Twin Recommendations: Gear and Essentials

Cribs for Twins

You can get away with both twins sleeping in the same crib for a couple of months. After that, you’ll need to move your babies to separate cribs.

We reused the crib our older two boys had used and purchased a new Storkcraft Crib to sleep the second baby. Our philosophy with cribs was to get something simple, sturdy, safe, and without a lot of frills. You may want to consider a convertible crib that will allow your twins to transition to a toddler bed which will use the same crib mattress. The Storkcraft crib has held up great especially considering that once our girls learned to jump, they have pounded the crib everyday at bed time and in the morning and the crib still held together.

Twin Car Seats

You’ll need two car seats, one for each twin. Don’t skimp or buy a used seat with an unknown history. Your twins need to be safe and comfortable.

While our twins were infants we used two Graco Car Seats simply because we already had them. These were good for carrying the baby into the store, church, or house while they were sleeping and not having to wake them up to move them. However, they quickly grew out of these car seats and we needed to upgrade.

We purchased two Britax Roundabout Convertible Car Seats that have performed very well. You can put your twins in them rear facing and then transition them to front facing after they turn one. Depending on how big your twins get, the Britax should last you until they are at least 2 years old if not longer.

We travel by air frequently, so we were motivated to by the Britax because it was more compact and considerably lighter than all of the other models on the floor. (Imagine one parent carrying two car seats and carryon bags through the airport while the other parent wrangles the twins. You’ll want seats as light as you can get!)

One other thing to consider when buying car seats is how easy the straps are to remove. Your twins will, at some point, vomit or have an accident while in their car seat, and removal of not only the seat cover but the straps as well will be important in the cleaning process.

High Chairs / Booster Seats

You don’t need high chairs for your twins. Instead, get booster seats and you’ll be able to use them a lot longer and save some money in the process.

We’ve used two Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seats for our twin girls and have loved them. They are easy to clean and are portable so we can take them to grandma’s house easily.

Twin Stollers

You will need two types of twin strollers depending on when your twins start sitting up.

We started with an inline Baby Trend Double Snap N Go Stroller Frame that let us snap in our Graco infant carriers. This was by far the single best purchase we made. It was a sanity saver and worked great until our babies got so long that one was kicking the other in the head.

You’ll need a side by side twin stroller to handle trips to the store, park, or even Disneyland once your twins are sitting up by themselves. We used the Jeep Wrangler Twin Sport All-Weather Umbrella Stroller everywhere from airports to dirt paths at the park. This stroller is rugged and sturdy enough to stand up to lots of use.

Books

These books have made my life as a father of twins infinitely easier than it would have been had I not read them:

I also wrote the book I wish I had when we were pregnant with twins. The Dad’s Guide to Twins book will help you survive the twin pregnancy and get ready for your twins’ arrival.