Babies, small as they might be, create loads of laundry. Although their clothes may be smaller than adult clothes, twins can quickly create a large pile of laundry, especially when they are infants since diaper mishaps, spilled food, and spit up can all necessitate multiple changes of clothing during the day. However, there are things you can do to make keeping up with all the dirty clothes a little bit easier.

First of all, many babies have sensitive skin and don’t do well with brand new clothes straight from the store. For this reason, make sure to wash all their clothes ahead of time before they are even born so you have plenty ready for them to wear when you bring them home from the hospital. There are special detergents meant for babies with extra sensitive skin, but you can also try some of the regular detergents that have a “free and clear” version without added colors or scents. The special baby products for laundry can be a lot more expensive, so you won’t want to use them if you don’t have to.

Once the twins are home and creating laundry, keep in mind that just because they have worn something once doesn’t mean that it has to be washed. If it doesn’t have a stain or smell it can be worn again. This will help to make up for some of the multiple changes that happen during the day. That shirt that was only worn for a couple hours can be worn again the next day.

For laundry that is dirty, keep easily transportable hampers or laundry bags near all the areas where you typically change clothes, and keep a stain remover stick nearby but out of the reach of your infant so you can immediately treat any stains to make it more likely they will come out when you wash the clothes. Especially small items or delicate items can be separated in mesh bags so they don’t get lost or accidentally put in the dryer when they shouldn’t be.

Don’t let the laundry pile up too much either, or it will look like an insurmountable task, and you might just end up going to change the twins and finding that you only have one change of clothes clean that is appropriate. Try to do at least a load a day. If it helps you can make yourself a schedule and do a certain type of laundry each day.

Once your twins are no longer infants, you can enlist their aid in doing the laundry. Little kids often like to help with grownup tasks, so take advantage of this. Depending on their age there are a number of different ways that they will be able to help you. They can help to sort the laundry by color or by who the clothing belongs to. They can help bring the laundry to the laundry room, and transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer (once they are tall enough or if you have front loading machines). They can also be in charge of putting their own clothes away or pairing socks.

Make some rules to make sure that the laundry process goes as easily as possible. The twins (and all other members of the household) should know that if they want something washed it needs to be in the hampers (not on the floor or under the bed). They will soon figure it out when they find that if they don’t follow the rules they won’t have the clothes clean that they might want to wear on any particular occasion. Once this happens a few times they will get the picture and make sure the clothes end up where they belong. They should also know what they are responsible for, such as folding and putting away their clean clothes.

You should also make it easy to tell apart the twins’ clothes. Either dress them in different colors, which works well when they are small, or mark the tags with initials so it is easy to sort out what belongs to who. For things like socks you should just purchase a whole bunch of the same type and keep them in a communal location for both to grab from. Then you don’t have to worry about sorting or pairing their socks up since they are all the same.

Content guidance provided by Amy Hall, M.O.M (Mom of Multiples)