It has been four weeks since we have welcomed twins into our family. I’d like to share the items that have absolutely saved us in the twin newborn phase, and are well worth the investment for your time and sanity.
1. Double bottle feeder
With our firstborn we had a simple Phillips Avent bottle warmer, but it only fit one bottle. I didn’t want to get yet another bottle warmer that could fit two, but I’m here to say a double bottle warmer is absolutely worth it. We pop two bottles in the warmer, press a button, and by the time I’m done changing the twins, the bottles are warm and ready to go.
The double bottle warmer above cost $47 at time of purchase (it’s listed for $59 but perpetually has a 20% off coupon) and heats up both bottles in the span of 6 minutes, perfect amount of time to get the babies set up to eat. If we had kept our single bottle warmer instead of converting to a double, it would have made simultaneously feeding the twins much more difficult.
2. Twin Z Pillow
We have seen twin parents rave about the Twin Z Pillow and the Table for Two for feeding, naps, and everything in between (we have never used it for naps as it’s not recommended due to safe sleeping practices). For feeding and keeping the babies upright, the Twin Z pillow was a lifesaver.
What’s nice about this kind of contraption is that you are able to feed both babies simultaneously, since the pillow supports both babies in an upright, semi-reclined position. It can be used for both breastfeeding and bottle feeding.
We ended up going with the Twin Z pillow over the Table for Two simply because of size and price: The Twin Z pillow was $109 vs $376 for Table for Two, and the Table for Two is simply huge…it measures 38 inches long. You can also use the Twin Z as a place for the babies to stay upright for a bit post-feeding, which helps with their gassiness. Even though the Twin Z pillow is pricey, we have found it to be absolutely worth the investment.
For twins in particular, since they are typically born at a lower weight than singletons, the two openings in the Twin Z pillow may be initially too large to hold the twins up. During the newborn phase we placed a swaddle cloth over the pillow to provide a bit of support for the twins, and this worked great. As they get bigger, the swaddle cloth will no longer be needed. I also love that the Twin Z cover is machine washable, as even with the swaddle cloth on top, the cover is bound to get some spit up.
3. Good quality burp rags
Twins tend to arrive on the earlier side which means less developed tummies, and sometimes more spit up. While we used little muslin bibs with our full-term firstborn, we have been saved more times than I can count with large, good-quality burp cloths like the below, with the twins.
These 100% cotton muslin burp rags easily absorbed and caught large bouts of spit up, are soft to use to wipe babies’ delicate skin, are machine washable, and are large enough to keep things clean during feeds. For $19 for a pack of 10, it’s a good value. We tried the popular Burts Bees burp clothes and they were nowhere near as large or absorbent as these muslin cotton burp cloths.
4. Camera that can fit both babies in one view
We had a Nanit for our firstborn which worked GREAT, but I didn’t want to purchase two new Nanit cameras to fit the two new cribs for the twins. It also seemed too difficult to use non-wall mounted camera to monitor two cribs, as the cameras would have to be perched at a high angle in order to cover two cribs at once.
In the end I purchased one additional Nanit camera for the twins room to see if it would cover both babies. I am happy to report that it did! One wall-mounted Nanit camera fully covered both cribs for the twins. We stacked both cribs head-to-head so they formed one long line, put a Nanit camera on the wall in the middle of both cribs, and the visual is great – both cribs and babies are fully visible.
The downside is that you can’t share one camera for two babies both using breathing brands (one camera monitors one breathing band), but if you’re not going to be using a breathing band, you can easily use one Nanit camera to capture both cribs.
5. Bottle stand that can fit double the bottles
We love this Ubbi verticabl bottle drying rack because it’s vertical so takes up a tiny amount of space on our already small kitchen counter, and can fit 12+ bottles and parts. We originally had the OXO bottle stand but it fit only 9 bottles, and with twins, we needed more bottle-fitting capacity so upgraded to the Ubbi one below. Now, we can clean all the bottles on the drying rack at once.
We’re a pretty minimalist family when it comes to baby gear, but the above items were godsends. Hope this helps you and your growing family.