How many clothes do you really need for twins?

[lighthouse830]

Okay, so my kids are older (hence not a lot of baby stuff still hanging around) and now I'm expecting twins! How many onesies, tee shirts, sleepers, nightgowns, towels, receiving blankets, etc. do you really need? I hate having too much stuff that you can't use (like I had with my first daughter!)- I like to keep it minimum so that everything is used. I've heard that you don't need double, but how much is enough? I want to start picking stuff up early so that I'm not buying a bunch when they come. Since this pregnancy is children 3&4, I'm not going to have a shower. I've been reading through threads on carseats and strollers, but haven't seen a lot in the way of how many clothes you need. I'm planning on cloth diapering too, so I have to figure out how many of those I'll need too! Anyone have some advice?

[about2bmom3]

Congrats on the twins I do not cloth diaper, so i am no help there (althogh there are some twin mommies on this site who do) but as far as the clothes go....i am the same way. With DD i WAY overdid it and ended up being overwhelmed. With the boys, I made sure to start with 2 packs preemie onesies and 4 packs newborn. (had WAY too much nb though) then i made sure i had enough preemie sleepers and nb sleepers so i could have 3 each baby clean at all times. Does that make sense???? Like i used 3 a day per baby. i had a c sec and a 5 1/2 year old so i didnt do a ton of laundry in the beginning My boys LIVED in sleepers for a while. (just easier) and so funny becasuse now that they are squirmers and all over when i change them, i prefer pants and shirts lol! The other thing is one of my guys outgrew clothes almost a month before my other guy, so keep that in mind that they may not be the same size. Its so hard to know what you will end up needing. Congrats again and good luck!

[about2bmom3]

i forgot....as far as the towels, blankets etc go....i made sure i had a TON of burb cloths, i mean like maybe 40...i USED ALL OF THEM ALL THE TIME! oh, and bibs, those i used a ton, but towels like for bath time?...i think i have 4 for the boys and blankets?...i had maybe 10 recieving blankets. (and a couple warmer ones because my boys were born December 18)

[lighthouse830]

Thanks so much for your reply It was very helpful!
So far for NB stuff (all in yellow/green/neutral), I have:
10 nightgowns (my kids were in these constantly- and I wouldn't mind putting these on a boy; it's so much easier to change them in the beginning!),
6 sleepers,
8 tee shirts,
8 onesies,
4 sleepsacs,
8 receiving blankets,
6 mid-weight blankets,
6 fleece/heavy blankets
8 bibs (I need more of these!)
2 burp cloths (need to get way more of these!)
3 bath towels.

...and I have no cloth diapers yet.

I would like to pick up a couple preemie things, but I have no idea what sizes they'll end up being and I don't want a bunch of stuff we can't use. Both of my girls were 6 1/2 lb full term babies, so I'm guessing the twinkies will be smaller. Where's that crystal ball when you need it?

[about2bmom3]

I know..its so hard to know what sizes you need. My guys were 37 weekers and 6 lb 4oz and 5 lb 2oz and they both came home in preemie sizes. Nate my little man wore preemie about 3 weeks. Jack my "meatball" was done much sooner. But heck, this is coming from the lady whose DD (6 year old) wears a 4T! LOL!

[lighthouse830]

about2b- I know, with twins the delivery date can vary so much that you don't know what their sizes will end up being! I want to pick up some preemie clothes since the twins will probably be smaller than my two singletons (who were both full term, 6 1/2 lbs) but I don't want to have an overload of little clothes that they use for just a few weeks.

[srdpeach]

I have 8 wk old b/g twins and I have to tell you that I think they go thru way more clothes than what I anticipated. My dd is still wearing newborn clothes and my ds is now in 3-6 months. So sizes can vary drastically. The most important things I have a lot of are onesies, bibs, burp cloths, receiving blankets (if you like to swaddle...I use the thermal ones they are bigger and wrap a larger baby so much better than those little flannel ones). My twins wear mostly sleepers during the day and nightgowns at night. I have probably 8 night gowns a piece. I hate to have to fiddle with snaps in the middle of the night. And as for what you take to the hospital to dress them in...have a preemie outfit or 2. My twins were 38wks 4days gestation and 2 days before my delivery they estimated both to be over 7 1/2 lbs. At delivery my son was 7lbs. 4oz. and my daughter 5lbs. 8oz. He fit in newborn things okay. She didn't fit into anything except 1 preemie sleeper I had. Took her a good 2 weeks to fit into newborn clothing well.

[lighthouse830]

congrats on your new twins And thanks for the advice! I have 14 nightgowns for them so far (I loved them with my daughters for the same reason you do- no snaps in the middle of the night!) and I've got to get a bunch of burp cloths and sleepers still

[gmt]

Hey there: just thought I would add on to this. My babies were born at 38w3d and were 5.4 and 5.14. I did not have any preemie clothes for them...we did fine w/ our NB and 0-3 month sizes.

I think another thing to consider is what time of year it will be when your babies are born and what your climate will be like. I have boy/girl twins and did not do much gender neutral stuff so I have a lot of boy/girl stuff...buying gender neutral will certainly help limit what you need if you end up having one of each. I just cant resist all the pink LOL :-)

My babies were born in April and we live in the South so I did onesies during the day and cotton sleepers at night. I had way to many sleepers I think I would have been fine w/ 4 a piece. Onesies I dont think I could of had too many of these as I found myself changing them 3-4 times a day somedays. I probably had about 12-15 onesies each and we went through all of them. The night gowns did not really work for us because my babies were so skinny the necks were huge on those things and by they time they were fat enough for them they were too long for them....so I just stuck w/ onesies and sleepers and then when they got to be around 3 months old I started dressing them in more outfit type stuff (i.e. light pants/shorts and t-shirt).

I also kept the babies swaddled a lot for the first 3 weeks or so. Swaddle blankets was something else I went through a lot of...did not use to many receiving blankets. We got a ton of those as gifts but they really just sat there and did not get used very much.

I second the need for a ton of burp cloths at almost 7 months I still go through at least 3 or 4 a day.

I have been able to get by on just 4 sleep sacs we just moved up to the next size and I only bought 4 of those as well because it seemed to work just fine for us having 4. I also only have a few bath towels and this has worked well for us.

Unfortunately I am not using cloth diapers so I cant be any help there.