‘It’s a welcome change’

The Knight twins have been proving to be quite a handful for parents Treciana and Allister, who have not been able to get more than two hours sleep at any time since the siblings entered the world on Monday, April 17.

Still, the couple – who also have nine-year-old and four-year children – are expecting things to be better this time around as Allister has been able to get 25 days of paternity leave, unlike when their other children were born.

Allister's employer, Massy Distribution, was among the first private-sector companies to incorporate a paternity leave policy into its overall human resources plan in keeping with the Government's introduction of four weeks for fathers in the public sector, effective January 1, this year.

Allister has been working from home and will officially start his leave on Monday, May 1, but he already is beginning to appreciate the blessing of the change, especially since the newborns were premature, weighing in at four pounds 12 ounces and four pounds 14 ounces.

“Their stomachs are small, so you have to be feeding them just about every two hours,” the proud father told The Gleaner.

With his mother-in-law and an adult daughter joining the household since the twins' birth and a host of other relatives and friends dropping in, they have a lot of help, but there is still a lot of work and expense for the parents.

“We have to ensure that we are highly organised because the [feeding] bottles have to be sterilised and ready and the water, you have to boil it, let it cool, and all of that, so it requires being highly organised. Also, you have to be skilled at budgeting because they use a lot of disposable diapers,” Allister disclosed.

In fact, he described the assistance pool as a community effort but admits that there is still a lot of pressure on Treciana.

“As soon as she breastfeeds, we take the babies from her and burp and put them to sleep and then she goes off to sleep while they are napping. So it is a synchronising of the clock because if they are ever up and you did not get any rest, I tell you!” Allister said.

“Their ears are sensitive, and if one is sleeping and the other is about to fall asleep and he or she makes any sound, the other one will get up, and by the time you get him or her to quiet down, the other one is up,” he explained.

Allister recalled that given the size of Treciana's stomach, they had joked about the possibility of having twins since his father was a twin and her grandmother gave birth to three sets of twins.

“At the end of the first trimester when we did the ultrasound, we found out,” he added.

ENJOYING THE BENEFITS

Treciana is enjoying the benefits of him being at home, Allister said, adding that she is elated that finally, working men will now find it easier to have a much more hands-on role in the early stages of the newborn's life.

Allister said that while, traditionally, fathers have contributed to the early upbringing of their children, this has been somewhat from a distance.

“We tend to be busy buying feed, diapers, and that kind of thing because before this, you would have to be away from home working. Now with the paternity leave, you are at home, and Treciana pointed out that she is not under so much strain as before, and in the event that she needs to rest, the father is here, along with other loved ones, giving support. ... She welcomes it, she's very pleased and looking forward to it,” he told The Gleaner.

Allister said that while on paternity leave, he will be able to take things much slower, but that won't mean not working at all, since he will be doing some remote monitoring based on the nature of his job.

“It's a welcome change and I am really happy for it,” he said. “If fathers can play a greater role in their children's lives in whatever way, I think it is great. It is a great honour from the Most High to be there, not just financially, but even to hold the child while the mother gets some food in her body. It is a very fine blessing and very rewarding.”

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com