Baby Gear Question

Hello. I'm new to the boards and I'm 24 weeks pregnant with twin girls. I was wondering about the playards. Graco makes one for twins with 2 bassinets: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2400926

I thought in the beginning we could put that in our room instead of buying 2 bassinets and it would be handy for traveling to parents as they would have a place to sleep too.

I just wanted to know your thoughts on this. Should we get 2 bassinets, 2 playards, or this one playard that has the 2 bassinets that we could also take when we need to go somewhere for the whole day? I figure you guys were the best to ask about this. Any advice on this is appreciated.

Thank you!

 

Hi,

This is just one opinion... but we never bought bassinets and don't seem to have missed anything. We have one pack n play and the girls would nap in it side by side when they were little. At night they slept in one crib together.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!

 

We just had a regular play yard and they both fit in it nicely. They liked to be close and this way they could feel one another. We had one of these in our bedroom and one in the living room.

We had 2 because we figured when they got bigger, we would need 2 for travelling and such. Now that they are getting bigger and sleep alone in their cribs, we need 2 when we travel. It worked well at Thanksgiving.

I know a couple people who have the twins and regretted not getting a regular one and having them snuggle!

 

From what I've read, the twin PNP is not worth it. The twins outgrow the separate bassinets so fast, and when they're newborns, they can just sleep together in a regular bassinet.

We rarely went anywhere when the babies were little, but they slept in the bouncy seats most of the time anyway (at home or away), and those are easier to bring along than the PNP.

 

This double PNP just came out after I had my boys but I never used the bassinet part on our single PNP anyway. What I did when they were newborns is set their infant carriers on the part where the bassinet would go and both fit nicely which is the same as the double and it was more snug and comfy..they also slept in their carriers for the first month they would not sleep anywhere else. For naps they slept in the PNP together during the day or in their swings and later their bouncers which they loved. This past summer we went on vaca and they slept in their own PNP since they were too big to fit into one. GL!

I also never had bassinets in our room, we had a portable crib next to my side with the intent they sleep together in it but they has other plans...1st/2nd month they would only sleep in their infant carriers for a 2-3hr stretch, then month 2-3 it was the bouncers. When they turned 3m I put them in their own cribs in their room.

 

I'd get two pack and plays, the non-twin variety. Both of mine slept in the bassinet portion of a regular P&P in our room, until they both reached 15 pounds together, then they slept in the lower portion for a short while. At 3 months we moved them to their cribs in their own room.

We still use both P&P's anytime we travel. They would never fit together in just one P&P.

 

QUOTE(Babies4Susan @ Dec 6 2007, 05:20 PM) [snapback]523289[/snapback]
I'd get two pack and plays, the non-twin variety. Both of mine slept in the bassinet portion of a regular P&P in our room, until they both reached 15 pounds together, then they slept in the lower portion for a short while. At 3 months we moved them to their cribs in their own room.

We still use both P&P's anytime we travel. They would never fit together in just one P&P.


Ditto!

 

I agree with pp. We got 2 pnp's and put one in our bedroom and one in the living room. They slept together in the bassinet portion until 3 months when we moved them into their cribs. We also used the changing attachment in the living room so we didn't have to bring them to a new room to change diapers during the day. That was really useful!

The ones we got are really heavy though. I liked them when we first got them but they are huge PITA for travel. We recently visited DH's family half way across the country and instead of bringing ours his family was able to borrow ones for us to use. They were great! Lightweight, but study, didn't have wheels like ours at home but we didn't need them, and had the changing table attachment. They were graco's (we have eddie bauer's at home). If you do a lot of traveling or are planning to, get the ones that are lighter weight. GL with the rest of your pregnancy!

 

Thanks for your responses - it really helps to know. I think I'll just register for 1 regular PNP for now. I really was hoping not to get bassinets in addition to everything else so I'm not. In the beginning they can sleep in that together. I can probably get another PNP too if I need it - my friend will let me borrow hers since she's not planning on having kids for another 3 years at least.

So, at about 3 months do you suggest separating the babies into their own cribs?

 

Bridgett,

We didn't separate our girls until about five months. That's when they started getting into each other's space during the night. Before that there was enough room for both in one crib (which meant we only needed one mobile...).

 

QUOTE(Bridgett @ Dec 6 2007, 02:11 PM) [snapback]523473[/snapback]
Thanks for your responses - it really helps to know. I think I'll just register for 1 regular PNP for now. I really was hoping not to get bassinets in addition to everything else so I'm not. In the beginning they can sleep in that together. I can probably get another PNP too if I need it - my friend will let me borrow hers since she's not planning on having kids for another 3 years at least.

So, at about 3 months do you suggest separating the babies into their own cribs?



Mine were seperated at 3 months because my big one was rolling on top of my little one.

 

QUOTE(Bridgett @ Dec 6 2007, 07:11 PM) [snapback]523473[/snapback]
So, at about 3 months do you suggest separating the babies into their own cribs?


We put them in a crib together at 3 months, then separated them to their own cribs at 4.5 months (when they started moving a lot in their sleep).

 

Bridgett,
You will just know when it is time to separate your babies at night. Ours slept in a cradle together for 4 days, then slept in the same crib together until they were a little over 5 months old (just a couple weeks ago). They were getting too long to sleep the short way in the crib, and they were kicking each other in the head and rolling on each other during the night. Now they each sleep in their own crib, but we have the cribs close so they can still see and hear each other easily.

We got two really nice heirloom cradles from family and I kinda wish we wouldn't have because they take up so much room and we didn't really use them and now I don't know what to do with them. One we are actually using as a downstairs changing table.

We have a very cheap play yard that we still have never used. We only ever go visit the Grandmas and they each have a crib set up so they have just shared so far. Next time we go we are bringing the play yard and one of them will sleep in there and the other in grandma's crib.

Congrats on becoming a twin mom! Just my opinion, but I think we are the best moms out there!

 

Congrats on your pregnancy! I would also consider craigslist if there is one where you live (I'm a tired twin mama so i didn't look!) - we didn't register for anything for complicated reasons and ended up outfitting ourselves. I had borrowed swings and have gotten a lot of other stuff from craigslist, including two cribs from another twin mom. It's great because you will rotate through gear faster than you can believe, and a lot of things are completely washable (bouncy seat covers, etc..)

I also got both of our playmats (gyminis) from craigslist for about a third of the retail price and trust me, I would have paid top dollar for those - we called them 'baby crack' because the girls loved them so much - and they bought me a few minutes' peace! (until they could roll, that is...)

Oh, and - i went through a bunch of diaper bags til i finally sucked it up and spent the $80 on the Skip Hop Duo Double - i would highly recommend it! Other people also like some of the larger backpacks (which would have been great when i travelled across country with the girls - TWICE in three months!). But - skip the fancy ones' i got a Fleurville Mothership and it just wasn't big enough for all the gera i needed - but my girls had reflux and were spitters so i carried about ten bibs and three changes everywhere (no exaggeration). Of course, i got that on craigslist as well, so......
Good luck!

 

Mine slept better seperated from the start but you will start to notice when they are disrupting each other's sleep, believe me, you will notice and then you can seperate. I wouldn't wait too long past 5 months then they may never go into their own cribs... GL!

 

THank you all so much! I love this site already! Who better to ask these questions than other twin moms!

I'm going to check out Craigslist and see what I can find!

 

QUOTE(Bridgett @ Dec 7 2007, 09:53 AM) [snapback]524568[/snapback]
THank you all so much! I love this site already! Who better to ask these questions than other twin moms!

I'm going to check out Craigslist and see what I can find!


I totally agree with Jordari about craigslist. I got our cribs (from a trip mommy!!!) and our changing table/dresser (all beautiful maple from one of the most expensive baby stores in the area) from craigslist. The cost of those three pieces of high quality furniture is what we would have spent for ONE crib at BRU!

I also bought our twin stroller off of craigslist for almost half off of a nearly new Jane Powertwin. Its been fantastic! Babies use things for such a short period of time its not worth it to buy everything new. GL!!!

 

Someone bought us the twin PNP and I've enjoyed it. I still have it downstairs to use for naps. I've also put their bouncy seats in it at times to save some bending over.