Co-sleeping with twins

[sallysparrow157]

I have 4 month old twins - I don’t co-sleep as a rule but sometimes bring them into bed with me either if they’re unsettled or if they’ve decided it’s morning at quarter to 5 and I want to try to persuade another hours sleep out of them! I follow the lullaby trusts safe co-sleeping guidelines so I’m happy enough when there’s just one in bed with me. Up until today one has been in a pavlik harness for hip dysplasia so definitely unable to roll so if I’ve had them both in bed I’ve had her closest to the edge, but she is now harness free and will inevitably learn to roll and fall out of bed now!
If there’s anyone here who has co-slept with twins, how do you arrange yourself and them to avoid them rolling off the bed?!

don’t have twins myself but have two suggestions. Either push the bed against the wall, or (and probably better) buy a toddler bed guard to put on the edge of the bed. Cheap both new and secondhand on FB

Couldn’t push the bed against the wall unfortunately as due to the set up of the room the only available wall is against the radiator (which I have set to come on overnight as it’s an old cold house). Toddler bed guard is a good call though, will have a look online, thanks!

Sally I co slept with twins, it’s not the most restful.... do they have a room that they’ll be going into? We put a double mattress on the floor of ‘their’ room and I slept in there with them. If not is there room to eejit your furniture around so you can store you bed base for a while and have your mattress on the floor in your room?
We later transitioned to them both in a cot each with me in between in a single bed so I was beside them but not in the same bed, but that was when they were about one

It’s not very restful at all is it?!! Unfortunately the room they will be going into initially is a bit small and we have a bit too much stuff to be re-organising the bedroom - I think I would have to find a way if I was properly co-sleeping but as it’s generally just a few hours here and there some nights, it’s not the end of the world if we can’t do it any more (it’s just nice to have that extra hours snooze and baby snuggles in the morning!!)

It’s the same as if you are sleeping with one baby really. Except with 2 you will definitely need the bed to yourself (not sharing with a partner) so you have enough space. You can get a bed guard for the side babies are on. Or if you have the space, get a cot, take one side off, adjust mattress so it’s flush with your bed and fill gaps with rolled up towel.

This is what we did. It creates a bed guard but also extra space (so one twin could technically sleep in the cot and one in the bed).

Definitely have the bed to ourselves as their dad can’t sleep through the snorting and snuffling anyway (but it’s amazing how much space small babies take up in a king sized bed!)

I think a bed guard is probably the way forward - we co-sleep infrequently enough (and the house is awkwardly shaped and already full enough of stuff) that rearranging the cot/dismantling the bed probably isn’t worth the hassle! Good to hear what you have done though so if we do end up co-sleeping more frequently I have some options - thanks!

Can't they just share a cot?
*def no clue about twins, genuinely just wondering?

They do share a cot - most of the time they sleep in a full sized cot in the bedroom. they would be too big for one of those next-to-me cots though so we’d have to put the cot up against the bed which would mean re-arranging the bedroom (and probably being unable to close the bedroom door!)
They only come into bed with me if they can’t settle or are awake when I’d rather they were asleep, and most of the time it’s not both babies- one twin is a much better sleeper than the other (she has read the baby books and has always been happy to go down sleepy but awake and self settle, her sister is a very different kettle of fish!!)
They will have to stay in the same cot til they’re big enough to go into their own room as I’ve no room for 2 cots in my bedroom, and I plan to keep them in together til they start keeping each other awake/don’t fit!

The lullaby trust doesn’t recommend bed-sharing with more than one child at a time. They recommend co-sleeping which is putting them on a different sleep surface (usually a cot) in the same room with you. Suggest you do that.