Are you overwhelmed by the crazy amounts of baby gear out there? Will it work for you and your little ones? Are you also seriously annoyed that there are hardly ANY products for multiples? What are the must-have items that I’ll need? I was/am too. While moms of singletons have about 2 million different stroller options to choose from, Moms of Multiples are very limited to what will fit all of our littles and their junk yet still light and small enough to lift and fit into a car. It is maddening that our only option is to turn into the Incredible Hulk just to be able to take our kids to the grocery store for formula. Okay… for wine. Lots and lots of wine. I kid (mostly).
Myself and hundreds of other Moms of Multiples are constantly discussing what works and what doesn’t in any situation and at any life-stage you could thing of. We have been forced to get creative and often on a budget. Let’s just say Macgyver could learn a thing or two from us. These are some of the items that have kept us sane (that’s a stretch) and we could NOT have lived without: *Most of these items are for years 0-2 so if you have a specific age and issue you are trying to work out, contact me and I’ll help you figure it out. Happy shopping!
1) Bottle Snugglers Bottle Props
This product only applies, obviously, to babies that are bottle fed. I know, I know. You are gasping with disgust that I would even mention bottle-propping. Trust me, you will thank me later. The reason bottle-propping is a huge no-no in the parenting world is because that usually insinuates that you are propping a bottle to your baby so you can do something else, right? With multiples: wrong! While I don not recommend bottle propping at all until you are confident that the baby can turn his/her head easily, once they can drink fairly well, this product is a must. With multiples, you have babies that are often hungry and eating at the same time. There is nothing worse than having multiple hungry babies and you just physically can’t feed them all at once.
With a prop, YOU CAN! It’s not like you are propping and then going to take a shower, you are propping to feed multiple babies at once! They eat and you closely monitor.
There are lots of other brands of bottle props out there if you look. Lots of MoMs make their own or just used towels/etc. There are some types that are plastic holders or ones that hang from the car seat handlebar, but I found these particular ones amazing because 1) they are stuffed animals so the babies loved them and felt comforted by them, 2) they are machine washable, and 3) they have a velcro strap that you can tightly adjust around the bottle to keep it in place.
2) Dream On Me Mini Crib
You’ve had your nursery room envisioned in your head for years and have a Pinterest board dedicated just for your ideas, right? Now, you are trying to figure out how to fit more than one crib in that tight room and it’s leaving you scratching your head… and belly. Have you looked at the dimensions of a crib? They are HUGE! Now, I am terrible at math but I do feel as though I am a master at Tetris. I can pack a car or suitcase with every square millimeter utilized to its full potential. Full-size cribs were really cramping my style (and wallet!). The answer for us? Mini cribs. They are affordable, light, and really nice to look at. It has three mattress positions so you don’t kill your back when they are infants but can lower it as they grow and keep them from crawling out.
All of the reviews on this crib boast about its design and safety. My trio is almost 2 and are all still sleeping in these cribs. There are two mattress options that I found and these are sold as “portable crib” mattresses: one that is 3 inches thick and one the is 5 inches thick. I found the 5 in mattress to be perfect, safe, and comfortable. Even with the thicker mattress, standard “portable crib” sheets and pads fit perfectly.
3) Baby Brezza Formula Pro
This is the Keurig machine for formula. Seriously. Put the powder formula in the top compartment, water in the side, and a perfect temperature bottle is instantly made with the simple push of a button. When you ask people about his machine they will either say 1) I’ve never heard of it, 2) I’ve never used it, but I heard they are faulty and not worth the money, or 3) I absolutely could not live without this! I will answer #3 and stand up for this product until the cows come home.
I have heard that this machine can sometimes make the formula incorrectly (too thick or too watered down) but I have yet to experience it. There are certain settings you have make sure are correct for the type/brand of formula you are using so I suspect a lot of these issues are because the users aren’t following the instructions. People also tend to look down on it because of the amount of cleaning it requires. “Cleaning” mine consists of just wiping the crusted formula off of the spout every 4 bottles or so (it tells you when to clean). It takes about 10 seconds.
In my opinion, it is INCREDIBLY low maintenance and worth every bit of cleaning for the time it saves. Most importantly, when you have more than one baby crying at 3:00am, ain’t nobody got time to warm up a bottle on the stove! This nifty little machine does it for you in seconds! Many MoMs swear by mixing pitchers, which I tried as well, and pre-made their formula for the following day. My thing: it’s not the mixing that’s difficult, it’s the WARMING. If more than one of your babes are on the same formula, this is a MUST.Heck, I even know triplet moms that had all three of their babies on three different formulas and STILL got three Baby Brezza machines for each. It’s THAT amazing.
4) Baby Care Play Mat
Can you hold more than one baby all day? Maybe….. but even if you could, that’s not ideal for you or your little ones! When they aren’t in your arms, you’ll need somewhere safe they can do what babies do and encourage rolling, crawling, standing and walking. I’ve tried the puzzle-piece mats that every crumb and drop of spit-up seem to seek out the creases find and make them home. Every other mat I tried either tore apart, warped, stained, or was too thin to protect anything from tumbles. That’s when other triplet moms turned me to the Baby Care Mat. At first I thought they were crazy to spend that kind of money on a mat. I can tell you that I now own three of them and they still look and function the same in the two years I’ve had them. And trust me, we USED them!
It is one mat so you can easily roll it up and move it from room to room. Unlike the popular puzzle mats you have to take apart to move. They are all double-sided so you can rotate between the beautiful patterns. They are waterproof and super easy to clean. And, if you’re into this type of stuff, it’s BPA Free, EVA Free, Phthalate Free, Lead Free, Latex Free, Formaldehyde Free, and Mercury Free. …YES! Take my money!
5) North States Superyard
This gate is the perfect addition to the Baby Care Mat. It’s freestanding and is easy to fold up for storage. It is really sturdy due to it its self-locking panel positions. This item comes in many different sizes for what you need. There is a 6 panel with an access door, an 8 panel, a deluxe 12-panel with access door, access door (with 2 panels), and 2-panel additions. They are all compatible with each other so you can mix and match to get what will work for you! I wanted to put gates in multiple places of my home so I also ordered the several different options. I use it free-standing like shown in the ad, but I also attached it to walls to gate off areas of house. See how I used it for my “Baby Jail” here.
6) Bouncers
This item is one that I could NOT have survived triplets without! All three of my babies LOVED these. They would drink all of their bottles in them, kick and play in them, and even fall asleep in them. I ended up ordering one for each once I found out that they adored these so much! I would set all three on the floor in front of my while I sat on the couch and bounce the seats. In fact, this is the way I “rocked” them to sleep every night! Absolute essential! (See my Mom Hack on this item here to see how I would bounce all three at once!)
7) Portable Booster
These compact little chairs are not only adorable, but they are SO HANDY! The fold up to nothing and are great to keep in your car! This chair has a tray that is easy to attach and clean (dishwasher safe!), 3-point safety harness, compact carrying case, AND straps to turn it from a chair, to a booster you can strap to any chair! Summer Infant has knocked this one out of the park! I started using these the second my trio could sit up pretty well unassisted and have used them more than almost any baby item I have! When I purchased these they came in only green/black or pink/white colors but now there are lots of other cute colors to choose from!
8) Pea Pods
You’ve been cooped up for too long! Are the babies getting to the age where you’re comfortable to start venturing out into the world? GOOD! It’s important to make sure the babies fit into YOUR lifestyle and not the other way around. But what now? Where to go? What to do? If you are going somewhere that may require an overnight stay, don’t worry! These Pea Pods are amazing and so practical for multiples!
Whether you’re going to the beach, park, or hotel, these will be and essential item to pack. Many of my mom friends laugh at me when they have their kids over and I tell them to bring a pack-n-play because I do not even own one. Not one! Why? They are HUGE, heavy, and nowhere that I go can fit THREE of them! These pods fold up, they weigh next to nothing, have a cushioned bottom that snaps on and off, and have vents, windows, and doors just like a tent! They are comfortable for my babies and SAFE! They have even anchors to attach to the ground if needed. I have stayed in several small hotel rooms and RVs and there is always space for three of these.
9) Jumpers
What else can I say? If this product didn’t exist, I’m not certain I would have made it. My husband would probably be feeding me apple sauce in some institution right now had they not. Once my babies were almost sitting unassisted, I got one of these to try out. They were absolutely obsessed! I got a second. Then, immediately got the third so they each had one. Now, I feel like I may have heard or read that these aren’t good for development or something (I could be wrong)? So, do your research and make your own decision.
All three of mine loved to jump and laugh in these for hours if they could. I started to call these the “pre-nap/bedtime staging area” because when they would start to get crabby and tired, I would just toss them into one of these bad boys. 99.9% of the time I would look minutes later and they were all asleep in them. It looked terribly uncomfortable to sleep in so I did move them to their cribs once they were asleep. It was heaven. We only recently got rid of these (1.5 years old) once they started to tip them over. When you can’t physically rock all three to sleep at once, this did it for us. Worth every penny.
10) Silicone Bibs
Cloth bibs= no bueno. There’s so much mess, mold, and you name it that gets on bibs and STAYS on bibs no matter how much you wash them. And who wants to deal with more laundry, right? Who wants to conserve water and help the planet? Once I got these, I tossed all the cloth bibs out (okay…I donated!) and just had one bib per baby. ONE!
These are 100% silicone so they are super easy to clean. Once mealtime is over, simply rinse them off under the sink and wash with soapy water at the end of the day. Done! There is even a handy pocket at the bottom that keeps the spills contained instead of all over your baby and floor!
11) Rock-n-Plays
I have to admit, it almost didn’t add this item to the list. I know lots and lots of other moms, singleton and/or multiples, that never needed or wanted this. I also know now that these may have exacerbated a lot of the head-shape issues my kids had and wore helmets to correct. My pediatrician at the time said they were great… especially for premature babies because of the reflux issues they often have. Ask your doctor what he/she thinks about them and if they are okay to use.
My three all had tight neck muscles (called torticollis) which is common in multiples and babies that spend a long time in the NICU. Fun fact according to NICU nurses and doctors: for many NICU babies, the tightening will be much heavier on the right side making the baby’s head turn to or favor the right. This is usually caused because most nurses/doctors are right-handed and tend to the baby’s isolet on the right side….so, the babies often will loosen the left muscles by turning towards that warm voice they hear so often and, by doing so, make the right muscles more tight.
Bottom line: these were still a MUST for me. It helped with their reflux immensely, the rocking motion helped them fall asleep and stay asleep, and they are pretty compact and east to take with you. I’ll be real: I literally burned out the motor on 2/3 of them because we used them that much. THAT’S a good product!
12) Boppy Pillows
This one is one that I am in the minority when it comes to the opinion of Moms of Multiples. I would say at least 90% of all of us have these and can’t live without them. I made sure to put three on my registry because of this. For us, they were great for the newborn stage, but none of my three loved these. I guess they preferred to be manually bounced in a bouncer. Pshhhh.
These are for sure the go-to item for moms of multiples and singletons alike. They are great for snoozing, feeding, and tummy time. And in my case, they also make amazing dog beds!
13) Portable Playard
I take this EVERYWHERE. When you are outnumbered, you need a place to put them! This playard is light, easy to set up, and works for so many different occasions. Ive taken it to restaraunts, the beach, BBQs, friend’s houses…you name it! This particular one is 6 panels and many of the triplet moms found this to be too small for their trio once they started getting bigger. I agree that it is a bit tight now that they are almost 2. This was such a great option compared to other playards because of the canaopy option. The ability to have shade is a MUST for me! The most popular other one is the Regalo 8-panel playard. It’s quite a bit bigger but is set up exactly the same. There was no shade option for this one, which is why I didn’t buy it at first. BUT, Regalo JUST came out with their “delux” version…meaning they now have a canopy! You can find it here. Warning: they do not sell the canopy separately! Make sure the get the one that includes it because you can’t go back and order it separately!
14) Wagon
Sometimes a stroller is just too much of a pain in the butt with multiples! What doorway will I be needing to fit through? What car configuration am I going to need to set up? Sometimes a wagon is the perfect fix for outings! I use my triple Radio Flyer everywhere! In fact, myself as well as many other triplet moms don’t even use strollers anymore. I find the wagon is much easier except for long outings. The other popular options: 1) Step2 Choo Choo wagon that you can attach up to 5 “trailers” (add-on trailers here). MoMs like this option because each baby can have their own space… which means less fighting. Wahoo! I didn’t g this route because theres no shade and this tends to be an attention-getter. 2) Keenz Stroller Wagon is awesome for so many reasons. Mainly because it folds up so it doesn’t take up so much precious cargo space and you can add a harness to it to make it a three-seater! (Find the harness here and the harness liner here)
Make sure to check out local consignment stores! You’re bound to find some of these items in great condition. That is the MUST-have list for now. I’ll be updating it as I try out new things and enter different stages. These items WILL make life for you a lot easier!
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