What Actually Helped Me In The Early Days of Having Newborn Twins

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twins
©Christine Fleury via Canva.com

In the months leading up to my twins’ birth, I was deep in the trenches of research. I constantly sought product recommendations and twin Instagram accounts to gather up ideas of what the best products out there would be to help my husband and me survive what was to come. Call it nesting or call it succumbing to the culture of being consistently sold something on social media, but one thing was for sure: I went all in on anything that I *thought* would alleviate my stress. 

Looking back now, I have the hindsight of knowing that all babies and toddlers are so different, and you can be as prepared as possible and still be (scratch that- you WILL be) thrown curve balls. I can also now laugh at all of the unused products that seemed shiny and full of promise to make my twin mom life better, but they ended up sitting unused and unopened in a closet. All families will have varied needs, but these few items are what truly came in handy and got used day after day. Spoiler alert – you do NOT need two of everything!

  1. An easy and basic double stroller for infant car seats: Having an uncomplicated stroller base for my twins infant car seats was an absolute must. This particular stroller is inexpensive and easy to handle/get in and out of the back of a car. 
  2. Twin Z Pillow: We were fortunate enough to be passed down one of these pillows from a fellow twin mom, and it is a LIFESAVER. When I say this thing was used daily, multiple times a day, for fifteen straight months, I am not lying! 
  3. My Breast Friend Twin: If breastfeeding, this nursing pillow designed for two babies was incredibly helpful for comfort and ease. I ended up bringing this to the hospital with me and the nurses were even impressed with how comfortable our set up was!
  4. Boon Grass Drying Racks: These are a fairly common item to have whether you have twins or not, but this was one of the few items that we really benefited from having two of. When our girls switched to formula, we were washing a lot of bottles. Having an easy place to allow all items to dry was so helpful and prevented bottle parts from spilling all over the counter.
  5. Multiple sets of bottles: Similarly to the above product, I realized that having more bottles than necessary was actually really helpful. It allowed us to always have clean bottles and parts on hand without getting behind on formula prep. 

Finding other local twin moms or groups is essential to parenting multiples. I joined a group called “Northside Twins and Multiples.” This group was incredibly helpful both from an emotional standpoint as I was able to connect with other moms going through the same phase as me or moms who were a few steps ahead. These groups are also a great resource to purchase specific twin items that other local moms are ready to pass down! 

When it comes down to it, the most important things to purchase and have ready feel obvious: a safe place to sleep, a secure form of transporting them easily by yourself, a comfortable place to feed them, and a solid amount of the products needed to feed. In a world where we are getting products and recommendations thrown at us constantly, it is vital to slow down and remind ourselves what really matters. For busy and tired moms, I realized that sometimes the solution is to have “more” of one item to make my life easier, and this changed everything for me. I have no regrets about all of the research I did while pregnant, but now I know better for the future if we should continue to expand our family.