Twins & Multiples

[Xax]

Howdy all! My wife and I are expecting twins this spring, so I thought it might be cool to start a twins/multiples thread. We're planning on having the twins share a crib initially, as we don't have much money to spare at the moment. We're also planning on getting a Graco Duoglider stroller (there are nicer twin stroller travel systems, but the Duoglider seems like a good value), a Medela Double-Select breast pump, and Mother-Ease cloth diapers (although we'll be sticking with disposable newborn diapers for a while). I'm fairly confident in these products as I've done my research, but does anyone have any experience with these products, or suggestions in general?

[gmark2000]

Having them share a crib will last about 3 months. You will need a second crib for sure.

Look into joining a multiple births club/association in your area to get info on resources and discounts and used clothing/equipment sales.

We are members of MPOMBA (http://www.mpomba.com) and they have great member sales twice each year.

[HowEver]

The strollers that have the children in succession (one ahead or behind the other) are much better than the ones that are side by side, in terms of getting through doors and such. I don't know about the Graco Double (whether it's side by side or one in front of the other) but there used to be a great Peg Perego...

Good luck!

[patrob]

When we had our twins, we put the playpen that had the basinette built-in, in our bedroom for about 3 weeks, to get used to them...but we moved them into their room together after 3 weeks. I know some people like to have their kids in the room longer, but we felt we would get better rest if they were in their own cribs. Every noise they made, you would tend to get up...& that was not good when trying to get as much sleep as possible, in order to have the energy to take care of 2 babies at the same time :) :) It's not easy!

You have to do what is right for you...but one thing is for sure, enjoy the sleep you are getting now, it will never be the same again :lol:

[patrob]

We have the Evenflo Take Me Too! Premier Tandem Stroller & we really like it. We decided on this one, since it was the ONLY stroller that accepted different brands of infant car seats, Graco would only take their own. Since we already had one from our first baby, no point in getting brand new seats. Works very well, not too heavy & folds really quickly. Highly recommend!

[Xax]

Graco Duogliders are tandem (one in front of the other). We had checked out the Peg Perego, and if money wasn't an issue, we'd definitely be getting one. I've seen a couple used ones that aren't priced too badly. I've also checked out the Take Me Too!, but since we don't already have car seats, I'm leaning more towards the Duoglider.

We're planning on having the twins sleep in their own room from day one (with a baby monitor, of course). And yes... everyone keeps telling us we'll never sleep again, but I'm hopeful that we'll sleep better after several months perhaps. Just bought a copy of "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and I'm crossing my fingers. ;)

[gorf]

Someone I know has twins and they joined a local chapter and said its very worthwhile. I think he said it cost around $100. to join but definately worth it because they have sales/swaps and stuff.

Find one here:
http://www.multiplebirthscanada.org/english/chapters.php

[gorf]

And yes... everyone keeps telling us we'll never sleep again, but I'm hopeful that we'll sleep better after several months perhaps. Just bought a copy of "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and I'm crossing my fingers. ;)


Its true. NO more sleep for you. :cheesygri Once they get a little older, you'll get your sleep back, but then they turn into teenagers and then start driving.... again, no more sleep cuz you're worrying and waiting for them to come home. :cheesygri

[patrob]

Its true. NO more sleep for you. :cheesygri Once they get a little older, you'll get your sleep back, but then they turn into teenagers and then start driving.... again, no more sleep cuz you're worrying and waiting for them to come home. :cheesygri

So true :rolleyes:

[Delroy666]

First of all, congratulations! We have the Graco Duoglider stroller and overall it's pretty good - it was really the only affordable tandem stroller we could find locally. However, it's very BIG - even when folded up. Make sure it'll fit in your trunk if you have a smaller car. We're also members of a local multiples association and the used clothing/equipment sales are great.

[misterDuck]

Congrats, hope everything went well for you.

We have boy/girl twins currently just over a year old.
In regards to strollers, we first bought the Graco Snap and go, which is basically a frame which we could attach our two car seats too.

Very reasonable priced ( we bought second hand at a sale through the twin group) and I would Highly reccomend it. Keep in mind that at first you will not want to remove the babies from their car seats and this stroller allowed us to swap from car to stroller in about 10 seconds.

As they got bigger, we wanted to make sure we would still have a stroller that enabled us to go out as much as possible, so we spent a little more and got the Maclaren Twin Techno, which folds up really well and is very comfy for the babies. Again we love it and I would reccomend it.

We also bought a jogging stroller, a Lov'n Care double, which is pretty great for running around the neighborhood and the occasional trail run. Only drawback to that is a lack of a sun shield.

[Diamondog]

Howdy all! My wife and I are expecting twins this spring, so I thought it might be cool to start a twins/multiples thread. We're planning on having the twins share a crib initially, as we don't have much money to spare at the moment. We're also planning on getting a Graco Duoglider stroller (there are nicer twin stroller travel systems, but the Duoglider seems like a good value), a Medela Double-Select breast pump, and Mother-Ease cloth diapers (although we'll be sticking with disposable newborn diapers for a while). I'm fairly confident in these products as I've done my research, but does anyone have any experience with these products, or suggestions in general?

One thing I can say is about the diapers....my wife was SOOOOOO adamant about using cloth for the babies sake and the environment. I did not want to use cloth but I new it meant alot to her so I caved. Thankfully we didn't invest the money in them they came from several baby showers but quite a bit of money was spent on them. We used them at first I hated it from the instant I had to put one on and my wife wasn't too thrilled after about a week. Problem with them is they need to be changed constantly you cannot let a baby sit in the slightest wet diaper with cloth at least not ours she cried every time she sat in a wet diaper even for a minute including all through the night.....it is a lot of extra work always washing/changing them not that you'd want to let a baby sit in a disposable until it weighed 10 pounds but at least they can pee and won't be crying just because of the diaper.....I couldn't imagine having to do that with twins...YIKES! We quickly switched to disposables.

[kaimui22]

no one posted about the breastpump...hmm..anyways..

you might want to wait until the birth of your twins
if your wife is interested in pumping (whether exclusively or just sometimes) it might be a good idea to request testing a pump at the hospital. Different hospital carry different brands (Medela versus Ameda). Each pump has different pressure and suction controls and might work better or worst depending on your wife's engorged..um...parts. There are also different sized flanges for the breastpumps so you might want to try the hospital one or rent one from the pharmacy before investing in the Medela.

I personally use the Ameda Purely Yours because I tried the professional-grade Ameda from the hospital and the pharmacy and found it fitting to my needs. Purely yours is about $280 but its a completely sterile system (as compared to the other brands). The Ameda has a system that allows for less parts to be washed (a savior..you DO NOT want to be washing many parts after every session and waiting for them to dry). The milk does not pass thru any tubes and it goes directly goes into the collection bottle.

but if you are only going to pump maybe once or twice a week, you might invest in something less expensive...i personally use the pump 8+ times a day....I tried in using "The First Years" electric pump before and it broke down on me in 2 days..yup, 2 days after using it I had to order new (but free) parts from the manufacturer...so I guess what you pay is what you get!

anyways good luck! having a baby (or 2) is a BIG investment in time and energy..but you'll be so in love with your new bundles of joy. Enjoy!!

[paullyn59]

We're planning on having the twins sleep in their own room from day one (with a baby monitor, of course). And yes... everyone keeps telling us we'll never sleep again, but I'm hopeful that we'll sleep better after several months perhaps. Just bought a copy of "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and I'm crossing my fingers. ;)

When we had twins, my husband got up to get the babies and brought them to me in bed, he went back to sleep. I nursed and fell back to sleep and so did baby. When second baby woke, husband would take first baby back to crib and bring 2nd baby to me. Repeat all night. Each baby had there own breast so no need to turn to switch breasts so husband was not disturbed while feeding. Husband is up for maybe 45 seconds while I am only awake few minutes but still fully relaxed and easily fall back to sleep. I think it was harder on our daughter. She was only 18 1/2 months when our twins were born. She didn't appreciate all the crying, moving and being squished in the middle.

Unless your babies are collicky, you really don't lose any more sleep than with one baby. You also do not have to change them during the night unless they have a bowel movement or extremely sensitive skin especially if you give their butts some airing time during the day.


Problem with them is they need to be changed constantly you cannot let a baby sit in the slightest wet diaper with cloth at least not ours she cried every time she sat in a wet diaper even for a minute including all through the night.....it is a lot of extra work always washing/changing them not that you'd want to let a baby sit in a disposable until it weighed 10 pounds but at least they can pee and won't be crying just because of the diaper.....I couldn't imagine having to do that with twins...YIKES! We quickly switched to disposables.

Did you use diaper liners? We used cloth (doubled at night) until they really started moving around then switched to disposable. The cloth ones leaked too easily after that. Although I used the regular flat square ones with safety pins, not the ones around nowadays that look like disposable ones with velcro.

[Diamondog]

When we had twins, my husband got up to get the babies and brought them to me in bed, he went back to sleep. I nursed and fell back to sleep and so did baby. When second baby woke, husband would take first baby back to crib and bring 2nd baby to me. Repeat all night. Each baby had there own breast so no need to turn to switch breasts so husband was not disturbed while feeding. Husband is up for maybe 45 seconds while I am only awake few minutes but still fully relaxed and easily fall back to sleep. I think it was harder on our daughter. She was only 18 1/2 months when our twins were born. She didn't appreciate all the crying, moving and being squished in the middle.

Unless your babies are collicky, you really don't lose any more sleep than with one baby. You also do not have to change them during the night unless they have a bowel movement or extremely sensitive skin especially if you give their butts some airing time during the day.




Did you use diaper liners? We used cloth (doubled at night) until they really started moving around then switched to disposable. The cloth ones leaked too easily after that. Although I used the regular flat square ones with safety pins, not the ones around nowadays that look like disposable ones with velcro.

We used modern cloth diapers....none the less I think any cloth diaper would just be added work that really isn't needed there are enough other things to do.

[CSK'sMom]

I used cloth diapers (Kooshies) for 2 of our kids (1 boy, 1 girl) and never had many leaking issues. An extra insert at night and all was good. As for the extra laundry, there is so much with babies that I never noticed that much of a difference, an extra load every other day...

[paullyn59]

I used cloth diapers (Kooshies) for 2 of our kids (1 boy, 1 girl) and never had many leaking issues. An extra insert at night and all was good. As for the extra laundry, there is so much with babies that I never noticed that much of a difference, an extra load every other day...

I looked Kooshies up. They are really cute. Wish I had them when my kid's were babies. The form fit probably helped with the leaking. Not possible with what I had to use unless you wanted to strangle the baby in tight rubber pants. I would have definately use those over disposables.

[CSK'sMom]

They were really cute paullyn59! As an added bonus when our youngest was done with them I sold them for almost what I paid for them. I think I kept one though in the box of favourite and special baby things.:)

[Xax]

I'm quite sold on the Mother-Ease cloth diapers, so I'll only have myself to blame if we end up hating them. I've heard nothing but good about them. As with anything, no doubt quality is important as to how well they work. As for the added work... our time is definitely worth the thousands of dollars we'll save each year. For us especially, every little bit counts, and that's a pretty big bit. ;)

[Diamondog]

I'm quite sold on the Mother-Ease cloth diapers, so I'll only have myself to blame if we end up hating them. I've heard nothing but good about them. As with anything, no doubt quality is important as to how well they work. As for the added work... our time is definitely worth the thousands of dollars we'll save each year. For us especially, every little bit counts, and that's a pretty big bit. ;)

You don't save anywhere near that amount...the cost of washing/drying is the money factor when using cloth especially if you are not using a high efficiency washer/dryer.

[patrob]

I'm quite sold on the Mother-Ease cloth diapers, so I'll only have myself to blame if we end up hating them. I've heard nothing but good about them. As with anything, no doubt quality is important as to how well they work. As for the added work... our time is definitely worth the thousands of dollars we'll save each year. For us especially, every little bit counts, and that's a pretty big bit. ;)

To be honest, not sure where you get the "thousands of dollars" in diaper costs...if you use coupons & buy them in bulk when on sale, it does not cost as much as you think. We should know since we have Twins... You will save money but not that much.

[paullyn59]

You don't save anywhere near that amount...the cost of washing/drying is the money factor when using cloth especially if you are not using a high efficiency washer/dryer.

High efficiency washer/dryer or not, I cannot see how using cloth diapers would not save alot of money especially if you get them at showers and the ones that grow with the baby. Just need enough for 3 days and it would only be 2 loads of wash a week. How much could that cost? Even more could be saved by drying outside on a line. More, I guess for twins, I don't really know how bulky the formed ones are and how many could be washed at one time. How much does it cost to stick the disposable diapers in the trash every week? I would have loved to have had these form fitting diapers when my kids were young. It killed me everytime I spent money on disposables especially for the twins.

[misterDuck]

Regarding diapers.
having twins is a crapload of work. ( pun intended)
My wife was all hip to use cloth diapers both for cost and the enivorment. We lasted about a week. The mess combined with the hassle was not worth it for us.
Congrats if it works for you.

Regarding the cost.....twins are expensive, we redo the budget almost weekly especially now that we are paying for childcare.
Coupons help as does buying at costco.

[HowEver]

For the benefits you get, $100 might be fine if you are starting a local chapter, but I think they'd have to pay me $100 to join. This is RFD after all. If I want to download a few newsletters, I'm sure as heck not going to pay someone $100 to allow me to do so.


Someone I know has twins and they joined a local chapter and said its very worthwhile. I think he said it cost around $100. to join but definately worth it because they have sales/swaps and stuff.

Find one here:
http://www.multiplebirthscanada.org/english/chapters.php

[Diamondog]

High efficiency washer/dryer or not, I cannot see how using cloth diapers would not save alot of money especially if you get them at showers and the ones that grow with the baby. Just need enough for 3 days and it would only be 2 loads of wash a week. How much could that cost? Even more could be saved by drying outside on a line. More, I guess for twins, I don't really know how bulky the formed ones are and how many could be washed at one time. How much does it cost to stick the disposable diapers in the trash every week? I would have loved to have had these form fitting diapers when my kids were young. It killed me everytime I spent money on disposables especially for the twins.

You don't save as much money as people think when using cloth....That aside that wasn;t why we switched we switched because there was just enough work to do without generating work and yes using cloth is generating work especially with twins.

[paullyn59]

You don't save as much money as people think when using cloth....That aside that wasn;t why we switched we switched because there was just enough work to do without generating work and yes using cloth is generating work especially with twins.

I have 6 kids including twins. I used cloth for the first 6 months or so for all of them and disposables after that. Cloth diapers are alot cheaper than disposables. Disposables are easier so if they were not alot more expensive to use, I guarantee you I would have used them. A couple of extra loads of laundry a week can't really be considered alot of work either, not for the money you are saving. You are not washing them by hand on a rock.

[Diamondog]

I have 6 kids including twins. I used cloth for the first 6 months or so for all of them and disposables after that. Cloth diapers are alot cheaper than disposables. Disposables are easier so if they were not alot more expensive to use, I guarantee you I would have used them. A couple of extra loads of laundry a week can't really be considered alot of work either, not for the money you are saving. You are not washing them by hand on a rock.

Well OP will find out soon enough if they can hack it with cloth!

[patrob]

Well OP will find out soon enough if they can hack it with cloth!

True...he has no idea what it's like with 2 babies. It's nice to want to plan ahead but sometimes those plans can change once they are born. Maybe he will be the lucky one with perfect babies: always sleeping, not crying just eating...etc. But what are the chances :rolleyes:

I remember with our twins just making time to pump breastmilk every few hours was hard enough...can't imagine dealing with cloth diapers on top of that. It was overwhelming being all by myself with 3 kids when husband was at work...it was very hard, not only physically but emotionally :!:

[Xax]

If the challenge isn't worth the cost savings, we'll switch. As for cloth not saving as much money "as I think", I believe that's incorrect. I did the math a while back, and the results were a substantial savings. We're also planning on hang-drying the diapers. I'll be shocked if the end result isn't thousands (yes, plural) of dollars in savings. I'm sorry if it didn't work out for y'all.

[adavidso]

If the challenge isn't worth the cost savings, we'll switch. As for cloth not saving as much money "as I think", I believe that's incorrect. I did the math a while back, and the results were a substantial savings. We're also planning on hang-drying the diapers. I'll be shocked if the end result isn't thousands (yes, plural) of dollars in savings. I'm sorry if it didn't work out for y'all.

We're parents of 6 mo. old twins and also have a 3 yr. old. - all of whom have been diapered in cloth. We're hacking it pretty well with the twins and cloth. It's really not that big a deal if you are used to, and willing to work hard. We are using the 3 yr. old's diapers on the twins. Our diapering cost for the twins so far is about $50 for the first 6 mos. You save *huge* with cloth, and the poop ends up being properly disposed of in the wastewater system, not at the dump. Good on you Xax, I'm sure you'll do/are doing fine with cloth. To all the doubters out there, it can be and is done by lots of parents. We went to Australia with the money we have saved so far.

[Cho_Cho]

There's a new GRACO out that's a tandem stroller but there aren't many reviews on it yet. REgardless, any double stroller that you get for new infants will be HEAVY (especially GRACO 'cause they're meant to last). One suggestion was to go with a snap and go (cheap but great reviews) until they're old enough to travel without the car seats and then get a lightweight stroller once they're upright and able to travel on their own. CONGRATS!

[adavidso]

thanks Cho_Cho! we're just outgrowing our snap n go frame and Peg infant car seats since the boys are 6 months, so we need a stand alone stroller. The Graco is heavier than the snap n go that we have, but we need something with seats. We picked up the snap n go for $75 used at the twins (MBFA) sale in Ottawa. So far we're liking the duoglider as a double stroller.