Archive for category: Pregnant with twins

Bringing two babies home from hospital was such a challenging experience for me and although already having one baby at home to care for added to the amount of work I had to do to settle them in, it was such a blessing because I already had recent experience in caring for newborns and the equipment that I needed. I am a massive researcher (once a student, always a student!) and so I spent a lot of my pregnancy researching new items on the market that could make my life easier when the babies arrived.  I was pretty organised to be honest, but that’s only because I already was a stay at home mum and I had the time to plan. One of the questions I have been asked the most is for a list of my recommended items that in an ideal world parents could buy before their baby/babies arrive, so here it is.  It seems long but its pretty detailed and I’m sure there are alternatives to the products I used, but amongst my friends and other twin mum’s, these seem to be pretty popular.

Feeding:

• Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep Machine – this has to be my number one recommendation and not just for twins, but every household bringing home a baby. I wasn’t sure if I would breast or bottle feed and knowing from experience that things don’t always go as planned, I found it best to prepare for both scenarios
• Six bottles – (or as many as your steriliser will hold). We used Dr Browns with the babies
• Steriliser – (electric or microwave). Electric sterilisers are bigger and can hold up to six bottles at a time. We used the one by Avent and somehow managed to squeeze the Dr Browns bottles into it but that’s only because we still had it from Ariana being a baby. I think the Dr Browns steriliser is better for their own bottles. We ended up using a microwave steriliser (again by Avent) in the end because we found it quicker and easier to tidy away
• Bottle brush – the double handled ones by Tommee Tippee work well and Dr Browns bottles come with their own really narrow brush for their own parts
• Milk – whether you’re planning on breast or bottle feeding, I’d recommend having some ready made cartons of milk in your kitchen cupboard for those bewitching hours when you have screaming babies to care for and your body is too exhausted to co-operate (speaking from experience –  a lifesaver!)
• Mini fridge – this is something that may not be necessary for your household but we found it to be essential for us both with Ariana and the twins. We would make up the milk at night and store it in the mini fridge upstairs for the nightfeeds as we only every fed the babies in the nursery. Bringing them downstairs and fumbling around in the kitchen in the middle of the night seemed too disruptive to me!
• Bottle warmers – We used the ones by Avent again to prepare the night feeds
• Dummies – I prefer the ones by Avent as they’re orthodontic and come with lids for hygiene purposes.

Furniture:

• Pram – I researched this purchase a lot and came to the conclusion that the iCandy Peach Blossom 2 would suit our needs best (the Peach Blossom 3 is available now). What I love is that it carries the car seats directly on the chassis, which is essential when the babies fall asleep in the car and you need to get them in and out. It is also extremely light and folds easily, which is imperative after child birth/c-section
• Crib for downstairs (along with sheets and blankets to fit) both babies can sleep in here together in the early days. By the time they outgrow the one crib, they should be taking their naps in their bedroom anyway. We used one by Mothercare we purchased second hand
• Cot beds – space was limited in our twins bedroom so we already had a cotbed from Ariana that we used and then purchased a small cot from Ikea. If you do have the space and cash, I would recommend paying the extra and buying cotbeds as babies grow so fast and you will soon find yourself needing to upgrade. Ikea do great options
• Wardrobes and drawers – something that can grow with the child/children
• Feeding chair – we used a glider chair with Ariana but with twins who need to be fed at the same time, we knew we would need something bigger so we bought  this Ikea chair bed second hand from Gumtree and it has worked so well, initially as a bed in the nursery to allow us both the space to sit on and feed the babies at the same time (and sleep in there when we needed to) and now folded into a chair
• Blackout blinds and curtains – IMPERATIVE! I can’t emphasise this purchase enough! As babies are born oblivious to night and day, I found teaching them their sleep patterns is a major part of bringing home baby/babies. I think it would be impossible if their nursery isn’t pitch black for day time naps and to get them to sleep in until the magical time of 7:00am
• Decor – time, finances and motivation have given me the opinion that decorating a nursery doesn’t need to involve a full renovation of a spare bedroom. I generally pick a theme and then work around it. With Ariana and the twins we simply left all but one wall white, then created a mural painting hills and sky then adding re-usable wall stickers and matching curtains, lamp shade and fabrics. The twins theme was jungle (because we had to go unisex, of course) and these Fisherprice stickers work fabulously because when the time comes to redecorate, it will only involve removing them and repainting
• Swing chair – again a lifesaver. We used the Fisherprice swing that we found on ebay and in the early weeks we could put one baby in here for their day time naps, it would provide such comfort for them and allow me to nurse the other
• Bouncer chairs – (two of these) are a great place to sit the babies as soon as they can hold their heads a little and eventually tandem feed. I had so many issues with feeding two babies at the same time, I found these chairs to be the only way possible. We like ones that vibrate as they can be soothing (although not directly after a feed!) and researched the biggest one we could find so the twins could snuggle together in the early days. The Bruin Zebra Chair worked well for us and is still going strong a year later!

Clothing:

• Sleepsuits – with twins, you will need 100’s. OK, maybe not 100’s but a lot. I learned with Ariana that my pregnancy hormones were to blame for a huge waste of time and money purchasing fancy clothes, shoes, bows and all kinds of crazy paraphernalia that will hang very prettily in their wardrobe until they outgrow it because you could never bring yourself to get them dressed in it and then have to wash, dry and iron it all over again after they barfed on it within 5 minutes. More so with twins! If you do have the energy to take them out, invest in pram suits so no-one can see what they’re wearing underneath. As long as they’re clean and comfy, that’s really all that matters. Integrated mittens are a must!
• Vests – as above, the more the merrier. I prefer short sleeves as I like to keep babies cool and warm them up with layers
• Hats – little cotton ones for those early days and warmer ones for any trips out
• Swaddles – we didn’t swaddle Ariana but couldn’t have lived without the Miracle Blankets for the twins. We swaddled until they were five months old, they would never have slept without them!
• Blankets, sheets and mattress protectors (all cotton and fitted where possible)
• Muslin cloths – you can never have enough of these!
• Comfort blankets – Ariana gave them to the babies when they were born and they’ve slept with them ever since (so cute!)

Electricals:

• Room thermometer – we love the Gro Egg as a quick glance into the bedroom is all it takes to check if the temperature is right
• Radiator – electric oil radiators with a thermostatic control are in both our kids bedrooms. We turn off the central heating radiators in their rooms so we can regulate the temperature ourselves so regardless of the time of year, their rooms are always at the same level and I don’t have to panic about them kicking off their covers during the night
• Fan – for warmer weather. One that’s whisper quiet is best and if it has a timer too, even better
• Breathing monitor – not everybody likes these but I really don’t think I would have slept a wink (the rare moments I had chance to anyway) without. We used the Angel Monitor with Ariana which was great for one baby but with two sharing a bed in the early weeks, separate monitors were needed. We chose the Snuza as they attach to the babies nappies rather than static under the mattress so we could monitor them wherever they slept throughout the day
• Baby monitor – we already had the Angel Monitor (as above) and found this worked well, it also had the temperature indicator on the handset, which was a bonus.

For the car:

• Car seats – the Maxi Cosi are fantastic and fit so easily onto our pram, it made life a lot easier
• Isofix base – these fitted into the car making it so much easier to get the car seats in and out without fiddling with the seat belts. I could leave the car seats in and just get the babies in and out, I’ve loved these and highly recommend them
• Footmuffs – coming home from hospital, the nurses won’t let you leave without a car seat (or two) so to have some footmuffs to tuck your babies into is really cozy. We had the JJ Cole Bundle Me and they stayed like new, wash after wash

Bits and bobs:

• Changing table – makes life easier to have a changing station at the right height to avoid bending over changing the 100’s of nappies each week especially after a c-section! We got one that folded away (from Ikea) at the end of the day so we didn’t have the sit looking at it!
• Top and tail bowl – these are so cheap and will be used daily
• Nappies – all sizes! If anyone asks what they should buy you for the baby/babies forget toys – say nappies!
• Wipes, nappy bags, Bepanthan, Sudocrem, disposable change mats (warmer than plastic mats and can be replaced quickly if things get messy. They’re also great as mattress protectors and useful for mum to sleep on when you first get home from hospital
• Baby body wash, massage oil – organic if you can or rapeseed oil worked great for the twins
• Towels – the fluffier the better!

I really hope this list isn’t too overwhelming! I remember being pregnant and everything seemed so hard when I was dragging an extra 3 stone in weight around with me and barely getting and sleep but with the right amount of time and help (accept ANY that’s offered) you can be prepared for all eventualities with the items on this list. If not, everything will be fine anyway because you can always pick things up as you go along or leave me your comments/send me a message and I’d be happy to help!

Love from Leyla

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