Packing up twins in the car

sasky

I've had help from DH so far, but now I'm thinking about the logistics of carrying 2 heavy car seats down to the car myself.

We have a pretty long set of stairs to get down to the driveway so I wouldn't feel comfortable carrying both.

Is it ok to leave one in the car while I go back for the other, safety-wise? We don't have a garage so the driveway is next to the street. Am I thinking too much about this?

Angelahelena

I'm wondering same thing bc I have many steps n street parking. I think I just may not be going out much bc those car seats are heavy.

courtlandmatthew

So I don't have my twins yet but I do have a 20 month old now and a 6 month old (twins on the way) and I have had to leave my youngest strapped in the car seat in the house- run out my older one and buckle him into the car and then go get my youngest one.  It isn't ideal- but honestly- sometimes I can't carry both (I have a bad back). Now that my oldest is a more reliable walker it is getting easier but in the beginning that is how I had to do it. When the twins come, I plan to do something similar though frankly I can't imagine leaving the house with all four on my own now!

PGwithNo3

It's so hard - you can put both babies right outside the door, then put all of the "stuff" on the ground.  Then lock the door.  Then start carrying stuff.  I would just keep both kids with me and out them in the car a close to the same time.  You know your area best... leaving 1 in the car while you get he other could create an opportunity for someone to get too close to the baby in the car.

RayRay007

Do you have some sort of landing at the bottom of the stairs? Carrying one down, leave on the landing, carry the other down and out to the car, then go back and get the first one on the landing? That way, you aren't far from the car? 

gault530

When my twins were young, I would put all of the stuff in the car (diaper bag, water for me, etc), go get one baby and put him/her in the car, lock the car, then go get the other twin.  They will be fine for one minute alone.  Also, I like the idea of carrying them both down to the landing of the stairs (if you can), putting one in, then getting the other.

lc&jw

I have a long set of stairs outside between the door to the house and the driveway. What I used to do when we were using infant car seats was to buckle each baby in their seat, put diaper bag and other stuff outside the door, set each baby seat outside on the front porch landing outside the door, lock the door. Then I would ferry one seat down to the bottom of the stairs, set it down and go up for the other. Then from there I would put each seat in the car, then go grab the diaper bag.

With that method I was never very far from each baby at any given time and neither one was ever out of my sight. The only way I would leave a baby out of my sight is if they were strapped in the car seat inside the house.

Now that we're out of the infant seats I've learned to carry both babies down the stairs with me at the same time and then buckle them into their seats in the car. It's amazing how much strength you build up over time! I never thought I could carry 2 twenty something pound babies and a diaper bag!

shaunah816

For what it's worth, I always carried both my babies. I don't see anything wrong with leaving one and coming back for him/her, I just wanted to be efficient with my time The carseats feel like they weigh a million pounds before your babies get here, but my arms got so strong from carrying two babies around that by the time I was going out and about alone with them I was strong enough to carry both in their carseats with no problem. I went in and out of daycare (including a flight of stairs) with both in their infant seats until they were 13 months. It's a great arm workout

ballygirl

I do one at a time.  We have a garage now, so its not as big a deal, but before we moved, I had a long flight of stairs from our front door to the street.  The car was always parked right at the bottom of the stairs and within eyesight.  I always put one in, left the car door open (unless it was raining) and then ran back up for the second one.  My stairs were so steep and often slippery (it was winter) and it was much more dangerous to risk falling down the stairs trying to carry two heavy baby seats than to leave one in the car for 2 minutes. 

 

My girls are out of the infant seats now and I don't feel comfortable carrying both babies - especially down stairs.  I feel it would be so much worse to fall while carrying 2 babies than to leave them in a car for a couple minutes.