Pre-buying supplies

Hi all, my wife and I have been lurking in here for a while.. she's 23 weeks along with our two as of yet gender non-specific twins (hurray for crossed legs during ultrasounds!). Loads of good information here, but I have one question that I haven't been able to find a good answer to..

We're thinking about beginning to pre-buy supplies.. namely diapers and formula. I grabbed a pack of primi diapers last week and my wife looked at me like I was an idiot. They do 6 lbs and under, but I've read to expect the babies to be underweight at birth and that we'll need smaller stuff during the beginning. Any advice if I should go with primi, or straight into newborns? How many will we likely need before they grow out of them? These are our first kids so we're pretty green.

Thanks!

 

We didn't buy any preemie diapers. We had maybe 5 or 6 packs of newborn pampers swaddlers (which I loved!). The hospital sent us home with some as well. We also had wipes and diaper cream, vasoline on hand. We also had a lot of the basic clothing and bedding stuff and baby equipment (a lot given at showers, but also quite a bit left over from my older daughter). I only had a couple cans of formula b/c I was going to try to breast feed. I personally wouldn't stock up too much on formula b/c there are so many kids that need an alternate formula. I know once we weaned off breast milk, we went through quite a few formulas due to a milk protein allergy with my DS.

 

My girls were 5lbs 7oz and 6lbs when they were born and both lost 1/2 lb in the hospital. they always wore newborn diapers. They were big, but not too bad at all! I imagine preemie diapers would have fit, but mostly are unnecessary if your babies are close to full term. I pre-bought diapers and wipes though (I breasfed so no formula). I had 2 big boxes of wipes (about 1100) and 700 diapers. It was really nice to have all of those supplies. I didn't have to buy diapers again until they were 11 weeks old.

Congrats and welcome to TS! You will find a lot of useful information here!

 

My girls were born at 35 weeks 5 days. They weighed 6 lbs 3 oz and 5 lbs 13 oz. We did use premie diapers at first. We didn't buy very many. The hospital sent us home with a good supply of them. They also sent us home with some formula.

Instead of buying diapers and formula now, you could get gift cards to use for those things after the babies are born. That way you can get the sizes you need and the brands or kinds you find that you like best.

Good luck!

 

The gift card idea is great. I wouldnt stock pile too much though. They will grow out of preemie and newborn size diapers quickly and actually size 1's pretty quickly too. I wouldnt buy any formula bc you dont know what they can tolerate yet. Wipes would be okay to stock up on but I would still hang on to receipts for them bc your wife will have strong preferences to certain brands/types of wipes and you dont want a huge stock of wipes you hate. You could apply for some free formula samples and that would get you buy until you could venture out to the store - go to the major formula brands online and apply - they will mail them to you.

 

I might buy one pack of newborn diapers, but probably not much more than that. The hospital will send you home with enough diapers for a few days, and by then you'll know how big your kiddos are (not all twins are underweight!). Also, prebuying formula can be tricky because you might find that the formula you bought doesn't react well with your kids. So you might have to switch and then you're out the money on the stockpile you have.

It's worth buying the basics like cribs, sheets, undershirts, wipes, etc. but formula and diapers are two that I wouldn't buy in bulk until you're sure what you need.

 

My two were 4# 14 oz and 5# 4oz. We didn't get preemie diapers, but we used more size ones and 1-2's than twos. My two were in ones for a very long time, until they were almost 4 months.

Just the opposite side of the story. Well, except for the preemie diapers.

If I had to stock up on stuff, I'd stock up on wipes, bath soap, lotion, clothes, pretty much everything *but* diapers and formula. Diapers, you don't know what is going to fit your kid the best until the kids are here. I was determined to use cheap diapers but because Luvs, Huggies, Target, Walmart didn't fit regardless of the size or caused a rash, we ended up giving a lot of the diapers away.