When I was pregnant, I searched for others’ favorite items for their babies. I found a lot of posts for singletons but not as many posts & lists for multiples. So in order for me to remember {baby brain & sleep deprivation} & to help other multi mommas, here’s my must have list for the first three months.
{I linked to Amazon because they have it all, but check prices at other places. None of these links or items are affliated nor sponsored.}
Breastfeeding
The my brestfriend twin pillow. Have it in the car so you can learn to feed them on it in the hospital. I was tandem feeding the babes on the mybrestfriend pillow when they were just 5 days old. And 4r months later, I still have it strapped to me for hours every day.
Medela Symphony for at home & establishing supply. Medela Freestyle for travel & portability if you go back to work. You can read my Symphony vs Freestyle review.
Hands-free Pumping Bra. You have 2+ babies. You can never have enough hands. These bras {get more than 1} allow me to tweet, blog, FB chat, & read while pumping.
Nipple Shields. I know a lot of LCs & others in the breastfeeding world frown on these, but my babies were little & born too early to know how to latch/suck/swallow/breath at the same time. These helped them immensely to breastfeed. I was told on their due date to try to start “weaning” them off the shields. I’d remove the shield halfway through a feeding when they took a break, but if they seemed unhappy with that, I’d put it back on. Feeding babies over feeding babies without shield. Right at 3 months, Lucy started taking all feedings without the shield. A couple weeks later, Zach started nursing better without it as well. Get these from the hospital so you don’t have to buy them.
Burp Cloths aka old school flat cloth diapers. We got a ton as gifts & blow through them all. The nipple shields are great {see above}, but they leak~ out the bottom, out of the baby’s mouth. & I think mine are messy eaters, so I’d put a cloth under them to protect the my brestfriend pillow cover.
Sleeping
Fisher Price Rock-n-Play sleepers. Mine slept exclusively in these for most of the first 3 months.
Wubbanubs. With multiples, pacifiers get lost, misplaced, mixed up easily. But it’s easy to find & remember that Zach has the tiger & Lucy the lamb. Zach is a huge fan & will hug tiger to sleep. Lucy likes the Wubba more than any paci but can go without.
Swaddle blankets. We liked the aden + anais ones & these other ones given to us but purchased from Home Goods. We used them all the time when they were in the Rock-n-plays.
SwaddleMe. Now they’re in the crib to sleep, we wrap them in the swaddleme nightly. They’ve always liked their hands out, so we swaddled from chest down. Lucy is almost too big for them & it makes me sad!
Clothing
I like gowns the best for night~ just pull them up from the bottom for changes. My husband didn’t like that gowns meant socks & that they could kick out.
My husband prefers snapped sleepers {zippered ones bumped up & would touch espeically Zach’s chin making him think it was time to eat aka not sleep}.
Diapering
I can’t say enough about cloth. I have a few reviews coming up on my favorite types for them as newborns & now that we’re in daycare. But safe to say that we’ve saved a ton of money by going with cloth. Zach also hasn’t gotten the blisters again after we’ve switched him from pampers to cloth. Neither have had any diaper rashes either.
Wetbags. We have pail liner in the nursery, hanging bag in den & two portable bags for daycare. Love them all.
Leaving the Nest
Carriers. We have two Ergo carriers & a Moby wrap. To be perfectly honest, we didn’t get out much at first. It was either raining or 100 degrees outside for June & July. And with tiny babies, we stayed home just trying to get through the day. But once I began venturing out {I started with taking one baby at a time & had a helper with me}, these were great.
The Moby was the first carrier I tried. I think it says 8 lbs plus, but I had Lucy in it sooner or about that around the house. Wearing Lucy in the Moby was sweaty for us both in August, but now that September & cooler weather has hit, it’s easy to wrap at home, put either L or Z the car seat & place them in the wrap without help at the store. No one but me has used the Moby.
The Ergo is more friendly to Dads & grandparents to use. My mom wore it vacuuming while Lucy slept early on. I did not buy the infant insert. It was on my purchase list that got discarded in the hospital. Instead, I’d wrap them almost swaddle them in the blanket in the carrier. Between three & four months, they started fitting well without anything. We wear them in it to the store, on walks to the mailbox & around the house so I can make lunch!
Snap-n-go Double Stroller. Make sure your car seats will fit with it. Our Britax B-safes don’t. But we have Graco seats that we don’t use in the car that fit in the snap-n-go. So the few walks we’ve taken are in that & it’s really convenient.
I’m sure there’s more but that’s what comes to mind first. Feel free to comment or email me if you have questions about anything above. I’ll try to do another similar post in a few months of our next stage must haves {what do you think I need?}.
