How to prepare

I was wondering what I will need when the babies are born for the first few months? What are my main things ill need to have? I also please need tips that will make things a little easier. Breast feeding the babies will be my first choice. I'm 17 weeks pregnant now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Lots of little sleepers, they are the easiest to change, and the most comfy for baby to lounge around in. Burp cloths or receiving blankets to use as burp clothes. Cloth diapers work great for this. The obvious things like lots of diapers, wipes, butt cream, nose syringe for stuffy noses, saline solution for stuffy noses. And a place to sleep. Those are the basics.

I loved having two bouncer's. My twins lived in those if they weren't being held or fed. It kept them off the floor where it's cooler, and off the floor so my older kids didn't step on them by accident. We had 1 swing that they both hated so I sold it fairly quickly.

My #1 suggestion for making things easier, is to keep them on the same schedule. When one wakes up to eat, wake the other one right after to eat. It made my life so much easier. I tried letting them do their own thing 1 day, they got completely off schedule and I was up every hour all.night.long. We went back to same schedule the next day and life was good again!

I also buy paper plates, plastic cups and silverware to use for the first few weeks. It means less worrying about doing dishes. Sleep when the babies sleep if you can. Do lots of freezer meals, or take out. Have bottles of water so you can just grab a bottle when it's time to nurse, as you nurse, drain the bottle of water. Staying hydrated and eating are very important to producing enough milk. Get a good nursing pillow. I preffered My Brest Friend, but lots of twin mama's loved the Double Blessings pillow. Have lots of good healthy handy snacks to nibble on while nursing too.

That's all I can think of right now, I may think of more later! :lol:

 

When people ask what you need or what they can do, diapers and dinners are key.

 

Yes!!

 

Thought I'd elaborate a little more now that I don't have a toddler trying to type over top of me.

Diapers of ALL sizes, particularly if you have a little extra storage space, are good. Between various family members (mostly my mother), I've only had to buy a couple packs of diapers for the twins so far. Get people to bring you 1s, 2s, even 3s if they ask what you need because they won't go bad and it certainly helps. If you are using cloth diapers, I'm sure there's supplies along those lines that you can ask for instead.

Dinners are great for before and after they are born. I was EXHAUSTED the last few weeks before they were born and just did not want to cook. Afterwards, it's kinda hard to cook.

A couple of other things: a couple of blankets to lay them on the floor for tummy time. You can get the crazy "gyms" that they sell but a good, old fashioned quilt will do the trick too. I also found some free "schedules" that I could print that I allowed me to write down who ate what when & how much came back out. I didn't fill it out religiously but it was a good guide. I also made bracelets so I could keep track of who ate on which side after I stopped using the written schedules.

 

Try to get a helper to stay with you for the first few weeks or months. This could be a family member or friend. We were able to arrange someone to be with us for almost 8 weeks after our girls were born and it was a huge help. They were able to help my wife during the day while I was at work. Additionally, we all took turns with the night shift and feeding the babies. With three adults in the rotation, each of us was able to sleep through the night every couple of days. Don't underestimate the power of sleep!

I wish you all the best in your preparations.

 

As well as all the the awesome advice above, I second getting a helper!!! This was recommended to me by numerous twin parents and my pedi and I ignored the advice so as to save money.

When the babies were three weeks old, my mum came and spent every night at our house from 11-5am so I could skip a feeding and only get up once to pump. Due to her own schedule she could only come for 6 nights. It made a huge difference. I wish I could go back and hire a night nurse for the first month. Breast feeding preemies, recovering from a c-section and taking care of toddler is HARD work! And I had my husband home full time!
Oh and fisher price cradle n swing swings! Couldn't har done it without them!!!

 

Thanks everyone. Alot of great advice. I appreciate it. Still a while to go, but it's nice to be prepared