Twins and Sleeping...

[katm84]

Hello - those of you who have had twins - what sleeping arrangements did you have when you got home from hospital - together or separate? i have got a next to me and was going to put them both in that to start with then move them to their own cots but heard that some twins wont settle together?

[Hopeful15]

Hi Katma,

My friend had twins....in the end she let them sleep in the cots that came with her double buggy as taking them out for a walk was the easiest way she found to get them to sleep at the same time. She then placed the cots inside the larger cotbeds that she had prepped in their own room. (Hers arrived early so already had pretty set night time sleep/feed patterns from being in hospital). She also bought a cotbed divider so that she could place them in the same cotbed, for about 5 months, then into their own cotbeds. She also bought baby feeding cushions, they look a lot like maternity pillows, so that she could prop them up and bottle feed them at the same time - I believe there is something similar for breastfeeding twins too - although I found just using the pillows and cushions I had around the house just as useful.

My friend chose a very fixed routine for her boys, with set times for everything that included taking them out in buggy or the car for their daytime naps. She kept to the hospital bed times that they were used to, which meant that although they ran her ragged throughout the day, they had learnt how to put themselves to sleep at night and went down at 7pm every night, rarely waking until the morning from very early on.....a miracle as my 17 month old is still a nightmare in this respect.

There should be some "twins and more" playgroups near you....may be a good idea to pop along and ask the parents for tips directly - I'm sure they'll be full of useful advice and may have equipment you can buy/borrow. Good luck with everything xxxx

[EmmaM1]

Hi there

My twins are now 9 months. I had them at full term (37+4).

We intended for them to share the same Chicco next to me crib from birth but after about two weeks of that, we realised it was not going to work as the two of them just kept getting in each other's way so we bought another Chicco next to me crib and had them both in our room until they were 6 months old.

At that stage, we moved them into their own room, into two cribs side by side. The room has blackout blinds, which really helps them sleep. They can disturb each other from time to time. At the moment, one has a really bad cough so we have moved the other downstairs into her travel cot. That has worked for this week.

For morning naps, they sleep in separate rooms with white noise playing in the background. For lunchtime naps, we go out in the buggy. We have quite a set schedule to ensure that they sleep, feed and play at the same times. In the early days, it was very hit and miss as to whether it worked (very young babies sleep when they want!), but it tends to work well now.

My twins are not identical so seem to have no dependency on one another. I have heard that identical twins can rely on each other more and settle better together.

Hope this helps.

[Claire_79]

Hi there

My girls are 5 1/2 months old now. I started with them sleeping in their mountain buggy bassinets. I'd place them on our chaise settee during the day, then place them both into a cot bed at night, still in their bassinets. I had originally planned for them both to share the cot bed from birth but they found it too big and were scared of the open space. Eventually took them out of their bassinets at about 2 weeks old during the day so they could be together and out of them at night at 4 months old. I put them at each end of the cot bed with their feet touching the ends. They are used to being together so don't tend to wake each other up. They are however now too big to share a cot bed as they keep shuffling and rolling into each other! Have bought a second cot bed so will be moving them into their own room at the same time. Good luck x

[Hidden]

Hi Kat,

My twin girls are now 7 months and were born at 36+4.

During the day they slept in seperate bassinets attached to their pushchair but at night they slept in a cot bed in our bedroom. We had them side by side at first and they didn't disturb each other at all. They didn't seem remotely bothered by the big cot bed though we did have a "breathable baby" cot bed bumper to stop their arms or legs getting caught in the sides and I think that made them feel more enclosed and cosy. Please note advice is to not use cot bed bumpers incase they get their face trapped against it somehow but the make we have is a breathable mesh to remove that danger.

We had to move them to top and tailing (feet to the bottom of opposite ends of the cot bed) a few months in because they'd started batting each other in the face and waking each other up!

We were able to do that up until 5 months when they no longer both fit in the cotbed and then we moved that into their room where the other cotbed was and from then on they've slept in seperate cotbeds in their own room.

When they got too big for their bassinets we moved them to their reclining rocker chairs for day-time naps as we're able to rock/bounce them to sleep in those.

Both our girls are good sleepers, been sleeping through 7 til 7 from around 2 months old so we must have done something right/found what works for them.

I hope this helps. You'll have some tough nights ahead of you at first but have faith that it passes and always be aware of what a super-mum you are.

Best wishes xx

[Jack81twins]

Hi my identical twin girls are a month old. In my experience my two do not like to be separated when in cot. If on their own you can clearly see one searching for the other and they can sence when one of them isn't close. I think with anything though there is no hard or fadt rule just ser what works for you and your little ones good luck ☺