Sleeping arrangements for twins

[twinnies26]

I'm expecting ID twin girls in 9 days and wondering what you think is the best type of sleeping arrangement for newborn twins?

I love the idea of putting them both in the same cot (they can be close together and will fit as are pretty small) for a while but are we just going to make life more difficult for ourselves?Will they disrupt each other too much? Or should we just forget the cot for the moment and put them in a separate moses basket at night in the bedroom?

Also - for daytime napping what do you use? Two moses baskets downstairs?

Just want to get some opinions! Thanks! :)

You'll find mixed opinions on this (as ever!). Our boys shared a cotbed til 6 months & didn't disturb one another. Even sharing a room now, crying rarely disturbs the other if he's properly asleep. We didn't bother with Moses baskets but did have a travel cot set up downstairs. We only really used it for the first few weeks. After that naps tended to be in rocker chairs or on the floor. I wouldn't worry too much - try whatever seems to work. Things change all the time anyway & I don't think 'rod for your own back' really is an issue in the early days.

You'll find mixed opinions on this (as ever!). Our boys shared a cotbed til 6 months & didn't disturb one another. Even sharing a room now, crying rarely disturbs the other if he's properly asleep. We didn't bother with Moses baskets but did have a travel cot set up downstairs. We only really used it for the first few weeks. After that naps tended to be in rocker chairs or on the floor. I wouldn't worry too much - try whatever seems to work. Things change all the time anyway & I don't think 'rod for your own back' really is an issue in the early days.

Good luck!

You may well find that it depends on your twins. Before they were born we were going to put ours in the same cot, so had only set one up in our bedroom. They couldn't sleep together, they just disturbed each other too much. So eventually we had two cots AND, at nighttime, two Moses baskets in our bedroom (it was quite crowded). Naps were taken in Moses baskets up until about four months old. We loved the Moses baskets at night, as we could each have one on our side of the bed and rock it from the prone position!

But they don't wake each other up now. I can hear them (they are two and a half) shouting at each other to wake up, but the sleeping one never does.

Good luck!

Thanks ladies :)

I figure it will work itself out one way or the other and hard to know what works until they are here but just wanted to see what worked for other people!

Good idea about the travel cot! will keep that in mind :)

LaLoose HOW did you manage with all that in your bedroom?! You must have been climbing over everything!

All the best!

Actually I nearly lost the big toenail on my right foot from the multiple stubbings during the night! Not to be recommended...

Mine shared a cot bed until about 3 months when they started wriggling too much and smacking each other in the face. One could be bellowing at top volume and never wake the other.

They still share a room now (4yrs old in Jan) and on the rare occasions one cries or shouts in the night the other doesn't usually wake up. Sometimes by 5:30/6am they might get woken tho. Good luck with your babies!

Mine shared a cot at first until they needed more room, and a travel cot during the day (or in their swing chairs) They are now in seperate cots which are right next to each other- I do find that they tend to sleep better when near each other.

I hope everything goes well for you! :o)

Quick question regarding cotbeds. My twin boys are 3 monthx and were sleeping across the bed, side by side. They are now getting too tall, so how did you arrange them....heads in the middle or feet in the middle?

both sets of mine have shared :-) The boys are currently next to me and they are 5 months but rather big for 5 months and have their bums in the middle of the cotbed and heads towards the ends. They will be staying with us for a while too as they have breathng problems so wont put them in a seperate room from me yet.

mine are 5 weeks and share a cot bed in our room. Works well. Miy big tim, if you have the space is a travel cot with a bassinet for the living room. Works brilliantly for day naps and means going up at night is really different - they seem to already be getting that upstairs is sleep time! I think I'll be sad when I have to put them in seperate cots.

PrincessScrumpy, I cried when ours went into separate cots (big saddo!), it seemed soooo grown up :)

Mine shared a cot side by side until they got a bit big for that, then one cot, heads to the middle. They never disturbed each other. They share a room now, and don't tend to disturb each other in the night. DS is an early riser though so I bring DD into bed with me for an extra hour and DP gets up with DS (result!). For naps at the beginning - often in their bouncy chair in the living room, and in the pram. Later, when naps were a bit more routine, we put them in the cot in their bedroom to get them used to that - at the time they were still sharing one cot in our room at night.

At the beginning I think its lovely for them to share a cot - we used to find DS lying awake staring at his sister when we thought he'd been asleep half an hour!

Good luck !

As others have said, it really depends.

We had a cotbed set up in our bedroom to start with and we put them in their moses baskets in the cot bed if you see what I mean (they were only little when they came home (less than 5lb each)). When they got too big for the moses baskets, we had them at each end of the cot bed - heads in the middle, each facing a different way with feet at each end. When they got too big for that, they each had a separate cotbed but still in our room. At about 9 months, we moved them into their own room, each with their own cot bed again but with a little gap in the middle. My DS had slept through from about 6 months, at 12 months my DD was still waking so we moved her into a separate room with the intention of getting her to sleep through. We had real problems then, both of them started to wake and be unsettled, so we put them back in together and they both slept through.

They're now 6 and still share.

Mine annoyed each other from the beginning so had to sleep separately. They kep hitting each other with reflexes. Though, dt2 was grumpy even in the womb and refused to let me sleep on my side so dt1 was on top of him -kicked like crazy until I rolled over! I'd see how they go. I actually had mine sleeping in laundry baskets to start with, as they couldn't sleep together but also hated the empty expanse of their cots. Not really advisable tho!

Mine at first were in carrycots next to each other (had to have them seperate, or the apnea alarm wouldn't work properly), then we progressed to one either end of the cot, and finally in 2 cots in the same room. We seperated them when they were 7, as one needed more sleep, and the other would keep him awake. but, even now, on weekends and during school holidays, one will sleep on the floor of the others bedroom, and I often find them both on the floor together!

Mine shared a moses basket for a while and seemed to like being swaddled next to each other. Then they shared a cot for a while before moving into separate cots once they were a bit more active when put down for a nap. You soon work out what's best for your own.

We intended ours to share a large moses basket, but they arrived early and were in separate incubators, so when they came home, we put them in individual moses baskets, then when they went into their own room at 6 months they had a cot each, but they did use to share one quite often. They are now in cotbeds (20 months now) They used to push their beds together in the night, so we ahve now adapted the beds into a double cotbed for them! My point is......best laid plans don't alwaysgot to plan. To a certain extent let them guide you! Good luck!