IT'S TWINS! ???'S!!!

oh my goodness! i do'nt have twins so no advice but just wanted to say congratulations!! how exciting :D

Don't have any advice, but congratulations! My father is an identical twin and even though they put my grandma through the ringer :-P, they are amazing men and so close. I love my uncle nearly as much as my own daddy! :)

I know how you feel. Our twins are 10 months old and still breastfed. The most valuable item for that is the EZ to Nurse Twins pillow. I still use it. I have two. One I keep in the car and one in the house. (We're out and about a lot.) One twin was born with a latch-on problem and didn't gain weight well in the beginning, so I had to pump A LOT and fortify my milk to supplement her regular feeding.... it was a lot of work, but so worth it. The local lactation consultant got me a hospital-grade pump on load for the first couple of months. After my supply was established, my regular Medela Pump In Style was sufficient. Make sure you're in touch with a lactation consultant before you deliver, let her know your plans, and be prepared to call her immediately should you find one of the twins is having difficulty. I tandem nursed because the stronger latched baby would help activate the letdown on both sides, assisting her sister in getting the milk. It's also a timesaver.

I went ahead and got a double stroller that my carseats can clip onto or the kids can sit in. I don't like buying baby gear that has too limited a life and you build up the upper body strength quickly toting two infant carriers. I also recommend, if you don't already have one, a baby carrier. I love my Ergo. Having one baby in the carrier can free up your hands to take care of the other baby. If you didn't find it invaluable with any of your previous children, you will sing the praises of a carrier when you have twins.

I also will second having two swings. We had pretty much all of the baby gear for our firstborn. The swing was the only thing (other than a car seat, of course) that we found we really needed two of. I don't think I would have ever gotten a shower in the first four months without our beloved swings.

Good luck to you. I hope you have an easy pregnancy.

Congrats!!! My best advice is to join a twins moms club----you can shop at their consignment sales, have new friends and learn ALOT.

GL

M

OH MY GOSH CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!! I have 8 month old twin boys. I agree that 2 boppys will be a must, and 2 swings or boucy chairs. We have 2 walkers. We just have the one crib and a pack and play that they switch off sleeping in, we just cant afford a 2nd crib. Twins are so much fun!! We have one other boy who is just shy of 2 1/2, he is only 20 months older than baby brothers. I have no advice on how to BF twins, I had to formula feed. We had both the stroller frame for the carseats and the side by side stroller, we got so lucky and got tons of stuff at garage sales for cheap. We only used the carseat frame stroller a few times, ours was really weird and hard to strap them into so we would just carry their carseats. I love their side by side stroller, it is so fun to watch them and sometimes they hold hands...so cute!!! I have heard that if you send copies of their birth certificates to places like huggies and pampers they give you some free diapers, i never tried so i'm not sure how true that is. I didnt do a mom's of multiples because the only ones i found near me had huge yearly fee's. I am so excited for you!!! feel free to pm me if you have any questions!!!

No advice but CONGRATULATIONS :-) Very Exciting mama !!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

My SIL has twins and she loved her double-snap & go stroller. If you have a decent budget, I'd go for one when they are very little, and then perhaps a side-by-side double jogger that your carseats can also snap into (I have a One-Step-Ahead double jogger that holds 2 carseats).

My twins are 6. I joined a moms of multiples group (check out www.nomotc.org for a local club) and the club that I belong to has clothing and equipment sales twice a year and it was a blessing. We ended up just getting a tandem double stroller and that was my favorite stroller in the entire world!! I think that there is advice for BF moms of multiples on the NOMOTC.org site, I wasn't able to BF my twins but I do know of quite a few that did. Good luck!! Congrats!!

congratulations! i just had my twin girls 7 weeks ago. i'm currently using 2 boppies to breastfeed but finding it difficult to keep them both level and so i just ordered a twin my brestfriend pillow. if only one is awake then the boppy does the trick. we have the double snap and go and a city select stroller (we felt the double wide was too wide for us). the city select is awesome. it holds carseats, bassinets and regular seats and you are able to face the babies in all sorts of directions. it also has a huge underbag for lots of storage. we ended up putting the girls in their room in one crib since my husband needs to get sleep for work and they do not wake up at the same time for their nightly feeding. we had a swing from our son and turns out neither girl liked the swing but they both love the bouncy seats. i would look for second hand equipment just in case they don't like it.

Congrats! No advice but im a twin and just wanted to say welcome to the twin club!

I have twins that will be 1 in a week. I personally loved having 2 swings and 2 boppys were a must. I also had 2 bouncers which were also a huge help. Another twin must have was the dbl packnplay w/bassinet, the only place that we found it was babiesrus online. My twins slept in the bassinet until they were 4months old.
The babytrend double snap n go stroller is a godsend. its so light weight. We didnt buy an actual double stroller until our twins outgrew the baby carriers at 9months.
I second what Melanie D. said, find your local twins club they are such a wonderful resource.
Another little piece of info-Babiesrus gives a multipes discount on all of the big items like strollers, car seats, cribs as long as you buy 2 of the same thing. Congrats on your babies!

I don't have twins, but a close friend does and she exclusively BF them the entire first year with no supplementing. She had BF her 1st for a year, so she had some knowledge going in.

We were talking about nursing the other day (I'm pg with #3 and have 36 months of BF experience from my 1st and 2nd) and she shared a couple of things I had not known that she thought really helped.

First, she started pumping immediately after birth and continued to do so for the first couple of months after each feeding - to help build/increase her supply. She also used a hospital grade pump for the first couple of months and then switched to her "normal" pump (not a Medela, but an Ameda).

Good luck!

Hi there! I am only about 27 weeks pregnant with twins but have spent that whole time reading. Main advice I have read on breastfeeding twins is just to spend the first week or two week with each individual baby on getting them to latch correctly and then after that is established feed them at the same time. Google positions - there are still a few out there, just not as many with only one child. There are special pillows to help support breastfeeding two babies. Check out my breast friend for twins. Different books give advice to get different things in two. I honestly think it will be like with a single baby, you just learn what is best for you and your babies. I've read having two bouncer seats is essential(swaddle them first). That way they can sleep in something that is portable. Most double strollers now will take two infant car seats, just make sure you get the correct brand. I would suggest getting some good reading materials. Look at joining a Mother of Multiples group, look on their website for some good reading material.... oh and take a deep breath - you have already done this three times - you are a pro! Hope this helps!

congrats! Seconding rec. to check out your nearest parents of multiples club - ours is a great community - playgroups, new parent support groups, awesome annual garage sale....we even have a "loaner library" of baby gear (slings, bouncy seats, etc.) that members can borrow for free.

"Mothering Multiples" by Karen Kerkhoff Gromada (published by LLL) is a great reference for breastfeeding twins. Some people find twin nursing pillows helpful (I did - borrowed one from my multiples club :-)) - others find the ergonomics don't quite work for them.

Lotsa parents in our multiples club love the convenience of the Double Snap'n'Go (this wasn't around when my 9YO twins were babies) - you could probably get a good deal on a gently used secondhand one through craigslist or your multiples club's classifieds section and they have pretty good resale value so IMO it's not a big deal that you can only use it as long as your babies are in infant seats. The tandem strollers that you can attach two infant seats to (e.g. Graco DuoGlider) can be pretty heavy and bulky with two carseats attached or with two toddlers riding in it - many of the moms in my playgroup ditched it for a side by side when their babies outgrew the infant seat. Of course, plenty of other families found the stroller worked great for them so it's a personal preference thing - maybe test drive it with your older kids to get an idea of how manageable it would be. There are a few newer strollers that can take two infant seats in a "snap'n'go" type form and then later with regular stroller seats - the Kolcraft Options tandem and the BabyJogger city select.

IMO don't get double bouncies or swings right off the bat - some babies like one but not the other, so if you start with one of something, you can figure out whether or not you need a second one later. We had two bouncy seats (only b/c we inherited two secondhand) but the only other thing we had duplicates of were their car seats and pack'n'plays and cribs (they shared a crib for 11 mos - some will share for more or less than that length of time, the average in our playgroup was around 6 months with the shortest length of crib sharing being 3 months, longest about 2 years!)
HTH!

First -- get connected with one of the twins groups in the area. I joined the North Dallas Mother's of Twins - not sure if that's the closest one for Keller. I've actually only been to one meeting, but the on-line forums are great!!

We have one child and then twins who are now 16 months. I breast fed them for 11 months and exclusively for 6 months. So a few tips - get the EZ to nurse pillow for twins!! It's larger a firmer than a boppy. Make sure you have lots of back support and then the key -- which my neighbor with twins taught me- roll up swaddling blankets and place it under their heads to help bring the baby to you so you're not hunched over so much. You may also want to try sitting on the floor so you can have one baby on the ground while you position the other. You'll have to experiment some but I was able to nurse them without anyone here to help me during the day. We have a sectional couch and I would sit in the curve of the couch with a boppy next to me and a bouncy on the coffee table in front of me. One baby went in the boppy the other in the bouncy. I'd position the boppy baby first than I could reach straight in front of me for the second with the first latched on (couldn't turn with one latched on). Also - don't expect to be able to do this right away. I think they were 3-4 weeks before I could get the double feeding down!
After I got it down, I found it much easier than making two bottles! That's why I kept it up for 11 months. The first feeding of the morning, I'd just go to the couch and nurse half asleep!

As for strollers, I had the Graco double Snap & Go at first, but eventually that thing is so cumbersome to steer! So at about 3 months we switched to the Combi double stroller - it's a "luxury" umbrella stroller. I love it b/c it's so much lighter than any other double out there! And good for age 3 month to 3 years (or at least that's how long our first was in our single Combi!)

The only other "special" equipment I found helpful for twins was the tub seats - like Bumbos but made for the tub. That way I could was 2 squirmy, slippery babies at once! Oh - and I also used the miracle blankets, sleep sacks and pacifiers. Things I didn't need with one child!!
But I still only used one exersaucer, bouncer (though we had 2), tummy time mat, swing... I just never needed them both in something at the same time and if I did - one could go in the swing, one the bouncer, etc.. (plus I had one that hated the swing)

Good luck. The first 6 months are hard, but once they hit 10 months & started interacting I understood why we had been blessed with two at once!

Actually, I didn't really use the Boppy. I prefered to use pillows because I could get them right where I wanted them. I used to nurse them together all the time. It varies as their size increases. You can either lay them across your lap one typically on top of the other or you can lay them out to the sides. I nursed my girls exclusively. The only time I used formula was to mix their cereal. I nursed them until they were 18 months.

MUST HAVE:
double click and go stroller
podee feeding system

I also agree that you should join the Multiples group immediately. Look to see which clubs are around you. You may want to visit more than one befor you join to see which group makes you feel more comfortable. The dynamics of the group can really make a difference.

Hi and congratulations! I have twins, also, and something I wish I knew about while I was pregnant was a mothers of multiples group. I am a member of the North Dallas Mothers of Twins Club (NDMOTC.org). There is also Mothers of Multiples and a number of other similar non-profit organizations. Like the other posters have mentioned, this is a great way to connect and get all the information you need. Another benefit is the semi-annual garage sales. You can find nearly anything you could possibly need in gently used or new condition (cribs, car seats, clothing, toys, etc) for all of your children. Wishing you all the best!

WHOO HOOO Congratulations!

Congratulations!! I would highly recommend a lactation consultant. Start Right!! With Twins you will have your hands FULL! And it is nice to have someone come to your house and work with you in the hospital to help you
and the twins figure it all out!

Have a wonderful birth : )