Sleep patterns - are your twins the same?

[crazychemist]

Hi all,

Having some difficulties with my baby twins (adjusted age 6 weeks). They’re identical, so I naively assumed they would have quite similar needs/personalities. But they seem completely different! One loves to feed and seems constantly hungry. The other isn’t that fussed about feeding. But my big problem is sleep - both are still pretty sleepy, but one seems to naturally be more awake during the day, and the other wants to sleep all day and then party all night. Anyone else have a similar experience? Wondering how it’s going to pan out.

I've got 3 kids - the youngest two are identical twins. I've found that all 3 of them have followed the same pattern of sleep development (in terms of how much sleep they need and when) - but not necessarily hitting the same points at the same ages. Certainly with my twins, DT2 has always been a few weeks "ahead" of DT1 in terms of sleep (though their general development is more equal). Sounds like it might be the case with yours as well - one of them hasn't yet worked out that night time is for sleeping

Do the same things you'd do with a singleton in that situation - lights and noise during the day; dark, quiet and minimal interaction for night feeds. For daytime naps, try to get them a bit more in sync if you can - e.g. if they've both been asleep for a while and one wakes up, wake the other one too - even if they've not had quite as long. When one gets sleepy, settle them both for a nap even if it takes longer for the other to fall asleep, etc. But prepared that even once they a bit more aligned, it'll stop again when one is ready to drop a nap and the other one isn't yet. Temporary though!