Getting ready to be first time parents

Hi! I am 32 wks 5 days with boy/girl twins. My DH and I are looking forward to meeting our babies shortly. We feel fairly prepared - as prepared as you can be and aren't really expecting too much out of ourselves or our babies. We figure we will all just do our best and take it as it comes. I realize that no one really knows what they are doing the first time around and I do have a bit of confidence in our ability to make decent decisions and use our common sense. There are; however, many things that escape me and I am hoping someone could help us out.

We were give both Playtex and Dr. Browns bottles by some friends (hand me downs). I am thinking I may start with the Playtex as they have the liner things which look easier than washing the entire bottle. I am going to try breastfeeding but am fully aware that this may not work out. Regardless, I am going to pump so DH can feed and will need the bottles either way. Can I put the Playtex bottles and nipples in the dishwasher and then also boil the nipples on the stove for the initial use. After that, can I simply put the nipples in the dishwasher? Is that really sanitary enought? Also, what do you do with the Dr. Brown's bottles? Can I use the same approach with those or is it best to use hot soapy water or a sanitizer? We did not get a sanitzer thing as everyone said they are not necessary.

Also, do I need to buy to bottle warmers or can I use the hot cup of water trick?

I am a little nervous about cord and circumsicion care but am assuming/hoping we are fully taught in the hospital. We did 6 weeks of birthing class which, unfortunately, was not very helpful as the "teacher" didn't really have her heart in it.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have spent the last 8 months reading/learning/eating up all the information I could about being pregnant and now I am afraid I have not been learning enough about what to do when they arrive. Not panicked, just looking for a little education!

Thanks,
Amy

 

Congratulations!!!
We used the playtex bottles with the liners for a long time - they were so fast and easy! We had a bottle warmer but never really used it - our girls did not like warm formula (little weirdos!). We don't have a dishwasher so I don't know about the rest

 

Congrats on your twins!
You will be just fine. I did the same thing, read so much on pregnancy and when they showed up, I realized I didn't read anything on the first year! BUT they are happy 10 month olds, so I must have done something right, right??
I didn't use the bottles that you asked about, so I don't have any info on them. My son isn't circumsized either, I am a big help so far, aren't I? As for the belly button...they did have those ... what I did was put alcohol on them two times a day and didn't give them baths. I also didn't put the diaper on top of it. They are pretty easy to care for, and they came off after two weeks. Boy was I happy, they intimidated me! I don't know why, just the way they looked. :huh:
As for warming the bottles. We had a bad experience with the bottle warmer we had, it boiled their milk! I followed the instructions and all, but after that I couldn't personally trust it anymore. So we started heating the milk in warm water. It took longer but felt safer.
You will do great. Things just come to you when you have those two precious babies in your arms...it's amazing. And when you doubt yourself or need any "help", the ladies on this board are AMAZING!
Good luck!!!

 

Congratulations!!!! :a_smil09: And you said it exactly right, no one knows what the heck they are doing at first, you basically just wing it for the first few months. And there are a lot of things that you really can't prepare yourself for, like the helpless feeling you get when both babies are wailing and you can't figure out why, or the sleep deprivation - you may think you can handle it or know what it's like but ... you just take it one day at a time and you get through it. And when you have a warm swaddled baby laying on your chest, nuzzled under your neck as you rock him to sleep, it makes everything worth it.

Yay for trying to breastfeed! I wasn't sure what I would do, I knew I wanted to at least attempt breastfeeding but I didn't even buy a pump because I didn't want to invest the money if it wasn't going to work out. You really really have to be bound and determined to breastfeed twins to make it work - every day I told my honey I wanted to quit, but I hung in there and I'm still nursing at 4 months. But I would never ever think badly about a twin mom who decides to not nurse because it was one of the hardest things to accomplish. So kudos to you! Make sure you cruise the BF forum, there are tons of tips and advice in there. As for the bottles, I used the Playtex Ventairs and hated them , had a Dr Brown and didn't get what the big deal was ... honestly, after trying out about 5 different kinds of bottles (EvenFlo as well as others), my boys love the cheap Gerber plastic ones the best. Each baby is different and you won't really find out what works for them until after they are born. I only sanitized them by boiling them in water once I bought them, then it was handwashing in the sink or the dishwasher. I also have the Medela Steamclean bags (you can get them at Target) and those are great - you just toss in nipples, pacifiers, whatever, with some water and microwave for 90 seconds and it sanitizes the stuff. We never used a bottle warmer, I would just microwave water for a minute or two and then stick the bottle in the mug to warm the milk up - my honey just ran it under hot tap water.

I was wierded out about circ care too but they tell you what to do - it's real easy. I just felt so bad for the poor little guys!!!! But they didn't even cry during the procedure and the aftercare was fine, you just make sure to put vaseline on it, that's about it, and watch for signs of infection, which they tell you. The umbilical care wierded me out too but it was fine, you just watch for the stump to fall off, basically!

 

Congrats! You are doing great, and it sounds like you are well prepared!

I would use the Playtex, much easier to clean. I have not put the nipples in the dishwasher, I think it breaks them down quicker, and stretches the hole out...we use hot soapy water to clean them. As far as heating the bottles, I used the hot cup of water, never had a bottle warmer. The Playtex bottles heat quicker also, because of the liner.

Don't worry about cord and circ care, they will give you a lesson at the hospital. Q-tips and alcohol work great for the cords. And you will need vaseline for the circ.

Good luck! You are getting close!

 

Congratulations! Sounds like you're fairly well prepared.

I think it's good to have 2 kinds of bottles on hand, since sometimes babies will refuse a certain kind but like another instead. We didn't have the Playtex with liners, we had another kind of Playetx & they didnt work for us & leaked pretty bad. We used the Dr Brown's for a long time. The dishwasher should be fine to clean them....I just always choose the extra hot settings on mine. I don't know if you have a bottle basket for the dishwasher, but you'll probably want one if you use the Dr Browns, with all the extra parts. I lost a lot of parts from not putting them in the basket & they got blown down to the bottom during the wash & melted. :fool:

We used a bottle warmer at first, for a long time. It's easy to get the water too hot if you're just microwaving it, and it's just pure torture trying to cool down a hot bottle while the baby screams. I do wish I had 2 of them, though, to start off with instead of heating bottles one at a time.

Cord care is pretty simple, but I was scared to death of it! They went over it in the hospital with us really well & we got lots of practice before we left. They even gave us some little swabs to take home, which were awesome!

Circumcision care was even more daunting to me, but they told me exactly what to do. I remember getting home after it was done & changing Johnny's diaper, and it was bleeding.....I freaked!! The dr was awesome, told me I could bring him back if I wanted them to look at it.....we got some Vaseline on it, and he was fine. No problems at all after that. BTW, I couldn't even be in the room when they did it and I was crying in the waiting room the whole time....my mom was in there with him since dh couldn't do it, either & she said he never even cried.

 

If the bottles were in the fridge and we were giving them 2-4 oz, we would nuke them for about 10 secs and shake them to eliminate any hots spots. Good luck! Congrats on your pregnancy!

 

Congrats! My twins were my first and I understand exactly how you feel! My girls were bf for the first 4 months supplemented with formula when needed. Let me just tell you that if you plan on only pumping and then bottle feeding the breast milk, you are in for a long, tiring haul. My girls never took to the breast so I was pumping every 2 hours, trying to care for twins, change them, get the bottle ready, do tons of laundry that twins create, etc. It was a nightmare and way too stressful. You dont have any time to do anything. By the time you pump, get them changed and fed, and put down for nap, it is time to pump again and then they are usually back up to do it all again. I hope you all the best and I am sure mothers have done it, but just better to be prepared then not.

As far as the bottles, we had the Playtex but never used them. We tried 3 different bottles before we ended with Dr Brown bottles b/c both girls were colicky and the bottles actually got rid of it in less then 24 hours! So I swear by them!

I use the dishwasher for everything, including the nipples. I bought the little baskets that go in the dishwasher and in one I put the nipples and the brown rubber pieces and the other I put the caps and the part that the nipple fits in. That way they dont fly out. It gets hot enough that is does sanitize.

My girls are 13 months old and we are on our 3rd warmer. We use the Advent warmer. In the beginning we could warm it up in hot water b/c it was only about 3 ozs so it didnt take long. Now they get 7-8 ozs and it takes 20 minutes to warm it up just using hot water and when you have 2 screaming, hungry babies, you want it faster then that! So we use the warmer for every bottle, it only takes about 5 minutes. We always check the temp of the bottle before giving it to the girls.

HTH!

 

Oh, I wanted to say with the breastfeeding thing ... I was so paranoid about breastfeeding , that they shouldn't get pacifiers or bottles too soon or they might refuse the breast, shouldn't get formula, and all the stuff you hear ... sometimes you just need to rest and have someone else feed the babies. That's where formula came in. I would then pump some when I got up to relieve any engorgement and keep myself on track so my body didn' t miss too many feedings and my supply and the babies were just fine. Never any nipple confusion, refusal, anything like that. And don't even attempt to worry about pumping to store up a freezer supply or anything like that for at least the first six weeks, at least IMO, it's all you can do to nurse and take care of the babies! If you want DH to help you feed the babies, it's perfectly OK to have him feed them formula if you don't have any pumped breastmilk available. Then when you wake up, if you are engorged at all, pump that and save it. He or others can also mix any BM you have around with formula, that's what my parents would do when they had the kiddos - I didn't have any supply stocked up (or hardly any), so they would stretch the BM with formula. Again, the babies and myself were just fine.

 

Good luck with your new babies - you'll do your best and it will be fine.

To answer some questions:
Good luck with the BFing - we tried very hard but neither would latcch after their NICU stay. We used the NICU bottles in the beginning, warming in a mug of warm water. Then we moved to the Gerber cheapies beacuse they used the same nipple. At about 3 months, we moved to the Avent bottles and the Avent warmer. At around 7 months we warmed in the micro - just enough to take the chill off - not really warm.

I never used the dishwasher for any of the kids bottles or dishes. We just use hot soapy water. I keep a big bowl in the sink to collect their stuff and do it all at once a few times a day.

Ours were in the NICU for cord care so I really didn't notice. With older DD it just fell off one day - we didn't do anything. You might want to make sure the diaper is folded down so as to not annoy the area.

The info you learned in class will come back to you. If not, check in here - these ladies know their stuff. Best of luck for a smooth delivery.

 

I haven't had a chance to read all the other posts, so I may be repeating a lot of stuff, but throwing the bottles in the dishwasher is fine. We use the Dr. Brown ones, and throw all the "guts" of the bottles in a dishwasher basket. They sell them at Target, it even has little slots on the sides for the straw things in the Dr. Brown bottles. As for warming, we use bottled water and just mixed it a room tempertaure. When we premixed bottles or jugs of formula we would just nuke it in the microwave for about 10-15 secs. I know "they" say don't nuke it, but honestly I think that has long as you shake the heck out of it to avoid hotspots, and test the temp it is okay. I think you'll find that many other moms on here do the same. You can't nuke breast milk though, something about breaking down the nutrients or something? Belly button - just fold the diaper down after you change the baby (I recommend the pampers swaddlers, they really are the best for newborns IMO), and you will be having warm weather little ones, so I recommend those newborn t shirts as well. I think mine stayed in those shirts and a diaper the first 1 or 2 weeks. Just keep a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some qtips next to the changing table, and swab the belly button at every changing or so. And as far as little mans circumcision, keep a tube of A&D or petrolium (sp) next to the changing table as well, and put a big dab of it on top - think, frosting th cup cake - each time you change the diaper. You want to make sure that the head of the ***** doesn't get irritated or stuck to the diaper.

ETA: I can't believe that you can't post the appropriate term for the male genitalia on here!!!

I hope all this helps! We are all here for you for all those questions, we've all asked them! Good luck! I wish you a healthy delivery!!

 

I was a first timer too. You'll be fine. You'll laugh at the things you though actually mattered later (like me: "I never even changed a diaper" <== so what!)

Anyway, okay I might get in trouble but...

1) We used the Playtex bottles with the liners. Loved them.

2) We only boiled/sterilized for the first couple weeks. After that I just hand washed things (I heard you shouldn't put the nipples in the dw?) and bought tons of nipples.

3) Re heating, here's where I might really get in trouble...I used the microwave. Since we were using the Playtex bottles, I had separate containers used specifically to heat the milk in the microwave. I just made sure never to overheat it, and transferring it would take care of any "hot spots" -- we never had a problem, and so much FASTER than any other option. Which is very important with two crying hungry babies. Just be very very careful, but if you are I feel the microwave is fine. Listen to me at your own risk!

 

We didn't use bottles (breastfed exclusively) and we didn't circumcize.

BUT, I'll answer the one part of the question I have experience with -- cord care. Really nothing to it. The cord takes care of itself, you just have to watch to be sure it doesn't show signs of infection and dress them so they don't have anything putting pressure on the stump.

There are some good books on Baby's first year. I highly recommend getting one. It made me feel a lot more confident to know when to expect what for development and to have answers to basic questions readily available.

 

I would suggest the What to expect the first year book. It is by the same people as What to expect when you are expecting. It gives detailed instructions on everything like circumsision care, sponge and tub baths, cord care, etc. It also gives a chapter for each month of their first year explaining what they should be doing.

We are doing the Playtex drop ins and I LOVE them. I love not having to wash the bottles all the time. Target makes a generic drop in that work as well as the playtex and are less expensive.

 

Congratulations!!!!! You are going to do a great job. It all seems so scary and overwhelming at first, and then in no time at all you are a pro. We didn't use the bottles you mentioned, so I can't help you there. We were given 2 bottle warmers and they worked for crap. Don't waste the money on them. Honestly, (I'm sure people won't like this) after a month I just started microwaving the formula. When we were feeding breastmilk we would use hot water and a cup. At the hospital they will walk you through all of the baby care. They taught us how to care for the circs and belly buttons. The scariest thing is that in just a few months you will have it down and be giving other people advice. Good luck!!!!!

 

I understand completely about nervous first time parents of multiples....we were in the same boat 8 1/2 months ago. As far as bottles, one uses the Playtex Ventaire and the other uses Dr. Browns....each prefers that type. I have the drop ins but, I have not really used them much because they did not love the nipples ( we went through all types of bottles for gas issues).

I did use a sterilizer and still do for all off their bottles, nipples, etc. I do not put anything of theirs into the dishwasher except their bowls.

I also used bottle warmers when they were only eating about 4 oz of milk at a time and found them to be great.....very quick and convienent. I would have them prepped and ready to go with the water in them for the next bottle warming so all I would have to do is go in pop the bottles in and turn them on......minute or so later two bottles ready at the same time.

Just remember, you learn as you go. Have patience and just enjoy every minute with your wee ones. It is hard to believe that mine are not far away from being a year old.