Twin Newborn Essentials

After finding out I was having identical (mono di) twins my mind immediately went into planning mode; cue the lists, books, blogs, registries, Pinterest boards, etc. I knew that most of this twin pregnancy, birth and newborn stage was going to be out of my control but the one thing I COULD control was my preparedness! I’m a very Type A person and love to be organized, so preparing to have twins was a fun task for me. I also had a few wonderful people who offered great advice; one of my cousins and my boss at the time were recent twin moms and they both guided me in the right direction. Putting together all of their tips and tricks, plus my extensive research online I was able to figure out all of the twin newborn essentials I needed. The great thing is that every single baby item that I purchased was worth it and got used a ton! When I look back there is no one thing where I think “man we really didn’t need/use that.”

Now here’s the fun part…

This is where I’m here to help YOU, soon to be twin mom! I’ve created a list of twin newborn essentials that I know will make your life a LOT easier!

Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will may a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

The Ultimate Twin Newborn Essentials List

• The Twin Z Pillow: my boss at the time was a twin mom and we were fortunate enough to get this pillow as a hand me down in perfect condition! We used this pillow for the entire first year of the girls lives for: feedings, napping, lounging, playing, supported sitting, photo shoots and then as a barrier when the girls started moving more. Still to this day I will occasionally pull it out for them to play on as toddlers! I don’t think we will ever get rid of ours…what if we have twins again?! This is easily my number one recommended item for your twin newborn essentials list! Refer to my blog post:Exclusively Pumping For Twins to see how important the Twin Z is!

• Graco Pack ‘N Play Playard with Twin Bassinets: we had two floors of living when the girls were born and we used our Pack N’ Play in the living room as a place for babies to nap, lay down, etc. It was great for saving me a trip up and down the stairs (which was NOT an easy task with TWO babies and a cat lurking around); I was always so afraid of tripping! This is also a great option if you will be traveling often and need portable sleeping arrangements!

• Halo Swaddle Sleep Sacks: the first two nights the girls were home they barely slept and kept busting out of their muslin swaddles (I slept a combo of 2.5 hours in two nights, nothing prepares you for THAT). SO needless to say I needed a solution and these were IT! These swaddles are warm and cozy (we got fleece ones for our cold winter), come in so many sizes (get them in all the sizes because you will use them for a long time), and are difficult for babies to bust out of because of the velcro swaddle! If you love sleep, you need these! Plus, there is literally nothing cuter than a baby in a sleep sack. These are a MUST HAVE for your twin newborn essentials list!
• Joovy Twin Roo Double Stroller Frame: we used two Britax B-Safe 35 Elite infant carrier car seats to go with this stroller (the adapters are sold separately, FYI). This was the only way I was able to get out of the house with both babies by myself. I sincerely loved this stroller, it was super easy to fold/unfold, had a HUGE storage basket (very important for shopping with twins), and the car seats clicked right in. Granted, you will not be able to go off-roading in this stroller as the wheels are not meant for it, but it will do for most circumstances (inside, pavement). *Side Note* is it just me or is taking your stroller shopping instead of a cart a moral dilemma?! I just wanted to announce “I swear I am going to pay for ALL OF THIS STUFF I am shoving down into my stroller basket” each time I went!

• Infant Carseat/Carrier : I remember contemplating if I really needed infant carriers; I thought I could just skip to convertible car seats to save money (they have them suitable for infants too). However, I was naive as a new mom and yes you absolutely need infant carriers for your twins. Firstly, carriers are portable and you can carry two (or three?!) at once (hello moms of multiples). Convertible car seats are not portable and you’d have to carry both babies themselves which is difficult when they are that little (I was always so afraid to drop them or trip). Secondly, you don’t want to wake your sleeping babies! Carriers allow you to transport them *hopefully* still asleep; convertible seats mean you have to wake your babies up. As I mentioned before we had Britax B-Safe 35 Elite carriers and loved them. They were all black and very sleek. Britax also has good resale value and we were able to sell these to a family friend along with the Joovy Frame! Yay twin mom win! *Side note* car seats do expire so check dates, don’t resell/buy a seat if it’s been in an accident, preferably don’t buy a used seat unless it’s someone close to you and you know the true history of it! I’m a huge safety nut and carseat safety has become a passion of mine.
• Automatic Breast Pump: depending on what your feeding goals are, you may want to start looking into breast pumps! It IS possible to breast feed twins, I have met many wonderful mamas who have been able to and wow, what an accomplishment! Personally, we had a lot of difficulty and the girls never got the hang of it so I ended up exclusively pumping for them until they were 19 months. I got the Medela Pump In Style Advanced which came with a carrying bag and a small cooler. I also had a hands-free pumping bra which allowed me to multitask! *Side note* many insurance companies will cover your breast pump completely, so don’t go out and buy one without checking first! I went through Aeroflow and it was a super easy and fast process! If you’re considering exclusively pumping for your twins then a good breast pump is another must have for your twin newborn essentials list!
• Boppy Pillows: it seems a little redundant to have a Twin-Z pillow and two Boppys, however, we used ALL of them. I often sat in front of the Twin-Z to feed the babies, but when they got older I would sit in between them (on the couch) while they were in the Boppys! It was nice to have multiple options for feedings.

• Dr. Brown’s Options Bottles: I have a love/hate relationship with baby bottles. There are so many options and I feel like they all have the same issue: leakage. No matter what I did, bottles leaked. So it’s better to just accept this fact and move on I guess. We ended up using Dr. Brown’s Options Bottles (where you can remove the inside pieces). These bottles are supposed to reduce colic, spit up and gas. We chose these because they came highly recommended by a ton of people. Our babies had reflux (not too bad); did these bottles really reduce their spit up and gas? I have no idea, but we used them anyway and they were okay. The downside: leaking and SO.MANY.PIECES.TO.WASH. (especially if your pumping too)! I swear washing bottles and pieces took a total of 3 hours every dang day. But…it is what it is right?! *Side Note* with twins you need twice the amount of bottles and to reduce your time bottle washing I highly suggest buying as many as you can. We went through a total of 14 bottles per day. This is mostly because I would fill all of the bottles with breast milk in the evening so I was ready for the next day; time management is so important with twins so I did everything I could to make life easier (even if it meant washing that many bottles at the end of the day). We had bottles in the 4 and 8 ounce sizes and honestly we mostly used the 4 ounce ones. I used the 8 ounce bottles to store breastmilk in the fridge most of the time. Another *Side Note* buy extra bottle nipples in all the sizes! As a naive new mom I didn’t even know they came in different sizes. It’s way easier to have them on hand than to have to order/run to the store to get more. I remember multiple occasions where bottle nipples broke or the holes got too big and that is not something you want to deal with when a baby is hungry and screaming at you. So, buy the extra nipples!
• Baby Monitor: We have been through a ton of monitors (x2 Motorola, Babysense and x2 Homiee). I’ll say that our Homiee monitors have been the best ones – high quality color picture, night vision and scans the entire room (important with two babies). The Babysense monitor was low quality picture but came with two cameras (it was my least favorite for sure though). The Motorolas I wanted to love because they had a good quality picture, night vision and scanned the whole room but we had charging issues and the micro USB port wears out. We had some charging issues with our first Homiee monitor and their customer service is top notch – email them with a video of your issue and they will resolve it! So, I’d definitely recommend the Homiee out of all of them; you can get it on Amazon! *Side Note* all of these cameras are NON-wifi cameras. For security reasons we elected not to get a fancy camera that you can connect to your phone. Total personal preference on that!
• Cribs: you definitely need two cribs, no doubt about it. We put the girls in their cribs from day 1 and I’m very happy we did; we didn’t have to go through any extra transitions for sleeping. With two babies, again, I wanted to make things as easy as possible! We bought these inexpensive, but adorable cribs. Obviously two cribs means at least two sets of mattress protectors, mattress pads and sheets too! You’ll need more for easy changing and washing.

• Rocking/Gliding Chair: a comfortable chair that rocks and glides for the nursery is an absolute must. There are so many to choose from, but we ultimately chose this adorable blush pink chair from delta children. We still use it almost everyday and my girls love to sit in it together and read. It was also the location for all of our monthly photoshoots!

• Changing Table: we chose a large 6 drawer dresser from DaVinci with a changing table attachment (it comes on and off) so that we could continue to use it down the road. I still love this dresser so much, it was the perfect size for twins and all of their things. Plus, it is heavy duty and good quality!
• Noise Machine / Fan: when we first had the girls we were ALL in the same room together in my in-laws basement (searching for a home) so it was super important to drown out any excess noise. We used a fan and the Dohm noise machine which worked great. We continue to use both to this day.
• Blackout Shades: if you want the cheapest solution ever for blacking out a room I give you: black trash bags and tape. We did this for 2 years (yes really) until I discovered the best product ever, Blackout EZ Window Coverings! I LOVE these window covers they black out the room 100%, are secured with velcro (so my kids can’t rip them down like the trash bags and curtains) and during the day I just roll them up to let the light in! If you love sleep these window coverings should rank high on your twin newborn essentials list!
• Baby Wraps: I used a Solly Baby Wrap and a Tula Baby Carrier occasionally with the girls (one at a time), or if I was out with my husband we would each have one. They were especially helpful for places that our stroller couldn’t fit! I never tried carrying two babies in one wrap – it just wasn’t for me!
• Diaper Bag: there are so many to choose from and I have quite a few now, but my favorite is my Pottery Barn Classic Diaper Bag with a monogrammed “M”. It has held up perfectly and was large enough to accommodate twin necessities! Another favorite of mine is our backpack diaper bag; it was really useful when we were traveling and when the girls got a little older.
• UBBI Diaper Pail: this is the best diaper pail! It conceals the smells so well and is super easy to use. We actually just stopped using it this year (the girls are 2.5 now)! You can buy the trash bags for it on Amazon too, super convenient.
• Wipes Warmer: if you’re like us and live in a part of the world that gets FREEZING COLD I would definitely get one of these! There was nothing worse then the cries of a baby who’s bum is cold! We ended up purchasing two of these (one upstairs, one downstairs). Our Munchkin one was way better than the Prince Lionheart one, just FYI!
• Lovevery Play Gym: this was one of my favorite purchases. This adorable play gym was designed by child development experts and has age appropriate activities for your babies as they grow! I chose this mat over all the others because 1. it fit both babies easily and 2. developmentally it was superior to anything else I researched. It also turns into a cute little tent which is always so fun! Your babies will use this from tummy time until toddler time. Lovevery also has a TON of amazing toys and play kits to offer. I would definitely keep them towards the top of your twin newborn essentials list!

• NoseFrida: this magical little device sucks the boogies out of your babies nose (with moms help). At first glance I know it sounds and looks SO gross but I SWEAR this is the best invention ever! Anytime my babies had stuffy noses this thing came to the rescue. Just try it. You will love it!
• Tubby Todd: these products are miracle workers. Clean ingredients with no toxins = perfect for your newborn’s skin. Both of my girls suffered from severe baby eczema and it took me A YEAR to figure out how to cure it. I was using all the wrong products from all the wrong brands. Tubby Todd Hair + Body Wash, Everyday Lotion and All Over Ointment (also known as “The Essentials”) saved my girl’s skin…almost immediately too! We still use Tubby Todd every single day after bath time and I’ve added quite a few of their products to our lineup (sunscreen, toothpaste and conditioner). 10/10 recommend Tubby Todd, put them on your twin newborn essentials list!
• Water Wipes: along with baby eczema, the girls got a lot of diaper rash. This also took me a year to figure out after trying ALL of the diaper rash cream brands and none of them worked well enough. With research I discovered the ingredients in all of the wipes I used were awful so I made the switch to Water Wipes and never looked back; they are made of 99.9% water and a drop of fruit extract. I never used diaper cream again.
• Diapers: we used Pampers Swaddlers pretty exclusively throughout the girls diapers journey! We tried a ton of different brands (just to try them) and Pampers were always the most reliable, available and didn’t irritate their skin.
• Aquaphor Baby: this stuff is great, you can use it on dry skin, diaper rash and so much more. I always keep a big tub of this on hand!
• Clothing: we were very fortunate to have received most of our clothing as gifts before the girls arrived, BUT I again was naive and didn’t realize I needed preemie sized clothing! Chances are if you’re having twins, you should buy some preemie items. We live so rural and there were no options in store for preemie clothes so my girls just wore things far too big for them for a long time!
• Baby Swing/Bouncer: I’m not going to lie, we had two Rock N’ Plays and wouldn’t have survived without them. If you had asked me back then, I would have said these are my number one recommendation for so many reasons BUT I can’t recommend them anymore since they’ve been recalled. It’s just not worth the risk in my opinion. I do recommend getting at least one simple baby bouncer like this Ingenuity one; they are great for baby to relax in, or if you need to put them down for a few minutes.
• Books: I read a ton of books and blogs to prepare for pregnancy, birth and beyond! A few of my favorites were “What To Expect When You’re Expecting“, “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding” and “The Wonder Weeks“. The Wonder Weeks also has an amazing app that you should definitely download; it helps you understand developmental “leaps” your baby goes through.

• Miscellaneous items: pacifiers, tall plastic laundry hamper (trust me, do you really want to be figuring out how to clean bodily fluids off of a wicker basket or cloth hamper?!), bottle drying rack, bottle washer, dishwasher basket for bottle parts, large muslin or bamboo swaddles, cloth bibs/burp cloths, portable changing pads, baby bathtub, car sun shades, thermometer, cool mist humidifier, towels, wash cloths, bottle warmer, handheld rattles/toys, teether toys, nipple cream, breast pads.

I hope this list was helpful, I know when I was pregnant and trying to prepare I scoured the internet for days for twin newborn advice/essentials. It’s an exciting process and I’m happy to share my experiences with you. If you have any twin related questions or want more advice feel free to comment here, send an email or contact me on my Instagram; I’m happy to chat! Stay tuned for a blog covering toddler essentials!