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Our Newborn Must Haves!

When we were preparing for the arrival of the twins I found the process of what baby items we would need SO confusing and at times very stressful!  I had no where to start … what would we actually find helpful?!  

 

I started keeping an eye out on Instagram Stories and YouTube vlogs, whenever I saw something that looked helpful I added it to a Note in my Notes app.  Over time I built up a good sized list which was my starting point.  From there I started researching different items, and then discussed my research with Dave, and together we decided what items we would go with for the twins.

 

I was really active on Instagram when the twins were newborns because I wanted others to see what a real depiction of newborn life looked like.  And as we shared our day we also shared what things we were using and loving.  I wish I had done a better job of adding those things to an Instagram highlight, but in all honesty that was a bit too unrealistic on top of everything I had going on!  As I shared the things we loved and used I got more and more messages asking me about particular products.  I also had more and more friends contact me privately and ask me what items we got for the twins…

 

Knowing that I wanted to make this information super easy to find I compiled a comprehensive list while everything was fresh in my mind!!  I put this together one night while I was up cluster feeding both babies on my phone.  I originally wrote it out in a Google Doc and forwarded that version to friends – this list now looks a bit prettier and has links added, but it’s still the exact same list created when we were in the thick of it all!

 

I hate to have to give a disclaimer because 99.9% of people are so lovely on the internet and understand that this list is just me sharing what we used – but unfortunately this topic can upset people too.  Please remember that in no way am I telling you what you need to have on hand for your baby.  Many of these things are not at all necessary, they are just luxuries to have.  Millions and millions of people have had babies for generations before us and they turned out perfect without these gizmos and gadgets!  Ultimately, like so many things in life (planning a wedding, buying a house, planning a holiday, etc!), it comes down to personal choice and budget.  We were really really really appreciative to brands who offered to gift us items that we had our eye on already, and also to family members who generously purchased items for us to use – as buying two of everything quickly adds up in a huge way.  Any item that was gifted will be categorised as such, but there was no expectation or obligation from the brand for me to post or share anything here.  If a gifted item is mentioned it is because legally I am required to do so, but please know we genuinely love it and recommend it wholeheartedly – that’s why it’s on the list.  Other items we shopped around for, and waited to shop as many sales as possible.  There are also great places like Facebook Marketplace and TradeMe to grab secondhand items at a reduced cost!

 

 

Nursery Items

  • Chair – this will depend on the space you have and what chair would work best. I found that when the babies were fresh newborns I didn’t use the chair much because I breastfed both babies on the couch or my bed where I had more space to fit. It wasn’t until they reached about 5 months old and were doing day naps in their nursery that this became essential.  Once the twins moved into their own nursery the chair has been used multiple times a night whenever they wake and need a feed.  So you could always get this later if you preferred, unless you have one baby and plan to breastfeed them in the nursery. 
    • We have a glider + ottoman combo from Freedom Furniture. I wasn’t sure if we should get a rocking chair, or a glider, but I’m so glad we went with the glider, it gives you different options of ways to rock the baby which a rocking chair doesn’t.  The chair is super comfy too – and it works great for my height (5’6″ and Dave’s height too 6’2″!
  • Changing station 
    • If you are able to create a few basic changing stations around the house then I recommend doing so, because when you’re tired the last thing you feel like doing is taking the babies somewhere different in the house to change them.  You want to do it where you are.  A changing station can just be a changing pad (or a towel) you put the baby on, and a basket/organiser that has some nappies, wipes, nappy rash cream, hand sanitiser – we also have a wipes dispenser to stop them from drying out.
    • The changing station in the nursery wasn’t used very much until the twins moved into their nursery officially at 7 months.  Our changing station has:
      • Babyhood changing pad (I found that it was a bit cold to put the babies onto, so I always had a towel over it)
      • Ubbi wipes dispenser
      • Ubbi diaper pail
        • We love this diaper pail because you don’t have to use their bin liners!  It fits lots of different options, so we just purchase ours from the supermarket.
  • Baby clothing / baby items storage solution – we chose to use drawers in our nursery (this also doubled as a changing station on top of the drawers as I didn’t want to purchase a specialty piece of changing table furniture because that would take up too much space)
    • The set of drawers we chose are the IKEA Nordli Chest of 8-Drawers (160cmx99cm).  I liked these because they were the right height for Dave and me, and meant that we didn’t have to bend very far over.  There was also a lot of space for storing not only the babies clothes but their blankets, spare sheets, wipes, nappies, etc… they fit SO many things!
  • Clothing hangers (for wardrobe if using)
    • If you’d rather hang all of your baby’s clothes then grabbing some baby clothing hangers is a good idea! They can be really inexpensive from Kmart and they’re just a smaller coat hanger that holds their smaller clothing better.
  • Cot, mattress, fitted sheets 
    • Because your baby will likely be in a bassinet for the first 6(ish) months of their life, you don’t need to race to get their cot right away.  But in time you will need a crib, mattress and fitted sheets that fit.  Make sure you have spare fitted sheets in case you need to change them in the night – there’s nothing worse than being caught out!
    • We have the SnuzKot from Edwards & Co and we love them.  They are designed to grow with your baby so that you can get many years of use out of them.
      • Gifted
  • Any decor for nursery theme 
  • White noise machine + night light

 

 

Your Bedroom

We made sure we set up our bedroom for the babies too, because our babies were going to sleep in our bedroom up until around 6 months (if you plan to have baby in your bedroom just remember it might be shorter or might be longer – some people say that they don’t sleep as well while having the baby in their room because they make little noises through the night, so they move them into their own room sooner).  Everyone is different and it’s entirely up to you to do whatever works for you and baby.

  • Bassinet + bassinet sheets 
    • We used the SNOO bassinets for our twins and we absolutely LOVED them!  I was very nervous at first because they are expensive, but we made the investment because we thought it would be handy to have the features of the Snoo (it plays white noise, rocks the baby, and settles the baby if they get upset.  I do think that it was worth it for us because it was like having an extra pair of hands during the night!!
    • We purchased our Snoo’s new from the Australian website.  They do not ship to New Zealand – we had to use a freight forwarding company and pay tax, customs duties, as well as freight to get them here.
  • Changing station 
    • We set up a very basic changing station for emergencies – just a towel, nappies and wipes.  We only had to change a baby once here.
  • Night time feeding kit 
    • Because I was tandem feeding both twins I got up every 2-3 hours when a baby woke up and fed them in the lounge together – but if I had one baby I would have just done it in bed.  So it’s a good idea to have everything you need to breastfeed with you next to you in bed (make sure you include some snacks for you – if you’re cluster feeding the baby then having some muesli bars (I loved bumper bars for example), etc, because you get soo hungry.  Also having a breastfeeding pillow – which can literally just be a tripillow handy is great.  I made sure I had my Haakaa pump and Haakaa ladybugs with me so that I could catch any let down.
  • White noise machine
    • The bassinets have built in white noise – so we didn’t need a white noise machine in our room.
  • Night light
    • It’s a great idea to have a nightlight in your room ready to go.
  • Sleep sack or swaddle 
    • One hack is to make sure that you swaddle your newborn!  Newborns love it because it mimics being in the womb.. once they’re cosied up it helps to put them straight to sleep!  We found that our babies had different preferences when it came to being swaddled.  If baby likes to have their hands up around their face like Revie, then get ‘love to dream’ swaddles – they will be a size small to begin with, and then you just continue to get bigger sizes.  Always buy 2, because if they poop through one and you have to wash it you have a spare.. otherwise if they like their hands by their sides like Roo you can use a soft swaddle and wrap them, we loved the ones from snuggly hunny kids to begin with, and once Roo couldn’t fit those anymore (he grew out of them around 2-3 months) we used the Mum2Mum swaddles which were soooo easy to bundle him up in!
  • Baby monitors (we purchased the Owlet monitor + sock combination – one for each baby)
    • We had our baby monitors set up in our room because the twins are in bassinets positioned away from us – if you had a co-sleeper bassinet and could see baby then having the monitor set up in your room may not be necessary.  You could wait to use this in the nursery when they move there.  We have the owlet camera which is accessible via the owlet app – we purchased a super cheap tablet and keep the owlet monitor on that screen always – it is amazing night time vision! We love the owlet socks (which monitor their oxygen levels), but the monitor isn’t my favourite because it’s not super travel friendly.  It’s great set up at home, but I wouldn’t recommend taking it if you are travelling as it’s a bit of a complicated set up process and it needs wifi to work.
  • Owlet socks 
    • Owlet socks are very much an optional thing but something we loved and something that gave me so much peace of mind.  We only used the Owlet socks overnight, so I found that when the twins were asleep during the day I would constantly check on them to make sure they’re still alive and breathing because they were so quiet!!  I hate to bring up this topic, but I want to be entirely transparent about my reasoning in investing in the Owlet socks, and that was because SIDs really terrified me.   The Owlet socks made me feel so much more confident knowing I can look at the app and see their oxygen and heart rate levels, and also know that if they fell to a worrying level a loud alarm would alert us so we could seek medical attention.  I had a lot of messages from people who told me about times in which the Owlet had literally saved their baby’s life – because without the alarm they would not have known there was a problem.  But I also got messages (normally from people who were from an older generation) who were really critical and against the Owlet saying it was unnecessary and I was promoting something that was a waste of money.  I don’t think that is a fair comment to make – as so many people know, Dave and I had a very difficult time conceiving and staying pregnant.  Anxiety around loss was still very present and front of mind when the twins were newborns, and this really helped us both.  I completely agree that this is an optional item but I wanted to explain why it was one we couldn’t have lived without.
  • Wool blanket 
    • We used blankets over the twins on cold winter nights, as the twins were swaddled and there was not a risk of them being harmed.  Our 100% wool blankets are very gorgeous and I purchased them from Swandri – but this kind of item can be op-shopped or purchased secondhand too.   100% wool is a great option as the synthetic blends are not breathable.

 

 

Travel/transport

  • Capsule for the car 
    • Make sure this is compatible with your pram – it is so incredible putting baby into their capsule, and then being able to click this out of the car and straight into the stroller frame without having to transfer the baby!! We had the Avery capsules, and this was compatible with our Edwards & Co stroller (Olive).
      • Gifted
  • Pram 
    • Make sure this has a bucket seat (they use that when older), and a bassinet attachment is worth purchasing as they can only stay in the capsule for 60-90 mins at a time before needing to be taken out for a break. If you think you might have a second baby within a few years then it’s worthwhile looking at a pram that allows you to grow to two children (unless you want to buy a new double stroller then).  The Olive pram from Edwards & Co is the one we love and use the most, and it’s so versatile working as a single with the option to extend to a double later.
      • Olive from Edwards & Co – gifted
      • Note: we also have a side-by-side stroller that lives in the garage, Bugaboo Donkey 3 which we use for walks from the house.  Our Olive lives in the car and is our go-to for outings.
  • Blankets for the pram 
  • Coffee cup holder 
    • A must for the pram!! Just make sure it is compatible with your stroller!
  • Pram rain cover 
    • Your pram will sell this as an accessory – or it will come with your pram.  Just make sure you have one!
  • Mirror for in the car
  • Sunshades for the rear windows in the car 
  • Pram caddy bag 
    • Super handy to have, this is a smaller bag that clips onto your pram handle where you can store your keys, phone, wallet, sunglasses, extra pacifier for baby, muslin wrap, a nappy, wipes, etc, there may also be a place for a water bottle or coffee cup. Make sure you get one that is compatible with your pram – normally the company will sell one you can purchase as an extra!
  • Portable white noise machine 
    • These are GREAT for sleeps on the go!  These are different from the ones that sit in the twins bedroom, as we can recharge it to have on the go! Ours is the Yogasleep Hushh and we love it!
  • Rockit 

 

Nappy bag

  • Nappy bag 
    • (I chose a backpack to be hands free! Make sure it has a changing mat included and lots of pockets! Ours is from ALF, they are super cute and functional nappy bags!
      • Gifted
  • Plastic nappy bags 
    • These are little plastic bags you put nappies in while you’re out, so they are contained until you throw them away! You can buy these from the supermarket, or Kmart.
  • Hand sanitiser
  • Travel wipe dispenser (not necessary but helps them not to dry out!!)

 

 

 

Breastfeeding/Formula/Bottles – what you choose to get from this category will depend on whether you are planning to breastfeed, formula feed, bottle feed expressed milk, or do a combination!  Just remember that there is not one option that is better than the other.  We did what worked best for us, and that was a combination of everything!  I breastfed the babies, we did formula top ups if they needed it, and I also pumped so that we had milk to bottle feed the twins – which I am SO thankful that we did.  It meant that our babies were able to feed on boob, bottle, they didn’t have any nipple confusion ever by the way!  But if I was having a nap or something and we had a friend over, then they could bottle feed one twin, and Dave could feed the other.  The list below is what I had to achieve this combination, and the things I found most helpful!

  • Electric breast pump 
  • Travel electric breast pump
    • This was amazing to wear and not have any cords because it was sometimes hard to find a moment free in between babies!  I found that I got great output from this pump – but it was one sided, so it took longer to pump both boobs.
      • Gifted.
  • Haakaa Gen 2 pumps (x2)
    • It is sooo helpful to have these on hand, I had 2 so I would wear both in the shower, but definitely get at least one so that you can wear it on the other side while baby feeds – you catch sooo much milk this way! When I wore them in the shower I would catch SO much milk too!!
      • Gifted
  • Haakaa lady bug (x2)
    • I had 2 of these and wore those instead of disposable breast pads around the house to catch milk! I had the 75ml.
      • Gifted
  • Bottles
    • We tried a bunch of bottles and ultimately our favourites were the wide neck Dr Brown anti colic + reflux bottles.  We bought a LOT lol and then bought even more. We found that more is more when it came to bottles – and these are plastic so easy to chuck in a nappy bag for travel.
  • Milk collector bags
    • Ours are from Kmart – but there are lots of options.  I just liked how these were easy to stack in the freezer.
  • Bottle brushes for cleaning
    • ours are from Kmart
  • Drying lawn & drying tree
    • Ours is Boon brand – the lawn and the twig are from Farmers
  • UV sterilizer
    • ours is from Kmart – we love it because you just put everything in and hit the buttons! Microwave steralisers work great too)
  • Formula
    • (we used S2, just a very generic plain stock standard formula, nothing gold standard)
  • Formula dispenser
    • (if you are using formula and can afford to splurge then this is a game changer! Ours is the baby Breeza one – very expensive but used literally all day every day!)
  • Bibs
    • (cheap little bibs are handy to save clothes from getting destroyed when feeding while they’re young, and then the bibs need to be more robust – while they were newborns we used these cheap bibs)
  • Burp cloths
  • Breastfeeding pillow
    • I used the Twin Z pillow (breastfeeding pillow designed for twins!). I bought two covers, a waterproof one and non-waterproof cover so I had a spare cover.
  • DRINK BOTTLE FOR YOU!
    • Breastfeeding is VERY thirsty (and hungry!!!) business!  I loved this drink bottle because it is glass, and I tried to limit my exposure to plastic during my pregnancy… but I did add in the silicone straw and sippy top!  The straw made it so so easy to sip from the drink bottle!  I bought mine from Babe, Bump & Beyond and I reached out asking for a code – ELLE10 should save you 10%.

 

Caddy – some people choose to have a caddy which is essentially a portable storage solution that you can keep wipes, diapers, snacks for you, burp cloth, drink bottle for you, etc in.  This means you can then move this around the house with you – and that way you don’t have to set up different changing stations in different rooms, etc.  This is one of the popular caddy options.  Personally this didn’t work for us because we had the two babies, and I didn’t have a hand free to cart this around the house with.  So the different changing stations worked great!

 

 

Changing station in main living area

  • Nappies (babies will start off in the Huggies newborn nappies – these are the smallest size and then you can choose whatever brand of nappies you like. We love Noopii but there are lots of options at different price points. Our babies didn’t fit Noopii’s smallest newborn size until they were about 3 weeks old from memory!)
  • Wipes
  • Nappy rash supplies (make sure you get some sudocream from the supermarket!!!!)
  • Wipe dispenser (keeps wipes from drying out and is sooo handy!)
  • Diaper bin, diaper bin bags (ours is Ubbi and it’s so cute, so chic, and doesn’t look like a bin. We also have the ubbi bin liners, but you can use any bin liners in the bag)

 

Clothing

  • size 00000 or 0000 to begin – we bought both of these sizes with us to the hospital.  Both babies were in size 00000 to start with!  Roo was 8lbs and Revie was 6.5lbs if that is helpful for reference.
    • Newborns grow sooo fast, Roo was out of this size within 2-3 weeks, Revie 4-5 weeks, so don’t invest much in these pieces! Kmart & Postie are great places to shop for this stage!  We had a 4 or 5 cheap onesies for this age and just constantly washed them.
  • Make sure you have onesies, singlets, socks, hats, mittens, woolen jumper (we op-shopped our woolies)

 

Bath

  • Baby bath
    • (we have the Shnuggle which lets them sit up even as newborns, it’s the coolest thing!)
      • Gifted
  • Baby bath products
    • wash, shampoo, baby oil / moisturizer
  • Wash cloths
  • Baby hooded towels
  • Bath thermometer 

 

 

Play

 

Miscellaneous 

  • Baby lounger (ours is from Dimples and this was LITERALLY is a MUST! Allows you to put baby down for a sleep anywhere you are – this was our most used item!!)
    • Gifted
  • Pacifiers (if using) (we love the Bibs brand, and the babies did too. Otherwise heard good things about Frigg, and Avanti – but this might be trial and error seeing what your baby likes!)

 

 

Postpartum recovery stuff

  • Breast pads
    • (you can purchase either disposable or reusable/washable (I used disposable when I wasn’t using my Ladybug milk catchers).
  • Lanolin for cracked nipples
  • Hydrogel breast pads
  • Breast ice pack / heat pack
  • Recovery stuff for either vaginal delivery / c-section delivery
  • Recovery shorts SRC (these are amazing. Pricey, but nothing compares and they are such a huge help with getting your uterus to shrink back down and getting your abs back together).

 

Postpartum outfit for you – make sure you have comfy high waisted leggings that are soft and not tight on you, or some kind of lounge pants. Just size up.  Get at least 2-3 feeding bras (you get thrown up on, and leak through them, so having extra helps as you’re washing them constantly!), and a soft comfy robe.  All of my items are from Kmart, but it’s an outfit that you LIVE in while you feed! I prefer the feeding bras that have the clips, as opposed to the ones that you just move to the side, but try them out and see what you prefer.



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