Having twins is an absolute joy! However, it comes with a lot of extra responsibility, especially during the newborn stage.
As a twin mom myself I thought it would be super helpful to share my top newborn twin hacks that will make life with two newborns a little bit easier to handle. First, let’s get started discussing why implementing some unique hacks when you have twins is vital.
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Why It’s Important To Have Some Newborn Twin Hacks Up Your Sleeve
Handling two newborn babies is completely exhausting! Two of the biggest reasons for this is that there is no reliable schedule yet (meaning you will have lack of sleep) and you will feel like you are constantly feeding your babies around the clock.
Knowing some hacks specifically for twins will come in handy during the newborn stage and help you feel a little more organized. One way or another caring for two newborns is tough, but having a plan goes a long way in surviving this difficult (but also adorable and memorable) stage.
Top Newborn Twin Hacks and Tips
Here are my top 10 newborn twin hacks and tips for surviving life with twins during the first 6 weeks! I hope you find them helpful and can use them to make life a little easier.
1 – Start an Eat, Play, Sleep Routine (Work Towards Putting Your Twins on the Same Schedule)
During the newborn stage, your newborn twins schedule will not be reliable. However, there are things you can do to work towards putting your twins on the same schedule once they are capable of this, which will happen around 6 weeks-3 months.
One of the things that will help is to use an eat, play, sleep routine. To do this you start by feeding your babies right away when they first wake up for the day or when they wake up from a nap. Sometimes this will happen at the same time and sometimes it will not. You will not do this routine at nighttime when you are trying to sleep.
If both babies have been asleep for at least 45 minutes, you can try to wake up your baby that is still asleep and then feed your newborn twins at the same time. However, if it’s been shorter or if your baby just doesn’t want to get up yet, then you will only feed one of your twins at this time.
Next, once the feeding is over (about 30-60 min), you will change diapers, do tummy time, or just hang out until it’s time to go back to sleep. Keep in mind that play time lasts a very short time for newborns.
Finally, put your baby or babies back to sleep with a clean diaper, using a good swaddle, and comfortable sleeping environment. You will get more details on helping your twins sleep well in some of the hacks listed below.
Related: Track your newborn twins daily habits all on the same page with this printable tracker!
2 – Get a Twin Z Pillow
My absolute favorite twin feeding pillow is the Twin Z pillow. The Twin Z pillow will help you tandem feed your twins and a support pillow is especially useful for feeding during the newborn stage.
The reasons I recommend the Twin Z pillow over other twin feeding pillows is that you can use it to feed two babies whether you are breastfeeding or bottle feeding. Plus, as a bonus you can also use this pillow for your twins to lounge on. It’s versatility makes it a super useful item for twin parents.
3 – Master Tandem Feeding
One thing I was surprised to learn is that newborn twins will sometimes eat at the same time and sometimes not. I had always pictured feeding them simultaneously for every single feed. But as discussed, a newborn schedule is not predictable.
Regardless, there will be many times you feed your twins at the same time. It will be incredibly beneficial to become an expert in tandem feeding your newborn twins. I recommend checking out this article on how to feed twins at the same time, in order to learn all the ins and outs.
Finally, for more details on what to expect when feeding newborn twins, check out the following articles that will give you tips on the specific ways you intend to feed them.
- Breastfeeding Newborn Twins 101
- How To Master Bottle Feeding Twins
- How To Exclusively Pump for Twins
4 – Figure Out the Best Sleeping Arrangements
Having a good setup for your newborn twins to sleep goes a long way in helping your twins sleep well. Newborn twins might get comfort by sleeping next to one another, just as they were in the womb, I know my twins slept well this way.
On the other hand, they might disturb each other and you will want to separate them. Test out each option and see what works best. There are many different arrangement options including using a double twin bassinet, a twin playard, two single bassinets, and more.
You can check out this article on the best sleeping arrangements for newborn twins to learn details on all the different options you have. Figuring out and implementing the best sleeping arrangement for both your twins and your own convenience will help make things run a little bit more smoothly in your household.
5 – Use the 5 S’s for Sleep
One of the most important things I started doing with my twins as newborns was using the 5 S’s for baby sleep. I watched this video about how to implement the 5 S’s that someone had given to us as a present, and I found it so helpful. The two biggest lessons I learned from the 5 S’s were to swaddle very, very tightly (even if you think your baby doesn’t like swaddling) and to use a shushing noise to help your baby fall asleep.
I like the 5 S’s because you are given useful tools that you can use every time you are putting your baby down to sleep. It’s nice to have a plan that you can stick to, instead of feeling like you don’t know what to do or what to try to get your newborn to fall asleep.
6 – Get Extra Help
If you have family and friends offering to come help out, definitely accept it. And once your helpers are there and ready, be sure to have a list of things they can help with too. If you don’t give them things to do, they might end up being in the way and causing more stress rather than being able to do things like cook, clean, feed a bottle to your babies, or covering a night shit caring for your twins.
As a first time mom and as someone who had struggled to get pregnant, I carried a lot of guilt in allowing others to help. If I were to do it all over again, I would be more open to the help I was offered.
I had help from family at my house for the first month, but I did not always have a plan for what they could do or allow them to help when offered. In summary, I recommend setting up as much help as you can, having tasks for your helpers, and being sure to accept help when it’s offered.
Related: Hire a night nurse or other type of help on Care.com (we had great success using Care.com to hire the nannies that cared for our twins).
7 – Have a Plan For You and Your Partner to Sleep At Night
There are quite a few strategies twin parents use in order to get at least some sleep at night when their twins are newborns. One of the most popular is to take shifts at night, so you can each get a chunk of sleep.
Or, you can rotate who is in charge of the babies each night. Or, you can each be in charge of one baby each night. For all the details on strategies for caring for newborn twins at night check out this article on how to get sleep at night with newborn twins.
8 – Know What You Need & What You Don’t
With two babies you will have almost double the amount of baby gear. That’s why it’s important to be strategic with what you decide to purchase.
You don’t want to be overwhelmed with too much baby stuff, run out of space in your home, or have items you just never use and go to waste. For tips on the bare minimum must haves for newborn twins, check out this newborn twin essentials list.
While we’re discussing twin baby must haves, if you are currently pregnant with twins, you might be interested in these FREE Twin Pregnancy Checklists (which includes a twin baby registry checklist). You can get them now by clicking the button below!
9 – Use a Double Frame Stroller & Double Baby Carrier
One thing I would change with newborn twins is to get a double frame stroller instead of a double convertible stroller. The frame stroller is much, much lighter and easier to fold up.
We had decided to get the convertible stroller with the plan of using it for a longer period of time. But it turned out to be so bulky and heavy that we ended up purchasing a double side-by-side umbrella stroller once our twins were 6 months old and could sit up with support.
Additionally, if you think you will enjoy using a baby carrier, look into getting a double baby carrier. Personally, baby carriers were never my thing, but some parents can’t live without them. You can also read up on the different ways to carry twins at the same time, to add another newborn twin hack to your list.
10 – Use Pacifiers
I had one baby that was happy to use a pacifier and one that just didn’t seem to like them. One day my non-pacifier using newborn just wouldn’t and couldn’t calm down. I ended up finding any and all types of pacifiers we had acquired and gave her them until I found one that worked.
Will this method always work? Probably not, but it’s definitely worth a try. I found having the option to offer a pacifier to help your baby stop crying or to fall asleep to be a huge stress reliever.
Related: The Best Baby Pacifiers for Soothing & Comfort
I hope these newborn twin hacks make life with two newborns a little bit easier for you.
That’s a wrap on my top 10 newborn twin hacks. I hope you learned some new ideas that will simplify your life as a parent to newborn twins.
Remember, in the grand scheme of things the newborn stage is actually pretty short (only 6 weeks). Good luck – you’ve got this!
