What do newborn twins wear?

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So there's a thread about this for singletons over the other side and it got me thinking. I'm due DCDA twins mid May so they'll be here at the latest by the end of April. Obviously I'm keeping everything crossed they make it to full term but also accept there is a possibility they may arrive any time in the next twelve weeks. So what size clothes do I go for?? I only plan on getting plain vests and baby grows and let everyone else go nuts with the fancier stuff once they arrive (we are keeping the gender a surprise for everyone else but know ourselves it is one of each). Do I go for early baby, small baby or newborn? Do I get a couple of each size and then send DH out to buy more once they arrive/take smallest ones back if I last longer? Similarly with nappies, what size do you suggest I get a few of? I know at 24 weeks I still have a fair bit of time left but we are due to move between 28-32 weeks (not ideal I know) so would quite like to get some things organised in advance if at all possible.

Thank you for any help and any other suggestions of things I should get now

X

Check the labels as shops will have different sizes. this is growth chart for pre term babies so you can get an idea of what weight your babies will be expected to be at time of expected birth. Go from there and get a few bits and bobs in the appropriate size. Don't go mad, you will likely be in hospital for a little while so you can shop after the birth (god bless the internet). If your babies come very early and need a lot of help then they may not wear clothes at all and neonatal units have a stash of little stuff to give to parents as they know it is hard to plan. If your babies come at a point that they can be cared for with you on the postnatal ward then they will need vests, sleepsuits, hats and cardigans so I'd just get a few each of those in preparation. No harm in getting some little ones for if you need them and some slightly bigger ones as the big ones won't go to waste, they can jsut wait for the babies to grow into them.

I am also expecting twins and am 25 weeks today.

Been wondering about sizing for newborns too. DS was 7lbs 10oz so not huge but he had very long legs. He didn't last very long in the Newborn size of babygros because of his legs!

I'm planning to get some small baby vests and babygros to tide us over in the hospital. All being well, I'll be having an ELCS at 37 weeks so should have a pretty good idea of size of babies.

Thanks for the growth chart paleontologist

Mind you, a friend had twins and they were over 7lb each so all the tiny baby stuff went to waste!

Depends how early you are. My babies were in tiny baby stuff for weeks. I think they were about five months old before they got into newborn! Friends though have had twins that were not far off singleton new born weights, so no telling really. I'd get some newborn babygros because you'll need them eventually. If you need smaller you can send someone out to get them. If you end up with very early babies (as I did) they won't be wearing anything - they are just in nappies in SCBU.

When they were under 3 months old, we found the most useful things to be baby nightgowns. Made of the same soft fabric as sleepsuits, but without the poppers to contend with, which is important when you are doing double nappy changes at 3am. One size fitted ours from 35 week newborns to about four months old.

Where did you get those baby nightgowns first?

And vest, is it all babies in NICU/SCBU who just wear nappies? Or do the later premies wear clothes?

Just depends, as others have said. They tend to induce at 38 weeks if you haven't popped already, so they're always going to be slightly early and small (and 60% chance they'll have come before)...which is where ebay is your friend. I got 4 each in prem/small/newborn...and then you can just expand as and when you know for a fact what size they are.

Good luck! And while you're shopping, don't forget the muslins. You can never have too many. I had 48 by the end but still never seemed to have one to hand .

We bought them from Mothercare. I think John Lewis also do them. You can also buy them from Amazon and various online retailers of organic babywear.

If you search for "baby bundler uk" then loads come up.

Not twins, but DD2 was born at 36+1 weighing 5lb 13oz. She could wear a newborn size 1 nappy, but size 0 were better. We found Boots the most reliable place to stock them.

I'd only just finished work when dtds decided to arrive five weeks early... so my shopping had consisted of two multipacks of newborn vests and a double buggy!

They were very tiny and spent first four weeks in SCBU, who lent them some tiny babygros etc. By the time they came home they fitted (just about) into newborn size baby clothes.

The first four days, they were in the high dependency cots of scbu, where the air temperature is kept at a level that no clothing is needed so as not to irritate the delicate skin of extremely prem babies.

£2.50 each in Mothercare:
www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Newborn-Bundler/603869,default,pd.html

PS good luck with the house move!

Our twins were born at 35 weeks and were in NICU for a few nights. To start with they were in an incubator and wore just nappies then they got moved to a heated bed where they had clothes on. NICU had loads of early baby stuff which they wore until they came out - one less thing for us to worry about as NICU washed all their own clothes whereas if you took ones in you had to take them home and wash them. Once they were out and we were all on the transitional care ward they wore early baby vests and baby grows that we had bougt but tbh it doesn't matter if what you have is a bit big for them as they just lie there and sleep most of the time - it's not like they're on the move and get caught up in the legs of the baby grows! I think we had one pack of early baby vests and baby grows and DH was sent out to get more as we needed them (along with all the other stuff I had forgotten to take into hospital/didn't know I would need e.g. Nipple shields, Lansinoh cream, stacks and stacks of maternity pads!).

Oh and we started in size 0 nappies too but NICU provided these so it wasn't until they got to transitional care that we had to start buying our own.

Thanks ladies. I wasn't expecting so many replies so quickly as this board seems quite quiet so this is brilliant! I wasn't sure how much I would need if they went to NICU which I know is a possibility so good to know if they do end up there we will have a bit of time to nip out and get our own stuff. The growth chart is very helpful too and will help me choose what size because I saw the companies give you a weight guide but I was still a little clueless how small was going to be about right because obviously twins born prematurely might be a lot smaller than a singleton which the shops are geared towards. Similarly I've heard tales of ladies giving birth to two 7 llb-ers which is terrifying!!

I shall go and look at Asda and Boots again tonight as they both have some cheaply priced littlie clothes.

Thank you!

Oh and this was the second time today somebody has told me to get Muslin cloths so will add them too and work out what I'm meant to do with them nearer the time!

Out of interest, did you all have formula in the house with bottles, steriliser etc or did you wait and see if you could breast feed both first? Or is this also something I can buy after they're born because I'll be able to access immediate supplies in hospital and then go out and buy stuff.

I didn't have any formula in the house - our maternity hospital did give out formula if needed but DS was breastfed.

I did buy a steriliser, 2 bottles and a pump because I knew I'd have to pump early enough on to go to my sister's hen. I'd say those bottles got exactly 2 uses!

The steriliser (a microwave one) was cheap enough and we used it for the pump parts and then for DS's bowls/cups/plates etc when he was bigger.

If we had needed formula it would have been easy enough to pop into a local supermarket.

DH did panic-buy a kettle when breastfeeding was tough for the first few days in hospital. We live with my ILs and couldn't count on the communal kettle It never got used!

Definitely stock up on some Lansinoh and Multi Mam compresses for nipples for the first few days!

We didn't have any formula. They were tube fed formula in NICU (provided) whilst I pumped like crazy to get my milk to come in. It finally came in on day 5 but we were still in hospital so we used their formula until then. I didn't have any expressing/sterilising stuff before I went into hospital because I planned to bf. However, because they were tiny they weren't very strong suckers to start with so I bf them and expressed for the first few weeks to get my supply up. They also had top up bottles of expressed milk to make sure they were drinking enough. I borrowed a hospital pump whilst I was there but I was discharged at midnight on Saturday and couldn't get a pump until the Sunday when the shops opened. I hand expressed that night but with hindsight it would have been useful to have bought a cheap hand pump before I went in to hospital. You can decide what sort of electric pump you want if the need arises but having a hand pump in reserve might be a good idea.

You know on Masterchef the chefs have a towel tucked into their belt that they use for everything? It's a bit like that with muslins. 101 uses. I had them tucked into my waistband in a sort of Tomb Raider utility belt twins-stylee...you use them for feeding, burping, any general spillage, car journeys, mine went through a strange raspberry blowing phase...

On the bottles front, just going on my experience, as I wanted to BF too...one was losing weight too quickly in hospital so they gave her formula in the special unit for 24 hours and then because she was being monitored and I guess I was scared and (made to feel) guilty I mixed fed rather than just BF. They have formula and bottles there. And this continued when we got home. Mixed till 5 months and then onto formula only till weaning. So I'm glad I had the stuff in. It's not too dear.

Other things to aid with BF twins - one of the horsehoe cushions to lie them on (second hand through a TAMBA twins club), nipple shields and Jelonet which are strips of impregnated gauze you can wear between feeds in the early days - usually used for burns. Gosh that helped. Within 10 days everything was a.ok.

And a thermos for your tea. Single best tip I got. As I spent the first few weeks making cups that would sit there forlornly getting cold while the twins had their drink, the selfish gits .

Glad to know I'm not the only one to have raspberry blowing twins, stinkingbishop!

Thank you ladies. I'll have a look at getting some basic bottle related supplies in. Fuzzy logic says if I don't, I'll need them!

You can get clothes so quickly now a days that I would say stock up on 0-3 months with a few newborn items but if they come early then you can get items online or in the highstreet quickly. My boys were 6.6 and 7.1 at dead on 37 weeks so much for the 'your babies will be 5lb! So all my early baby stuff was totally wasted. My first 3 months was a blur of feeding and changing so bodysuits and sleepsuits only. Easy to wash, easy to change :)

I only bought newborn clothes as most said from 6lbs upwards and i had my girls at 37+4 and they were only 4lbs 12ozs and 5lbs 15ozs so MIL had to go out and buy some tiny baby stuff. So i would maybe get a few packs of small baby stuff but leave the tags on incase you don't need it and can take them back to swap for bigger sizes. Mine were in newborn until around 2 months and 0-3 until closer to 5 months.

One tip a midwife gave me was to put socks on over the top of baby grows and footed PJ's, this stops them kicking their legs out of stuff that is a bit big and also keeps their feet warm (mine always had freezing feet and were born in summer). Oh and don't buy scratch mitts they are rubbish and get flicked across the room, i used socks for that too.

Saw a few people mention muslins too. Buy a 1000 of these! they have so many uses. I used to fold and put them across the cot under their heads so when they sicked up (which they did at least 5 times a night) i could just change that and not the entire sheet. They can be used as emergency nappies too (i used them as early cloth nappies for my two).

Good luck. xx

Tftpoo I have raspberry blowing babies, the latest incident of this was during my uncle's funeral muslins absolute must, my girls are currently sat chewing theirs, best teething thing we have.
My girls arrived weighing 4 lb 11 and 5 lb 10, they didn't have a nicu stay but we're in a week. We used pampers micro nappies for a couple of wks then size 1's. They were both in tiny baby clothes for a month before t2 moved up to newborn.

I am a twin and I was over 7lb.

Agree with wonderland - you would have to be pretty remote not to be able to get more clothes in a day or 2.