Advice for Twins

User36750

We may be expecting twins.
Still very early days but through IVF (well, ICSI) and early scans, it's showing two babies.

We already have one toddler so have a lot of stuff (like clothes) and it's in our mind to have a tandem pram rather than side by side for ease of access.
However is there a car out there, that isn't ugly or a people carrier, that can take three car seats in the back?

Anything else we should be thinking about?

Sncjw

Think if you actually need two of everything. Big items like steriliser you may not need two of. 
.you could ofset the cost of stuff if family offer to buy big ticket items. You may get alot of clothing for gifts when babies are here. 

I always get bigger sizes for babies in the family as I think they get lots of newborn stuff so they will grow into it and use.  You could ask family for bigger sizes if you wanted to. But be wary that twins can be born early and be tiny and not fit into the clothes that match the season. 

Have a look at the sales at the moment for items like next and other clothing places.

Threebabes

My son and his partner had twins in September. They’ve got a double pram but they said it’s really long and partner is short. We paid for that. I would definitely try any potential prams out. My son bought two car seats and tried them in different cars. They’ve a 3 yr old toddler too. Toddler goes in middle seat.

They bought two cots, bouncy chairs, bath seats. They were 5 weeks early so tiny, so had to buy really small babygrows to fit them. 

They were exhausted but babies are starting to sleep better. They will bring you lots of joy. 

Cinders:

15 years ago I had 3 children in the large child car seats and changed cars to a VW Passat, as we found it to be the only one to accommodate the three seats comfortably. A very long time ago, but hope that helps.

Spendless

From memory though it's some years back I remember a post along these lines and a suggestion was to change the car seat instead there was one on the market back then that fitted  3 baby/toddler seats. 

Though we've 2 kids we frequently took my Nan on trips with us and found the only comfortable options were to have a 7 seater. I only found the SMax to have 3 full seats in the middle row. I still miss that now, as husband has a company car we change it every few years and when we went down to 5 seaters when the kids got older  still didn't find any with the seat size that the SMax had.  

If I can think of the poster's name on here that has 3 kids including set of twins I'll tag her for any suggestions.

ETA -  Remembered. Any suggestions @pinkshoes

Pollycat

User36750 said:

We may be expecting twins.
Still very early days but through IVF (well, ICSI) and early scans, it's showing two babies.

We already have one toddler so have a lot of stuff (like clothes) and it's in our mind to have a tandem pram rather than side by side for ease of access.
However is there a car out there, that isn't ugly or a people carrier, that can take three car seats in the back?

Anything else we should be thinking about?

I catch buses a lot and there's a young Mum with a side-by-side pushchair.
It can barely fit on the bus (too wide), she always looks stressed when getting on.

Spendless

Pollycat said:

User36750 said:

We may be expecting twins.
Still very early days but through IVF (well, ICSI) and early scans, it's showing two babies.

We already have one toddler so have a lot of stuff (like clothes) and it's in our mind to have a tandem pram rather than side by side for ease of access.
However is there a car out there, that isn't ugly or a people carrier, that can take three car seats in the back?

Anything else we should be thinking about?

I catch buses a lot and there's a young Mum with a side-by-side pushchair.
It can barely fit on the bus (too wide), she always looks stressed when getting on.

My sister had twins and bought a side by side rather than a tandem because she 'didn't want 1 twin looking at the back of the other's head'. I warned her not to because on of my friends had a year's gap between babies #2 & #3 and discovered a tandem was far better for going through things like shop doors. Sis ignored me however and discovered the hard way that I'd been correct! 

jackieblack

Spendless said

My sister had twins and bought a side by side rather than a tandem because she 'didn't want 1 twin looking at the back of the other's head'. 

I’m with your sister… I’ve never liked tandem prams.

The family/friends I know who have twins tend to favour a side by side pram fine for supermarkets and larger shops with automatic doors (I guess it depends on what sort of shops the parents have locally) or use a single pram plus a baby carrier. 

Congratulations OP 🙂

pinkshoes

My twins are now 7.

I had the Out and About Nipper pram (side by side) and as it is the same width as a wheelchair then no access issues. Babies can lie flat in it (so suitable from birth), and it also has a "seat" section on the front for a toddler to sit on if they are tired and don't want to walk! It is VERY easy to push with one hand so you have another hand free to hold a toddler's hand!

I took it on buses with no issues.

I had a Ford CMax (old style) which I must have fitted 3 seats across the back in. Just choose your seats carefully as some are VERY wide!

We also have a BMW 3 series which takes 3 seats across the back.

We didn't really buy or need a lot of stuff. They shared a cot bed until they were too big then had to go into the room next door as my bedroom wasn't big enough for 2 cots. 

When they were slightly bigger and able to sit up and cling, I had a sling/baby carrier and a hippychick hip seat for getting into nursery as I could then carry both twins at the same time with no need for a pram or carrying car seats! 

yellowbear

Mine are 17 now. My only advice re a side-by-side pram is to measure your front door! Nightmare when it's piddling down with rain and you have to take the babies in one-by-one because the door isn't wide enough.
Mine also shared a cot when they were tiny.
I didn't buy too much of anything - we got loads of clothes gifted. They didn't wear a lot of it as they out grew them. 
I cloth nappied so didn't have to worry about lots of nappies.

User36750

Pollycat said:

User36750 said:

We may be expecting twins.
Still very early days but through IVF (well, ICSI) and early scans, it's showing two babies.

We already have one toddler so have a lot of stuff (like clothes) and it's in our mind to have a tandem pram rather than side by side for ease of access.
However is there a car out there, that isn't ugly or a people carrier, that can take three car seats in the back?

Anything else we should be thinking about?

I catch buses a lot and there's a young Mum with a side-by-side pushchair.
It can barely fit on the bus (too wide), she always looks stressed when getting on.

Yeah, hence we're looking at a tandem one (one in front of the other) - NOT side by side.