EVEN IN THE BEST HOMES, MULTIPLES ARE TROUBLE

By Jeffrey Kluger

It's not for nothing that nature made single births the rule. Human babies, with their extended infancy and years of dependency, may be the hardest of all young to raise. The McCaugheys may be warmed by television lights this week, but history suggests that when the lights go off, the new parents will need all the help they can get.

The darkest of the cautionary tales is that of the Dionne quintuplets of Ontario, Canada. Born in 1934 during the depths of the Depression, the five girls were seen by the Canadian government as a welcome tonic for a beleaguered public. By an act of Ontario's parliament, they were taken from their parents and exhibited behind glass at a facility christened Quintland. At one point they drew more tourists than Niagara Falls.

After years of litigation, the parents regained custody, but homelife turned out to be as bleak as life in Quintland, with allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of a remote father. Two of the girls died young--one of a seizure, one of a stroke; the others have survived but remain embittered and have petitioned for compensation for their mistreatment. They emerged from seclusion last week to offer advice to the McCaugheys (see open letter).

For other families, health problems have been the chief concern. In 1985, Patti Frustaci of Orange, Calif., gave birth to septuplets; one was stillborn, and three died within 19 days. Cerebral palsy and retardation had been diagnosed by the time the three survivors reached age 3. Ultimately, the family won a $2.7 million settlement against the clinic and the doctor who prescribed fertility drugs for Frustaci. She came back for further treatments, however, and this time gave birth to robust twins. She has since left her family; the children are being raised by their father.

Even when health concerns don't plague families of multiples, financial and housekeeping woes do. In 1993, Keith and Becki Dilley of Indianapolis, Ind., became parents of healthy sextuplets and were buried under an avalanche of daily feedings and diaper changes. A local developer sold them a new home at cost, but after four years, financial pressures forced them to move to a smaller one. In 1984, William Kienast, the father of New Jersey quintuplets, reacted to similar hardships and mounting financial problems by committing suicide.

It is likely that happy, if struggling, families like the Dilleys outnumber tragic ones like the Dionnes. But if the McCaugheys need a reminder of what awaits them, a recent study provides it. According to Australian researchers, it takes 198 hours a week to run a household and care for triplets. That's 30 more hours than there are in a week.

--By Jeffrey Kluger. Reported by Andrea Dorfman/New York

With reporting by Andrea Dorfman/New York