Mothers’ Beginning Relationship with Twins

This study describes 10 mothers’ beginning relationship with their twins through the qualitative analysis of tape‐recorded, semistructured interviews at one month which focused on the mothers’ perceptions of each twin and their relationship. These mothers developed a relationship with their twin infants initially by differentiating their physical characteristics and polarizing their personality characteristics. At 1 month of age, the personalities of the twins were described by the mothers as opposites of each other and in terms of active and passive characteristics. Mothers emphasized the differences rather than similarities in the twin infants’ feeding and vocal behaviors, and their awareness of the environment.