baby favorites – 2 months in

You guys. I’m so sorry I have been non-existent in this space. Life has been crazy, and I just can’t seem to find chunks of time to devote to blogging right now. I will get there and I’m really excited to start posting recipes again, but for now I am focusing on feeding and being there for Jack and Remy and mayyybe getting dinner on the table each day. Life has certainly changed a lot, but I am loving the hustle and bustle and jugging act of being a twin mom (on most days ;). 

I can’t believe it’s already been almost three months since these boys were born. I will touch on “our life so far with twins” in another post, but I wanted to mention some of the items we’ve been loving. Before the twins were born, and even before I was pregnant, I loved reading other blog mom’s lists of what they loved for their new kiddos. They’re fun to read but also super helpful, so I hope this helps some new moms or moms to be!

We have SO much stuff in our little apartment. As soon as we brought these two home from the hospital it felt like we lost about half the square feet we once had. Our couch was covered in nursing pillows, boppy pillows, swaddling blankets and burp cloths, our living room had rock n plays, a mamaroo and a bouncer, and our room had their bassinet. Twin baby gear is no joke, especially in a 2 bedroom apartment.

First, I’ll touch on breastfeeding stuff. For the first two months I exclusively breastfed. Since then, I’ve had to supplement a bit with formula because I just wasn’t producing enough milk to keep these two babies super happy. They were gaining the right amount of ounces (an average of 5oz/week), but it just didn’t seem like enough, so I started added an ounce or so to each bottle and it’s helped us immensely. This is something I didn’t think I would ever do, but producing enough milk and feeding twins exclusively with breastfeeding just wasn’t making any of us super happy. But anyways, in the beginning when I was figuring out how to nurse these guys, and figure out how to help them latch correctly, I found some things super helpful to help ease the pains of those first weeks. 

 

Earth Mama Angel Baby Nursing Cream – this stuff was an absolute lifesaver for me. Nursing can be tough and painful, and this helps in those first few weeks (or first 7 if you’re like me and have latch issues). 

Avent Nursing Pads – I don’t really have issues with milk leaking… but these were more so for comfort. Also really nice when I used the above nursing cream so that it didn’t stain my shirts or bras. 

Night Nursing Bra – love these things – they’re soft but supportive, and make nursing really easy in the middle of the night or throughout the day. 

Cake Nursing Bra – this one is more supportive and is more like a sports bra – I like it because it has more structure and is more flattering. 

Spectra S2 Breastpump – Love this breastpump! I also used the Medela Symphony hospital grade pump while in the hospital and also at home for about 7-8 weeks to help increase milk supply (suggested by our lactation consultant), and this one is my favorite. My medela stopped suctioning about a week ago so I took out the Spectra again and it’s been much better. I am getting more milk, it’s quieter, and doesn’t have as many parts to wash. Win win win. 

Hands free pumping bra – an absolute must for pumping. You can bottle feed babies while pumping, drink or eat while pumping, or just be on your phone or computer and relax during pumping sessions. 

Now onto a plethora of other things we liked. I know it’s a lot, but we really have loved all of these items at one time or another. 

Boppy Newborn Lounger – we used these cute boppys when we first came home, but our couch is small and these took up about 3/4 of it. We quickly switched to using their rock n play for lounging, but recently got these back out when I starting pumping and bottle feeding more often. You need boppys if you are going to bottle feed your babies, but these are also good for the baby to kick around in when you need to put them down. 

Dr. Brown’s Glass Bottles – love these. I love that they are glass, but I also love the Dr. Brown’s design that helps reduce air when the baby is feeding. This helps reduce gas bubbles and spitting up which is super nice when you’re trying to keep every ounce of milk into your baby. This is especially important if you have preemie twins like ours that may have even more of an immature digestive tract than a full-term baby has.  

Dr. Brown’s Preemie Nipples – highly recommend. A couple lactation consultants have recommended using preemie nipples even for a baby that isn’t a preemie. They create a very slow flow of milk and make the baby work for it, kind of like if they are breastfeeding. We tried to use our Avent bottles with their preemie nipple, and the babies were able to guzzle down the milk with those, so I prefer these. 

Rock N Plays – Auto Rocker – I have a love, hate relationship with these so I debated mentioning them. We initially had the babies sleeping in a rock n play that didn’t rock, so I was spending all this time rocking them throughout the day and night to calm them down and get them to sleep (mainly used when I was trying to feed one, but calm the other). I had no idea rock n plays came with an auto rocker feature, so I immediately bought two of the ones that did rock to make my life easier. My life was SO much easier and I thought they were a great purchase until a few weeks went by and I started noticing that the babies were sliding down pretty far into the bottom and it was waking them up. I also didn’t want them to become dependent on sleeping angled, and rocking constantly, so I decided to just put the rock n plays away and move them to a pack n play so they could learn to sleep without rocking and learn to sleep flat. They also take up a lot of room and we just don’t have the space for two. Long story short, if you have the space, and if your baby doesn’t slide down, I think they’re awesome for lounging and soothing a fussy baby. It’s not recommended for a baby to sleep in these, but it worked well for us for a while and I liked that the babies were angled so it helped keep them from spitting up.

Newborn Zipper Sleepers – Zipper PJs are a must! So easy for diaper changes, and just easy in general when you’re a zombie in the middle of the night. We didn’t have nearly enough of these in Newborn and Preemie size, so I ended up buying a lot at target (cat and jack brand) and my mom went to Macys and got us a bunch of Carters pjs in those first few weeks. 

HALO SleepSack Micro-Fleece Swaddle – Can’t say enough good things about these. Jack and Remy LOVE to be swaddled. It calms them down and helps them sleep really, really well. We initially were swaddling the babies with blankets but soon realized how easy it is for them to wiggle their hands out. The struggling to break free keeps them awake or wakes them up, so these halo sleep sack swaddles are great because they prevent that. It’s essentially a wearable blanket that you zip the baby into, then swaddle them with two pieces that wrap around the baby’s arms and velcro. The fleece variety are our favorite because they’re so soft and also seem to be the easiest to wrap around the baby tightly. The twins are wearing the 100% cotton version below. 

Gerber cloth diapers as burp cloths – Don’t spend a lot of money on burp cloths. They’re used to clean up spit up, so no need for anything cute. These cloth diapers are cheap and super absorbable. 

Boon Grass Drying Rack  – Perfect for any and all baby items to dry on. I love the twigs and flower that come with it for bottle parts. 

Hannah Andersson Swaddle Blankets – These blankets are perfect for swaddling because they have some stretch to them. I also love the stripes. 

Black & White Baby Books – Babies see black and white when they are first born, so these black and white books are perfect for helping to strengthen the retinas in their eyes. I like to use them for tummy time so they have something to look at. 

WubbaNub Pacifier – a pacifier stuck onto a stuffed animal. I love whoever invented this. The animal part helps keep the pacifier in the baby’s mouth and it works so well. They’re also so cute. 

Baby Jogger City Select Double Stroller – I really like our stroller. I wanted a stroller that had “stadium seats”, and not one that is side-by-side so that it can fit easily in doorways. We got the two infant seat adaptors so we just click their carseats in and go. When they’re bigger and can sit up we will insert the two regular stroller seats. I honestly didn’t do a ton of stroller research because this one was highly recommended on blogs and by friends, but I love it so far. 

Chicco Keyfit 30 Magic Car Seat – we both love these car seats (Mitch doesn’t say much when it comes to all our baby gear, but he says he really likes these). Great safety rating, they seem comfy for the babies, and they’re pretty light weight which is important when carrying two. This will change when I am lugging around two 20 lb babies, but for now, they’re great 😉

Double Snap N Go Stroller – This is the stroller I keep in my car. It’s really light weight so I can easily lift it in and out, and the carseats easily go in. It’s perfect for errands. 

Bath Sponge – This sponge sits/floats in our bathtub and the babies can easily lay on it while we wash them. It’s comfy and they don’t slip and slide around. Also so cheap!

Preemie Clothes – for some reason I didn’t think the babies would need a lot of preemie clothes. I thought they’d be okay in newborn and that they would be too big for preemie since I went till 36 weeks. Well, I wish I would have planned for tiny babies because we definitely needed more of these! If you’re having multiples, stock up! Burt’s bees has some great onesies and coveralls, and Carter’s has great options too. 

Babo Botanicals Baby Shampoo – Earth-friendly, non-toxic baby shampoo and wash. Love the smell and I feel good washing the babes with it. 

Preemie diapers – have these on hand! I also didn’t think we would need these because I thought newborn would be okay, but we definitely used these for the first 2 weeks and really needed them. We had friends and family bringing us packs because we kept running out, so I really wish I would have had 5-6 packs when we got home. The NICU uses Pampers Swaddlers and we loved them for how soft they were and they have a line that lets you know if the diaper is wet. When you’re super tired those first few weeks and changing so many diapers, that line was really nice. 

Baby formula – This is another thing I just didn’t think we would need because I was 100%, no ifs and or buts, breastfeeding these babies. Well, they drank formula in the NICU and I didn’t really have breastfeeding down when we got home from the hospital (nor did I have a lot of milk yet), so Mitch had to run out to get formula that first night. Have some on hand so you don’t need to do that. We used Similiac Non-Gmo Grass-Fed formula. I’ve recently switched to Holle Goat Infant Formula because the ingredient list is really clean and there is no added sugar. 

Boon Collapsible Baby Tub – I love this tub. Since our apartment is small and we don’t have the space for a tub that just sits on the floor (well, we do, but I really hate clutter and love that this hangs). This one is a little pricier than others, but you can fold it completely flat and it hangs on the shower rod when done. I love it. 

Solly Baby Wrap – the best! This is my favorite wrap right now and I wish we had two for both Mitch and I. I do not recommend the Baby K’Tan because it just stretches out and doesn’t support the babies. 

Gerber Long Sleeve Onesies with Mittens – These simple white onesies are worn by the twins all the time and I love the option to fold over the mittens so they don’t scratch themselves (or us) with their baby nails.

Baby Gap Up to 7 lbs Clothes – I love baby gap because their clothes are high quality and very soft. The pajamas are my favorite and fit the babies the best out of anything else we own. 

Babymoon Flat Head Pillow – ever since the Back to Sleep campaign was implemented to reduce SIDS, and babies started sleeping on their backs opposed to on their stomachs, flat head has become a problem. This is a problem that seems to affect the majority of the babies in my Moms of Multiples group (I am guessing because multiples tend to be preemies with small, softer heads, and also laid down more often than a single baby), so I wanted to make sure I was trying to prevent it early on. I do not want to deal with getting a helmet for one or both babies. This pillow keeps their head from laying on a flat surface, and helps keep it round. Both babies seem to like them, but they definitely work best on a flat surface. I tried them in their Rock n Plays and they just fall off the pillow. Now that they’re sleeping flat in the pack n play they work great.

Baby Scale – this is probably a preemie thing, but I wanted to make sure the boys were gaining enough weight each week, so this scale has been a lifesaver for us. Breastfeeding is a bit of a guessing game because you aren’t 100% sure how much the babies are getting each time you feed. Weighing them once a week and seeing that they were gaining the right amount of weight gave me confidence that I was producing enough milk and that they were growing appropriately. Good for new moms!

Dohm White Noise Machine – we didn’t start using this until about a week ago, but wish we would have sooner. Before, we were just using the white noise app on our phone, but this machine makes the noise of a fan and drowns out a lot of noise we make in our apartment. 

Last but not least, my Lassig diaper bag – Love this! This was something I did a ton of research on because I didn’t want something super “momish”. I love all the pockets, the shoulder strap, and the color options.