Twins...

ontheditch2

First time dad to be here and we are expecting twins in early May.

Really excited and looking forward to it, even if everybody is saying "our life is ruined", but I know they mean that in a good way..

Any twin parents out there with a few recommendations on purchases or must haves for twins from your own experiences.

Thanks

fits

Congratulations! It’s some news to get isn’t it?

Firstly I would say it’s super important for mum to look after herself in pregnancy. I’ve only had a twin pregnancy but it was tough going for me. Rest is so so important in later weeks.

As regards purchases? We used and recommend
Babyjogger city select buggy/ travel system
Morrck car seat blankets ( super handy but maybe not essential for summer babies)
Breast friend feeding cushion ( I breastfed exclusively besides some top ups in early weeks this was invaluable)
Tiny love napper rockers. My boys napped in these in early months.

I’ll see if I can think of more

Oh and plan to take a few weeks off after they arrive if you can at all. It’s intense.

Pawwed Rig

No advice to give as such as I don't have twins but congratulations

All I can offer is to say take as much time off as you can afford. You have 1 chance on this and every phase gives new issues and rewards.

shane b

My wife had twins in March this year. We decided to bottle feed so what was essential for us was the Tommee Tippee instant prep machine and 2 sterilisers. We were getting 2.5 - 3 hours between feeds so thats about 8-10 bottles a day each.

My wife joined a twin group on facebook which she found supportive and helpful for advice.

Stock up on the pamper nappies when they on special offer in the super markets, although we have found the LIDL lupilu ones quite good. Be prepared for a big increase in your waste charges too as the amount of nappies 2 babies use in a day is a surprise.

It may sound silly but in the beginning we labelled their rockers, overnight sleepers, car seats as Twin 1 & Twin 2. We have non-identical girls but when your sleepy or not thinking straight it could be easy to get confused.

Buggy wise we went with an Baby Elegance duo. Its an inline buggy similar to the Baby jogger one mentioned above. We looked at the side by side ones but the footpaths in our village/nearest town arent wide enough so that ruled them out. No point in buying a buggy that you cant push to the shop.

If you are taking time off work have a look at this thread for paternity/parent leave advice.
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2058135720

Gatica

A friend with twins recommended the Mountain Buggy Nano Duo. It's not for early days, but it's a light and portable double pushchair once they're sitting up by themselves. Great for smaller boot-spaces... We were gonna get it for our 2 kids, but the eldest reached upper weight limit of 15kg a bit too quickly

lazygal

Please don't use formula prep machines.
You'll get plenty of people who recommend them but they're not recommended by the FSAI. If you decide to use infant milk substitutes make the bottles as per HSE guidelines.
Good luck.

screamer

I’ve twins myself, they’re nearly 5 now but here’s what I found useful

Feeding pillows one each. Mine were bottle fed and I could put them into the pillows and feed them at the same time.
A baby changing station with bath again, at your height is a godsend for your back. one washed and in the bed and then the next.
Plenty of babygros, vests, bibs and muslim cloths
If bottle feeding, a dozen bottles so that you have 3 each in rotation at any one time. We eventually got a dozen per baby. Also, a good idea to just buy 6 to start in case one ends up on different formula to the other, get them a different bottle so you don’t confuse the feeds.
I used to make feeds in bulk, i dunno what the HSE says now, but I didn’t care, I did that for my older child too, and none ever were sick.
A glass jug Pyrex is handy for making formula in too.

Gatica

lazygal wrote: »

Please don't use formula prep machines.
You'll get plenty of people who recommend them but they're not recommended by the FSAI. If you decide to use infant milk substitutes make the bottles as per HSE guidelines.
Good luck.

I've never read anything bad about the prep machines. They're certainly not needed, but we found it handy, especially for someone babysitting. Both kids used them and are healthy and didn't have problems with those bottles.
What's the reason for the FSAI not recommending them?

Gatica

Interesting, had a quick read there. I think some people did have issues withb residues inside their machines. If it's frequently used though, it shouldn't happen.
Also the strict recommendation is making up feed with water cooled no more than 30 mins is insane, what do people do in the middle of the night? I breastfed at night, so wasn't an issue for us, but it's imagine it would be a nightmare to get up at half an hour before an approximate feeding time...

shesty

We didn't use that prep machine at all either, too much hassle believe it or not!!!Made up 6 bottles all together every night - sterilised, filled with fresh boiling water and into fridge to cool.Each time we needed I took one out, added formula and heated (or else emptied a third of cooled water, boiled fresh water and added to bottle to correct level to heat it up).For night feeds simply add formula, and heat bottle in bedroom when needed. Baby went through all 6 bottles in about 24 hour period or less so just made up a batch of sterilised bottles everyday and stored in the fridge.

I did BF for first few weeks but was not successful longer term with it, so we just got into the habit of doing that.

shane b

Gatica wrote:

Interesting, had a quick read there. I think some people did have issues withb residues inside their machines...

I believe this was due to not using the correct filters for the machine. It seems some people were using btita water jug type filters rather the proper tommee tippee ones.

We didn't intend buying one but had to change formula in the first couple of weeks and the making the bottles for 2 at night was a killer.
It gave it so much time back.
Dont really understand not recommending making bottles in advance now . That's what we did with our first child and it was then (2014).

lazygal

Formula isn't sterile. You have to kill the bacteria with water at the correct temperature. That's why making up artificial milk correctly is important.

Irishphotodesk

ontheditch2 wrote: »

First time dad to be here and we are expecting twins in early May.

Really excited and looking forward to it, even if everybody is saying "our life is ruined", but I know they mean that in a good way..

Any twin parents out there with a few recommendations on purchases or must haves for twins from your own experiences.

Thanks

Firstly, congratulations, father of 4yr old twins here.

Get yourself on to IMBA (Irish multiple birth association) for the €30 a year you get multiple discounts which is always helpful when you are pretty much buying two of everything , join up with the Facebook groups (there’s two for advice main imba Facebook page and imba for dads Facebook page, there’s a Facebook page for buying and selling or giving away Facebook page too its a private page but the people on the imba pages will guide you to that.

Username exists

We used lidl lupilu nappies for during the daytime as you will be making more nappy changes and Pampers for at night time.

We bought milk powder dispensers from aldi but you can get them from amazon.


They are handy for travel or prepped in advance of bedtime as nothing worse than when your eyeballs are hanging out of your head at stupid o'clock and you are wondering, did you put in 2 or 3 scoops??

Gripe water is great for the wind if you can get it. We got it off a friend who lives up the north.

This was a great video to play for our twins when they were in their cot, it worked on putting me to sleep

https://youtu.be/uTA01Okzx2U

fits

I never used the imba card for anything so I gave it up. The twin groups on Facebook can be great though. Especially the breastfeeding twins groups. I found the support invaluable. If you’re talking about convenience for feeding after the early weeks the boob is by far the most convenient and much easier to get out and about. during the night also easier especially if co sleeping.

Irishphotodesk

fits wrote: »

I never used the imba card for anything so I gave it up. The twin groups on Facebook can be great though. Especially the breastfeeding twins groups. I found the support invaluable. If you’re talking about convenience for feeding after the early weeks the boob is by far the most convenient and much easier to get out and about. during the night also easier especially if co sleeping.

The Clarks discount alone covers the cost of the IMBA membership, shoes are a costly item as kids start walking.

I think it's only €30 a year for IMBA.... The advice and help from the Facebook groups are fantastic.

Tails142

We had twin girls last August to go along with our two boys who were 3 and 1 when they arrived, we had our hands full to say the least but the twins have been the easy part, they sleep grand and don't really wake each other up which is surprising. The lads on the other hand...

We avoided dressing them the same when they were babies as it is just too hard to keep track when you're sleep deprived. You might just be able to remember whether you fed the one dressed in blue or the one in green.

Get a twin baby log book to keep track of whether you have fed them, changed them, medicine etc. It's the only way.

We had got the tommee tippee instant prep when the second came along. It is handy but to be honest we were just using it to make batches of bottles anyway, it's good for that too because you don't have to boil the kettle and come back in 30 minutes, it doesn't matter how many alarms and reminders you set, you will forget to come back and end up having to boil the kettle again and wait so with the instant prep you just made then when you had the time free.

Toward the end there as the bottles got bigger I was just making them with boiled water from the kettle a few minutes off the boil, into the sink with a couple of ice packs and water to cool them rapidly and then straight into the fridge. We were making batches of 6-8 bottles to get through the night and into the next day.

For me batches are the only way because you don't want to be messing around measuring scoops and fiddling with teats etc and even with the tommee tippee it still takes a minute or two, you can't be doing that when there's a baby screaming for a bottle at 4 in the morning. Just grab one from the fridge, 30 seconds in the microwave, boom. Premade formula an option too but it is more expensive, especially with twins, we were going through a box of formula every few days at one stage when they got up to 8oz bottles. I think we did get in the little premade bottles and use those for the first couple of weeks when they arrived but we moved onto a comfort formula then to help with their wind which doesn't come premade.

The tommee tippee is grand, especially when the bottles are only a couple of ounces as it is really fast to throw a few scoops in and go but as they get bigger it takes longer to measure the formula and for it to pour the water. I wouldnt classify it as a must have though, not with twins anyway.

Anyone who is on about residue in the machine has either never seen one in action or is doing something very wrong. It is just filtered water going through the machine and the formula is in the bottle so I don't know where the residue would be coming from, you run boiling water through it then every so often too.

We got a city select jogger second hand which we have found pretty good. We had been using bugaboo cameleon with the lads with a step/seat clipped onto the back but the twin version of the bugaboo is side by side which we figured was impractical. We actually realised the side by side style wouldn't go through our internal doors too.

We got the joie aire twin as a cheap side by side which we use occasionally but they end up pulling at each other, we've mostly just used it to sit them in when in the garden, and I have to fold it and carry it out to get it there.

If we're going out for a walk we would always use the babyjogger city select.

I wouldn't say your life is ruined, whoever said that to you needs a smack, but it definitely won't be the same! Say goodbye to lying in for a while and for the next year you're going to be washing and making bottles every evening for your sins. Ours are about 16 months now and things are settling down, some nights they both sleep straight through now and we're finished cleaning and sorting the kitchen by 9.30 most nights, it was 11 or 12am for awhile there before we crawled into bed to do it all over again the next day.

The next big milestone is ditching the nappies, one down, three to go.

lazygal

The machines can't guarantee to kill the bacteria in formula at the right temp. That's why the FSAI don't recommend them. Formula isn't sterile, it has have water above a certain temp to make up bottles safely.
Food safety for babies isn't the place to be taking shortcuts.

andreac

Ive checked the temp of the water when using my prep machine and it's always been 70 degrees which is what is meant to be when the kettle cools down to after 30 mins.

Tails142

We got a couple of these seats for them to sleep in downstairs during the day, pretty handy, only stopped using them around 12 months as they got too heavy for them.

https://www.smythstoys.com/ie/en-ie/gift-finder-0-6-months/tiny-love-3-in-1-rocker-napper/p/184232

We also had a cot downstairs for daytime sleeps as well as in our bedroom. You will need two cots eventually anyway. We had the two of them in the same cot initially sideways with their feet to the side, one at the top of the cot and one at the bottom for the first couple of weeks, then one preferred to nap in the chair and the other was in the cot, then in the evening we would transfer them up to the cot upstairs when we were going to bed. Sometimes also I would sleep on the couch downstairs with the baby rather than move her upstairs and risk disturbing their sleep. I remember watching a lot of some TV show about a company making fish tanks on Discovery when the twins were born and these people living out remote in Alaska. With the first lad it was pacing the room all night watching The Great War YouTube channel trying to get him to sleep as he was very bad with colic. Anything to maintain some sanity.

As they got bigger we picked up a couple of the fisher price seats second hand for like 20 quid which www in perfect condition.

It's not easy with your first to go second hand and my wife was very particular everything had to be new, but standards dropped for 2, 3 and 4. A lot of the stuff second hand has barely been used, baby didn't like it or whatever, buggy didnt work out, you will see it for yourself. They destroy anything new anyway in short order anyway so things don't stay shiny for long if they're being put to use.

I've 18 month old twin boys, was a first time dad as well.

Best thing we ever ever ever did was use Sleepystars to help us get them to sleep well. Got them in when the boys were just under 6 months old and were sleeping terribly, and ever since they've been sleeping all night every night.

You'll end up buying way too much stuff but I would really wait until you have a need for something before buying it, don't buy too much in advance because you don't know what you will or won't use. And don't bother with expensive nappies, the Lidl/Aldi/Tesco ones are absolutely fine.

Tails142

lazygal wrote: »

The machines can't guarantee to kill the bacteria in formula at the right temp. That's why the FSAI don't recommend them. Formula isn't sterile, it has have water above a certain temp to make up bottles safely.
Food safety for babies isn't the place to be taking shortcuts.

It shoots out an ounce of scalding water in the bottle which you put the lid on and shake around killing the bacteria in the formula, I've burnt my hand on it enough to know how hot it is. Then it adds cool water which has passed through an antibacterial filter to bring the temp down so the baby can drink it straight away.

I don't know what else to say, in this country and our legal system if there was a problem tommee tippee would be out of business for the claims.

10k awarded the other day to a woman who gave her child sour milk bought in Tesco https://amp.rte.ie/amp/1171802/ They'll need to sell a good few pints of Avonmore to cover that loss.

lazygal

Tails142 wrote: »

It shoots out an ounce of scalding water in the bottle which you put the lid on and shake around killing the bacteria in the formula, I've burnt my hand on it enough to know how hot it is. Then it adds cool water which has passed through an antibacterial filter to bring the temp down so the baby can drink it straight away.

I don't know what else to say, in this country and our legal system if there was a problem tommee tippee would be out of business for the claims.

10k awarded the other day to a woman who gave her child sour milk bought in Tesco https://amp.rte.ie/amp/1171802/ They'll need to sell a good few pints of Avonmore to cover that loss.

Babies regularly have accidents in baby walkers yet they're still on sale.
Just because something is marketed for babies doesn't mean you should use it.
If you don't want to make up bottles safely for your babies that's your call.

fits

making and washing that many bottles sounds so hard. I honestly don’t get why people do it

lazygal

fits wrote: »

making and washing that many bottles sounds so hard. I honestly don’t get why people do it

Same, check my username. Breastfeeding was so much less work.
We gave our oldest a few bottles because of ****e advice from the PHN. It was a pain in the hole. For the next two I just used my boobs and had more sleep.

groovyg

There’s a great page on Facebook Irish Multiple Births Association, made up of multiple parents who can give you lots of advice. I think there is a dads page as well but there are a few dads on that page as well.
If she decides to breastfeed there is also a Breastfeeding twins in Ireland
I found the twin z pillow invaluable during the early months managed to get good use out of it for the first six months
You might be lucky and pick up one on either of those pages. There’s also Twins and More Selling page for buying stuff second hand.
With regards to buggies go around to the shops and try them out, see how they are at folding up, fitting in the boot of your car etc, how light are they. You will get a lot of recommendations but my advise is to visit the shops that have the double buggies and systems you are interested in buying. You might also be lucky to get a good one second hand.

andreac

fits wrote: »

making and washing that many bottles sounds so hard. I honestly don’t get why people do it

Because not everyone can breastfeed, even if they wanted to. Very unfair to say that. I had wanted to breastfeed but it didn't work out for me, so i pumped for 3 months.

irishgrover

1st off, congratulation!
2nd, this is a copy and paste from a few years ago. forgive my laziness
My youngest 2 are now 12 years old so info might be a little dated.

......things I would recommend for the 1st few weeks, genuinely

1. If someone (friend or family) offers to do something for you, then let them do something for you...make a meal and freeze it, cut the grass, do the ironing, take the other kids (if you have any etc), absolutely accept all offers of help at all times
2. put a pillow and a blanket/duvet in every room. If you have the opportunity to put your head down for 5 or 10 minutes to sleep, it will genuinely make a difference
3. Don't freak out if you don't want to or can't breast feed. It does not come easy to all and it's almost impossible for others, especially with twins
3. Industrialise the bottle making process - do 18 in one go and put them in the fridge.
4. By a second kettle (for bottles)
5. By 2 sterilisers
6. Dress them exclusively in baby grows for as long as you can - it's much easier.....
7. Buy many many many bibs
8. Buy many many many many terrycloth nappy thingys and use them for burping and feeding and puking and everything else
9. Try to replicate things upstairs and downstairs where possible, eg baby changing places, nappy wrappers, Moses baskets
10. Prepare for exceptional tiredness, genuinely exceptional tiredness.
11. If you have a partner, your relationship may be strained, you will both be tired and emotional, respect that and make considerations for it.
12. Be warned that you will question yourself, you will fear that you cannot cope, you will think you are inadequate, you may think you are not a good parent. All (well most) self-doubt will pass
13. All tiredness will pass
14. No matter how tired you are there will be many moments in every day where you will look down and think "holy crap, I made those, I ****ing rock" - you do
15. After 4 to 6 weeks it normally gets easier.
16. There is something totally unforgettable and unique about holding two babies at once.
17. They may be very different birth weights.
18. They will have very different personalities.
19. They will develop at different rates. This is normal. You should not compare their development to each other, they are different people who will develop in different ways
20. Try to notice the way they interact with each other, even at a very young age. It's nuts, they know and love each other and will be very tactile and seek each other out and gain comfort from each other.
21. Every child is special, but there is something very uniquely special about twins and multiples.
22. When they get a bit older (a few months old) you will notice when they are angry or fighting with each other - it's gas
23. When they are vocalising, but before they can actually talk, they will sit together and chat to each other for ages.
24. Have a printed table and populate it with basic information for each child, simple stuff such as
sleep time
bottle time
amount taken
nappy change time and if nappy is wet / dirty
*The reason for this is that you will, due to exhaustion confuse the babies at some point, try to feed the same one twice, then get concerned that they are not eating, then get worried that the one you have just fed is screaming with hunger etc.
25. If you have a partner, try to come up with some sort of split shift rota. I used to do 5am to 8am, then go to work, then come home, do 6pm to 10pm and go to bed. when I was doing a shift my wife tried to sleep and vice versa.
26. You made them, you love them more than anyone else, you will know what is best for them. Take advice from everyone you want, buy act with confidence, because you are the best parent that they will ever be lucky enough to have.
27. Enjoy them, for they will grow up, and before you know it you will miss it.
28. Keep time for yourself and for your partner (if there is one). If you care about only your children then everyone will suffer in the long run.

fits

andreac wrote: »

Because not everyone can breastfeed, even if they wanted to. Very unfair to say that. I had wanted to breastfeed but it didn't work out for me, so i pumped for 3 months.

Formula is a wonderful solution for those who can’t breastfeed. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.

But it’s often sold as easier option and it definitely isn’t imo. I’ve heard it likened to learning to ride tricycle vs bicycle. Bicycle harder at start but you’ll go way further with ease once mastered

irishgrover

irishgrover wrote: »

1st of congratulation!
2nd, this is a copy and paste from a few years ago. forgive my laziness
My youngest 2 are now 12 years old so info might be a little dated.

......things I would recommend for the 1st few weeks, genuinely


*Snip*

This is a fantastic post, agree with every single point in it. On the tiredness, you will never know tiredness like it. It gets into your bones and stays there. So this might sound obvious but put basically everything else in your life on hold if you can. Let people come to you.

Gatica

Great advice, irishgrover! ❤️