Fisher Price Rock and Plays
As weird as it is to say, our Rock and Plays were not this fancy (things change quickly). Sometime after ours were purchased they added a vibrator to them, which is awesome! Ours didn't have that feature so we did lots and lots of rocking! These were so great because they keep the babies at an incline, you don't really have to worry about the babies moving too much in them, and they are very portable. We would drag them around the house to whichever room we needed them in. When babies got fussy, we could just rock them with our feet. These were a must have!
Inchbug bottle labels
Ideally, all 3 babies would drink the same thing and the same amount but that didn't work for us. At a month old, Emily was no longer able to have any milk, including breast milk. When her tummy tried to digest the milk protein, she had horrible stomach aches and painful gas. Since we had clear bottles for Tripp and pink for the girls, we had to have a way to tell Emily's bottles from Ella's. I chose inchbug bottle labels. These aren't at baby stores, you have to order them from the website, but they were necessary. When you make 3 bottles and then take them all into the living room together, they get mixed up. If it's the middle of the night, it's a mess. If we accidentally gave Emily Ella's milk, she would scream and scream. These things were also a must!
3 cribs
We picked cribs that were not big or elaborate. We needed simple because we needed 3 of them to fit in a fairly small room. We chose this white one that was reasonably priced. The brand is Child Craft. We like them!
Bouncers
We had 2 Fisher Price Snugabunny bouncers. They were great! We used them until the babies were about 7 months old and couldn't fit in them anymore. These were great for any time a baby got fussy. It seemed to calm them down pretty quickly.
Swings
We had something similar to this. It's a Fisher Price swing. It was huge and took up lots of room but I wished we had 2 of them. You can turn the seat so that it swings from side to side or front to back. The babies loved it. It also had these lights that were at the top of the mobile part that they loved to stare at.
Mobiles for Rock and Plays
I wouldn't say these were a must, but it was very nice to have music for each baby as they were going to sleep. At first the babies were too small to look up at the mobile moving, but they enjoyed the music. Eventually they would look up at them but around that time we moved them into their cribs. These were very helpful though. These are also Fisher Price (apparently we used a lot of Fisher Price stuff).
Bumbos
9 crib sheets and 9 waterproof mattress covers
That's right, 9! We only have 6 of each and I wish each baby had another set. I read while I was pregnant to stack them for easier changing of sheets. We have a mattress cover, a sheet, another mattress cover, and then another sheet on each crib. This way if a baby throws up or pees through a diaper, we just take off the first sheet and mattress cover and there's another set already on the mattress. We don't have to put anything on the bed! It's a very handy trick that I'm glad we came across.
3 infant car seats
This is Emily in her infant seat at 8 months old. I looked into just getting convertible car seats and skipping the infant seats, but I knew I would have tiny babies and I would need seats with a 4 pound minimum. Convertible seats have a 5 pound minimum. Plus, you need infant seats to carry them in public places without them being seen (car seat canopies, I'll get to those). We chose 2 pink seats and 1 blue one. I don't have a big recommendation here. We used Graco and they were fine. I think Chicco has a 4 pound minimum seat, too. I didn't see any difference when looking at the seats, so I picked the design I liked best.
Car seat canopies
Mark's sweet Aunt made our canopies. These were absolutely a must! These kept the babies hidden and therefore, germ free! When we went to the doctors office, or Target or Kroger, we attracted lots of attention (we didn't go out often) and of course people want to see and touch babies. People left the babies alone with these! They were great :)
3 convertible car seats
We knew we would need these eventually and they're expensive, so we put them on the registry. I didn't do any research, I just went with a Graco seat that looked nice. We got all 3 of them at baby showers! Then I joined BAMOM and noticed a few postings about convertible seats and realized I didn't register for very good ones. Most people recommended Chicco Next Fit. It had great reviews. Recaro was also recommended, but the reviews said it was very wide. I wanted seats that would fit 3 across the middle row of the van. A woman mentioned Diono Radians. They have excellent safety ratings and are very thin. All 3 fit across the middle row (the picture above is not mine. Our seats are black and I haven't gotten a good picture. I just wanted to show how slim they are and how they all fit across!). We have had them for about a week and so far I love them, and the babies like that they can see each other! They are kind of pricey, but if you use 20% off coupons at Babies R Us and use the triplet discount (if you say "multiples discount," they will give you 10% off. That's the TWIN discount. Say "triplet" and they give you 15% off), they are reasonable. They were originally $340 each and we paid $161 each. We had a manager helping us and he gave us lots of discounts :)
Changing table
We have a changing table in our living room. I knew that's where we would spend all day, so I wanted one in there. We have a dresser in the nursery with a changing pad on it, but I don't think we've ever used it. All they do in the nursery is sleep. Everything else is in the living room.
SwaddleMe velcro swaddles
I would get at least 9 of these. They were a must!
Single Snap and Go and Double Snap and Go strollers
This is how we got around when the babies were tiny. This way we left them in their car seats with their canopies and could push them easily. I never went anywhere alone, so having 2 strollers was fine.
North States play yard
Once the babies started rolling, it was hard to keep them on the rug in the living room, so we had to pull out this thing. We registered for one and got it. It was not big enough for 3 babies, let alone 3 babies and a daddy, so we bought a second one to make it bigger for them. We also got big foam mats for inside of the playpen. Here's a picture of that before we had time to go get the last pack of foam mats. The babies love it and it keeps them contained! I recommend registering for 2 of these and the foam mats. We have 4 packs of the mats, a total of 16 squares.
We have this awesome stroller! Quite a few people have asked me what kind it is and honestly, I have no clue. It was ordered on ebay and given to us a gift. I can't find it anywhere online, but I love it! If you can find one, you should buy it! It fits in the back of the van, which isn't typical for triplet strollers. It is kind of heavy, but worth it!
Triple wagon
Breathable mesh bumpers
With all of the risks associated with crib bumpers these days, I had to have these. There were so many times when we woke up and a baby had their face right in the bumper, so I'm glad we got these! Since they're bigger now, they kick them down, but they were nice when the babies were smaller.
Video monitor
We have a Motorola monitor with 2 cameras. 1 camera is above Tripp's bed and the other is between the girls' bed and we have to move it to see them. 3 cameras would be nice, but 2 is totally fine. At first, it's nice to be able to see them. Then when they get bigger, you can watch your son pulling the window shade open (which has no cords hanging) and waking his sisters up with the sunlight. It's fun to watch them now!
Plastic bibs
We have all of these small cotton bibs and when feeding babies solid food, they just don't do the trick (not with my messy babies, at least). We had to get these big plastic ones with a pocket in the front. They wipe clean and protect their clothes!
Activity mats for the floor
We got 2 pink ones and this jungle themed one. The jungle mat had a tiger on the top with lights and music,the pink ones did not, so they all liked the jungle one best.
Baby Einstein jumper
We only have 1 of these, but all 3 babies love it. I wish we had 2, that way we could rotate babies between jumpers and exersaucers. They take up a lot of room!
If you're going to make your own baby food:
I don't like the Baby Bullet. It is definitely made for making food for 1 baby. I would use a regular blender.
I have Mumi and Bubi storage trays that I love! Each tray stores 21 cubes and each cube is 1 ounce. They don't take up much room and are so easy to use! I usually freeze the food in them for a few days, then take the cubes out and divide them up in ziploc freezer bags. Each bag has 3 ounces, which is what each baby eats at each meal. I label the bags with what kind of food it is. I started out with oxo tot containers, but they take up way too much room.
Other things we got that I recommend:
Hooded bath towels
Infant bath tub (you have to bathe them one at a time in the beginning)
Zipper pajamas. NOT SNAPS!
Socks and hats
A big diaper bag. I have a Vera Bradley bag and it isn't big enough. (Other MoMs have said that Thirty One makes a utility tote that is very big)
Diapers
Butt paste, Desitin, Aquafor diaper ointment
Wipes
Dreft detergent
Boppy pillows
Dishwasher baskets
Exersaucers. I would get different kinds so that you can rotate the babies and they don't get bored.
3 walkers. The babies love their walkers!
If you're going to breast feed, get the My Breast Friend Twin Nursing Pillow
Pack and Play. We should've gotten 3 of these but we only got 2. When we travel anywhere, they will each need one to sleep in, so we will have to borrow another one.
A big dresser. We have a long one that has 6 drawers. It still isn't big enough for all of their stuff!
Other tips:
*Register for different types of bottles, not too many of 1 kind. I thought we would use Playtex Drop in Liners but my babies didn't like them. We had to go buy Avent bottles for them, then Ella decided she needed a smaller nipple so now only uses Playtex VentAire bottles. Have different kinds that you can try out.
*Add gift cards to your registry. After babies are born you'll need more stuff (like whichever kind of bottle they wanted) so gift cards will be very handy! Use them to buy whatever wasn't bought from your registry but try to save some for after the babies are born. You'll need them!
*Don't register for a breast pump. You can get a free one through your insurance. I got a Medela Freestyle for free! That's a $400 pump!
*I don't know if you can register for a hands free pumping bra, but if you can, register for a few of them. You need your hands and pumping takes up a lot of time!
*We looked at the list that Babies R Us gave us to register for and started marking stuff off that we didn't think we needed. We knew we needed to get the essentials and a lot of the stuff on their list is not really necessary. We just used common sense when it came to what we felt we needed and didn't need.
*Don't register for clothes. People will buy clothes that they think are cute!
I also recommend getting sheets to document feedings and dirty diapers. My awesome sister in law made ours and they were perfect! Each baby had a color (Emily was purple, Ella was pink and Tripp was blue) and their sheets matched the color clipboard it was attached to. Without these things, we wouldn't have realized that at one time, Ella went 3 days without a bowel movement! It was also helpful because we had so many people helping us that they could look back and see what each baby had been doing before they got here! Once I had them on a sleep schedule I documented naps, too. That was the only way I kept track of how long they were sleeping!
That's all I can think of right now. I will update if I come up with anything else!
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