Can you co-sleep with NB twins?

[Eskarina]

My first dd was very unsettled for the first 6-8 months and we ended up going through a period of co-sleeping because it was better than getting out of bed every bloody five minutes hour. I had planned to be even more relaxed with dc2 as I think we caused ourselves far to much stress and cost ourselves way too much sleep by trying to insist she went back into her crib after each cuddle or feed.

But I've just learnt that dc2 is twin dc2&3. Anyone any idea if I can still cosleep with them? I learnt to love my lovely all night baby snuggles though DH couldn't wait to get her out. Or do I need to resign myself to never sleeping again??

Hi Eskarina, The advice from SIDS (Sudden infant death society) is that you should not co sleep with a baby. Bringing them into the bed for cuddles but move them into their own crib/cot in your room when you want to go to sleep. The advice is no different for twins although research for twins is that they should not share a moses basket or crib as there is not enough air around them and could be dangerous. If you practice this from the very first day they come home they will not know anyhting else and will settle intheir cribs once you have fed/cuddled them.

Good luck having twins is the best adventure ever.

When my twins were tiny, I had one standard cot flush with the bed, and the cot side down, so it was just a few inches high, it ment that I could feed them and sleep and pop them back in without getting out of bed.
They slept across the cot and had plenty of room.
Also to used a twin feeding cushion which was really helpful when they were little.
Congratulations

There is quite a lot of evidence to suggest that safe co-sleeping reduces SIDs. OP you'll know that already having done it with DC1.

Congrats! :)

That must be wonderful but also terrifying news! One thing to consider is that the advice on safe co-sleeping says that it's not recommended to bedshare with premature or low birth weight babies, which obviously is more likely with twins link here. But that doesn't rule out doing what above posters did with joined cots.

You can buy a sidecar cot for £££, but it is quite easy to convert a normal one as LargeGlassofRed suggests. One tip for this I got from MN is to push the cot mattress up against the bed mattress and stuff towels down the gap between the cot and the mattress on the far side.

No idea about twins, sounds like a good plan though.

FSIDS do categorically state that the safest place to sleep is in a cot or crib in the same room as the parents for the first six months, however they don't actually say you "should not" co-sleep, rather they give a list of situations where it is considered dangerous to co-sleep, as follows:

"It?s dangerous for your baby to sleep in your bed if you (or your partner):

? are a smoker (even if you never smoke in bed or at home)

? have been drinking alcohol
? take medication or drugs that make you drowsy
? feel very tired
? if your baby was premature (born before 37 weeks)
? if your baby was low birth weight (less than 2.5kg or 51/2lb)"

Many twins are lower birth weight and some are born early so these may be deciding factors for you.

Personally I would never co-sleep with a child under a year - but that is because children in our family are considered to be at risk of SIDS and are part of the FSID research programmes so we follow their safe to sleep recommendations. We were told because of our situation not to.

Congratulations Tiny twins are hard work, but it is so so rewarding to cuddle two warm babies in your bed

We pushed a normal cot with the side down up against the side of our bed. The two babies then slept across the cot (mostly, though they did fit side by side in the normal direction for a fair while :) ). They stayed that way until about 4 months, when I started to cosleep for the majority of the night.

Personally, I would have found it too difficult to 'keep track' of two times in the bed during the really early days as a) I was very tired, b) I wasn't used to cosleeping and c) the babies were very helpless. By 4 months, the were able to move away if they wanted to, and I just felt more with it and safe enough to cosleep.

Until the babies were about a year old, we had the king sized bed to ourselves (DH in the spare room). I wouldn't have coslept with all four of us in the bed while they were younger, as I think It would have been dangerous for the baby between DH and I and we wouldn't have had enough space. At about a year, we got rid of the cot, which made room for a single bed to be added to the side of our king size, so then there was enough room for four (and the babies were that much bigger again).

Bed guards are your friend! We still have guards on our bed now, and our twins are two! They would still roll off the bed if we didn't have the guards, as despite our king+single sized bed, a baby still has to sleep close to the edge.

Good luck, and don't be afraid to try stuff. You will judge what feels safe and can tailor ideas as you go

I cosleep with my single dd, we were looking at a co-sleeping cot/crib as a midway between in bed and her own cot. We found one called arms reach which looked good, the 'normal' one was on loads of twin sites with good reviews, might be worth considering that.

Ikea cots cannot be praised enough - cheap and cheerful and can be assembled minus a side and attached. My dd sleeps in the join of the two. Does give you the closeness, the extra sleep, but also more options if twins are prem or low weight. I am terrified re SIDS (use Angelcare movement monitor too) but am also starting to realise baby close by is good as I must listen to her breathing and have woken up before the movement monitor has gone off a few times. So safe, informed, prepared and well equipped co-sleeping is I think best.

Plus how the hell do you get a baby down otherwise!! Feed and roll slowly away works everytime

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