What do I need to know about gear?
Do I need a bigger diaper bag? Do I need a second crib or should LO1 be switched to a toddler bed? Double strollers or two singles??
Help!
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Following!
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My kids are almost 16 months and I didn't want to move her to a bed so we bought another crib. I also purchased a dresser, changing pad, crib mattress, wipe warmer, newborn diaper covers, more cloth wipes, a few newborn outfits, pumping bags, cloth diaper pail liners, crib sheet, Tommee Tippee bottles, changing pad cover, double stroller, infant adapter for my BOB stroller, hooded towels, drawer organizers and a Rock n Play.
We used the same car seat, Skip Hop Versa diaper bag, high chair, pnp, etc.
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My boys were just under 17 months apart.
Diaper bag - Depends on the size of your current one, but you get pretty good at paring it down to what you really need and making it all fit. I have a Timi and Leslie bag and it's just fine size-wise for me.
Crib - I really did not want to buy a second crib, so we did the transition to a big boy bed pretty early. About a month and a half before my due date we got a twin bed for L, bought a railing for the side, and he has done totally great in it! I considered holding off on the switch until D was actually using the crib since he's sleeping in the RnP for the first few months, but I didn't want L to react badly to being booted out of the crib and us immediately putting D in it, so we transitioned beforehand - by the time D was born, L had totally forgotten about the crib and didn't care.
Stroller - You absolutely need a double!! In the newborn days I like to put D in the sling and L in our single stroller, but babywearing doesn't work for all situations, and as we get to the point where they are both toddlers the double is a total must. We got a great deal on the Baby Jogger City Mini Double and I love it.
Other things we needed two of - separate rooms meant separate dressers, changing pads, diaper genies, sound machines, monitor cameras, and humidifiers.
Things we re-used - Infant car seat, RnP, swing, jumperoo/exersaucer, bottles, tub and infant towels, high chair, PnP, etc.
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we bought another crib, but charlie started climbing out shortly after so we ended up selling it. i would have loved to have kept him in his crib much, much longer! that's when the bedtimes really get tough.
you can hold off on the double stroller - can't really use it til 6 months and you'll babywear the second one most likely! we couldn't live without our double, but we live in ny where we walk everywhere.
there really wasn't much extra we needed other than a second white noise machine, video monitor (we couldn't hear them from our room), car seat if you don't have two, maybe some new bottles, and that's about it.
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Ours are 21 months apart. We got a big girl bed for older daughter and baby wore the little one while using the stroller with the bigger one. We kept the same diaper bag. Maybe it was so simple for us because they are almost two years apart.
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@Mrs. Jacks: mine are also 21 months apart, and we did the same thing. We didn't really need to buy a ton of extra gear. I bought another changing pad and diaper genie and that's about it.
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@LemonLong: I should have done that, but my older daughter was potty trained when we brought #2 home. I should have realized we would have a big potty regression at that point... But I was kind if clueless
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Good idea! Better follow!
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@Mrs. Jacks: @LemonLong: good to hear, mine will be 20 months apart and I had no intentions of buying much new lol. We cloth diaper so no diaper genie needed.
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@jetsa: we cloth diapered some, but with two we either needed more diapers or to do wash every other day.
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Mine are a day shy of 22 months apart, and I moved the crib into LO2's room and put LO1 in a toddler bed when she was 18 months old without any problems.
I highly recommend a double stroller-- I tried to make it without one, just baby-wearing, and finally caved a couple of months ago at 7 months in, and it has made my life SO much better. I love my Mountain Buggy Duet.
I kept the same diaper bag, and LO1 is potty trained now anyway, so it's not that much more stuff that needs to fit. In fact, we just got a smaller diaper bag and it's just fine!
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My first two are 23 months apart and my middle and youngest are 22 months apart.
Same diaper bag
Definitely a double stroller. I recommend a city jogger select or a double bob
We own one crib. We keep the baby in the room with us until the older one is out of a crib (which tends to be by the time the baby is 6 months old)
The only new gear I needed was a rock n' play.
Your gear will make it through these two, if you want to have a third in the same time frame? Not so much
good luck!
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We have two cribs. DD doesn't like her big girl bed and will only sleep in her crib.
I think I would die without our double stroller. It had saved me soooo much hassle and has made walks easier.
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My girls are 11 days shy of 24 months apart.
We moved DD #1 to our guest bedroom and bought her all new big girl furniture. Even though she has a big girl bed, she still sleeps in her toddler bed.
We kept the crib and basically everything for dd #2. We did purchase new crib bedding & wall art.
We reused all of dd's clothes (they were born in the same month, so it worked out perfectly), infant seats, rock & play, swing, bouncer seats, etc.
We did purchase a sit & stand stroller. I haven't used it yet because I haven't taken them out alone as dd #2 is only 4 weeks old.
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Following!!
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We didn't really get much extra gear besides the extra crib. My kids are 23 months apart. We opted not to get the double stroller. It worked out fine for us but we do drive pretty often.
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I didn't read pp but I didn't get a new diaper bag, all my stuff for both fit in one bag (Timi and Leslie Hannah). I have a double stroller but hardly use it. I wear the little one in the Ergo everywhere and the older one walks. It is soooooo much easier than I thought it would be! If I need him in a stroller, I take the frame stroller, which I keep in the trunk.
The hardest thing has been our living set up. We only have a 2/2. My older one has long since sttn so he is in a room but still in his crib. I was hoping to have him out of the crib so I could use that for dd but there's no way he's ready to get out of the crib for other reasons. So, dd is sleeping in my bed and DH on couch when he's home. Crazy right. Oh well it works for us!
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Guess this means my next question is about transitioning out of the crib
thanks everyone.
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Mine are 18 months apart.
Diaper bag -- DD potty trained a little before 2 so I just keep an extra pair of underwear/pants in the car and use the same diaper bag for DS.
Crib -- I transitioned DD to a floor bed a few months prior to DS's arrival so that we wouldn't need to buy another crib. She slept GREAT in the crib and I was really nervous about it but I think I made the switch early enough that it didn't phase her (15/16 mo). I wanted to do it a bit prior to DS being born so she wouldn't feel like her things were getting taken away. DS actually didn't use the crib til he was about 3 months old, though. By then she had totally disassociated with it and her transition to a floor bed was seamless (also daycare trained her to a floor cot at 17 months).
Stroller -- We had/have an Uppababy Vista and considered getting the rumble seat but decided to get an additional side-by-side instead (City mini Double GT) . One of my friends got her LOs the rumble seat and she said it was a pain bc they couldn't both lie down and one's feet were in the other's face or something like that. We are going to get the piggy back board for the UBV and depending on where we go (aisle sizes, crowds), we'll either use the UBV or the double. For short trips I just use the UBV for DD and ergo DS but DD whines that she prefers the double and sitting next to lil bro haha.
Good luck, mama! I looooove having 2 under 2! It's craziness but so fun with them both being so little
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I actually got a Jujube backback type diaper bag so that I could have my hands free. It's been great. I use it a lot as a backpack when I have the baby in the ergo and need to hold hands with my toddler (they're 22 months apart).
We got a really cheap double BOB on craigslist and also bought a City Select double stroller. We rarely ever use the double BOB because it's so big and heavy. Way too heavy to load in and out of a car and you can't maneuver it in a store. It's only good for when we're taking walks. The City Select is great, though b/c it's a tandem stroller and it small enough that I can take in stores and it's light enough that I can take it in/out of the car. Also, if I can easily configure it for only one kid if necessary.
As for the crib, we got a second crib b/c we wanted to keep our oldest in his crib as long as possible and b/c even after he started to climb out, we ended up using it as a toddler bed (convertible crib).
Other than that, the only other thing we bought was an extra ergo. One to keep in the car and one to keep at the house.
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Following!
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Mine are 22 months apart.
Diaper bag - I had an over the shoulder diaper bag and I switched to a messenger style. It made it just a little easier to carry the baby and hold the toddler's hand without the diaper bag in the way.
Crib - We didn't buy a second crib. LO2 slept in the pack in play in our room for a while. We had a trundle bed and crib in LO1's room and we slowly transitioned her out of the crib. After she wasn't using it for a month, we moved the crib to LO2's room.
We have a City Mini Double GT and love it. We also babywear, but there are times where the double stroller just worked better. I looked at a bunch of strollers and almost bought the City Select, but I didn't like how it was hard to see the kid in front when the sun shade was down.
My only regret was not potty training earlier. I think LO1 was ready long before we were. When we finally potty trained at 28.5 months, she was more defiant and we got into a little bit of a power struggle.
good luck!
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