When I was in the hospital on bed rest for three weeks, I was visited by a representative of the local parents of multiples organization.  She brought me all sorts of interesting and helpful tips and information for parenting multiples.  One of the most helpful bits of information she gave me was about organizations that offer discounts and free products for families with multiples.

I had no idea up to that point that there were so many companies and organizations willing to help families with twins, triplets, quads and more.  There were offers for anything from 10% off clothing and baby items to free diapers and toys.

For most of these places, you have to wait until after your children are born to call them, visit them or send in a form.  Most places wanted copies of birth certificates or newspaper announcements to verify that you actually have multiples.  Only a few places required no proof of birth at all.

Even though I was planning to breast feed, I had a transition period from NICU bottle feeding to breast feeding once they got home.  My daughter used Similac and my son used Isomil.  I contacted Similac and received samples, free coupons and money saving coupons for both types of formula.  They even followed up a few months later by sending more coupons.  Enfamil and Carnation were also on my list for helping multiples.

Gerber Foods, H J Heinz and Beechnut also sent coupons for free food and food coupons.  This was for jar food and snacks, which they were eating before I knew it.  They also followed up with coupons for different stages of food as they grew and more snack coupons.

Any parent of multiples can attest to the fact that you will see an abundance of diapers in your household.  Pampers and Huggies both give help to parents of multiples through free diaper coupons and money saving diaper coupons.  Now that my children are transitioning to pullups, we have received more coupons from those companies.  Even though we chose to use disposable diapers, our local diaper service offered a 10% discount to parents of multiples, so you can check with the diaper service in your area.

Other companies that were on the list included Johnson and Johnson (that sent 5 coupons for free baby bath products), Evenflo, First Years, Fisher Price, Playtex, Sassy, Tylenol and Triaminic.  When I called Sassy and First Years they stated that they did not have a program for multiples, but I have talked to other parents since then who got free stuff so I might have just talked to a representative who didn’t know about the multiples program.

We have a number of local retailers that offer discounts for multiples.  These stores include Baby Depot, Osh-Kosh, Stride Rite, Buster Brown, Babies R Us, Carters and Payless.  Most of these stores offer a 10% discount.  Payless gives free 0-6 month shoes, but I never went to get them as they stayed barefoot all summer, so I don’t know what they look like.  Don’t be afraid to ask local retailers if they offer any discounts for parents of multiples.  It might be something that they have never thought about but are glad to do to help you out and keep you coming back.

You can find 800 numbers for the national companies online.  If any of them say they don’t have a multiples program I would encourage you to call back and speak with a different representative just to be sure.  You can also search online for free products of discounts offered to parents of multiples.  Hopefully you will find something else to add to this list.

I’m so glad that someone visited me in the hospital and gave me this valuable information.  It saved us a lot of money and also introduced us to some products that we might not have tried otherwise.  If your babies haven’t arrived yet, take this time to compile a list of phone numbers and guidelines so that once they get here you can contact the companies and have everything you need ready to go.  If they are already here, make time each day to call just one company so that it doesn’t become overwhelming but you are still able to take advantage of what they each have to offer.  Happy shopping to you!

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 15th, 2006 at 3:10 am and is filed under Multiples. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.