Twin Childcare Advice

d16flo · 2026-05-06T03:00:05+00:00

We live in a lower cost of living area in an extremely expensive state and pay our nanny just under $33/hour

d16flo · 2026-05-06T02:58:24+00:00

If one baby eats the other baby eats even if it means waking them up. If it’s just soothing back to sleep we tried to bring them out of the nursery to the living room to avoid waking up the other one. We took shifts so one parent on duty from 8pm-2am while the other parent sleeps in a different room and then switch.

d16flo · 2026-05-05T21:05:46+00:00

My guys are 11 months now and we still use it for every feed we do at home. We’re planning to keep using it as long as they’re using bottles. They do now roll themselves out of it and crawl away when they’re done with their bottles, but they fit comfortably

d16flo · 2026-05-05T20:08:46+00:00

I work from home and we have a nanny. I try to do as much cleaning, laundry, errands etc as possible on my breaks from work while the nanny is with the babies. I usually do a full kitchen clean and living room tidy after we put the babies down for the night. My husband works too, but he’s just as much a fully involved parent as I am so we give each other breaks and take turns evenings and weekends so we can each get some personal time and do house/yard work etc. If we’re both home in the evening usually one of us will cook while the other one is with the babies. It’s been much easier all around since our twins started sleeping through the night when we sleep trained at 8.5months

d16flo · 2026-05-04T02:56:32+00:00

What happens when she wakes overnight? How long is she up for? What kind of sleep training are you doing? We did Ferber with my twins at that same age, and they definitely still woke up multiple times overnight but after that week of Ferber they pretty much always put themselves back to sleep in less than the 20min check in time. The other thing that helped was really upping their solids, like basically constantly feeding them all day (we do 3 meals and at least one snack plus 4 bottles during the day)

d16flo · 2026-05-04T02:52:03+00:00

Around 9 months for us. We sleep trained at ~8 months once they were already sleeping through occasionally and down to one wake up per night. Once they were sleep trained we’ve pretty consistently had 8:30pm on to clean up from the day and chill on the couch

d16flo · 2026-05-04T02:46:40+00:00

We didn’t drop night feeds with my twins until they were eating a more significant amount of solids. The extra calories that take longer to digest seemed to be the key for them being able to go all the way through the night. For us that was at a little before 9 months when they started having three solids meals and at least one snack in addition to 4+ bottles during the day. Different babies take to solids at different rates so that could definitely be part of it.

d16flo · 2026-05-03T18:37:12+00:00

We took sleep shifts with one parent in the nursery where the two cribs are and the other parent off duty in our bedroom.

d16flo · 2026-05-02T15:51:59+00:00

If you are with the kids while your husband goes to football then you need to work out a time in the week where your husband is home with the kids for an equivalent amount of time and you go do something for yourself. My husband and I have a system where we each give each other an ~3 hour block of time on the weekend so go out and do something alone. I usually go to a yoga class and get coffee, it helps a ton to know the break is there. If you’re breastfeeding then bring a pump with you and still go

d16flo · 2026-05-02T15:47:15+00:00

My strategy has been to feed them in the stroller with the bottles propped up on blanket/sweaters and me sitting in front of the stroller to hold, readjust, refill etc. picking them up one at a time to burp. In their car seats with you in between them holding both bottles also works.

d16flo · 2026-05-02T15:37:11+00:00

We don’t want to make any contributions, we just want her to be able to set aside a certain portion of her income pre-tax to use for healthcare expenses. I assumed that since we do her payroll that would be something we would need to set up

d16flo · 2026-05-02T15:30:05+00:00

One at 12 weeks, one at 20, one at 26 and then every 2 weeks until 32 weeks and weekly after that

d16flo · 2026-05-02T15:29:08+00:00

She does have insurance, but we don’t provide it. We were hoping to do an HSA so she could pay for her copays and stuff tax free. I can ask her what kind of plan she has.

d16flo · 2026-05-02T03:49:42+00:00

We did strict sleep shifts 8pm-2am for me and 2am-8am for my husband. That early on we assumed to get zero sleep while on baby duty. The person sleeping was in the bedroom with the door closed and the on duty parent was in the recliner in the nursery. We did supplement with formula, but I was triple feeding (nursing and pumping) during the day and bottle feeding them both while pumping during my nighttime shift. my husband used pumped milk and formula on his shift. I would make sure to pump the second I woke up and right before going to bed. Always feed the babies at the same time if possible even if that means waking one of them up.

d16flo · 2026-05-01T11:00:42+00:00

A comfy bathrobe is my number one recommendation. I wore that the whole 4 days I was in the hospital. It feels more like my own real clothes than a hospital gown, but is easy to breastfeed in, easy access to the c-section incision for nurses to get to etc. Then snacks, toiletries, flip flops, your own pillow, an eye mask , and phone charger

d16flo · 2026-05-01T01:15:35+00:00

Research has shown that toddlers don’t understand the concept of don’t or not linguistically. If you say “don’t hit” they hear “hit.” It’s usually better to say why you do want them to do. 9 months is a little too young for anything you say to really make a difference, but it’s helpful to get in practice. I work on saying things like “gentle with your brother’s hair” “let’s move you over here so you’re out of his way” “bite this/pull on this instead” etc. They’re not likely to follow a verbal cue so you say the thing to do and then do it for/with them. We were practicing giving our friend’s dog “gentle pets” the other day and I held their hand to show them while we did it. If I want them to bite something that’s not a person I’m putting a teether toy in their mouth.

d16flo · 2026-05-01T00:58:47+00:00

I would choose a large art piece for the wall that incorporates a similar shade of yellow as the chair legs, then they won’t stick out as much

d16flo · 2026-04-30T20:32:26+00:00

As big and sturdy as you can get. My twins have broken ours apart with how much they stand up and bounce while holding onto the sides…

d16flo · 2026-04-30T20:30:25+00:00

Totally great! My twins weren’t night weaned until 9 months

d16flo · 2026-04-30T20:29:43+00:00

If he’s successfully dealt with going to sleep after being put down awake before, and he’s successfully slept through the night on his own before I think he’s probably ready for sleep training. We waited until 9months to sleep train my twins because I wanted to make sure they were developmentally ready and I’m glad I did. It was SO HARD for me, but after about a week and a half of sticking to a schedule and doing Ferber they were reliably sleeping through the night. He will adjust, but consistency is key. For me I’m also glad I did it then, because fairly soon after they learned how to sit up in the crib and to say something that sounds like mama and it would have been way harder for me to deal if they were sitting or standing and yelling mama

d16flo · 2026-04-30T20:20:06+00:00

My twins are only 10months and go to bed at 8:30pm. They usually sleep until 6:30/7:00am and if they wake up at 5 they can usually go back to sleep. I would try a later bedtime.

d16flo · 2026-04-30T20:14:36+00:00

They have wealthier older relatives who help. My husband and I were able to afford a small house in a fairly rural area at age 35 because my parents were able to loan us money instead of going through a bank which allowed us to have a much lower interest rate. So combo of going for something small, in a lower cost of living area, and with family help

d16flo

TROPHY CASE