New Twin Mommy Tips

I just gave birth to my twin girls on March 13th. I also have an 18 month old son. I've been looking for any helpful tips of how to do "easy" things throughout the day. One question I have in particular is how do you carry twins from room to room? Right now, they're so little, that I manage, but as they get bigger, how do I bring them from their nursery to the living room to breastfeed and how do I get them from their bouncy seats to my breasts? All of this seemed so easy with one...I never had to think about it. Any tips for these first few months would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to figure the twins out while I have help with my son. I can't even imagine being alone with all three! :huh:

 

Once they had head control (probably around 2 months), I started carrying them one in each arm to move from room to room. Before that, I used a sling or carrier for one and my free arm for the other, or else I'd just move one at a time - put one in a safe place (crib, bouncy, activity mat, etc.) and carry the other. You just need safe places in every room to serve as holding stations! For nursing, I used a boppy on the couch to hold one while I picked up the other from the bouncy on the floor. I was right there to make sure the boppy stayed put! HTH!

 

QUOTE(Trish13 @ Mar 18 2009, 11:30 AM) [snapback]1233887[/snapback]
I just gave birth to my twin girls on March 13th. I also have an 18 month old son. I've been looking for any helpful tips of how to do "easy" things throughout the day. One question I have in particular is how do you carry twins from room to room? Right now, they're so little, that I manage, but as they get bigger, how do I bring them from their nursery to the living room to breastfeed and how do I get them from their bouncy seats to my breasts? All of this seemed so easy with one...I never had to think about it. Any tips for these first few months would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to figure the twins out while I have help with my son. I can't even imagine being alone with all three! :huh:

Thank you so much! I was thinking about the one sling method, but I wasn't sure if that was a good way to do it. It's amazing how the simplest things are complicated now. Great tip with the boppy and bouncy. The more tips I have prepared, the more "in control" I feel. I know it's just day 5 for me and I have to remember that it gets better day by day!

 

QUOTE(mamabee718 @ Mar 18 2009, 11:37 AM) [snapback]1233897[/snapback]
Once they had head control (probably around 2 months), I started carrying them one in each arm to move from room to room. Before that, I used a sling or carrier for one and my free arm for the other, or else I'd just move one at a time - put one in a safe place (crib, bouncy, activity mat, etc.) and carry the other. You just need safe places in every room to serve as holding stations! For nursing, I used a boppy on the couch to hold one while I picked up the other from the bouncy on the floor. I was right there to make sure the boppy stayed put! HTH!


Exactly! Those boppy pillows are very handy and after the girls were done eating I layed one down in it next to me on the couch and sometimes she'd snooze while the other finished eating.

I also sometimes used their infant car seats to transport them to different rooms in the house or take them both outside to play.

Congratulations on your babies and welcome to FY!

 

I have my twins and then the next child is Milo, 1.5. I dido the bobby pillow, the trick is keeping ALL kids safe from eachother. We have a living room with this funny useless room beside it but open.... I don't know how to explain it. It's like one big room I guess. Anyway, I bought a 9 foot gate from wallmart for 50 bucks and gated off the extra space. That way Milo could go on one side while the babies were on the floor or while I was nursing so he didn't get hurt or into something. Or the babies could go on the other side for belly time while Milo was running around the house. Because of where I have the gate I don't feel Im "pushing " one child out. He can still be apart of the group, but safely. On the other side of the gate I have set up a little play area, books, toys, that type of thing. It is also completly baby proof so I don't have to worry about him over there. He loves it.

 

I also used the one sling tip. It helped SO much, especially since our house has stairs and I feel really uncomfortable having one baby on one floor while I move them between the 2 (I don't know why but it's one of my issues). As they got bigger I carried one in each arm like pp. Now it is getting harder again since they are getting so heavy and they can't hang on all that well by themselves yet.
When I would feed the babies I had each one in a boppy right next to me on the couch and it was easy to pick one up etc. Having 2 boppy pillows saved me! We still use them both EVERY day and my boys are almost 9 months old.
Some other things that really helped me when they were still super tiny was trying to always have everything ready when we needed to go somewhere. When I had a few extra minutes I would make sure that I had 3 fully stocked diaper bags ready to go at a moments notice. I also tried to make meals in advance if I could to freeze them. We also ate a lot of frozen prepared meals and I bought things that could be thrown together easily (frozen chicken breasts that only needed to be heated up, frozen veggies to steam, minute rice, etc.)
During bath time I made sure I had everything ready before the bath and I would let one baby play in the bouncer while I gave the other their bath and then I would switch them.

 

QUOTE(Trish13 @ Mar 18 2009, 11:30 AM) [snapback]1233887[/snapback]
I just gave birth to my twin girls on March 13th. I also have an 18 month old son. I've been looking for any helpful tips of how to do "easy" things throughout the day. One question I have in particular is how do you carry twins from room to room? Right now, they're so little, that I manage, but as they get bigger, how do I bring them from their nursery to the living room to breastfeed and how do I get them from their bouncy seats to my breasts? All of this seemed so easy with one...I never had to think about it. Any tips for these first few months would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to figure the twins out while I have help with my son. I can't even imagine being alone with all three! :huh:


I move one at a time, especially since often when I am moving them, it's from one floor to the other. Occasionally I carry both in a double football hold, but I try not to; it's awkward and just doesn't feel quite as safe. If one of them slipped I wouldn't be able to catch him! So that's why I mostly carry one at a time; I agree you need good "holding stations" (bouncy seat, boppy, etc.) in each room that you spend time in w/the babies.

 

I agree with pp...... two boppies are a must. They can be transported to any room. I didnt use the bouncies at first, but around 2-3 months I did. I always and still do feed both in their boppies. They took naps in them when they were little. I BF both (football carrry) and would pick them up from their boppies. "Having safe dropping stations" in each room is a good idea. I do the same during bath time or switching rooms. Now at 5 months they go one at a time.


GL!!!!

 

If I just needed to move the babies to the next room, I did it one at a time. But I also carried them around together a lot. Their bedroom is upstairs and although we spent most of our days downstairs, we had to go up at night. I had them swaddled next to each other on the couch and would pick them up together. Mind you, together they were the size of 3 month old. As they got older (like 3 months) I would carry them to bed in their carriers (which they slept in). After they could hold their heads up it was easier to hold them together. I was so excited the first time I could put them on my hips to carry them! It's just like every other twin challenge, you get creative!

 

If you don't have a twin nursing pillow I would suggest getting one. When mine were that little, I carried them around one by one. As they got older I would do them two at a time facing out one on each hip.

 

I took mine in a Moses basket up and down the stairs. Later it was used for a nap station while the other one was in the bassinet which was part of the pnp. (pack n play).. when they were very little I could stack them on top of each other and carry them .. wish I had a picture of that now.

heather