When do I start putting twins upstairs?

[2whiteybabies]

Hi my twin girls are 8 weeks old [5 weeks premature]. They are sleeping well the majority of the time and I am reluctant to change anything that may disrupt this, however I am conscious that perhaps I should be thinking of putting them in their moses baskets upstairs in the evenings. At the moment they have a feed around 6 or 7 o'clock in the evening and I change them into their babygrows for the night. We then put them behind the sofa for the evening before they have their feed at about 10 or 11 o'clock and then we all go to bed.

What do people think? Should they go upstairs for the night after the evening feed? Also does anyone put such young babies upstairs for naps during the day? This may seem a silly question but as they are so young still they seem to sleep most of the time and I guess it's just easier at the mo to keep them where I can see them and take them out for cuddles and plays when they wake up.

Also, when did you take your kids out of your room at night and put them in their nurseries? I am thinking maybe 12 weeks?

Cheers for any help.

[Cerubina]

Congratulations on your twins! I have twins who are 5 months old, 3 months adjusted. I think it was at about 6 weeks adjusted age that I started to initiate the Gina Ford routine, which I phased in by introducing a proper bedtime first and then a week or two later the daytime naps. Until that point, they'd spent all day with me/us downstairs and taking their naps in chairs or carrycots.

You may not like the GF approach but it has been good for us - I don't follow it religiously but take the bits I don't like out. They dealt really well with the change in treatment and after a couple of stressful evenings when they didn't want to go to bed upstairs, they took to it easily and now go off to sleep very well nearly all the time (day and night). It feels to me as though it's a better solution, because we get the evenings to ourselves (albeit with the baby monitor with us at all times) and they seem to sleep more soundly this way. I felt their sleep was quite shallow before.

In terms of which room they are in, we have a cotbed in our room and one in the nursery, and they share the cotbed in whichever room they're in. At weekends we all sleep in our room, and on weeknights I sleep with them in the nursery (me on a sofabed) to allow my husband to get decent rest. It's starting to get to the point where it is looking a bit crowded for them to share a bed, so I think we will have to move them into separate cots before too long - at that point I suppose we will make the move for them to be in their own room away from us. I would probably rather stick with it for 6 months but it might not be possible logistically.

[MamaChocoholic]

congratulations :)

I'm of the "if it's working, don't fix it" school, but I'm not sufficiently organised to gina ford so I would leave them downstairs with you if that's working now. I think the recommendations are to have the babies sleep in a room with you until 6 months to reduce risk of SIDS, so I wouldn't move to a nursery before then.

[BertieBotts]

I didn't have twins, so I don't know whether it would be as practical with two, but I just let DS roll around/kick about etc on the floor or in his bouncy chair or on my lap etc until he could crawl, really. He goes to bed happily at 7 now, so it doesn't seem to have had a bad effect :)

[Ragwort]

I'm another one who followed the GF routine (are we allowed to mention her now ?) - I put my DS to bed in his own room from about 2 weeks - but I know that is frowned on by mumsnetters. I can honestly say I never, ever had any trouble getting him to sleep at night.

[RitaMorgan]

Definitely do whatever works for you, but worth bearing in mind that the guidelines to reduce the risk of cot death are to keep them in the same room as you while they sleep (including day time naps) until 6 months.

[StoneBaby]

No twins but my DS went in his cot in his room since we came back from hospital. I know the guidelines recommend 6 months but there's no space in our bedroom for a cot or basket.
He was napping in his basket in the living room during the day and around 6pm was going to bed.
As said above, do what works for you.

[RitaMorgan]

There is some research here that concluded an increased risk if sleeping separately www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC28288/

Here for risks of separate room and prone (tummy) sleeping positions www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14738790
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8531589

I don't think it's paranoia to understand the risks and make a decision from an informed position.

[4madboys]

mine have all slept downstairs either on me (the elder three especially) or in a carrycot or carseat in the evening.

i started putting the boys up to bed in the evening from about 7-8mths when they werent going to sleep downstairs?


tho with ds4 it was earlier as he seemed to need to be in bed to settle well, but i had the moniter and he was and still is (at 3yrs old) in our room, tho is now in his own bed!

with dd she sleeps in the carrycot downstairs in the evenings, purely because its easier for me to pop her dummy in if she needs it and because i dont want her disturbed by the boys when i am getting them in bed, she has just int he last few days started having her naps upstairs in bed as she wasnt settling well downstairs in the carrycot and i think we will have to start putting her upstairs in the evening soon purely as she is too big for the carrycot, she only fits in because she sleeps with her legs in a frog like position! she is 7mths.

all of mine have slept in with us until they were about 2yrs or so.

if they are settling fine downstairs then go with it i guess? my motto is always if it works then why change it and upset the status quo, they are still very young so its good to have them close and as long as it doesnt cause you a problem i would go with it.

rita has given some good links and there is plenty of evidence to show that babies regulate their breathing and body temperature better when the sleep close to an adult, be that in a cotside bed, basket or whatever :)

[2chimps]

Congratulations on your twins!! My twin girls are 6 months old and we only started leaving them upstairs on their own last week! Previously, we were taking them upstairs bath, bottle, bed and going to bed ourselves and watching TV with them in our room. Now, once they are asleep we leave them to it but i still feel a little nervous about them being up there so we take it in turns to check on them every 10/15 mins and sit with one ear listening out at all times (as well as having the monitor!) A lot of people kept suggesting that we should have got them into some sort of routine earlier but it worked for us keeping them downstairs asleep in their bouncers until we were ready to take that next step. So like everyone else, i'd say if it works for you then go with it!
During the day i try and put them down for naps in the travel cot in the living room. I just found it easier than carrying one upstairs then the other for naps then bringing one back down then the other several times a day, i dont want to sound lazy but i'm tired enough!
Good luckxx

[HappyAsASandboy]

I have 9 month old twins.

I started putting them upstairs to sleep at about 4 or 5 months. Before that, I was getting them ready for bed, feeding them and the putting them on a (safe, no suffocation/trapping/rolling off issues) sofa until we went to bed, when we'd carry them upstairs and they'd come to bed with me (DH in spare room during week).

Since 4 or 5 months, I've been putting them to be in our bed at 7 ish, feeding to sleep, then leaving them (with monitor). I then join them in bed at 10 ish.

At 9 months, they're now mobile enough for me to worry about them being in the bed on their own for three hours (despite it being in a corner, bed rail across bottom, and being 8' 6" wide), so I need to move things around a bit. I'm not sure whether to move them into the nursery (prob with me joining them in single bed) or whether to move both cots into main bedroom. Need to decide and do it this week!

I recommend doing whatever makes you happiest. My friends and family have repeatedly raised their eyebrows at our feeding and sleeping arrangements, but until they're the ones doing the feeding and waking with two babies through the night, I'm not sure they're beat placed to judge!

[MamaChocoholic]

HAAS nice to bump into you! we have similar sleeping/feeding arrangements it seems :) except ours have had to start the nights in cots since they started crawling at 6 months. I now have a single bed sandwiched between them, and start the night with dp in our room before moving to the babies' room at some point in the night. amazingly, it doesn't feel too crowded to have my (6') frame and two babies in the single with the cots either side for protection.

good luck however you alter the sleeping arrangements!

[harrygracejessica]

Mine are 3 months and have put themselves into a 8.30 bottle for bed so they have that then go upstairs to sleep and if i need to do bottles i pop down and do them but generally lay in bed enjoying the peace! (they are m second lot so manic in the day!)