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With twins you don’t always need two of everything. Sometimes you need four or more! Here are just a few items that we found to be extremely helpful in the early days of newborn twins.

The Ultimate Crib Sheet

This is more than just a sheet protector. The Ultimate Crib Sheet is designed to easily snap on and off the slats of a crib so the expensive crib sheet you insisted on having as part of your bedding ensemble can be seen from the side, while the top is protected from the baby “spills”.  I had four of these, two for each child. Because when the flu hits it usually hits at 3 in the morning and it always hits them more than once. The Ultimate Crib Sheet meant I didn’t always have to change the sheets (no easy task when it comes to crib sheets) and having several on hand got me through the nights.

Feeding/Diaper Chart

The first few weeks we, as parents, were not the only ones caring for our twins. We had grandparents, a nanny, and even a night nurse on occasion. Plus, usually whenever someone stopped by to visit it was feeding time and they were promptly handed a child and a bottle of breast milk or formula. To help keep track of who was eating what, how much, when, and if they had wet or ‘dirty’ diapers we developed a chart. Anyone feeding or otherwise caring for the twins was shown the chart and kept notes. This helped tremendously when it came time for those weekly pediatric appointments.

Labels

Labels come in handy for everything from bottles, to medicine, to clothing. Babies get sick and taking precaution to not share bottles, bibs and burp cloths it IS possible to keep one baby from getting sick. In addition, twins can vary in size which can be difficult to tell until you’ve already tried to stretch that preemie onsie on the larger twin. Try a label maker – it’s fun and I bet you’ll find it can become slightly addictive!

Breastpump

Some babies take to breast feeding like it’s the most natural thing in the world. For me, this was not the case. In addition, some people are overflowing with milk. Others have to pump for 45 minutes, four times a day to keep up and even with that, still have to supplement with at least one bottle of formula. Either way, the twins can get breast milk if that’s what is important to you. Using a breast pump allowed me the freedom of having others help feed the babies. It gave me the security knowing how much milk they were consuming. And it took the stress out of trying to breastfeed.

Janine Nickel (@twincident on Twitter) is the the mother of 5-year old twin girls and has learned that there’s nothing like children to show you all your defects of character. Janine blogs about her neuroses, her twins, and she reviews products and hosts giveaway at TwoferMom.com.

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