Sleeping arrangements for newborn twins?

Hi,
An interesting question probably for existing mums of twins.

I am expecting twins in May 2006 and we are trying to decide on the initial sleeping arrangements for the little ones.

Our son Declan slept in our room for the first 6 months (a little longer than we wanted but due to housing that was how it was). This time around we are considering co-sleeping with them in the room for the first 3 months in one cot with both babies in a seperate Tea-Tree (ti-tree?) snuggle bed liners. This would just economise on space. The babies will have their own room as they get older but due to the stress of getting up to them all the time and previous experience we thought this might be a good idea.

Any mums tried this ??
I know having bubs in the room is not to everyones liking so no need to tell me about that... just if you have done it how you worked it?

Thanks in advance

Kaety

hi there kaety
congrats on carrying twins
just to let you know that there is a product that exists for twins that you can actually attach to your bed. It attaches to the side of your bed so that it becomes an extension. I saw it on an american twins web site, but i have been told that you can get them here.
personally my twins were in their own room after they came home and that worked for us. My SIL twins sleep in one cot next to her bed. They are 7 months old now and still fit.
So whatever works for you- go for it.

good luck and ask away any questions that you have
take care
odette
mum to ariel and immogen 5/12/2002

Hi Katie,

Congratulatons!!!
I am expecting twins in early March 06. I have hired 2 hosptal cribs to house my little treasures in my room. I thought it would be nice to have them next to one another so they can see each other ( hey it may only last for a minute but thats what we will start with) as they are that plastic see through stuff....then if we have a troublsome night with one we can easily wheel them to another part of the house! Shall see how it goes I guess!!

Mel

Apologise for spelling your name wrong kaety

Hi Melmac, thanks for your idea .. might save us having a cot in our room (squashy) but I am used to the name thing :) In real life (not on the net) its Kate or Katie... but online ive been kaety for 10 yrs :)
Anything but hey ***** usually gets my attn

Goodluck and let me know how you go with the hospital cribs i love that idea

Kaety !!!!! OMG @ twins girl !!!!!!!! Congratulations.....

Love

Hi there,

I have 14 mth old boy girl twins- congratulations!!! When we brought our lovelies home I had a portacot with a high insert set up in our room and the babies cosleept in there until they were about 3 months old. Then I moved them into their own room- they shared a cot until about 4 months when they started waking each other up because they would move and bump each other. They shared a room until they were around 10 months and now they are in separate rooms. I would like to have them in the same room again, but it just doesn't work for us. Ellie likes her own space whereas Cameron enjoy sleeping with Mummy.

I liked having them in with us when they were little and the night feeds were many- nice to have them close by. On occassions I would co-sleep with them in our bed- much easier not to actually have to get up to feed them- but it depends on how you are planning to feed!

I didn't want to put them in a snuggle bed because they seemed to like being close to each other

Congratualtions again!
Kylie

Congratulations Kaety, & Mel too on expecting twins!

I've always had my babies in a bassinette next to my bed til they grew out of it, at about 5 months, which coincided with them sleeping through the night (except Angus who took a few months longer, so we put his cot in our room at first.)

As we couldn't put 2 bubs in a bassinette together, and I wanted them to be together, Asha & Lauren have slept sideways in a cot together in our room from birth & are still there at 4 months.

They're just starting to annoy each other a bit, now that they can turn over and spin around, but also they've just started noticing each other. They often look at each other and chat & giggle & smile now, so I don't like to separate them.

We will have to get another cot soon though, or move Angus to a bed. I'll put it off as long as possible though, as we can't fit 2 cots in our room and they're still feeding overnight. (Having started sleeping through, they're back to needing an overnight feed usually atm).

Yvette -

I know another twin mum was asking about co sleeping twins and I wonder too - we want our bubs in our room (the plan for now ;) ) but not two in our bed for safety and sounds like they are better together anyway. Maybe have we'll another cot in the nursery for daytime / get them used to own room eventually or when we need two for their size.

WE could fit a cot in our room and save the expense of basinettes/cribs -though we have one family basinette (60 yrs old). Do use single bed sheets or normal cot sheets if sleeping Lauren & Asha sideways (sorry if it sounds silly).

How are Melmac and Kaety doing ?

Trish I would recommend getting 2 cots & having one in the nursery & one in your room, & putting them in together overnight. That way you've got your second one ready to go when they're ready to have their own space, & you can use the nursery during the day.

Basinettes are lovely, especially if you have a family heirloom, but of course they'd need one each.

I use normal cot sheets. I find when they're little I never use the top sheet because we swaddle them. I put a towel over the waterproof side of the mattress to make it easy to wash & more comfortable, then a fitted cot sheet, then a thick cotton bunny rug, then a cloth nappy folded in half for under their head, then firmly wrapped baby, & if cold celular blanket over that. My babies chuck up a lot, so in one day we'll change the cloth nappies a few times & the bunny rug, & hopefully get more than one day out of the sheet, lol.

Now that we've stopped swaddling them (can't remember when that was :-k ) they have nothing over them if it's very hot, or just a flat cot sheet, or just the celular blanket. I only use the flat sheet in Angus' cot if he's not having any blanket on him because it's hot. If I try making up the bed with a sheet, he just trashes it & it gets tangled up.

We've been given sleeping bags for the twins which I'm looking forward to using next winter. I've never tried them before, and I was always up & down to tuck Angus in last winter so he wouldn't get cold.

I was worried their legs would dangle out the bottom (thru the bars) if sleeping them sideways

That sounds like a good idea -

lol they will eventually i suppose,but still ok so far.

Hi

My twins, Mia & Mitchell, are 4 1/2 months old and we had the same idea to put snuggle beds in one cot. Only problem we found was that 2 snuggle beds would not fit into one cot. So we put both babies in one cot head to head feet at each end. The first night they wriggled up until their heads met, soooo cute. They continued to do this so I assume it is a comfort thing.

This worked well for the first few months then we found that Mitchell was disturbing Mia as he is a restless sleeper. So now they are in separate cots in snuggle beds and at the moment sleeping really well.

Hope this helps!

Good luck
Sheree

Hi everyone,

We have also decided to put both twins in one cot at the begining, but we can't put them in our room (a bit too small). I have started to decorate the study which is near our room. It will be their room for as long as possible.

Talk to you soon
Chris