In the first two parts of the series, I shared with you my experiences around food – starting with milk and ending with family food. Now it’s all about transporting the double happiness:
How to get from A to B with twins?
It may be different for other parents, but I was very insecure in the first time when I should carry these tiny ones that were my children. They were so small, so delicate and so fragile. I was constantly afraid I would drop them with my clumsy ways or whatever. Yep, laugh it up, but I really did think for the first few weeks that one of these bundles of life was about to slip out of my fingers.
So I would not have worn them both at the same time at all! I didn’t have to, because comfortably there were mostly two of us. Even so, I would not carry these little delicate creatures, who do not yet have body tension and can not hold their heads alone, both at once. But you can have them both in your arms to cuddle on the sofa and sniff the incomparable scent of two babies.
But in between you are also alone and certainly then you want to leave the house. That’s where the fundamental question begins: carry or push?
Wearing is beautiful, for the child and the mother. But carrying twins is not easy and I have no experience with it. I therefore refer you to a good babywearing advice in your area. I have always carried a maximum of one child and that also gladly. Therefore I would always recommend a sling or a carrying aid or both and above all a good consultation to treat to it.
Who does not carry, needs a stroller. How to find the right stroller, but should not be the topic at this point. I have already written something about this here and also there. You can also find a detailed report about our Bugaboo Donkey. Just read on there. &
From the apartment to the stroller and back
When we bought the stroller, we made sure that the baby tubs or carrycots can be detached very easily and quickly. The tubs were always upstairs in the nursery and when we wanted to take the kids for a walk, I would calmly get both dwarfs ready there, dress them and put them in the baby tubs. So snuggled in it, I carried them both to the stroller. This has the invaluable advantage that you don’t have to carry them at the same time (but you could) and you can also "park" the twins. Maybe you still have to unfold the car or get the second twin? In their stroller tub they were well kept and lay protected.
When we came back from a walk, they were often asleep. I carried them sleeping in the tubs into the apartment. There they could slumber on in peace, even if I had no more desire to turn with the car my rounds. But watch out: Especially if it was cold outside, you have to be careful that they are not too thickly wrapped up in the apartment then! Either you put them in a sheltered place outside or you air the "packaging. With us have proven themselves envelope blankets *. So I had to put relatively little on them and could quickly open them on top. Cap off and let them sleep.
With mobile dwarfs in the stroller
This all works wonderfully until your kids get too big or too mobile for the baby tubs of the stroller. If the latter is converted to sport seats, the parents need a new plan. And I found it not so easy to find. Because especially if you have to overcome a few meters and even stairs between home and stroller, then it is not so easy. The children can now move around. Roll them, they try to crawl or even crawl. They certainly won’t stay still where you dropped them off.
So there were the following variations:
- Park one twin safely in the home (bed or playpen) and quickly take the second to the stroller, buckle in, sprint up, get second, lock door, buckle in second. This variant requires some patience from the twins involved, which they often don’t have. Or just in the mother some stress stress and good sprinter qualities.
- Misuse the car seats, which should still fit, as a means of transport. Strap the twins in it in the apartment and carry them down like this. Both are safe and can’t get away, you can put them down and strap one on at a time. The method has the considerable disadvantage that the car seats alone are already quite heavy and also the twins have already reached a certain weight at this age. Whether you can still do it at the same time? If not, I would think about method 1, because then you save the Umschnallerei, when would have to wait in the car seats anyway.
- The sling or the carrying aid is used. I personally love the Ring Sling* for such short distances. There comes the one twin purely and the other can on the hip. So with a little practice can playfully overcome a few meters and even several stairs. While one remains in the sling, the other is already strapped into the stroller. Then you can either place the second one there too or leave it as it is. I had a twin stroller that you could also drive as a single seater.
- At some point you reach the point where parents and children are fit enough that you can take both on your hips without a carrier. At the latest when they can both stand, you can pick them up quite comfortably left and right. But watch out! This method has its pitfalls! For example, you have to be able to close the front door with your foot. & Because putting down remains tricky with twins becoming more and more mobile in Trepenhausern.
From the apartment to the car
Even the car seats were always in the apartment. They stood in the hallway. The kids were strapped in and then one on the left, one on the right, off we go. The things are heavy and unwieldy, but you quickly learn to carry both at once. The pediatrician, however, was very concerned when he noticed my numerous bruises on my arms and thighs.
Dear pediatrician,
if you have a heavy car seat with a child dangling over your arm on the left and on the right and they bump against your thighs with every step, then you look like this and have thick bruises everywhere.
But thank you for looking after me too.
In the car we had matching Iso-Fix stations*, so you could fix the car seats with a click. If you think about how often you do that in the first year, it’s worth the purchase for that alone. Since one often arrives somewhere with sleeping children after car trips, it is also worthwhile to have appropriate footbags or cover blankets, which can then be opened in closed rooms. Keyword overheating!
At some point, even the most athletic mom will find this double weight too much to bear. With me the shoulder fracture put an end to it all. The children were nine months old and were carried from the day on laboriously individually in their shells. Piece by piece in alternation. If it wasn’t for this little problem, however, I certainly would have considered leaving the car seats in the car and transporting one twin to the car in the carrier, the other on my hip.
From the car to the destination
With the car you surely go somewhere, or? At grandma and grandpa’s house you can maybe park in front of the door and carry the kids in the bowls, but what about the toddler group or the shopping? Often you have to make a few meters between the car and the actual destination.
Then you either carry both car seats (ui, that gets heavy) or place the twins in the stroller. For this, it should be light enough that you can quickly get it out of the car and unfold it. Now the children must be repacked or you have adapters for the car seats. We had this and I was very happy about it. Simply click from the Isofixbase and click on the car, twin no. 2 sits next to it two clicks later. I found incredibly practical.
Shopping with twins
I am not one of those moms who just go shopping without their kids after they are born. I was rarely since then without children in the supermarket. There were several variations in our house:
- With the stroller on foot to the supermarket and accordingly with the stroller through the same. The narrower twin strollers fit through the standard checkouts. However, every supermarket also has a checkout for wheelchair users and any twin stroller should be able to pass through it.
This kind of shopping is more a pastime and part of a walk, because you can only buy as much as your stroller and your own strength can carry. - When we did the major shopping by car, there were usually four of us. Then one took the stroller with both car seats on it and the other pushed the shopping cart. Alternatively, anyone can push a shopping cart and place a baby seat on it. However, if you want to place two car trays in a shopping cart, you have no more room for any purchases. &
If I was alone with the children in the car, I resorted to the stroller and only rarely pulled an additional shopping cart behind me. This variant is not very recommendable, because it requires already enormous driving skills, then not to hit everywhere. In addition, the looks of the fellow shoppers are sometimes a bit annoying. - The children can finally sit freely! Congratulations! But most supermarkets don’t have shopping carts for a double pack like that. So either the stroller has to come along after all or a car seat ( the other may then perch in the seat of the shopping cart).
And what happens next?
When you have celebrated the first birthday of your twins, new and exciting challenges await you in the transport sector. &
Running twins rarely run in the same direction. They also run very rarely any predictable ways. You may practice coordination with two slide cars and two running wheels, and follow climbing toddlers on their downward paths.
*Amazon affiliate link: These links lead to Amazon. I recommend products to you that I like very much myself – or as in this case, the children. For the purchase of recommended products I receive a small commission of usually 5% of the product value. You do not incur any costs.
Kerstin
Kerstin is in her mid-30s, a mother of a set of twins since summer 2013. The sunshine, his twin sister the princess and the little crumb (2015) keep her well on the go when she is not working, crafting, baking, reading, digging around on the net,… She also likes to do everything at the same time. The best husband in the world will make sure that the chaos does not get out of hand.