily chase after her. It’s a little different with two babies, who will often want to head off in completely opposite directions. So what do you do? You have to speed-assess the danger in each situ and pick a twin to hurtle after. I regularly had other parents asking me if its okay that one of my children is hanging upside down off the climbing frame/helping themselves to raisons off the floor/rolling around in the mud. My indifferent shrug confuses them, but as you literally can’t be in two places at once, there are times when you’re just going to have to let it go. There is a positive to this kind of enforced laissez-faire approach to parenting and that’s that twins seem to learn pretty quickly how to find their own boundaries, which I’ve found to be a good thing.

Try to enjoy the ride

Yes there will be times when you sob with exhaustion after a night of tandem crying, when you’re literally tearing your hair out with the bickering. Just when you think you’re getting the hang of this parenting twins lark, they go and switch it up again and you have to work out what to do all over again. It is and will be tough, but being a member of the twin parent club is actually a complete blessing. Two ready made BFFs who will make you weep with joy over their cuteness. Having twins is super, you’ll literally be Crazy in Love from the start.

What are your best parenting tips for Beyonce? Let us know @YahooStyleUK

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