I am a mother of two 7 month old twin boys and we are desperately looking for suggestions on how to get them to sleep through the night. A little information about us: we all share a room, both babies are in own cribs but next to each other. they are bottle feeding and haven't had great success with solids (rashes and waking up more often). If any twin parents out there have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them.
thanks so much! S. Couple of other things:
they are not eating solids right now due to rashes after eating and GI upset in the middle of the night. Any thoughts on this would be great. what foods did you start with? What time did you feed solids? How often?
they used to sleep together up until about a month and 1/2 ago. They outgrew their crib, or so I thought. How did those who kept their babes together place them in their crib? I'm happy to put them together, just thought they were too big.
I've noticed that lately they are eating less formula/breast milk bottles. They seem to get distracted or will just chew on the nipple. I keep thinking they're teething but I don't feel any thing when I massage their gums.
Wow ladies....THANK YOU. I had no idea that i would get so many responses. Suddenly my focus has moved from sleep to, WHERE ARE YOU WONDERFUL WOMEN?! I wish I could sit down and pick every one of your brains. Nevertheless....thank you! I will definitely take what I can from all of your pearly words and will let you know what happens. I also added a couple things to my request to answer questions that you asked. I so appreciate the time you took to reply.
thank you!! S.
White noise seemed to help my daughter and friends' kids. A fan works. Also, we use a "Sleep Sheep" from Cloud b. They make cute sleep stuff (can find them on ebay too).
Not a mum to multiples (darnit!), but all the twins and trips in my family slept in the same bassinets/cribs/beds until sometime in elementary school. Listening to everyone talk (and assuming I'd have multiples myself one day, so i took a lot of notes), it was the only way to get them to sleep as babies and young children.
The twins stayed in the cribs longer then the trips, but even they were moved out by about a year and a half. What we did in our family was put side rails around twin beds, or two twin matresses pushed together...except one of the trips was a climber...so they got a double mattress on the floor and great dane height dog gates, in lieu railings. Eventually, of course, the gate shifted to the door. They may actually make playpens that are big enough now...but at the time that was the best that could be come up with.
The key to it all though, was letting them sleep together. They'd almost always pile into one space anyway, or stretch like cats, defying laws of physics, regardless of the space allotted to them.
Good Luck!
Hi S.,
I am the mother of 5 year old twins. I feel for you. Getting one child to sleep through the night is hard enough!(I have three older children) My twins would not sleep through the night unless they were in the same crib. They would cry until we put them together. Once we permanently moved them into the same crib, most of the time one would wake up cry a little and then go back to sleep without waking the other. When they would wake up, they would comfort each other back to sleep. I rarely had to intervene. I have many pictures of them sleeping in the crib with their arms draped over each other.
When we moved them into beds, we made a big deal out of the move. They were big now and each had their own bed. They were so excited. After two weeks, they were back sleeping in the same bed. We put them down in their own beds and then come back later and they'd be snuggled up together in one bed. Even now, most nights they sleep together. I've asked them about it, and they say they just like it better.
I figure they don't know life without each other. I'll let them decide when to sleep separately. I have a friend that is a twin and she told me that even as their mother, I will never totally "get" their relationship. I think that's probably true. I feel blessed to watch them grow as individuals that have a bond I don't totally understand.
By the way it DOES get easier! Enjoy this time with them. As I watched them go down the stairs this morning going off to school, I wondered where the time went. They seem so big. Good luck. I hope this helps.
My dear S., I feel for you. Not to make things sound worse but my twins turn 3 in March and I still have one that occasionally wakes up through the night. The both started doing better around 27 months. They share a room with a crib on each side. I tried feeding them more during the day, had a good calming bedtime routine (well as calm as you can get with twin boys)and nothing really worked. I even tried feeding them some low sugar cereal before bed, and nothing. I had waited awhile to take their night time bottle away and that seem to help out, or it could have been a coincidence. Know when the once wakes up, I just go and cover him with his blanket and rub his back and that seems to help. I know its hard and I feel for you. Good luck
S.,
My boys did not start sleeping all night until 18 months when we took the bottles away. Also, we had them in their own room with the cribs across from one another (each on a wall so they could see one another still) at that point.
It is not easy, and your children will let you know how any changes in routine affects them. Be patient. It will work.
T.
They're twins, silly......let them sleep together!
Not a mother of twins, just a veteran mommy of 3 (grown) children, one of whom didn't sleep through the night for a year...so I feel for you. A few thoughts...
Is sharing a room the only option? If not, I'd move the twins out of your room. If possible, I'd put them in separate rooms. If not, separate the cribs to opposite sides of the room, even putting in a visual barrier if possible. If all of this isn't an option, I'd make every effort to separate the cribs in your room. Even for now, until they get used to falling asleep (on their own & staying asleep), you might consider moving them to a different room (non-bedroom). You can use a baby monitor if you're concerned about them being away from you.
Oddly, I have heard just the opposite of my advice (I can't remember from where), to put the twins in the same crib (if there's no option to separate them otherwise.) Who knows...
Just curious what solids you are feeding them?
Good luck to you!
T.
Hi..I don't have twins, but my sister does...this is what she had to say. Her twins are now 3 years old.
Get them in their own room if at all possible. With each other is fine, but when they are in the room with you, If you are anything like me, you hear every little noise they make & if you comfort them even once they will expect it every time. They are so used to each other that I never worried about them waking each other up. But they just want your attention all night & day if they can have it! :) If there is no way to get them in a room of their own maybe it would be possible to put up some sort of screen so that they can't see you. Good luck! I wish you much sleep!
I have twin girls, we all sleep in the same room, they have seperate cribs, and they started sleeping through the night at about 7 months - though it was a rough week once I decided to do it. Do they wake up, you feed them, and then they go back to sleep? That's what was going on with my girls (I was still nursing). I'm assuming they go to sleep okay on their own when you first put them to bed (if not then that's what you need to work on first). So this is what I did - when they woke up instead of feeding them I held them, walked around with me, whatever until they stopped crying, then put them down. If they started crying again, pick them back up and repeat. Anything but feed them. So yes, the first night was horrible and very very long. And yes, the second night was difficult. And yes, the third night was hard. But it did quickly get easier and when they realized that I was NOT going to feed them in the middle of the night, they started sleeping through. I'm not comfortable with 'cry it out' so I did comfort them and hold them (lights OFF) but I knew they would not starve over night and they could just eat more in the morning. Now they are two and still sleeping through the night and yes we're all still in the same room and it's just fine.
Hi S.,
totally understand your situation. I have 10 month old twins girls and the only way we found that they sleep at night is to keep them in separate rooms. My twins would wake each other up during the night when they were in the same room.
About the solids, keep trying is all i can say...try changing the brands of the cereal you are giving them, maybe that will help. It'll get better soon!!
Hello S.,
I am a mother of twin boys who are now 13 months. Our boys started sleeping through the night around 4 months. Here is something to consider. How often are you feeding them during the day, both bottle and solids? When they wake up at night, are they hungry or do they just want to be cuddled? If it is that they are hungry, then I would look at feeding them more during the day so that they are satisfied and sleep longer. If they just want to be cuddled then I would do the following:
If possible, move the cribs out of your room into another room and set up a monitor system instead. If they see you in the room with them, I would think they would be more likely to try and wake you. Another thing to consider is do you usually put them down in the cribs when they are totally asleep? Sometimes it is better to put them in the crib when they are a little awake still so they learn to fall asleep on their own. Then if they wake up in the night, you can see if they will just fall back asleep on their own. Sometimes, what I do is I hear one wake up (he has reflux) and then I wait and see and he usually falls back asleep after a little crying. Some people don't do the cry it out method, but personally with twins I don't see that there is much of an option to do anything but this method.
Depending on where you live, you ought to join a mother of twins group. I am a part of the Tacoma Parents of Multiples group and it is a great resource for these sorts of questions. We have a lot of helpful ladies with great advice.
Hope that helps!
~H.
get the book healthy sleep habits, happy baby by marc weissblum. it saved my life!
I have 15 month old twin boys and we used the Ferber method (even if you decide not to use this method the book has GREAT info and i highly recommend reading it at least "Solve your childs sleep problems by richard Ferber). We did this around 7 months. They were sleeping with us in our room in separate packnplays at the time but we used the ferber method with them in separate rooms and we only did one child at a time. When they were both sleeping through the night we put them together in their own cribs in their room. They still share a room but they rarely wake in the night - they always sleep 11 hours at night. If they don't have their own room you could just move one crib into the living room temporarily. Our twins don't seem to wake each other but we have our cribs on opposite walls and not next to each other. I'm not sure if that makes a lot of difference. Hope this helps. congratulations on making it through the hard part - it just gets easier from here:)D.
