Advice--4 Floor Walk-up with Twin Newborns?

I had 2 babies but they were 17 months apart. I frequently had to carry both up stairs (although not 4 flights at once). I was amazed by the muscles I got carrying those 2 around. I think the best suggestion is a double baby holder so she would have her hands free.

W.,

I live in a 2nd floor walk up with a 14 month old, I am a single mom. It definitely is incredible difficult. I too live in a rent stabilized apt, affordable. Having said that, Each day I struggle and am frustrated with no elevator. I tried moving before I gave birth but found nothing last year reasonable. I would begin looking immediately. That would be my advice. I am now looking again as I believe the market is better.

If you decide not too. Here is what you have to expect, and be prepared for all things unexpected....here goes...

Even with a husband or baby nurse ( which I had for 2 months), you will have to renegotiate everything and how you did it before. Lets start with shopping...start opening an acct with diapers.com and freshdirect.com for food. Great sites, free delivery and best of all saving time shopping for these items.

In the begining it won't be a problem the first 3-5 months, you will use baby bjorn with one and maybe hold the other. Or perhaps you will have help with family or a baby nurse. There were times when I had to leave the baby upstairs while bringing down a stroller or bags for instance. In the begining its fine they can't move and most of the time sleep. Or as you said leave them in the stroller below. Not my favorite, because you never know who walks the building. However, I would carry my baby monitor with me, that helped.

While saying that this all works out, thats to say that you have an easy delivery...no complications. I had an unexpected c sect and migraine headaches after. You can't and are not allowed to carry more than I believe 5 or so pounds while healing. It takes a while and stairs are very challenging after such surgery. However, I got through it pain and all.

If you are determined you will too, but if you have to carry your stroller each time and bags, you will hate it and get so frustrated. Its exhausting just carrying the kids, not counting the baby bag, milk, diapers and more. Generally, you will have to make trips down to set up before you bring the babies down.

Well hope this helps to give you insight.

J.

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Well, she is in for a daily hassle. She will absolutely need help to get out with the babies for probably 4-6 weeks after a c-section (I had 2 and one got infected and took a long time to heal). Maybe longer depending on logistics.

I have to walk up 2 flights (one inside and one outside) and my kids are 3.5 years and 10 months. My stroller lives in the car trunk(we aren't in the city). Even so my 10 month old is still in the baby carrier car seat but getting to the top of the size range and it is heavy to carry up more than one flight of stairs. 2 baby carriers would be nearly impossible. I can use the Hip Hammock baby carrier for stairs but any good baby carrier would work--for one. I am not sure you could do 2 at once for twins, though the baby K'tan can carry 2 babies at once (it is like a double sling). But walking up stairs with 2 babies at once, even in a good carrier, would be tough once they got to be bigger than 10-15 lbs.
Anyway, what I have to do when I have to get groceries into the house is unload the stuff and carry it up one flight to the bottom of the inside stairs leaving the kids in their car seats (still in my sight). Then get the kids out, carry the baby, 3 yo can walk up (and occasionally help). Put the baby in the car seat upstairs (with a toddler use a play yard). Make as many trips as needed to get the groceries up the second flight of stairs. This is exhausting with 1 baby and 2 flights of stairs. I don't know how to make this work with 2 babies and 4 flights of stairs. I mean you could carry one baby up one flight then go back for the other then go on the the second flight...but even if they are in baby car seats it would be pretty tiring and even a small diaper baby would add to the weight. Having gone through the hassle with 2 flights I would consider moving if possible in her situation. If that isn't an option...well, at least she won't need a gym to stay in shape.

Don't underestimate the strength of a mom. I figured out how to carry ridiculous amounts of weight while handling a heavy child in the other arm. I imagine she will figure it out when the time comes. Tell her to be grateful for the upper and lower body workout she has built in. Blessings.

I don't have twins and I don't have to climb 4 flights of stairs but I can certainly see your concern. Do I think they will be living there a year from now, probably not. That is unless she has a nanny or some other person with her most of the time. The c-section comment was very accurate. After a c-section (which is how most women deliver twins) just getting in and out of a car is excruciating. You are right to be concerned but like most moms, she is probably being overly optimistic. She will learn very soon what is the best arrangement and be a great mom. Hope the baby carriers that the other moms have suggested will help her in the meantime.

the walk up after delivery can be a bit tricky no matter how she delivers i would look into the slings that can hold twins. the baby bjorn puts alot of weight on your shoulders where the slings evenly distribute the weight. a quick search of baby slings yields lots of options. personally i think dragging the stroller up the stairs backwards for 4 flights with 2 babies will destroy it in no time. one post mentioned what happens in an emergency. i friend with triplets heard from a firefighter at their moms with multiples group that in the event of an emergency put the kids in a large sturdy blanket or sheet and carry them down like a sack of laundry. yes, they will get banged up but will come out alive. i highly recommend she connect with a moms of multiples group in the NY such as Manhattan Mothers of Twins Club. they will give her all the ins and outs of life with 2 in the big city.

Tough! But OKAY, everyone knows their situation. My best advice is she should learn to use and keep handy a Baby Bjorn or baby sling thing. She could keep it in the stroller cart at all times just in case. This way she can throw one (or both?) babies in there, grab the other one with her free arms- put them safely inside the apartment then go back for the stroller. She might be able to swing all three in one shot if she finds a twin holding baby Bjorn type thing but I can't even picture that so not sure it exists. But for certain she won't be able to go out grocery shopping or something- barely a piece of mail because the balancing act there will be far too dangerous. Ayayayi, hope this helps- N.

W.,
Well first, 'congrats' to your friend for the upcoming birth of twins and kudos to your for being a concerned friend :) I have 2 kids, a 6yo and a 2yo and while they are far from being same size or age, they are both heavy sleepers and my dd is a mommy's girl. This means she can't even bare it to be left alone for an instant if I put her or her brother in the car first. My SIL introduced me to the Ergo carrier a couple years ago and it's great. I've even used it to carry dd on my back while I carried her sleeping brother (then 4yo) out of the car and upstairs to his bedroom! It's a very versatile carrier (front/side/hip), very comfortable for baby/mom and reasonably priced (find it on amazon - would make a great group baby shower gift). I would suggest that your friend invest in one (and the infant insert for use until they're about 4mos) and carry the other baby in the regular infant car seat. She should also have multiple stocked diaper bags (one in the car, house, etc) so she doesn't have to keep lugging it up/down the stair-well. Good luck to her and hope it all works out!
-M.

A pully system out the window? Just kidding.

My sister has twin girls and from one perspective I can tell you that she isn't "out and about" without someone else very often. I would strongly suggest investing in some kind of "backpack" style baby-carrier and one of lightest twin strollers she can find. I would avoid the ones that snap-in with the car seat if at all possible. They are incredibly heavy.

If your friend lives in a building where it would be safe to leave the stroller in the lobby for a few minutes, then I would suggest taking the babies upstairs "in arms" and have her husband or someone else bring the stroller up later. If there is a door man, ask if the stroller can "live" in the lobby.

This is going to be a tough one, though, especially considering the fact that she will most likely have a c-section. She should make arrangements to have someone there each day for at least two months to run errands b/c she will not be able to do those stairs.

While a walk up with one baby probably is do-able, it is nearly impossible with twins, assuming there is only one adult. I live in a house and our playroom is in the basement. When our twin boys were babies (i.e. before they could walk up the stairs themselves), I would have to put one baby in either a car seat, bouncy seat, play pen (something to make sure that baby didn't get loose) and carry the other one up the two flights of stairs to the bedroom. The whole time, the baby I left alone would be screaming. I'd then put the first baby into his crib and leave him (again, he'd then be screaming) and run down two flights to get the other baby and repeat the process.

I, of course, had the benefit of being in a house where it was safe to leave a baby alone in the basement (albeit the screaming was always stressful). Not sure how she will be able to leave one baby at the bottom of the stairs and then how she can leave one baby alone in the apartment while she runs down to get the other.

While it is POSSIBLE to carry both babies at the same time, I NEVER did that. I was always afraid I'd trip and drop the babies. Stairs aren't always the safest and when you are carrying two of your most precious commodoties, it's better not to take the risk. Also, carrying two babies when they get to be about 20 pounds each (around a year) up four flights of stairs is nuts. Again, she'd then have to put them in the apartment and run back down again to get her stroller, diaper bag etc...

Obviously, not everyone has the luxury of an elevator. But if she has any choice, I'd try to find a different location if she intends to be alone with the babies... (obviously, a different story if another adult like a nanny or husband will always be there).

As the mom of twins, I would have not wanted that situation! I hate the idea of having to leave one baby at the bottom of the stairs unattended in a carseat or stroller while I got the other. Though it is hard to do anything by yourself, I found that any amount of independence is the key to my sanity. I used to laugh at the baby bjorn carriers for multiples, because I figured that once they each weighed 10 lbs, that would be it. But, as a previous poster said, that would definitely be one way to get two babies safely down all those stairs by one person.

They make Baby-Bjorn-type-things for multiples, which could get them through at least a good part of the first year. Check out this link: http://www.multiplesoutlet.com/site/701515/product/994-##...#

We did 3 flights with our son, carrying him in the heaviest car seat they made (Britax). It was not easy but doable. Our second child was 15 months after the first, so then I carried an infant seat plus the toddler. You can't go very far!
We have since moved and I said NO stairs. I'd have to keep the stroller in my trunk, and my dream was wheeling it out the front door. Of course, newborns don't need to go out much (and winter is near), so maybe it could work for a bit.
The really hard part would be 2 toddlers on stairs...uh oh.

You are a wonderful friend to be so very concerned. My recommendation would be to get a stroller which narrower than the stairs and pull the stroller up the stairs with your back facing the stairs. For going down the stairs you face the stairs, lift the front wheels and let the rear wheels come down one stair at a time remembering to pull the stroller back when you reach the next step. Sounds complicated but isn't at all.

If she has any packages, they should go into the basket at the bottom of the stroller and the excess should go into a nap sack and strapped to the back or/and your front.

It is definitely doable. It is something I had to do for a time with the twins I baby sat.

I imagine that just going home from the hospital will be difficult, they would need another person besides hubby. Even one trip up four flights is inadvisable if she is recovering from a c-section, and to attempt it, she'd need hubby to support/assist her while the other person waits in the lobby with both babies, trying to get people not to get too close to them, hubby gets mom settled upstairs (and up four flights with a cesarean wound will take quite some time), then come back downstairs and bring babies up with the other person. Same would be necessary for trip to the doctor to have staples removed, if it is a cesarean delivery. In those first couple of weeks, if there was an emergency and she was at home alone, she would not be able to get herself and the two babies down the stairs.
Good luck to your friend.

she will obviously need to figure this out on her own

Hi, W.,
I'm the mom of twins and I can tell you that I would frequently worry about "how am I going to maneuver that?" -- getting them into their day care by myself or from the house to the car by myself, etc. -- but when it came down to it, there was always a way! For a while, she should be able to carry them both in their car seats -- and she will get stronger as they get bigger. If she gets winded, I imagine there are landings in the staircase, right? So she could always have them both in sight if she has to take one up to the first landing, then go back for the other, etc.

I was given the Maximom twins carrier at my shower but found it too complicated and intimidating to ever use. But I did use an Ergo carrier for one baby at a time. She could put one baby in the Ergo and carry the other in the car seat.

It will work out! It always does.

Congrats to your friend. Twins are great. As my OB/GYN (who also has twins) says, they're twice the work but four times the joy.

-A.