What do you REALLY need for twins?

[crazychemist]

I’ve recently found out I’m expecting identical twins later this year. I’m swinging between delighted and terrified! I have one DD who will be 4 when they arrive.

While finances aren’t horrifically tight, we had been budgeting on one baby and when I go back to work childcare is obviously going to be quite pricey! I have kept everything from DD, but some of that now won’t be suitable. So what do I actually NEED? Things I’ve thought of so far:

Double pram (we walk to local stuff, so although I hope they’ll like being worn/carried, I wouldn’t be able to manage them plus shopping)
Car seats (DDs one from when she was little won’t do as it was wide so would take up too much space)
Eventually an extra highchair

Anything else you’d really recommend having 2 of? Playmat and playpen can be shared, bouncer they can take turns with? We have a side-bed cot and coslept with DD and I’m hoping to do similar with the twins. They can presumably take turns in bath seat. I’ve only got 6 bottles because DD was exclusively breastfed until I went back to work, what are the odds that I’ll be able to manage that with twins?

All advice welcome! I only know one mum of twins and we obviously can’t go to visit right now.

I’m trying to think what we had 2 of but my DT are 10 now so apologies as my memory is more than a little hazy so this will likely be a random list!

• 12 bottles and 2 steam sterilisers. I intended to mix feed but both had severe CMPA and were on neocate. Between that and 2 older children (age 5&3) bottle feeding really was the only viable option. I had a microwave steriliser from older DD (who also had CMPA) but the steam sterilisers were much better for ease of use when having to do so many even though they did take up a ton of space.

• 2 cots - didn’t use Moses baskets for any of ours. I had intended to have the DTs share a cot initially - it lasted less than a week as they somehow managed to find each other and keep each other awake. Not sure if being separated at birth and being kept in separate cots in hospital for the first few weeks of life affected that or not but they definitely slept better when in separate cots.

• 2 bouncy chairs. These were invaluable - esp for feeding when they got too big for me to hold at the same time.

• 2 bumbos and highchairs obviously.

• 2 car seats

• double buggy - I tried the sling and single pram thing but it just didn’t work for me - in part I would suspect because I had 2 other small children to corral and it was just easier if the DTs were in a pram. (Nipper out and about 360)

• 2 blankets to lie on/be wrapped in, but only 1 baby gym thing. Having different colour blankets was an easy and quick way in the early days to tell them apart.

I’d say the biggest help for us in having separate things was in telling them apart! They didn’t share clothes (and we never dressed them the same), or blankets, or bottles, or cups, or plates etc when we started weaning. Their bumbos were different colours etc and that helped. It’s so easy to get them mixed up when they are little and your brain is fried. Having separate things meant that when one had been puked up all over their blanket I didn’t forget within 5 min which baby it was because I could tell by the blanket. Seems silly now, but it’s amazing how easy it is to forget something which happened 5min before.

(Another tip - not related to what to buy, but to help tell them apart - is to always ensure they are the same way round in photos - so Twin 1 always on the left and twin 2 always on the right. Years later you’ll thank yourself for doing it!

I don’t have twins, but I remember my friend who had them got rid of a double buggy as it didn’t fit through the tills of the main shop she went to. So she had to get one that one in front of the other.
I just remember because she furious about the cost.

I agree with most of your list, but couldn't have coped without a second bouncy chair (or equivalent - one bouncy chair and one swing would be fine)

By all means give EBF a go, but yeah - it's tough with twins. I managed to mix feed til about 6 weeks and have exclusively formula fed since then. If you use formula, a Perfect Prep machine is invaluable, but not cheap, so I'd wait and see how feeding goes before buying one. Sterilising - we have a cold water steriliser which is brilliant because you can just pop more bottles in whenever you take some out - no need to faff around with running a machine or microwave.

We had 2 bouncy chairs but only one electric swingy chair thing and one jumparoo. Dd liked to sleep in electric swing, ds did not.
It’s tough so do whatever you need to to get through. Ours lived in babygros until they were 1, we used ready made formula and ate a lot of ready meals. Dh was working very long hours so needs must. Ds was 4 too. I still managed play dates for him (pizza and ice cream though which I was proud of).
It’s the hardest and best thing you’ll ever do.

@WotnoPasta that’s a good point. I’ve found a double pram I quite like, but I can’t find all the dimensions. I’m worried I won’t be able to get it out the door, but I really much prefer the side-by-side ones. They are so expensive, so I don’t want to get it wrong!

@PowerslidePanda, I’d like to try ebf, but it’s an intimidating thought! I can certainly imagine that even if it works I’ll want to express so that others can give a bottle, so I think a few extra bottles does sound like a good idea. I have a steam steriliser and warmer that I have from DD that I was happy with, I didn’t use them all that often with DD but I think they’ll have to have a permanent place on the kitchen counter this time!

It does sound like 2 bouncy chairs is a good move. I doubt I’ll ever get a shower otherwise!

Please tell me that they amuse/keep each other company after 6 months or so.....? Can’t imagine how tough it’ll be otherwise!

We had two bouncy chairs, two sleepyheads, two cot beds (when they were tiny one upstairs, one downstairs and they slept in the sleepyheads side by side), two jumperoos, two highchairs, two car seats

One twin pillow (Asda do one that's reasonably priced), one side by side buggy, one massive playmat.

16 bottles, two sterilisers

Please tell me that they amuse/keep each other company after 6 months or so.....? Can’t imagine how tough it’ll be otherwise!

Mine are 7 months and don't pay much attention to each other, but are happily entertained by watching my elder DD and chuffed to bits when she actively plays with them

Definitely two bouncy chairs. I got 2 baby Bjorn second hand ones from eBay for £50 each and sold them for £55 each! They fold flat so can pop under the sofa when not in use and the whole cover comes off and goes in the washing machine and dryer and comes out immaculate.
They were invaluable for my twins. They fed and napped in there and were the beat purchase.
Also used a tandem buggy: much better than side by side. You can fit in every shop doorway and there’s generally loads of room underneath. Plus they don’t disturb each other in tandem seating and have full size seats. My twins still use them at 3.

Ok, two bouncy chairs sounds pretty unanimous! Noted. I’m still a bit torn about buggies, but I guess I’ve got a little while to work it out. I probably shouldn’t agonise about it too much, if they turn out anything like my DD, she barely went in it once she was 18 months anyway!

Do you think I’ll need extra clothes to start with, or should I just resign myself to the fact that I’ll be running the washing machine every day anyway?! DD was in baby grows almost the whole of the first year, I really couldn’t be bothered with cute “outfits” when she was tiny.

@PowerslidePanda hopefully my DD will be equally entertaining! I’ve got to admit I’m nervous about going from one child to three. I need to grow an extra pair of hands!

Another vote for two bouncy chairs, and for the Baby Bjorn ones.

We have an OutnAbout, which we haven't had any problems getting into shops etc., but are using a lot less now that the twins are almost two and want to walk everywhere.

I haven't found that we've needed loads more clothes yet. We've mostly re-used stuff, with the odd supplement. The washing machine is on a LOT though and nobody has "outfits" :)

Good luck. It's hard work at first, but it does get easier (promise).

When you are thinking ‘do I only need one?’ Ask yourself where your other baby will be when you are using it. You will need two bath seats otherwise bathtime will take forever. Anything that lets you manage two babies at once doing the same thing is worth the spend. Find your local twins club and you will find lots of good second hand things - many of us just have the one set of twins so end up with lots of hardly used equipment.

@Sillydoggy you make a good point. I do need to keep it as slimmed down as possible though, as when we budgeted for pregnancy I’d assumed we had all the kit we needed already (4 year age gap, and we kept everything), so double buggy and car seats (DDs baby one was quite wide, so in combination with DDs current one would mean no space for a 3rd seat) are already a big unplanned for spend and we need to be putting something by for the huuuuuuuge childcare bill that will come our way when I go back to work We will manage, but I’m aiming to keep to essentials as much as possible. Will keep an eye out for local twins club.

So I’ve had identical twin girls and they’re almost 4 months now. I could not live without feeding pillows small singular ones it sounds silly but they really help when having to do a feed on my own (me on my lap and one to the side of me).
We have 2 swinging chairs joie ones, 1 new and the other second hand, 2 little sit up seats for them.
I would just go mad on buying bibs, if you think you’ve got too many get more because they go through them like no ones business. Muslin clothes is the same too

There's a great Facebook group called Breastfeeding Twins and Triplets uk that's really worth joining. Many secondhand twin groups also. My twins (boys) are in different sized clothes so didn't need so many extras as had older boy already. We never had a bath seat and I only used bottles for expressing whilst I was at work. Twingo sling is amazing and has had more use than our double buggy. Mine shared a cot until 6 months or so.

Congratulations!

My DTs are 2.5 now. I’m another that definitely recommends two bouncy chairs and swings, they were an absolute lifesaver for me as I had somewhere safe to put one or both of them whilst I got on with the next round of bottles (they had a particular fondness for watching the washing machine).

I had the bugaboo donkey which whilst an absolutely amazing pram, was huge and was definitely one of the can’t get it around easily in the shops. We switched when they were around 8 months to a cossatto duo which is suitable from birth, and is very reasonably priced.

The next to me crib lasted 8 weeks before they had to go into their own room as they outgrew it and used to wind each other up. If you have space, I saw suggested on here just using their cot bed with the side off for extra space so they can stay in with you longer.

I mixed fed for the first 6 weeks or so then switched to formula only. We had 4 bottles for each baby and had one steriliser. We had to use the dr browns bottles so eventually got their steriliser too once the tommee tipee one bit the dust.

I didn’t bother with baby bath seats and used the baby bath once for washing the babies (was bloody useful when the roof leaked one time though!).

Twins are brilliant!

Bouncy chairs were my most used thing...my two loved them.

We also chose to double up on things. We were right on money and space but I was on my own with them most of the time so I wanted to make life as easy as possible. I had 2 bouncy chairs upstairs and downstairs, and put a travel cot downstairs so they could sleep on either level and I had somewhere to put them in either room. I found Facebook marketplace great for picking up things at good value...my bouncy chairs were £4 each and I managed to sell them on for that too!