Expecting twins? Congratulations! Twins are certainly a handful, but also double the joy. You’ve come to the right place to learn everything you need to know about caring for newborn twins. Hopefully this guide will help make those first few months with twins a little easier!
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What you really need for newborn twins
Before your twins even come home from the hospital, you will want to make sure you are prepared with everything you need to care for newborn twins. Keep in mind you won’t necessarily need two of everything. For some things such as infant swings and baby loungers, you might want to get just one and wait and see if they like it before getting two. All babies are different, so you really won’t know what works and what doesn’t until your twins are home!
Pro tip – you will see a lot of gear created especially for twins. For many of these, it’s better to just get two single items rather than a twin one. The resale is better, the item will be less bulky, and if you have a singleton later on you will be able to reuse one of the items.
Here is my list of everything you will want to have ready before your twins are born:
- Two infant car seats – installed and ready to go
- Twin stroller – preferably one that you can just put the infant bucket seats into – such as the Baby Trend Snap N Go Universal Double Stroller Frame.
- Twin baby carrier or wrap. I highly recommend the Weego Twin Baby Carrier because it can be used with newborns as small as 4 lbs! Or if you want a baby carrier that can be used for skin to skin – I really loved the Twin Skin-to-Skin Cami & Bandeau Set by Vija Designs!
- Two bassinets – this will make your life so much easier. If you get a twin bassinet and they end up not sleeping well together then you are stuck. With two separate bassinets, you can always push them together for your twins to be close, but you will be able to move them apart if you need to. I used the Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper Bassinet for all of my babies.
- Twin Z Pillow – even if you don’t plan to nurse your twins, this is really a great spot for your babies to hang out together and even nap if you are in the room. If you don’t plan to nurse, you can also get 2 Boppy Newborn Loungers. I had both!
- Two infant seats. Again, I don’t recommend just getting one double seat meant for twins. There will be times only one twin needs to be in an infant seat, and having two separate ones is just easier to manage and less bulky. Get two different styles and your babies can switch to look at different toys and alleviate boredom.
- Hospital grade double breast pump (unless you don’t plan to nurse).
- Lots of bottles – you can’t have too many because finding time to wash bottles with newborn twins is HARD
- If you plan to use pacifiers – get a lot of those too! They get lost so easily. There are many many styles of pacifiers, but all 3 of my babies preferred the MAM pacifiers.
- Diaper bag – you will want a large one that can fit double the stuff! I really love the Baby K’Tan diaper bags!
- Swaddle sacks – much easier than swaddling with a blanket. They make them for all seasons so even if your twins are due during the warmer months, I still recommend these.
- Zip up or side snap clothing – so much easier to dress newborns in since you don’t have to pull anything over their heads.
- Diaper pail or 2 – you just won’t have time to be bagging up and carrying out every single soiled diaper
- Lots of diapers!
- Pack N Play with bassinet attachment – keep this in your main living area for a safe place to put your twins when you need to get stuff done. Also a great place to change them.
- Bibs – save yourself from multiple outfit changes a day by using bibs to catch the drool and spit up
- Baby bather that fits in the sink. You really only need one – it’s just easier to bathe them separately.
- Infant swing. Some babies don’t really like these, so you might want to wait and see if your babies like them first before getting 2. Mine did, and it really helped having 2. They often napped in them next to each other. Just don’t get them TOO used to napping in them, or nap times might be a struggle once they outgrow the swings.
- White noise machine. This is a must if you have other kids or dogs that bark or anything that might wake your babies up. Newborns will sleep through anything the first few weeks, but eventually they start getting disturbed by noises and it helps to have a white noise machine to drown out the sound.
For more on this topic, check out my article Twin Baby Products – Must Have Items for Twins
Newborn Twins Sleeping Arrangements
Decide how you plan to tackle this well before you bring your twins home from the hospital. Will you have them both in your room with you? If not, will they be in one room together or two separate rooms? Will you have them in one bassinet or crib together, or two separate ones?
No matter what you decide, remember that you might change your mind once your twins come home and you get into your routine.
My suggestion is for at least the newborn stage, keep them in two separate bassinets in your bedroom. This will allow you to sleep better at night, especially if you are nursing. It’s also safer for them. Pediatricians recommend that newborns and infants sleep in the same room as their parents in a crib or bassinet. They also recommend that twins sleep separately.
This doesn’t mean your twins have to be totally separate. Put them in two separate bassinets and push them together. If you really do want them to sleep together, a pack n play with the bassinet attachment should be large enough. The risk is that if they move around at night, one could end up accidentally smothering the other twin. I didn’t want to risk this, but I know many twins sleep better together.
For more on this topic – check out my article on newborn twins sleeping arrangements.
Feeding
This is another thing that you would do well to decide on before your twins are actually born. If you plan to breastfeed your twins, you will need a lot of support. It can be difficult to exclusively breastfeed twins, but it’s not impossible. And while some moms who decided to use formula and then change their minds later are still successful, it’s easier to just start off nursing right from birth.
Many twin moms decide to breastfeed and supplement with formula. This takes some of the pressure off while still allowing you to have that nursing bond and give your baby the breastmilk that is so good for them. This is what I did with my twins. Roughly 50% breastfeeding and 50% formula. My pediatrician had to remind me that formula is not poison! It’s perfectly fine to give to your baby, and it does not make you a bad mom!
If you plan to do any breastfeeding at all, you will want to get the hang of tandem nursing as soon as possible. It’s not easy, and I have to admit I didn’t really like it. You can check out my post on tandem breastfeeding twins – the good and the bad. Like it or not though, as a nursing twin mom, it’s a necessary skill that you will want to learn. It will save you time overall, and even if you try to feed them separately, there will be times they are both hungry and you can’t just let one cry when your other breast is available.
This is another reason why pumping or feeding 50% formula really helps. If you don’t like tandem nursing, you can nurse one while the other gets a bottle, and then switch at the next feeding. This is especially helpful if you have another adult around to feed the other twin. If not, I suggest getting a bottle prop. I normally wouldn’t recommend this for feeding a newborn – but a twin mom’s gotta do what a twin mom’s gotta do!
Related – Twin Mom Hacks – 50 Top Tips from Twin Parents!
Bathing Newborn Twins
Eventually you are going to need to give your newborn twins baths. Fortunately, this is a pretty quick process with newborns. With twins though, as with most things, it can be a bit more difficult.
Those first few weeks you really don’t need to give them an actual bath. A quick sponge bath is enough for tiny newborns who get cold easily. I would just lay my newborn on a folded towel near the sink and wipe them down with a bit of soap in a washcloth. Then rinse them off with a wet washcloth and boom, the bath is done! Just don’t let go of your baby while you do this, as even a tiny newborn can roll off a counter.
Bath time with twins is one of those times where having two little infant seats comes in handy. My advice is to get everything set up first, including towels, change of clothes, baby bather, washcloths, baby wash, etc. Hopefully you can do this in your kitchen sink to start. If not, get it set up in your bathroom.
Bathe one baby while the other waits in the infant seat nearby. Bathe the other baby, get them dried and dressed, then put them in the second infant seat. Now repeat with baby #2.
Eventually when your twins get bigger, you might want to bathe them in the tub at the same time. This can be fun, but if no other adult is around to help, it can also be more difficult. You don’t want to leave one unattended in the tub while you dry and change the other. At the same time, if you take them both out together, it can be hard getting them both dried, rubbed with lotion if needed, changed, etc. at the same time.
Schedule
Most twin moms swear by getting your twins on a schedule as soon as possible. I’m not a big schedule person, but having some sort of plan and rhythm to your days as a newborn twin parent will definitely make life a little easier.
This means that you should aim to do things around the same time each day, in the same order. Get up together then feed or nurse the babies. Change them and get them settled. Eat some breakfast, make coffee, whatever you like to do in the morning. Get them ready for naps at the same time. You babies will get used to the rhythm and expect things to happen at certain times.
Those first few weeks this will be hard, as newborns sleep A LOT and not necessarily in any regular pattern. They also need tons of diaper changes. If you are nursing on demand, they may want to cluster feed sometimes, which can be hard to plan for.
Still, setting some sort of loose schedule for your days will help. As the weeks go on, your babies will start to learn the pattern and become more predictable – which is a good thing for you!
Diapers/Changing
This one goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Two babies means twice the diapers and twice the diaper changes. That means twice the smelly dirty diapers as well.
Whether you plan to use disposable or cloth diapers (or a combination of the two) be prepared to go through a lot of diapers.
You will also have a lot of dirty diapers to throw away, and you don’t want your house to smell like baby poop. What works well for us is using the diaper pail only for poopy diapers. We throw the wet diapers in the regular trash and save the diaper pail with its expensive liners for the poop. Having only one diaper pail for twins means we empty it regularly, and it makes sense to save it for the diapers that smell bad.
You could also get two diaper pails and put all the diaper in them. You just don’t want to leave diapers in there too long or it will start to smell no matter what type of diaper pail you have.
Nursery Setup for Twins
Most parents who are having their first baby spend a lot of time planning and decorating the nursery. Usually I would say this isn’t really necessary. My advice is to keep your baby in your room for at least the first six months, so a nursery isn’t really necessary right away.
Twins just make everything a little more difficult. When you are expecting twins, you need to think down the road to whether or not you are going to want your twins to share a room, and for how long. Even if you keep them in your room for the first six months – that time goes by quickly. If you have only one room for them to share, you will want to take this into account from the start.
If they are going to share a room, the other big decision you need to make is will they share a crib. Many many twin parents have their babies share a crib and it works out fine. If this is your plan, you might want to decide that early on. If you start them off in their own separate bassinets, it might be hard to get them to sleep together in a crib. On the other hand, if they start off sharing a sleeping space, it could be difficult to separate them down the road.
This also depends somewhat on whether or not your twins are the same or opposite sex. Same sex twins could feasibly share the same room for their whole childhood, while boy/girl twins might need their own rooms sooner.
Getting enough sleep with newborn twins
This one is hard for most new parents, but it can be especially hard for twin parents. It’s important to get enough sleep to be able to function and take care of your babies. Although the first few weeks and even months will be hard, you don’t need to settle for being a walking zombie every day. There are many different ways to ensure that you get some quality sleep.
One idea is to take turns with your partner. Some twin parents split up the week and take turns on night duty. This works well for formula fed babies, or for moms who pump and have expressed milk to use during the night.
Another option, especially good for nursing moms, is to have your partner handle the nighttime diaper changes and let you handle the feeding. I suggest having your babies in the same room with you to allow for the least amount of nighttime interruption possible.
Another helpful tip is to give each other one day a week to sleep in. Just one day a week where you don’t have to get up with the babies in the morning is important for your sanity and can really help. Get to bed early as well, even if you don’t want to. Going to bed when your babies go to bed will help you in those first few weeks. Eventually you will be getting more sleep and can afford to stay up later and catch up on housework or enjoy some alone time.
Don’t despair – the sleep deprivation that happens with newborn twins will not last forever. After a few months you babies will be sleeper longer stretches at night and so will you!
Keeping your house in order
This is a tough one with kids in general, but those first few months with newborn twins can make it look like a tornado came through your home. The added stress of knowing how much housework you are neglecting can really take a toll.
If you have the extra money, I really suggest hiring someone to come clean your house. It’s pretty easy to find someone who is reasonably priced. It’s a good idea to check out your local Facebook group and ask about it. Having someone come once a week, every two weeks, or even once a month to tackle the big things can really save your sanity.
Even if you can’t hire someone or don’t want to, there are many other ways to keep your house in some semblance of order. One thing I like to do is set a timer every day. No matter how many minutes you can spare – 5, 10, 20, even 30, will make a difference. Set the timer and do as much cleaning up as you can in that time. If you have someone to pitch in and help, even better!
You also need to give yourself a break and let some of the housework go, at least for now. Lighten up on some of the cleaning tasks that are less important. Your windows can have fingerprints, your counters can be cluttered, your shower doesn’t really need to be cleaned as often. Let some of it go to save yourself some stress.
Getting help from others
I’m definitely not the kind of person that is comfortable asking others for help. Sometimes it’s hard to admit that you need help. When caring for newborn twins, some extra help can be wonderful.
I’m not suggesting you let your mother-in-law move in for the first three months. That type of situation is often more stress than it’s worth. However, having a friend or relative who can come help for a couple of hours during the day can be wonderful. Many moms use this time for a nap. If you aren’t comfortable with that, you can use the time to catch up on housework, or even just to relax.
While you are pregnant with your twins, you will probably get lots of offers of help. When your twins are born, you might not hear from anyone! This is what happened to me, and I wish I had held some of those people accountable. Maybe they were just waiting for me to reach out and ask. I wish I had. So make sure to nicely remind your friends and family of their offers to help!
If you have no one who is able to help, perhaps you can spare some money to hire a babysitter or mother’s helper. Just having some extra hands for a couple hours can really make a difference!
Keeping your relationship strong
I don’t mean to scare anyone, but having kids can take a toll on even the strongest relationships. Having newborn twins takes this to a whole new level. As easy as it is to let your relationship take a back seat during this time, I urge you not to let that happen. You will need your partner now more than ever. You need each other to lean on when times get tough, and you need to work together to make sure everyone is getting what they need. This is not the time to ignore your relationship.
If you don’t believe me, watch my video on how having twins affected my marriage. If I could go back and do things differently I definitely would. Make time for yourself as a couple even when you think you don’t have time. Make sure you are connecting, and not just about the kids.
If you feel that you are having trouble connecting, seek help sooner rather than later. I bit of counseling from a trained professional isn’t a bad thing. There are even online counseling sites and apps now, so you don’t have to go anywhere.
Conclusion
Having twins is not going to be easy, but it can be loads of fun! Try to enjoy it as much as you can, even on the hard days. Before your know it, your tiny little newborns will turn into crazy toddlers running around and causing trouble all over your house! Mine are 18 months old now, and if they saw me trying to type this article they would be climbing over me and onto my desk!
Even though it’s hard at first, eventually you will find your new normal. Having twins really is a wonderful blessing Try not to lose sight of that in those first few crazy weeks and months.
