New here, need advice about what to buy and when!

Hello! I am new to Twinstuff, just found it via google today. I'm almost 18 weeks along with mono/di twin girls. Things seem to be going well so far (knock on wood), but I have a lot of questions about preparing for the babies. Since this is my first pregnancy, and neither my husband nor I has any experience with babies, we're pretty clueless. We started browsing for baby items online and at our local stores, but it's extremely overwhelming and I'm not really sure where to start. I'm hoping you all can help me out with some of this!

1) When should I start buying baby items? I feel like it's a race between not wanting to buy too early in case something goes wrong, but not wanting to wait too long in case the babies come early. Also, I'm concerned that when I'm farther along I won't be physically capable of wandering around baby stores looking at things, especially if I get put on bed rest or something like that. It's already rough just to go shopping for a couple hours at this point since it makes my back hurt like crazy.

2) Do I need to buy two full-sized cribs? The room we plan to use as a nursery is pretty small, and I'm wondering if mini-cribs are a good option, or if it is okay for twins to share a crib at first. I'm also not clear on whether the babies are supposed to sleep in our bedroom for the first few months or not -- our bedroom is quite large but we also have a big old dog (80lbs) who sleeps in the bedroom with us and I'm concerned about him accidentally knocking over a bassinet or something.

3) Car seats: there are a million of them! We have two cars. One is a 2006 Subaru Forester which has pretty much all the latest safety features. The other is a 2001 Civic and doesn't have as many features (like side airbags in the back seat). Can I put the same car seat in both cars? Is it okay to put babies in a 2001 Civic?

4) Strollers -- I am so confused! It looks like most of the front-to-back strollers are either build for kids of different ages, or will only hold the kids up to 30lbs and then you have to buy a new stroller. On the other hand, the side-by-sides look like they won't fit through a doorway. Then there's the whole thing about strollers that you snap car seats into, and I'm stumped. What is the right thing to buy?

 

Hi,

Congratulations for your twins and welcome to Twinstuff, I hope you like it. My twins are my only children also and I remember being overwhelmed in the begining also.

1) You can start baby stuff whenever you want, but you still have some time. Try to drink a lot of water and keep active as long as your OB allows it. I hope you won't need to be on bedrest, it doesn't happen to everyone. I also hope you can make it as long as possible.

2) You don't need to buy 2 full size cribs, your kids can be in the same crib for a while or not, it depends on them also. There are people on this forum whose twins were in the same crib longer than 6 months, or some who went straight to their own crib. It depends on what you want. In the beginning my kids were in my room in a pack and play but we moved them in their bedroom after 3 weeks and for me it was better. I couldn't really sleep with them in our bedroom since I was waking up with every little noise they made in their sleep. Once they moved in their room they each had their own crib. I think they could share a full size crib until they start crawling - you can put them at each end of the crib in the begining and they shouldn't bother each other. In theory they should sleep through each other's cries - but this myth wasn't true for my kids.

3) You are right, there are many car seats, we had 2 Graco Snugride in the beginning with the bases and they were great. You can use one car for the kids and just swap cars whenever your DH has to drive with them, this way you don't need to buy 2 sets of carseats. The infant carseats had a short life for us, my kids were too big for them at 7 months but I made them sqeeze in there until 9 months, when we had to buy convertible car seats, so keep that in mind, if they grow fast you won't be able to use the bucket seats for too long, plus even if you buy some that have bigger weight limits, it will be really hard to cary them or it will be unconfortable for the kids to fold their legs in there as they grow.

4) In the begining I would recommend you to get a Double Snap-N-Go Stroller Frame and after you use that for a while you can figure out if going forward you would like a side by side or front to back stroller. While we had the bucket seats this snap and go was so great, especially for dr visits and shopping trips. After you have the kids you can figure out what kind of stroller you would like.

I would recommend bouncers, we loved ours and we used them every day for the first year. Also, it's nice to have at least a swing, we were OK with just one, but some people used 2.
If you breastfeed them, a twin breastfeeding pillow would be useful also.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!

Monica

 

Welcome!

1) we got the stuff we would need right away and then the rest we got as we went along. Wander now to your hearts content and put it on a registry. That way you know what you want. Later if you aren't up to going out you can send DH or someone to just it pick up. AND you might get some things as gifts.

2) I don't have any experience with the mini-cribs. My LOs slept in our room together in a pack-n-play with bassinet insert then in a crib together (still in our room). At 4 months we separated them (DD was wiggling everywhere, including over top of DS) and moved them into two cribs in their room. Every set of twins are different . You will figure it out as you go.
I don't think my LOs sleep through each other cries but they RARELY (like maybe 3 times in one year) ever cry because the other is crying, so being in the same room has been great!

3) I agree with everything Monica just said. i would add. We had the Graco Snugride car seats also. We got the ones that would go up to the higher wt limit (35 lbs i think). Waste of money.. long before that, they were too heavy to carry both in their seats and we switched to the convertible seats. However, DO get the ones approved for preemies since there is a chance your babies will be small.
You can put the car seats in the 2001 Civic and you can move the car seats from one car to the next. we kept the base in the most used car and just used the seat belt if we needed to use the other car. Tricky thing with car seats is size and driver leg room. If you have a long legged driver you might see if you can test it out before purchase. I have a Honda FIT and DH (6ft-6) could drive it with the car seats in but not very comfortably. So make sure at least one of your cars is comfortable for everyone.

4) YES, yes to the Snap and Go!!!!! Strollers are a big deal. don't rush into the second stroller. We have and love the BOB but where we live the all-terrain, jogging stroller is a must! Never had a problem getting through any door... the key to that is maneuverability! What ever you get make sure you can steer it with one hand.

I second the breastfeeding pillow! My LOs didn't like swings but the boppies were our most used item for the first 8 months. We had one bouncer that was great.

So exciting! The twins are our first children also, you will figure it out. This is a great forum.. lots of moms (and dads) with tons of 'been there, done that' experience. I hope you find it as great a resource for information and support as i have!

 

:welcome: to TS!!!!!!! And congrats! You're going to have so much fun!

1. I started getting things little by little but I ended up ordering a lot ( ie: crib, pack n play, crib bedding) from Amazon bc the price was better and it was free shipping. I started my registry early and add to it little by little or if I found something online I'd add it to it. I had a suspicion id end up on bed rest and I did at 24 months, that way the registry ( minus clothes) was done.

2. We did a pack n play in our room and then they ended up moving to their swings bc of reflux. They are now in one crib together and doing great. When they start really rolling over then I'll move them to separate cribs so they have more space.

3. I also agree with the snugride, we went with the Graco snugride 30 though. You can buy additional bases to go into the civic .

4. I went with the gracious duoglider for the stroller bur honestly wish I had gone with the snap and go, my DH took the hood off the front abd back seat so now its only the seats that I snap the car seats into ... Could have achieved the same thing with the snap and go and then eventually gotten the stroller I wanted.

The swings were a god send for us! I had initially only gotten one but they liked it so much my parents bought another one for us. They never liked the bouncy seats for some reason but I got these stationary seats that look like bouncers but don't bounce they vibrate and have music and they loved those! There were many times id have to put them in there to feed them both at the same time. Also boppy pillows! Whether you're breast feeding or bottle feeding they're phenomenal! .

My twins were my first pregnancy too! I was TOTALLY lost! I don't know where I would have been without these gals!!!

Again welcome to TS and any time you have any questions feel free to ask away!

 

I would add anything you want to buy is probably available for tons cheaper either on Craigslist, a second hand kids store, yard sale or at Goodwill. Most things they'll only use a couple of months at most so the savings really adds up.

 

You have gotten some great answers, so I'll just say welcome and congrats!!

 

Agreed. The PPs covered most of the big stuff. So - congrats and
:welcome:

 

Thanks everyone! It definitely helps to see everyone agreeing on what they think the best options are.

 

I know Im super late in responding to this post but I have two infant car seats with bases and a snap n go that I'm trying to sell. Never been in any accident at all and the stroller is in great condition. Just a little wear on the handle. If you're still interested and live in the NYC area let me know. [email protected] =] hope all is well and congrats on your babies!