3. One crib is fine in the beginning. "Newborn twins can certainly remain in the same crib initially," Walker says. "If they sleep better when they know the other is close by, crib-sharing can last up until they move into their childhood beds."
You can put your twins to sleep in a single cot while they're small enough. This is called co-bedding and is perfectly safe. In fact, putting twins in the same cot can help them regulate their body temperatures and sleep cycles, and can soothe them and their twin.
When your twins become more wiggly or are rolling over (usually between 6 weeks and 3 months), separate them into two cribs to avoid the risk of suffocation AND to keep them from waking each other.
This means that each twin won't obstruct the other's breathing. Have your babies sleeping in the same room as you until they are at least six months old, particularly if they were premature or born with a low birth weight.
With twins sleeping together, SIDS is a very valid risk that you might be exposing your babies to. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is usually the reason why parents are advised to keep their baby in a separate crib, and not have him sleep in the same bed as themselves.
Experts say it's important to separate twins at naptime for the same reasons that it's important to have them sleep in separate cribs.
The reality is that raising multiples is hard. You have double or triple the feeding, diapering, and laundry and, as a result, less time to spend cuddling and getting to know each baby. To be sure, there will be days when you feel as if you're walking up a down escalator.
Measures included actigraphy, sleep diaries, and standardized instruments for fatigue, sleep quality, and depression. According to the results, by the time the twins reached full-term, mothers were sleeping an average of 5.4 hours in a 24-hour period, with over 70 percent reporting less than six hours of sleep.
Studies show several possible benefits of letting twins sleep together in the NICU. 1 Multiples who are co-bedded seem to sleep better, gain weight better, have fewer episodes of apnea and bradycardia, and (as long as they're about the same size), keep each other warm.
“Ideally, children would move out of shared rooms with a sibling of the opposite sex by age six, but not every family has that option. In that case, set up some boundaries, have them change in the bathroom, or be flexible with your own room as another place to change”.
They may not need separate rooms right away; most parents of twins say that one twin almost never wakes the other one up. Separate beds may be enough space to prevent one from waking the other one.
Make it Harder to Break Out
Make sure the mattress is on the lowest level possible. If that isn't low enough you can try moving the mattress to the floor within the crib structure. This works if the sides are close to the floor so your toddler can't squeeze out underneath.
Co-sleepers usually have a separation in between the parent's bed and the baby's sleeping space to make it safer. With twins, you can get two co-sleepers – one for each of them. Put each co-sleeper on each side of the bed. This arrangement is safe and very easy to manage for parents during nighttime.
The AAP clearly states that each baby should sleep on his or her own sleep surface, and not in the bed with an adult. Before you're ready to put the babies in their own cribs in the nursery, use two portable cribs or a double bassinet for twins, such as the HALO® Bassinest® twin sleeper.
So, should you wake up your twins at the same time to feed them? Yes, if you want to maximize your sleep and keep some sanity to your already crazy, sleep-deprived schedule. Need help sleep training your twins? Check out this step-by-step guide to sleep training twins from fellow parent of twins, Nina Garcia.
Some twins will start sleeping through the night as early as 8-10 weeks. Typically you can start seeing longer sleep stretches around 12 weeks. Many twins wait until 4-6 months. The bottom line is that every twin is different.
Keeping them together and on the same routine helps life run smoothly. This makes alone time all the more important for twins. They can play and just focus on themselves, no one bothering them. If you have a more introverted twin they might relish the break in external stimuli.
It can definitely still work, it just may be more challenging! My twins typically went down pretty well for night time but had some trouble for naps. This is when I introduced cry-it-out. There are a few different methods to this depending on what you are comfortable with and what your baby responds to best.
The hardest thing about having twins is…
“Managing the movement of two babies. Carrying them both up and down the stairs, getting them into the car, etc.” —Simeon R. “Often having to make one baby wait!” —Catharine D. “Being outnumbered—the logistics of two on one is definitely the hardest.
The first six months were the worst. It will get better at about three / three and a half.
“Having twins is not twice as hard—it's exponentially more difficult,” says Natalie Diaz, author of What To Do When You're Having Two and CEO of Twiniversity, a global support network for parents of twins.
A few said that the first two months with twins are easy (being in the rose-colored glasses phase), then reality hits from months 3-6 (when the sleep deprivation catches up), then it can get easier again.
For women born 1870-1899, moms of twins averaged reproductive spans of 14 years 11 months versus 14 years for singleton moms. Both results were statistically significant. Moms of twins also were older at the time of their last birth.