As a new parent people are going to tell you that you need a multitude of different things. I am here to tell you that you really don’t! Here is my break down of essentials that we used for the twins for the first 3 months of their lives.
Sleeping
For the 1st three months of your babies life, they are going to sleep, a lot! My kids lived in the PJ’s from Carters. I would do their wipe down and put a fresh diaper and PJ’s on them each night, so I did a lot of laundry. They are the best for when your babes are little and need that extra warmth.
My children would not sleep unless they were swaddled. When they came home from the hospital I swaddled with receiving blankets. My kids were preemies so they were very tiny and those fancy swaddles didn’t quite fit. As they grew, I loved the Swaddle Me brand, they are so easy to wrap and they Velcro, it takes the guess work out of wrapping your little one. Swaddles give your baby that extra layer of warmth and comfort that they crave when they are so little. It also keeps their startle reflex from waking them up.
In addition to swaddles I would also throw a blanket over them when they were napping. Now, I know this is not recommended but, my kids were always with in mine or my wife’s sight. They were so little and since they were swaddled they weren’t able to move the blanket anyway. I love these Aden and Anis muslin blankets they are warm and soft and perfect for a tiny baby.
Of course you have to have a place for your baby to sleep. I have two cribs but, when they first came home from the hospital I was not comfortable with them being so far away on the other side of the house. I purchased two Delta EZ Fold Travel Bassinets that were in our bedroom. One on either side of our bed so my wife and I could quickly and easily reach the babies if they needed us. Having our little ones right next to the bed was such a comfort since they were so little. It made those middle of the night feedings so much easier also.
Gear
People can go crazy on baby gear. As newborns, your babies don’t need a bunch of stuff. Honestly, they are happiest cuddled in your arms but, you can’t hold your babies 24-7 so, here are a few things that I loved when the twins were tiny.
A swing is pretty essential, it’s a comfortable and safe place to put them while you do other things. I was given a Ingenuity Swing that our kids loved. I used rolled up receiving blankets for positioning because the swing was very big compared to my mini babies and they would sleep for hours.
Boppy has a great line of products and one of their newest is the Boppy Lounger. I can not even tell you how amazing these were for us. Our kids lived in these things for the first month or so of their lives. As new parents to twins my wife and I were tired. We spent a lot of time relaxing in our own bed while the twins would sleep. We would set the loungers up in the bed with us and lay our swaddled bundles in them so we could all rest. Best invention ever!
One product that was great for days when I was by myself with a fussy baby was my Baby Katan. Being able to wear your unhappy baby is a life saver when you have things to do or just don’t want to hold your wee one all day. They get the comfort of being close to you while freeing up your hands to do other things. This is also a great solution for shopping by yourself with twins. You can wear one baby and put the other one in the infant carrier in your cart. It saved my life on busy days when I need to get shopping done but had both kids.
We were gifted two Ingenuity Automatic Bouncers. These things are awesome!! When your babies are small and get comfort from the movement but, are not strong enough to bounce themselves, this works perfect. My little ones would doze in this while it bounced away. Now that they are bigger and can kick and bounce themselves I put the bounce setting on low or just turn it off completely and use them as manual bouncers.
Feeding
As newborns the only feeding that you will be doing with your little one is from your breast or a bottle. I tried to breast feed but, it never really worked. My supply was low and my kids didn’t latch great. I always had to supplement with formula and once that became their main source of nutrition I stopped breast feeding and pumping all together. I decided while I was pregnant, that I was going to invest in a bunch of bottles that were made to be like Mom’s breast so that I could easily breast and bottle feed. Let me tell you, my kids hated them, like epic fail, hated them. When they were in the NICU the bottles that we used had long fat nipples, and that’s what we were using at home until they started taking more milk. Luckily I had a few Avent bottles that had similar nipples. We started using those and the babies took to them pretty well, so we stuck with it. We use the Avent Anti-colic bottles now and they work great! I have used Dr. Browns bottles in the past with my nephew and while they work really well, they are a pain to clean.
Bath Time
My kids have always loved bath time. As newborns we bathed them a couple time a week and just did wipe downs in between. I started out using Johnson and Johnson’s Cotton Touch Newborn wash and lotion. While this stuff smelled amazing it tore my sweet little girls skin up. We found out that she has eczema and she just did not tolerate all the perfume in the Johnson and Johnson products. My pediatrician recommended Dove Baby and after some research I found that their sensitive line is suitable for eczema prone skin. I started using that in combination with Eucerin Original Healing lotion and my daughters skin cleared right up.
Another product that we use every single day are hooded towels. It’s so nice to wrap your little one in a towel with a hood as soon as they come out of the bath. It keeps them nice and warm, dry’s their little skin almost immediately and they sure look cute!! We also have a ton of washcloths. I have found that I don’t use them as much right now, I just wash them with my soapy hands, but I’m thinking as my kids get older and can sit up in the tub with out the baby bath we will use them to start teaching them how to bathe themselves.
Diapering
There are quite a few options out there for diapers. I use Pampers Swaddlers as well as Pampers Baby Dry most of the time. They are so soft and we hardly ever have leaks. I tried Huggies, Honest, Parents Choice, and Up And Up. Pampers is by far my favorite. I used Pampers Sensitive Wipes for the most part as well but, to be honest, I used many different wipes and they were all pretty good. I was given a ton of Water Wipes from the hospital and I liked them. Pampers Aqua Pure is very similar and they are good to. I was not a big fan of parents choice wipes because I thought they were a little dry. I liked the Seventh Generation Wipes, they are nice and thick and very damp. I have also used Huggies Natural Care and they are nice as well.
I tried Desitin and Boudreaux’s Butt Paste for diaper rash and honestly they didn’t protect they way I had hoped. I noticed that Aquaphor Baby claimed to relieve diaper rash with in 6 hours. I tried it and it cleared the redness right up. Once our little ones started sleeping though the night I began to slater their little butts in Aquaphor with their bedtime diaper change. They occasionally had a little redness here and there but, the Aquaphor kept them protected.
When it comes to caring for you babies there are a ton of options out there and none of them are wrong, it all depends on what works for you. I hope you enjoyed this post and I have given you a few ideas to consider. Thank you for visiting and I hope you will come back again soon!
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