Help me get out of the house on time for school run with newborn twins

[Spanneroo]

My twins are 3 weeks old, and I have a 2yo and 5yo.

DH is going to be doing an early work pattern until the babies are a bit older to help ensure that no matter what, at least dinner and bed happen in a timely manner, as everything else will go tits up if the big girls haven't slept enough.

So from next week, I will have to get everyone out of the house on my own.

I am looking for any tips to get organised so that I can have a few trial run mornings before Monday and hopefully get there on time. I'm getting a bit overwhelmed at the idea of having to have fed/changed babies, fed/changed big ones, school bags, coats and shoes on (DD2 needs some help, DD1 doesn't), getting hair and teeth done... I'm not even sure which order to do things in - e.g. if babies aren't fed close enough to leaving, they'll be hungry and crying.

I do have a neighbour with a school aged child as back up, but DD has been being bullied, so it's important I'm there if I can be for moral support and to speak to the teacher if needed.

Hiya OP

I have twins almost 2y and DD1 almost 5. I have done school and nursery run since the twins were 8w old. This is what worked for us when they were newborns:

All bags packed, completely packed, and clothes laid out for everyone inc me the night before. Absolutely no bag packing or knicker finding to do in the morning! Bags packed into buggy ready to go.

Morning

6am me up and 15 mins to get quick shower, I couldn't do without.

6.15 wake and bf each twin; DH up and getting ready.

6.30 DH get up DD1 gently, hugs and a story.

6.45/6.50 DH leave for work, me finished with twins. Park twins on our bed to digest next to each other. Do DD1 teeth and put on laid out clothes from night before.

When she has her clothes on she can have cereal and PJ Masks on iPad downstairs, so hurry!!

7.10 take everyone downstairs. Twins lie on a playmat together. DD1 in her chair at table, iPad on.

Breakfast on table for 7.25 ish. DD1 is a slow eater so she can have the iPad on as long as Mummy can see her taking bites!!

Eat own breakfast in kitchen standing up, generally instant coffee and Weetabix or something quick. Emerge every two seconds to check on DD1, sort out twins etc generally manage to put on or hang out a washload.

7.55 or so finish up in kitchen, change twins. I left it so long as they were v refluxy and would produce a puke-pocalypse if changed sooner after feeding. Multitask by verbally chivvying DD1 as changing babies.

8.10 babies in pram, put DD shoes on (shoes and coat always by door!!), out!

8.35 arrive at preschool.

Hope that helps :)

Oh yeah and safety gate on bottom of stairs. No one goes upstairs after The Gate Is Closed. School age children use potty/ loo downstairs!

Do you have space for each of the older kids to have a box and a peg by the door? Keep EVERYTHING they need in the morning there - school bag, shoes, coat, PE kit, any reply slips etc. When they get home from school their stuff goes in the box and then you aren't running around the house looking for a missing shoe etc.

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff that's really helpful. Thank you. T1 is also quite refluxy, so we have to prop her up all the time. She's pretty relaxed otherwise though and rarely fusses. Your older DD Sounds a lot like mine too - constant verbal encouragement needed to get anything done! Weirdly, I've just PM'd you an update to their birth!

Small milk cartons is a fab idea! DD1 is very tall but we do occasionally get a milk tidal wave if she does her own cereal on a full carton. We also get her sister kindly pouring the lot on the floor if it's left out by accident...

Stair gate to the bedrooms sounds like it's definitely worth doing (we're on one level so no stairs). I've been considering this for a while anyway, as DD2 enjoys disappearing while I'm BFing and I worry every time she goes quiet!

We used to do teeth after breakfast, downstairs, but the dentist told us to do it before breakfast. Game changer!

Can the 5 yr old scoot or bike to school? Speeds my 6 yr old up a lot on those mornings we a running behind. Helps if the scooter can be left at school during the day.

Also:

Get Dh to decant milk into small child size jugs before he leaves. That way both can pour own milk onto cereal if your busy with twins. Can also have cereal in tupperware with serving spoon so they can open and spoon into bowls, rather than pouring whole box everywhere.

If you look up Montessori ideas, they have lots of ideas like above for making kids more independent on their basic needs. ie clothes stored at easy height, toodler stools where needed like sinks and toilets, low down the storage of basics in kitchen like bowls, plates, snacks.

Also get baskets for each child in hallway. That way everything is in correct place, they have to put everything in straight away on arrival home. School stuff, gloves, lunch box.

Maybe take up neighbour on offer of school drop off on a fixed day for another few weeks like every wednesday until February half term, that gives you a mid week break.

If you have pram with carrycot, do the twins fit in one carrycot for a few weks if they dont like being apart.

Keep a pack of wipes by the front door for quickly wiping off any toothpaste on face, have bananas, cartons of milk/juice and cereal bars in just in case it goes tits up and breakfast needs to be consumed on the way!!! I take my hat off to you, I found it hard enough with one baby, but like pp said, as long as school age dc is sorted everyone else can be dressed/washed/fed after school run. Good luck

The 5yo can scoot and bike, but it slows the 2yo down and she'll throw a fit if her sister gets to go on the scooter without her IYSWIM. She's quite a precocious 2 and it can make things quite tricky as she's often capable of doing something, but is either too small, or lacks the ability to predict the consequences of her actions, making whatever it is quite dangerous for her to do.

Some of those independence ideas are worth considering. However, the 2yo does throw a bit of a spanner in the works. We have moved crockery into higher cupboards specifically because of her, for example. She's a real force of nature and we've actually had to do a lot of "DD2-proofing" due to her enthusiasm for independence. The kettle is a major source of conflict at the moment, for example.

Teeth before breakfast?? Interesting....

TWIN SLINGS! google your nearest sling library, they will visit you with the slings and demo!

Have you learned how to bf in a sling yet? Might be worth popping twins into the sling early so you can whip a boob into their mouths whilst not being glued to the couch.

DTs and a DC who was two when they were born here.

When my DTs were tiny they fitted in one pram together top to tail. For about six weeks I could get away with this - no strapping them in etc.

No laces on ANYONEs shoes. Mine are 11, 11, 11 and 14 now and I still get lace free school shoes for this reason!

For my DTs poppers on baby grows can be reduced by putting a long sleeved vest with only two poppers under legs, then leggings with feet and no poppers. So that’s four fastenings instead of twenty.

Get pain au chocolat for breakfast for a few weeks! Honestly cereal is rubbish anyway and no prep for these. Give them a banana on the way.

Small plastic ‘trug’ buckets in hall with clothes and bag in (stackable when empty).

Depends on your home layout - is used to get them all downstairs and they dressed in the hall and I could chuck the pyjamas in the wash straight away. Toothbrushes downstairs too. If the DTs are upstairs who’s could be hard though - the owls ones probs need to dress on the same floor you’re on with DTs.

Things will change a lot in a few weeks - if your friend can do the first week then so be it - give yourself a break- being in a better state of mind for the older ones might be better?

Best of luck

Oh yes wipes by the front door. We still have this, Even though my kids are teens!

Rather than think the time to leave for school was my deadline, I used to set a deadline for 15 minutes before. At this point everyone had to be ready apart from coats so I could breastfeed the youngest and evening she didn’t get a full feed, if she cried on the way to school/nursery I didn’t feel she was desperate..

Just wanted to echo joining twin sling and bf twins and triplets on FB if you haven't already done so, they are really supportive groups. Could your twins bf while in the sling? It's quite tricky to begin with but once you ask get the hang of it it makes life much easier!
A good morning routine and carefully prep the night before may be your best option. My twins are 5 and I find school mornings tricky. I like the idea of getting dressed upstairs and not going back up again. I think this might help us as my two tend to muck around a lot when we are down stairs and this ads lots of time to the whole process!

I have both twins in the sling, but have very forceful let down so can't BF in it as they choke horribly and I end up with vomit and milk EVERYWHERE. They aren't slow feeders though and it's usually a 10-15 minute job. If they go straight in the sling, I don't need to burp them either.

Those who had toddlers and a cubby per child with all their stuff for the day - how did you toddler proof it? Mine will definitely definitely go mining and it will make things harder rather than easier I suspect.

Laminated A4 days of the week sign, one per day. Hole punch and use a key ring to hold them all together and just flip to the right day. Use a dry wipe pen to then update the things needed for that day.

Wed
PE kit

Thu
Spelling book

And so on. Then add the one off extras like school trip, disco money etc. Leave it on the door mat so you have to do a last minute check before you leave the house. Get DD1 to use it as a checklist as well, and hubby before he leaves. That should take the pressure off you a bit. When DD2 starts nursery, you can add her stuff to the days as well.

Also Amazon Alexa alarms, set them to go off and train the kids to do what you need when the alarm goes off. I used this to do spellings (each word 1 min apart) every morning while I was in the shower. Then a get dressed reminder, get shoes on etc. Shoes on is set for 5 mins before we leave the house.

I know the twins will be in a sling but still consider taking a pushchair in case 2 year old tantrums and because you can pack everything into it the night before!

Following and printing! Twins arriving in may and have 5 and 3 year olds already 😱. Thank goodness for Mumsnet wisdom!

Lower your expectations. If children are eating toast or cereal bar on the way to school, it’s really fine. Or if biggest is ten minutes late (or more) for school sometimes.
Two yr old does not need to be dressed or teeth brushed for school run.

To be honest if the 5 yo is the only one that needs to go to school then focus your efforts on her. Take the other kids in pyjamas & while they are sleeping / crying and feed the 2 yo and babies on the go- it doesn’t matter how good of a walker 2 yo is, you shouldn’t take the risk of the actual schoolchild being late, so bung her in the pushchair

Good luck op. You sound well organised.
However in your shoes I know this is really lazy but I would be seeing if a friend could drop by at least once a week or so and pick up the older DC.

My solution when DC2 was a newborn and I had to get toddler DC1 to nursery was that DC1 had dry Cheerios in our bed with a drink of milk in a sports cap bottle whilst I fed DC2. All of her clothes for the day were in our room so I could keep an eye on her dressing. Basically, we were in our room until about 5 mins before we needed to leave when it was teeth, shoes on & go.
It wasn't sophisticated but it worked!