Commentary: How to escape the house with multiple beasties in tow

Getting out of the house with more than one wild critter presents certain challenges. It's especially hard when you're doing the solo juggle of more than one beastie. My favorite trick is a "containment system." These can take the form of car seats, strollers, shopping carts, high chairs, fenced areas, harnesses with a leash, baby backpacks or any other device that allows you to safely turn your back on your "runner" baby while you tend the other little 'un. If you are going to a playground with multiple youngsters, scope out the ones that are fully fenced and gated. You can go from car seats to double stroller to playground, then reverse for the return trip. Or you may use a single stroller and a strap-on baby carrier. But, remember that will mean you don't have a place to safely put both kiddos down at the same time. Grocery shopping with an infant and a toddler poses another set of challenges. You can push a double stroller ahead of you while you pull a shopping cart behind. If one is able to sit, you can carry the infant into the store while pushing the other in the shopping cart. Stores that have carts with double baby seats can be a lifesaver once they can both sit well. Trying to walk your toddlers into a store can also backfire. You may find yourself in the parking lot with one kid who just sat down and another pulling in the direction of an oncoming car. I preferred to cruise the parking lot until I found an empty cart with two seats. Then I'd park nearby and take it to the car. A friend who had twins liked the harness and leash approach. Once her boys could walk, they didn't leave the house without their harness on. They kept them by the door with the coats, and the boys just got used to wearing them. If you want to go the harness route, you need to practice. In the beginning, one or both children will charge off in various directions. There will be crashes and entanglements. It helps if you find a harness where the leash attaches lower on the back. If a child runs, they will get pulled up short on the leash. With higher attachments, they are more likely to fall back and hit their head. If it attaches lower, they are slightly more likely to fall on their bottom and spare their head. Practice on the grass! Some parents find it challenging just getting their gaggle of littles to the car. If you live in an apartment or have on-street parking, then the easiest thing is often to load the babies in a double stroller and use that to move them to the car. On the other hand, if you have a lot of stairs to negotiate, it's going to be more complicated. You're not going to want to leave one kid in the house and take another down the stairs to the car. You'd wind up having to leave them in the car seat unattended while you go back to get their sibling. That's not going to work. So, you need to carry two infants in front/back baby carriers or carry two fully loaded infant car seats. Don't carry both infants in your arms. If you trip and fall, you will not be able to protect your infants or yourself. In addition, once you get to the car, you'll need free hands to get both babies into the car seats, and you won't have a good place to put one infant down. I highly recommend a ground-level apartment or one with an elevator if you have young kids. Of course, once you have yourself, your kids, your diaper bags, purse, snacks, bottles, all the necessities, packed into the car … someone will spit up or blow out a diaper! Whenever possible, just do the clean-up and change in the car, and get yourself out of there. Out to a change of scenery! Kathleen Cawley is a physician assistant and author. She is a regular guest columnist for Gold Country Media.