Our twins are four years old and in some ways thinking back to the newborn days feels like forever ago, however time really does go by so fast and I have a lot of nostalgia for when they were little babes. Twins do not run in our family and we were not on any fertility treatments so when we found out we were having twins, it was quite a shock! I remember being so grateful for podcasts and blogs from other twin parents because there was no one in our family or within our friend group that had twins. I did not have anyone in person who I could ask what items were most helpful or most used with twin newborns.
Over the past four years there have been different times where I really felt the weight of having two babies at the same age at the same time. I feel like people always warn you about how many diapers you will be changing or how many bottles you would be washing, so there were certain aspects of being a twin parent that I expected. But one that really hit me was teething, the girls didn’t teeth at the same time (which did have some benefit; only one baby to comfort at a time), however that meant that the teething process took very long. We had months of a baby in discomfort while teeth were coming through and that felt so draining. I should probably dedicate a whole blog post to those things that came up which I didn’t expect. What I want to focus on today though, is the things that we used the most during those newborn months.
- My Brest Friend nursing pillow. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to nurse the twins as exclusively as I could. And now thinking about it, I think I was able to for the first six months or so. I had always nursed Jack and Eva and for me personally, it was more convenient that doing bottles and formula. We had enough to pack in a diaper bag with two toddlers and two newborns that not having to do bottles and formula as well was a benefit for me. At home I was able to nurse both babies at the same time and a big reason for that was this nursing pillow. Sometimes I would use the attachment behind my back but you can also take that off if it is more comfortable. But basically I would have one baby on each side nursing in the football hold. I wish I had a photo of myself nursing them with the pillow, but I showered my Photos library and could not find one. The interesting thing too was that I never had an issue with milk supply, which I had been worried about. All of our kids were snackers that would not nurse for very long and with Jack and Eva, they typically would only nurse on one side. But since I was always feeding the twins on both sides I had a greater supply, which then allowed me to pump. So we would use bottles from time to time but didn’t have to introduce formula until they were past the newborn stage. We also had two of the normal nursing pillows that we used tons! I would prop the twins on them when just hanging out or sometimes have one in the pillow next to me while I was holding the other. I would let the twins sleep on them while I was folding clothes; you never want to just let your baby sleep on a pillow like that unattended so I always made sure it was a time where I was sitting right there with them.
- Pacifiers; and a lot of them! When the girls were newborns we loved these Wubbanub pacifiers because the little stuffed animal attached helps them stay in place. They did not drop as easily as a pacifier by itself. We had multiple pacifiers but only one Wubbanub for each girl so our other favorite ones were Itzy Ritzy and then I made pacifier clips so they would stay attached.
- Velcro Swaddles; we loved these especially in the early days right after birth! The girls slept in these every night and you could just see them settle down when we wrapped them in these blankets for bed. I think we had a total of 9 for the twins and also ordered them from Amazon. They washed great and held up really well. We also had plenty of muslin swaddle blankets because that is what I would swaddle the girls in during the day. They loved being swaddled but we saved the velcro ones for bedtime, it was also a good nightime cue for them to sleep.
- Ring Sling; with Jack and Eva I used a Boba Wrap and I loved it. With the twins though I had plenty going on so I wanted a carrier that would be easier to slip on and off. The ring sling was perfect because I would be able to quickly put it on and slide one of the twins in there. I was also able to have one baby in the sling and then carry the other, we would just sit on the couch and cuddle like that. I almost always had one baby in the sling and sometimes would have one in the sling and one in the stroller, or just used the sling as a way to be holding a baby. I absolutely love the newborn stage for all the cuddling but with two babies I did not want one to get held more than the other and the sling helped a lot with that. I don’t have one linked because I had a dear friend at the time who made them and I purchased one from her, but they are no longer available.
- Newborn pillow; I had read that twins have a greater chance of needing to wear a helmet because it is difficult to hold them enough to prevent their head flattening so I found these newborn pillows and we loved them! We used them all the time and our twins did not need to wear helmets. I do not say this out of any judgement against any baby who has to wear a helmet, I know many moms who walked that journey with their babies. I say it because even though Eva was only two when we had the twins, I do not remember these pillows being around! Things change so fast in the world of babies and that was something I had never seen before but thought was very cool.
- The last thing I am going to add is our rocking chair. With our older kids when I woke up to nurse them I would either bring them back into bed because it was most comfortable or I would bring them to the couch. But with the twins I found it easier to sit on the rocking chair that was right next to their crib (the slept in the same crib until 9 months) because I could then lay them right back in the crib after feeding them. Somehow it worked out that for the most part, one baby would wake up first to be fed and the second would still be asleep. So once I finished nursing the first I could move onto the second. I loved sitting in that chair in the dark and just nursing the girls. It was such a special time and the bonding you experience is so wonderful.
As I have been writing this I know there are tons of other things we used, we used the swings a bunch. We loved our double stroller which was expensive, but we still use it today! We wanted something that we could use with two infant car seats well into the toddler years; and our families all got together to get it for us as a baby shower gift which was such a blessing. We used so many burp cloths and our diaper genie and many onesies and bottles. If you are pregnant with twins and not sure what you will use, I pray that you found this helpful. I pray for a healthy pregnancy and healthy delivery, and remember to give yourself grace. Twins are a lot of work, and that will not change as they get older, but they are such a blessing from God and it’s a privilege to experience being a twin parent.
Blessings, Ellen
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