Fertility Friends Support Forum banner

setting up a nursery for twins

1 reading
2.4K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  maybe-if  
#1 ·
Hallo all
I now have 23 month old twins and it seems to be getting more tiring!!!Anyway the reason I need your advice is I am also a parent volunteer for BLISS who supported me through some rocky times when my girls were born 8 weeks early and were in separate hospitals.They have asked me to write a piece for their mag Little Bliss on what you need to set up a nursery for twins, esp as so many are born early and when partners are sent out to get the stuff they tend to get it wrong!If you have any suggestions of what to include I would be so grateful as I am not a writer by any means but want to give a bit back to the organisation who helped me so much
Any words of wisdom gratefully appreciated
Anna (whose braincells seem to be depleted by  sleep deprivation/lots of pinot grigio!)x ::)
 
#2 ·
My two are 22 months and were 9 weeks early too :)

here are my nursery tips
DO NOT buy tutti bambini double cot as the craftmanship is rubbish and also when they get to a certain age they bother each other through the bars.
Ours slept in the same side of the cot for a while, we could not bear to separate them.
We invested in a great changing table/bath/storage thing and it has been amazing - would not be without it, very sore back.
Invest in a love nest pillow if concerned about flat head syndrome.
Have a timer/thermostat heater in the nursery to set temp and individ heat in the room, esp when main house heating goes off.
Invest in a monitor which shows the room temp too.
We were extravagant and go a camera in the room (we have them all over the place bit like BB) ;D
Ours were in the nursery from day one, we never had them in our room.
Get some black out blinds - esp good for light mornings/nights and helps keep the warm in during the winter.
VERY IMPORTANT - set up a dimmer light switch so you can have a very low light for feeds etc.
Chair is a good idea so night feeds can be done in the nursery to encourage dream feeds and help through the night sleeping.
Have everything to hand in the nursery - nappies, wipes, change of clothes, extra blankets. but i never had the bottles or bottle warmer in the nursery - always went to the kictehn.

hope that helps - i love my nursery and the way it has changed as they have grown - it is a very special little place

 
#3 ·
We've not got our twins yet but we're all set up and ready to go, based on what I've read from other people on this site and elsewhere.

We decided to invest in cotbeds as although it's a bit more expensive, it lasts for longer. This meant we wanted good quality mattresses for them to last 5-6 years of use.
One thing we've found is twins stuff takes up a LOT of room so always think of space saving ideas. I love those Ikea canvas hanging storage things for wardrobes, it adds to your shelf space. It does depend whether the babies will go in with you or not though and if you have room for a cot bed in your room.

Try and visualise the nursery as something that will be a toddler's room soon. So we've avoided the more baby-ish decorations and gone for decoration that will last until they are a bit older as well. Babies don't stay babies for long.

Blokes definitely need to check clothing sizes before they buy. Tiny and early baby can be different. Newborn is smaller than 0-3 months. And shops vary in sizes too, so an early baby in one shop will be bigger than a newborn in another! Just to confuse you further, some baby clothes will shrink in the wash. :)

A vibrating baby bouncer and/or swing can be fab to distract one baby when you are dealing with the other.

Think about your lifestyle too, what are you short of - time, money or space? And then try and plan accordingly. Cheap places to buy baby stuff include ASDA, Tesco, Matalan, Primark. Ebay is also fab. The only second hand things you should avoid are car seats and cot/moses basket mattresses.

Amazon is excellent for reviewing more technical baby gadgets such as baby listening monitors, as you can find out what's good and what's rubbish based on other parents experiences.

www.kiddicare.com also has a lot of product reviews by customers on their site.

[I gotta admit, I'd hate to leave it all to DH. Shopping has been half the fun so we risked it and bought everything early (tags left on everything though!). :)]