Nov 4, 2010
Twin Survival Tip #2
In my last post about surviving twins, I revealed a grave error: I put a kid down on a sheet without something underneath his head. That’s a rookie mistake, friends.
Now ordinarily, especially when I’ve had spitty babies, they don’t lay down ANYWHERE without something under the head to catch the nast. Which leads me to…
Twin Survival Tip #2: Have a ridiculous amount of burp cloths available.
You can choose what kind of burp cloths you want, but just know that you should have more than you think you’re going to need, and keep them in multiple convenient places throughout the house.
In my experience I buy the jumbo pack of white automotive towels from Costco. I think it comes in a pack of 60 or something insane like that. I paid about $20 for the whole pack. They aren’t the softest towels ever made, but they’re absorbent. They’re also plain white, so if they ever need a good bleaching, it’s no problem.
They’re also useful for a quick, on-the-fly changing pad. Because when you have twins you’re not going to haul the babies upstairs to their changing table every time they need a diaper.
They sell the white towels at Target in the automotive section as well, but they don’t come in massive quantities.
Keep this in mind for a baby shower gift for the expecting-twins mom. I got a huge tub of white automotive towels for my first baby (a singleton). They were rolled all cutely and neatly into a tub with a few other small gifts. Just be sure to wash them before you give them, because they will need it to fluff up a bit and look nicer.
You could also accomplish the same thing with cloth diapers. They’re definitely softer, but probably more expensive.
Chime in! What do you use for burp cloths? How many should you have (approximately)? What do you use them for?
Twin Tip Submissions: If you have a suggestion for surviving twins, contact me!
I am a proud momma to 4 little ones, the last 2 are 3 year old twin boys :) They were good at soaking sheets, shirts, couches…haha whatever was under them! I used receiving blankets for burp rags, they are light weight but large! this way it covered most of my back when I burped them! :) I do love he idea of the automotive towels though…wish I had thought of that! Now that they are older and I’m not “in the moment” I can think of lots of things I could have done differently…but when they are little…it’s all about survival! :) Good luck and God bless you on this journey! It’s wonderful!
No twins here, but my first was a major spitter. We have always used the cloth diapers. And you are right, have TONS. It seems like every load of laundry I do is half burp cloths. My mom (lovely woman that she is) has also monogrammed their names on them so that they are easy to keep track of in the church nursery!
I’ve always thought these tea towels from IKEA would be great, at $.49 cents per piece. http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/10100909
I don’t have children yet, but when we do, I think I’ll stock up. They seem stiff in the store, but soften up a ton when you wash them.
We have somewhere between six and eight of those for the kitchen, and the only reason I’d hesitate to use them as burp cloths is because they feel very wet VERY quickly; they don’t absorb or hold very much. I love them for the kitchen, though, because we usually air-dry dishes and just use towels for small jobs and hand-drying. But burp cloths would probably call for something a big thicker and sturdier.
We use cloth diapers… in huge quantities. Mostly given to us as gifts. Seems my nursing babies connect their burp rags with breastfeeding = comfort = lovey. Ian, at 3.5, still uses “his” cloth diaper “raggies” as his bedtime snuggle lovey.
Oh, this brings back memories. I always used cloth diapers, myself. Although, my son spit up so much that I contemplated switching to bath towels. :) All the cute tiny embroidered burp cloths that I got at my shower just languished in his drawer until I gave them away. Good times.
I cut up a big king sized sheet (it was either a t-shirt sheet or a flannel, not sure) in about 10X10 squares originally to use as baby wipes w/ cloth diapering. Weeellll, time went on and I just use huggies. But these little cloths are GREAT for spit up. Often my girl Lucy is just “leaking” and drooling and I don’t want to use a whole big receiving blanket that will then have to be washed because there’s spit on the corner. These things are great, soft, countless, and free! I cut them with pinking shears to avoid strands coming free on the sides, but with this kind of material I don’t think that would happen. And I began the project with a time consuming ruler, but as my due date approached my husband just cut the rest of the sheet into chunks, which worked just as well (go figure!). I use them for everything, we just had them in the bath today (one for the face and one for the bottom) :) God bless you and your fam… I can barely handle the one! But it sure is the best thing ever. :)
We use cloth diapers (Greenmountaindiaper dot com) but the Gerber ones you buy at BRU are filled with polyester and not cotton, so they dont absorb as well. I also sleep with a cloth diaper in my sports bra b/c I leak so much. But we also cloth diaper, so I have a huge stash of them anyways and what is a few more in the never-ending wash!
One thing with those automotive towels if they are the microfiber ones is that they are so absorbant that they can be major skin irritators b/c they suck so much moisture out of your skin at a fast rate. I have a son with very sensitive skin and him coming in contact with one of those has caused major rashes:(.
Also, my girlfriend told me of this concept when I was apologizing for not showering that day (I shower every 2-3 days, and were the same outfit two days in a row before putting it in the wash) and she told me that she has a 48 hour expiration date. That everything that needs to be done regarding her body gets done within a 48 hour window. I switched mine to a 72 hour expiration date, but that idea has helped me come to terms with my lazy-out-of-necessity appearance standards.
Someday, when my kids are old enough to take care of their bodily functions themselves, I will have a fresher expiration date. But for now, deoderant and a pony tail will have to suffice.
Thank you. I do the same exact thing and when I think about the people I may actually come into contact with (besides my husband or children) I am embarrassed by this reality. Now that I know it’s a standard rule lots of moms follow I will wear my stained t-shirts two more days and with pride! Someday I can wear something delicate again, right?
And as an aside, I live in France (I am American) and just had my second baby (a girl). There are zero burp cloths here! It’s horrible. Hence the stained t-shirts!
Good to know it is not just me. I think this policy has helped my sanity significantly! I live in Utah where many of the moms have a lot of little kids, and for reasons unknown to me, lots of them look really put together-hair, makeup, nails. I have just 2 and I look one step up from homeless most of the time.
Well, I have nothing to offer the situation, but just wanted to say that I’m expecting twins in the next couple of weeks and I’m getting such a kick out of these posts! Keep ‘em coming! I have about 20 burp cloths and thought that was plenty, but now I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to make a Costco run this weekend!
I have two week old twins and this made me laugh because, while we haven’t gone out to buy a massive tub of burp cloths, we had a huge stack from an Aunt and another pack somebody bought us. They are literally all over the house. There are (currently) three to a room, I think? Just laying around in case somebody needs to grab one (and they are grabbed; often!).
:) It’s nice to know we aren’t the only ones.
:) That is exactly how our house works! We have 7 week old twin boys and we try to have burp cloths handy in every room. Though, when it’s not just a hands reach away for me (I stay home with them and feeding two at a time is no easy task, I’m sure you know!) I grab whatever is closest–receiving blanket, kitchen dry towel, bathroom towel, husbands tshirt..etc. Whatever is needed to get the job done!:D)
I stay at home with our two by myself, too, and when I’m feeding them, I do the same thing! If a cloth is out of reach, anything is game– the Boppy, the boys’ clothes, MY clothes. It’s good to know I’m not the only one. :)
I used receiving blankets and cloth diapers for my oldest son and have reverted back to using receiving blankets for my newest addition. One of my husband’s cousins quite thoughtfully made us a whole bunch of adorable little burp rags and receiving blankets, but the problem with the burp rags was that they were too small! She has no kids of her own yet (she’s expecting one in the spring, though), so I’m sure she probably didn’t realize that they need to cover more than just a little bit of your shoulder. My son is a messy eater, though, so they make great little bibs. We got so many receiving blankets that the only thing I could think of to use them for is for burp rags because they just didn’t work for swaddling (not that I’m very good at that – I stink, in fact, and love the SwaddleMe my neice told me about to pieces!).
I have to admit, cloth diapers were what I used most often – and here’s the kicker: they were my diapers from when I was an infant! My mom saved EVERYTHING, especially the cloth diapers because they are washable. I still have them (no babies mind you) and use for dusting my finer items or polishing brass.
When my daughter was an infant, aside from the cloth diaper, I used a lap pad or receiving blanket (in a pinch).
I’ve used something called a sheet saver in the crib. They tie down so they stay in place even if the baby wiggles. Once they get spit up on you just untie, throw in the wash, and put a new one down. They sell them at Target, or you could order them online from Amazon.
http://www.target.com/s?keywords=sheet+saver&searchNodeID=1038590&ref=sr_bx_1_1
My #1 was a major spitter. (The only one of three) It was super difficult to do laundry in our large apartment building, so some days I would end up going through all the burp cloths, all the receiving blankets, wash cloths, hand towels, and kitchen towels we had. Just had to use whatever I could find! :/
I’m all for those receiving blankets that are the same material that they use in the hospital, only a little smaller. My oldest had GERD, and the burp cloths were just too small to cover his strike zone. I also highly recommend sheet savers! Love the auto towel idea… will have to recommend to friends. Funny… I’m a long way away from the woman who was ironing monogrammed burp cloths the night before my due date!! My husband said, “Isn’t that what he’s going to throw up on?” Ahh nesting!
I agree on burp cloths. I quickly realized this at about 1-2 months with Chloe that we didn’t have near enough. We have a combo of “cute” ones, JJ Cole, Carters etc with pink designs and polka dots, some that match her bedding, and I mainly bring those in the diaper bag and out and about. We have about 3 packs of the plain white gerber diapers, some organic and some not. Also some old receiving blankets that were given to us I use for this purpose sometimes. I love the white ones beause they are large, really soft, and quite absorbant, however they only last about 1 day worth of spit ups and you need to wash them. I also got some from IKEA once but they are a bit rough, not a fan of using them too much to wipe on her already-drooly-chapped face.
I make burp cloths and receiving blankets. I use quality flannel and I make them double sided so the burp cloths are super absorbent and the receiving blankets are a little warmer!
For each kid I have had about 10-12 burp cloths and about 10-12 receiving blankets. But my kids were not huge spitter uppers…although I found myself using them all the time!
we used cloth diapers as well.but the large single layer cotton ones. they were great for everything. a litte bit of coverage for nursing, fold in half for burping, snuggle at night, everything! we had a lot!! maybe 30? they dry fast and wash fast too, and when we were overseas that was oh so important!
We used cloth diapers and some fun ones a friend made for our #4. They are two layers of flannel sewn together in a rectangle. Super cute and they work great. I usually used the diapers for home and the cute ones when we went out.
I nanny for a set of twin baby girls (my second time to do that!) and I know for me it has helped to set up “stations” of a basket of burp cloths, teething rings, a toy so that when I sit down to feed them (because there is no getting up til we’re done!) that I have everything I need. It was also a sanity-saver for me when one of my friends who has twins encouraged me to keep them on the same schedule, eat/sleep at the same time lest I be feeding/putting them down for naps an hour apart all the time. Twins are so much fun. Exhausting, and fun :)
[...] LOTS of Burp Cloths [...]