Cot too big for twins! Sleeping suggestions please.

[Lipsticktraces]

I need to pick the brains of the more experience out there please😊

I had twins on Thursday. They came at 34 weeks, so are likely to be in hospital for a while. My problem is that the cotbed we have set up in bedroom for them is HUGE. They are likely to still be pretty tiny when they come home and I’m honestly scared I’ll not be able to find them in their cot. It also feels very high up and far away from me even though it’s right next to the bed.

Would Moses baskets on stands do for now instead? Ideally I wanted to sleep them together, but really cannot afford co sleepers etc for the amount of time they last. I also had to have a c section, so can’t really bend right down into low travel cots etc at the moment.

Suggestions much appreciated

Congratulations!
My twins went in a cot bed together as soon as they got home and it didn’t seem too big for them but they were full term.
During the day they napped downstairs in Moses baskets so I think that would be fine as well.
I had to separate them into two cots much earlier than I thought as well! You’ll be amazed how fast they grow. One of them started rolling over quite early so I then got another cot as it didn’t feel safe to have them together after that. I also wanted to have them in our room so it was very squashed for a while with all that furniture!

What about getting Next to me cribs? They last longer than Moses baskets as they are bigger, the sides go down making it easier for you to get babies in and out after c-section. Then move babies into cotbed when big enough?

I put mine in sleepyheads in the same cot. Also you can get a waldin co sleeper cot very cheap on amazon. I squished 2 sleepyheads together in that and had them lay next to me. Good luck with your twinnies!

We used two Moses baskets as they were easier on lift the twins in and out after my section. They were in 2 cousin their own room by 5 months as they had grown too much to share and both cots wouldn't fit in our room.

Have a look at sleepyheads. They could go in those side by side in the cotbed. Or have a look at renting a bednest for the first 8 months. They are quite cheap for what you get and they fit onto the side of your bed. Although I think the next-to-me is bigger than the bednest.

Congratulations!

Thank you @mammmamia. I honestly didn’t realise how big the cotbeds were until we put one up. You could probably go camping in it for a fortnight How long was it before you had to seperate them? I did have visions of mine slumbering side by side, but the little boy is the most crazy wriggler! His much more chilled out sister might never sleep if she has to share

@Chelley I do like the next to me cribs (friend has one and says it’s fab) They’re a bit small for twins to share though and I can’t afford to buy two of them

I’m extremely wary of using sleepyheads, bednests etc due to the things Ive read online connecting both to SIDS and infants deaths. I’m sure I’m just been overly cautious, but premature babies are already at higher risk of SIDS.

@restingbemusedface Those Waldin sleepers look good! I’ve never heard of those before.

I think it might be a toss up between one of those (if it will fit two) and a Moses basket atm.

Thank you everyone

They don’t sleep side by side in a cot OP you put one at one end and one at the other and tuck their blankets in. So their heads are towards each other if you see.
Mine are eight now so I don’t know what the latest advice or products are.

I think I had to separate them by 8 weeks!

Yes, as someone else said you don’t put them next to each other in the cot anyway - you out one at each end with their feet at the end of the bed and their heads in the middle if that makes sense!!

Actually I’ve just remembered they were side by side at the beginning but sideways in the cot bed so their feet were towards the side of the cot.
I remember actually cot beds can seem massive. I think you have to experiment and see how they sleep best - Moses basket etc.

In our case it shifted quickly, ds slept through from six weeks and had the cot to himself, DD terribly reflux and co slept with us for the next 5 years 🙄 although would start off in her own cot

Yes I don’t think that side by side thing worked for us - it’s not easy to tuck in the blankets.

I had an Ikea cot bed for my twins. They slept side by side (but not touching), feet to the side of the cot closest to me. When they got too big for that configuration, we put them at opposite ends with their heads in the middle. It worked fine but as I was breastfeeding they didn't have huge stretches of sleep anyway....

Sleepyheads sound dangerous to me for small and early twins - their 'vreathable' sides are definitely no more breathable than your average set of bumpers, and these have been linked to sids. Moses baskets are also generally not as good for night unsupervised.
Cots always look huge with early babies, but they grow fast! I'd suggest putting both in top and tailed as others have said, or seeing if people could lend you some cosleeping/next to me type ones (or you can hire).

You may we’ll be able to use your cot bed as a cosleeper, have a look at this sort of thing www.ikeahackers.net/2015/05/ikea-gulliver-co-sleeper-crib.html

Sleepyheads have never been connected to SIDs.

Can you take one side off the cot, push it up against your bed, and have the babies in it horizontally, so lying width-ways with their heads towards the closed side of the cot and their feet towards you?

I got the double cot bit from a mountain buggy - but not the buggy, just the cot bit 2nd hand off ebay - and they slept in that during the day once they came home (it sat perfectly on an ikea kids table) and went into moses baskets on the floor next to my bed at night - first couple of weeks they both fitted in one basket. Once they outgrew the moses baskets they just shared a normal travel cot, wearing gro bags so no bedding to get tangled in, until they were about 6 months then went into regular cheapie ikea cots. The mountain buggy thing became known as "the box" and is still doing the rounds of my twins club!

Seems so long ago.... They're 11 now and one of them is 5ft 4 wth size 9 feet now and the other not far behind...

we put ours in a moses basket together and then when they got bigger they went in to a travel cot as that want too big and you could put them at a high level. when they went in to cots they went separately as one kept crawling over the other and they had a gastrin disorder and kept vomiting over each other!

My twins were only 36 weeks when I brought them home and around 5lbs. We put them together in a normal full size cot but placed them width ways next to each other so they didn't look so lost and there wasn't so much space between their head and the bars at top. This is the way they slept in hospital but they also used rolled up towels there to make sort of nests but this must not be done at home because of SIDS, in hospital they can do it because of all the constant monitoring of breathing and heart rate etc. It was really stressed to us that the cot at home must be kept empty so babies just in sleeping bags, no positioners, blankets etc.

And just to add they do grow quickly and they won't seem so lost in the big cot after a couple of weeks at home. Ours stayed in the same cot until 5 months but then had to separate them as one would roll into the other waking them up. The advice we had was not to use anything like a sleepyhead. Prematurity, small size, twins all put them more at risk so important to be ultra cautious on the sleep setup.

I'm no twin sleeping expert but wanted to say please do follow safe sleeping advice from lullaby trust. I have a close friend who lost a baby to SIDS and she will forever be devastated by what happened. (Her baby would be almost 30 by now)

You can buy cot bed dividers to reduce the size of the cot. They are pretty cheap.

We just put our twins in one cot bed, but one at each end (They were 6lbs when they came home)