Twin Baby Gear: What are the Must-Haves?

written by Dakotapam on April 24, 2012 in My Life With Twins with 6 comments

Twin Baby Gear: When to Purchase One…or Two!

When I had the ultrasound that revealed that I was carrying twin girls, my mind immediately began to spin. I had brought home babies before, but only one at a time! All of a sudden my mind was flooded with wondering how we would fit two cribs into the nursery, where the girls would fit around our dinner table, and wondering how to fit two carseats into our van! No doubt about it, with twins, there is often double the expense. I learned though, that I often did not need two of everything! Here is my list of twin essentials and which items require a pair!

Cribs

Many twin parents purchase two cribs from the outset. We planned on eventually needing two cribs, but for budget and space reasons decided to see how long we could get by with one crib. We ended up keeping the girls in the same crib until 17 months...at which point Emily climbed out and we converted it to one shared toddler bed. The girls, at 27 months, currently share a full sized bed, and will continue with this arrangement until they tire of it! Dakotapam advises: start with one crib and add a second when needed. Early on your babies will usually sleep better if they can touch each other.

Carseats

You will most definitely need two car seats. We used Graco SnugRide Infant Car Seats. We liked them because they were easy to use, snapped into the Graco DuoGlider Stroller, and both the seats and the stroller were affordable (the stroller was extra affordable since a friend handed it down to us!). We also like that the seats had a smaller footprint, which was important as we needed every possible square inch of space in our van. The seats were a good investment. The girls were on the small side and were able to use them for about 18 months!

Soothing Gear

When you come home from the hospital with two babies you are going to want someplace to set the babies when they are awake and alert. I recommend waiting on many of these purchases until after the babies are born, as they take up a lot of space and baby personalities often determine what gear you need. We ended up getting two Fisher Price Comfy Time Bouncers. These had a battery operated vibration feature and were mostly a great place to set the babies. It was especially great to have one in the seat while I was nursing the other. To save space i would nest them on top of each other in the corner. They are also lightweight and easy to move wherever you need them in the house. We received one really nice Fisher-Price Cradle ‘n Swing and we loved it. It reclined way back, was comfy and i would rock side to side. We only needed one. I’m not sure where we would have put a second one. Most of the time I only had one baby who “needed” to swing. In my experience having one really good swing was better than two more portable swings.

Entertainment

As you may have noticed, space is at a premium at my house. I’ve never lived in a  home with enough room for an Exersaucer or Jumperoo. While I think there are merits to this type of entertainment for baby, it is easy to use these as a crutch, and it is not good for baby’s development to be stationary and on her feet so long. Babies need to explore…so a baby gate is probably the best piece of entertaining equipment you could purchase. We blocked off the entire living room as a baby safe zone and the girls were pretty much free to explore at will!

Strollers

With twins, I found I needed two different strollers for two different stages. As I said earlier, in the first few months we used our Graco DuoGlider Stroller almost exclusively. It was easy to pop the car seats in and out of the stroller,so it was convenient. However, it was bulky in the back of our van, and not great for pushing on long walks. Once the girls were out of the car seats they would pull hair and scratch at the baby sitting in the front seat. At this point we switched to our InStep Grand Safari Double Jogging Stroller. We still use this stroller almost every day when we are out and about. it has held up very well, even through camping and hiking!

High Chairs

You will need two of some sort of seating system for your twins. We already had a full house, and a counter height table, with no empty chairs, so we opted for twoEddie Bauer Wood High Chairs. While they may not be my favorite high chairs of all time, they have served well and currently the girls use them without the tray, while pushed up to the table. If you have dining chairs to spare, Fisher-Price Space Saver High Chairs are a good choice. They have the features of a high chair but fit on your existing chairs.

Clothing

You will need twice the amount of clothing for two children. While it is true that they will likely be the same size at the same time, and therefore can share clothes, they will go through those clothes at an alarming rate…especially during the first few months. Save the cute matching outfits and hand them down to another family with twins!

Diapers

You will go through an alarming amount of diapers. Cloth diapers are a great option for twins. They are affordable, environmentally friendly, and believe it or not, they are less leak prone than their disposable counterparts. Cloth diapering twins is a huge money saver, and there is always enough dirty diapers to fill a laundry load!

Those are my first year twin essentials! There are other things that I found fun, and I’ll fill you in on those in a week or so!

Chime in! What are your twin essentials? Two of everything? or Wait and see?

 

 

tags: baby gear co-bedding co-sleeping cribs high chairs play yards strollers

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