Starting from scratch- what do I need to buy in preparation for twins?

[ByeBabyBatshit]

I've seen some really helpful threads on the Pregnancy boards about what equipment you need to 'start you off' with a new baby. I'm 16+2 with my first DCs, twins, with no family history of twins and no twin mums among my friends (and very few friends who are mums at all!), so I have no idea what I need to buy! I'm after any hints about what I need, twin-related or not twin-related, as my 'starter kit', as I'm starting totally from scratch!

hi there cant seem to pm sigh!!
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Hi Galaxy, you click on the message poster thingy on the light blue band above the post of the person you want to pm - it's always worked for me. The message turns up in the email inbox of the poster so they'll get it when they next check their messages.
I'm going to p.m. you just to check it's working.

Be careful with stuff like bouncers and swings. Mine loves the bouncer (worth their weight in gold) but both hated the swing. It was a very expensive washing holder. Sooo glad we didn't get two.

Clothes - you'll be given tons of clothes, so don't buy outfits. Mine were prem and tiny so I actUally got a lot of wear out of 0-3 months stuff.
I resold a lot of baby stuff on eBay. Having two of the same thing definitely attracts more £.

Mine were tiny too, they stayed in the newborn sizes until they were over six months old, then shot through 3-6, 6-9 and 9-12 months without touching the sides. Ebay wasn't really around then, but I did very well selling in the NCT Nearly New that year, made over £50.

Congratulations.......... your world is about to turn upside down (in a good way).
Sleeping - We used moses baskets for the first 4 months then cot beds (depends what you want to do, ours disturbed each other, they are now 8 months old)
Feeding - if bottle feeding twin cushions are good but way over priced (buy second hand if you want one), or just prop up on normal cushions, if bottle feeding you can use bouncy chairs, car seats, or reclining high chairs, or prop up on cushions on the floor. Also if bottle feeding, make sure you have enough bottles to last 24hrs, that way you dont need to stress about washing them until they've gone to bed
Day time - Large play mat, large baby gym, 2 bouncy chairs (dont go for 2 the same buy 2 different ones, that way they you can swap them around and they dont get bored.
Out & abount - I love my Baby Jogger City Mini Twin (only just fits through my front door, but no issues fitting it in car, shops, lifts etc...)
If you dont already have a tumble drier - buy or borrow one, even if the weather is nice you probably wont get a chance to hang your washing out or bring it in)
Loads of vests, babygrows, bibs & muslin squares
Loads of hand cream, in every room, I find that my hands get very dry from all the washing/cleaning and dressing/undressing babies etc...

Dont bother with bottle warmers or nappy bins, waste of time and money.

Having twins is amazing, just make sure that you enjoy every minute, coz they grow up fast :0)

Hi and congrats :)
We got given a lot of babygros and clothes, Asda is great for these too as they are so cheap as are their own brand wipes.
We had 2 cots, cot top changer, playmats, PowerTwin buggy, muslins, steriliser, bottles and a few ready made formula cartons, bouncing chairs, playmats and monitor in advance.

Monitor was a total waste and we sold it. You WILL hear them unless you live in a mansion! The different formulas were in case they wouldn't like one of them and it's not possible to return once you have left the shop.
We never bothered with Moses baskets as they slept on the playmats during the day. We also never bothered with bottle warmers either, they happily took room temp.
If you live somewhere with cheap and easy access to a town centre, then buy what you need when you need it otherwise you could waste a lot of money.

Congratulations! Our twin girls are 10 weeks old and are a delight.

I've used the double feeding cushion a lot. It makes breastfeeding them together very easy. We've got the Baby Jogger City Mini Twin and love it. Instead of the Baby Jogger carrycots, we've borrowed two cocoons from friends with Phil & Teds doubles. You can buy these second hand for around £15, which is much cheaper than £110 for the BJ carrycots.

Bundles of clothes on eBay may be good. We really needed a monitor as we had tiny premmies with small lungs who couldn't properly cry until 12 weeks for 1 and longer for other.

A good freezer...
Get tons of homemade food frozen in portions for you so you don't have to stress about feeding yourself

I think the only things you need in advance are clothes (vests and babygrows) and nappies, somewhere for them to sleep, and car seats to get them home from hospital. Its probably worth having a look at prams beforehand as some have a lead-in time for delivery, but everything else baby related can wait. I'd consider a freezer, microwave and tumble drier for yourselves if you don't have those already to make like easier, and a TV with a remote control. There is nothing worse that having 2 perfectly positioned babies breastfeeding and realising you'll have to get up to change the TV channel.

Clothes - babygrows, not outfits.
Sleeping - we had moses baskets - don't understand some of the posters who said you need different things for upstairs and downstairs, brought the baskets down if they were sleeping downstairs, took them up again at night. Mine were prem so they slept in moses baskets for a good 6 months so we got the use out of them.
Feeding - I did use one of the breastfeeding pillows so I could feed them both at the same time, but got Mothercare's own version, think it was about £20.If you find that you need bottles etc, you can do this after the birth.
Car seats / Pram - we had a Out n About Nipper which I loved - very narrow but side by side and used it until they were 2.5. Having said that, you couldn't simply click the car seats on (which you can with other travel systems) so every time we went anywhere in the car, had to transfer them out of their car seats into the Nipper and back again once we were ready to go home. Depends on whether you go out in the car alot. If you do, I'd try to get a system where you can simply click the car seats onto it.
Bouncy chairs - my all time most important purchase, just got cheap ones from Asda, think they were about £12 each. Brilliant. Could easily be dismantled so I could carry them with me to baby / music groups so I could hold one and the other could sit up and see what was going on. Don't need to spend money on vibrating / musical ones - the smaller the better.
Baby bath - agree its totally not necessary but we did have one and tended to bring the bath down into the lounge for bathtime at the start as it was much bigger than the bathroom and both of us could interact with the babies.
Monitor - agree again its probably not 100% required but I think its useful for peace of mind, even picks up gurgling etc.

I never used muslins / nappy wrapper (think its still in the loft) / bottle warmer / steriliser (used a big tupperware with cold water and milton) / baby swing (they hated it).

Have a look at the NCT website - definitely worth seeing if there are any Nearly New Sales in your area. Very good quality stuff at a fraction of the price. Also worth keeping your eyes out for other local sales - our local toddler group does 2 a year and I've helped a couple of times. If only I knew of these before hand I DEFINITELY wouldn't have wasted money buying everything new.

Hi everyone, just wanted to thank you, and say I hadn't forgotten this thread- DP and I decided we wanted to get married before the babies come, so we've been organising a wedding at eight weeks' notice! Nearly there now.

I went to my first NCT nearly new sale the other day- but I missed the NCT-only part of it, even though I am a member, and by the time I got there it was such a bunfight, and to be frank a lot of the things for sale looked a bit grubby. I need to try harder to get there earlier I think!

I haven't read the thread all the way through, but I will make a note of everything and PM anyone kind enough to offer me anything! All tips and hints still welcome though! Thank you!

have replied to your pm at last
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Also thanks for your pm, just realises you might not have seen the blurb I put in classified pages, under 'other' which has more about the EZ pillow, price etc

Hi, congratulations twice over.

Mine loved the swing, good for keeping one entertained if I needed to see to the other one. One of the hardest things I found was if both were crying at once, this helped. Realy expensive though so I wish I'd got mine second hand.

I had isofix car seats that the car seats just slotted in and out of, expensive but saved a lot of time and mine were in them for about 18 months before I switchec to next stage.

God luck and enjoy.

I loved the double bfing cushion - ez2 nurse, really made bfing both at once hands free.

Have you got a twins club or tamba group near you? Worth tracking it down if so, lots of second hand sales on ours and meeting other twin mums is a lifesaver.