Carrying twins around the house

Does anybody have a good way to transfer twins from place to place around the house? My twins are 4 weeks today, and everytime I have to transfer them from one room to another, I am juggling them both in my arms. Is there a good way to carry one or both at the same time? I know about the slings and such, but I'm looking for a quick way to get them from room to room.

 

The best thing for me when I don't have help is to carry one in my arms and one in a car seat. That has been fast, so I always take a car seat with me when I'm getting ready to change them before feeding. Then we travel into the living room to BF. It's amazing how you don't realize how complicated tasks are that used to seem so simple with one child!

 

:welcome: I just carried them both in my arms until they got to heavy to carry. I still carry them both on occasion, but they are HEAVY.

 

I always carried them separately. I just never felt comfortable carrying them both at once, and it was faster to make two trips than to deal with something like a car seat. We have a small house, though, and no stairs.

 

I have safe stations around the house for putting one in while I transport the other. I have a bad arm so it's painful for me to carry them both, and has always been that way. Like the pp, I just feel more comfortable transporting them one at a time. My dh always helps me to put them in the family room in the morning, and into their bedroom in the evening. I keep a stroller in the house for when we are going out, I put them in the stroller one at a time (the stroller is also one of my "safe stations").

 

We use a tupperware as a makeshift bassinet and move it from room to room as needed (especially during night feedings)! When we got home from the hospital we really wanted to mimic the clear bassinet the babies were kept in because they seemed so happy to be snuggled together. So we looked around the house for anything the same shape and found one of those plastic under-the-bed storage containers. We line the bottom with some nice blankets and roll receiving blankets around the edges so it's cozy. When they grow out of this size - which is going to happen any day now - we're going to upgrade to a larger one. Target has an infinite amount of shapes and sizes.

 

Once they got good head control I started carrying them around like footballs. I still do. I have a twin carrier, but it's hard to use, and we have two single carriers for DH and I. Also I found this the other day, how to make a sling out of a sarong, and the example says to try a sheet. I tried it and it worked great! So that could free up at least one arm for you.

http://www.mothersnature.com/babies/info/wearingJV.html

(It's about half way down the page)

PS- I love the tupperware idea! I'll have to try that!

 

once they were able to sit well in an umbrella stroller, i used that all of the time. Still do!! i put one in the stroller & carry the other all around the house!

 

QUOTE(Minette @ Apr 24 2009, 11:46 AM) [snapback]1287081[/snapback]
I always carried them separately. I just never felt comfortable carrying them both at once, and it was faster to make two trips than to deal with something like a car seat. We have a small house, though, and no stairs.


Same for me. I carry them both now that they can hold on to me, but when they were little I always carried them separately.

 

As tiny babies I found the best way to do it was lie them down on their backs side by side (on the bed, crib or couch), bend over them, slide one arm under each of them (so your elbow is under their bottoms and your hand is supporting their neck/upper back) and press them against your chest.

Now that they're bigger I sit one in the crook of each arm so they're facing forward. That's the easiest way.

 

QUOTE(artemis @ Apr 24 2009, 03:09 PM) [snapback]1287322[/snapback]
As tiny babies I found the best way to do it was lie them down on their backs side by side (on the bed, crib or couch), bend over them, slide one arm under each of them (so your elbow is under their bottoms and your hand is supporting their neck/upper back) and press them against your chest.


I used to do that, too - I'm glad you explained it so well! I would also use a sling or bjorn for one sometimes, but mainly I did what Lizzybo said - I set up safe stations all over the house so I could easily move them one at a time. I didn't start lugging them both around together until maybe around 5 months or so when they decided that they didn't like waiting! Now I have to put one on each hip to bring them to and from their room for naps! In the early days when they weren't so observant, it was much easier to just make two trips!

 

QUOTE(artemis @ Apr 24 2009, 02:09 PM) [snapback]1287322[/snapback]
As tiny babies I found the best way to do it was lie them down on their backs side by side (on the bed, crib or couch), bend over them, slide one arm under each of them (so your elbow is under their bottoms and your hand is supporting their neck/upper back) and press them against your chest.

Now that they're bigger I sit one in the crook of each arm so they're facing forward. That's the easiest way.


This is exactly what I do and it has worked great. My g/g twins are almost 9 pounds now and I still use this method but probably not for long. I do also just carry one at a time. I like the idea of the carseat for one and carry the other though if necessary. I also have been thinking about this issue if there was ever a fire in the house and maybe for safety sake, it would be good practice to keep car seats in the nursery so you can get them out fast, especially because we also have a toddler and all of our bedrooms are on the second floor.

I would love to hear of other safety issues that people have addressed here.

 

I have a bouncy seat and a travel swing that sits in the living room but the bouncy seat travels from room to room. I make two trips. I don't have a second level to my house so going from room to room isn't hard and the boys are pretty patient waiting for their turn for me to get them. I will carry both but not as much as I did when they were smaller. I do have a sling and that helps when moving both at the same time.