Newborn twins sleeping- help!

[pinkdoors]

Hi all
Hoping some twin parents can impart some wisdom here.
Our twins are 3.5 weeks old though were born at 34 weeks so are 37 weeks gestation. After a 2 week stay in NICU they came home with us last weekend.

Daytime we have absolutely no problem with their napping. They wake on cue for 3 hourly feeds, feed and change well and generally go back to sleep.

However at nighttime we seem to have issues with one or both twins not settling.

In NICU they used "pod" type cushions around them in their incubators and also allowed them to sleep on their tummies. I know that the reasoning for this is that they were so heavily monitored to reduce the risk of SIDS but I feel like both babies are missing the security of the pods and are both already trying to lie on their sides.

Both kick their (very tightly tucked in) blankets off but are still too small for their sleeping bags.

Can anyone recommend any sleep saviours j may not have considered? Thanks in advance!

[didihearthatright123456]

Hi there!

First of all big hugs, that first week or so out of NICU is pretty tough isn't it. What do your little ones weigh now? We used these sleep bags as they were from 5lbs up until 12lbs. We didn't swaddle though we let them have their arms out but with a sleep suit on underneath.

www.tommeetippee.com/en-gb/product/little-ollie-grobag-easy-swaddle-0-3-months

One of our girls came home weighing exactly 4lb and my goodness the amount of moving and grunting was unbelievable. In fact both of their grunting was so bad that we ended up separating the babies, so DH & one of the girls would go into spare room as they were disturbing/waking each other. She also wanted to turn onto her side or front from a very very young age, we just had to keep turning her back over. Honestly it scared me half to death.

We also tried fashioning our very own pod using a towel but with very little luck.

I'm afraid they're just adjusting to life at home. Those sleep suits were really good though once they were big enough for them.

xxx

[pinkdoors]

Thankyou so much for your reply @didihearthatright123456 ! Yes the grunting is unreal! I spend my nights worrying that one of them is choking or has rolled onto their front, we have given them dummies and they spend the night suckling them/spitting them out too!

They both weigh 5.10lb now so good weights. I was looking at the Tommee Tippee sleepsuits as it happens. So can the swaddle option allow for arms out at bedtime? as I think this might be better as they are showing inclination to roll onto their sides.

Thanks again xxx

[didihearthatright123456]

apparently the grunting is related to them being premature, but my god it lasted weeks and weeks!

Yes the tommee tippee one, you have the option of them being swaddled but we never did that, but they can have their arms out. It's snug around the chest but plenty of room around the legs for them to kick.

Saved my sanity as I wasn't worried about the blankets covering their faces whilst they were asleep

[tiggerwhocamefortea]

Congratulations on your twins! I also had 34 weeker twins!

Do you let them share a cot? Mine shared an incubator in NICU/SCBU so I found letting them share a next2me crib and then a cot helped settle them better (my twins were only small though so definitely well under the weight limit for the next2me)

Mine hated the sleeping bags etc so I stuck with what the SCBU did which was a rolled up towel in a sausage shape with sheet over it to make an effective (and cheap!) snuz pod equivalent so they felt more secure.
I also put them on their sides to sleep if they needed it as SCBU did that

[pinkdoors]

Thanks @tiggerwhocamefortea ... ours are currently sharing a next to me crib. They didn't share a cot or incubator in NICU, purely because the hospital had had an influx of twins and there were no twin cots spare!

However since coming home the twins have shared and are happy with it, though we have got a second next to me crib for when they get too big to share.

Thanks for the tip re towels!!x

[tilly2019]

Have you tried the 'love to dream' swaddles? They're not tight swaddles, but more loose swaddles with their arms up. You can still feed the babies whilst they wear them (none of that re-swaddling hassle which wakes them up after they've just fallen asleep!), so it offers a feeling of security for them. Honestly found these swaddles to be an absolute godsend! I've recommended to all my friends, who have all ended up using them x