Got Quads?

It always amazes how much free stuff people think I have received simply for giving birth to more than one child at a time. People tend to ask how much “help” I’ve received since having quadruplets. My answer is pretty standard. Shortly after my daughters came home from the hospital a wonderful group of women (affectionately dubbed “The Quad Squad”) came to our house for a few hours a day to help with feedings. It made a world of difference to be able to sit down to eat lunch while someone else tended to fussy babies, or take a shower without having to rush. For a while, one of the Quad Squaders made us a meal every Thursday night, probably the only nutritious, non-frozen meal we had all week! Inevitably, though, the person asking about the “help” clarifies and says they meant all the “help” I get from the government programs for families of multiples. Let me just say it here: no such programs exist. Any type of government-funded program (such as WIC or Medicaid ) has certain financial restrictions, which are calculated based on the size of your family. Let me repeat: there are no programs of any kind to financially assist families simply because they have multiples.

High-profile families of multiples tend to skew the way others view us (think “Jon and Kate plus 8 ” or the McCaughey septuplets ). When these families make the news and are given vehicles, houses, college scholarships or what-have-you, people tend to all think we’re handed the keys to a shiny new car as we leave the hospital. Simply not true. I don’t begrudge those families any of the gifts they’ve received. I’m glad there are companies out there who recognize the financial strain it can be to raise one child, let alone three, four or more who are all the same age. I just wish people would also realize that the majority of higher-order multiple families aren’t raking in the freebies.

Having ranted a bit, I will say there are some wonderful companies who will send one-time gifts (upon request) to parents of newborn multiples. I’m not big on asking for handouts, so it was hard to ask these companies to give me things, but for those who responded, I made sure to patronize them long after my free coupons were gone. So here is my plug for “multiple friendly” companies: Gerber (the most generous by far, sending coupons for hundreds of free jars of baby food), Pampers (several free packages of diapers and wipes), Evenflo (free bottles and sippy cups) and Huggies ($6 off diapers). Ringling Brothers also has a wonderful promotion for ALL children. If you send in your request to the circus company before your child turns one, Ringling Brothers will send you a voucher for free admission to a circus. The voucher can be redeemed at any time, any age… definitely something for all parents to look into.

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