So when you are having twins you may go into a blind panic about all the stuff you need to buy and where you are going to put it all in your tiny house and how much it is going to cost and if you need a new car etc! It is inevitable that you will stress about these things but you really don’t need two of everything. So I’ll give a little insight into what we needed and used so it will hopefully help you sleep at night a bit better.
Lots and lots of white baby grows – Just get lots of white ones from asda with buttons – not the ones that go over the head as you may have to take it off one baby (every time you give a nappy change ) 7 times per day x 2 babies =14 times per day! Any cute little outfits will just be a pain to take on and off so many times a day. I had minimum 10 baby grows and vests per baby. All white so you don’t have to do separate washes. You may go through 3 changes of new clothes coz they puke and wee and poo all over them several times a day so you can’t have enough.
Lots and lots of bottles – you will spend what seems like hours washing and sterilising bottles and you can never have enough, as washing the dishes becomes less of a priority when you are busy dealing with twins (unless the nanas can help) I had 8 bottles for each twin so 16 Dr brown bottles. Man they are annoying to clean, lots of different parts to them. But you can prepare them for the whole day’s feeds and then wash them altogether at the end of the day (or start).
Different brands of bottles as one twin may prefer the teats to Tommy tippee and the other may like Dr browns this will save you having to go out and buy them once they’re here. Its trial and error sometimes with the teats.
Formulae – I was adamant I would breast feed and didn’t bother buying formulae in the beginning. Then I realised I couldn’t bf so had to rush out and buy formulae. So just have some – even if you just use it to have a top up to your breast milk, it will help get the calories in them (especially if they are small due to arriving a few weeks early)
Breast pump – (only if you want to) I got the Tommy tippee one and it was great! Probably the cheapest. If I’d had loads of money would have bought a double one to save time. Or you can hire one from the hospital or children’s centres.
Lots and lots of bibs and muslin cloths – 20? More? They puke or drool what seems like every 5 mins So they constantly wear bibs and the milk smells like cheesy feet once dried on their clothes so buy as many as you want. They are only cheap. The ones with clip/buttons work best than the ones that stick together at the back, plus the material can scratch their necks.
Finger mittens or hair bobbles– the twins’ nail will be so sharp they will cut their face with their own nails – it is terrible seeing your little-un with scratches on their perfect little face. We tried using mittens but their hands were so small they kept falling off so we used hair bobbles to tie the end of their babygrow so their hands were hidden. (aww bless)
Two changing stations – one downstairs and one upstairs kitted out with the entire bum changing equipment (and spare everything including clothes) so you don’t have to leave one twin unattended whilst you change the other. We had a changing table in our bedroom and used the dining table as a changing table downstairs.
Two moses baskets and plenty of bedding (all white so you can put in your baby grow wash) so you can carry them into each room. Ours shared at first but then we had to separate them when they got too big.
A good sized steriliser – so can do more than 4 bottles at a time. We just had 2 cheap microwave ones from aldi which fitted 4 at a time so we could do 8 at once. Tommy tippee brand. Probably would have liked to have got an electric one for convenience but this was the cheaper option.
An L-shaped pillow – this was essential when feeding twins on your own. I bought mine for £7 off the internet, so you don’t need to spend loads of money on feeding pillows.