Twins and Sleep
Congratulations! You are the proud parent of twins!
“There are two things in this world that life doesn’t prepare you for. Twins.”
Twin babies are a huge amount of work. However, one of the most valuable investments in your entire household is to get the twins sleeping well.
Now getting two babies to sleep well is going to be a little more complicated than just teaching one baby.
If one baby wakes up crying then it is likely that the other baby will follow suit shortly afterwards. Soothing two babies is more challenging than just the one.
The other complication is that often twins are premature and premature babies tend to be sleepy. This means that if one baby wakes up crying then this is likely to wake the other twin and therefore, parents will rush to soothe the first twin by any means necessary which leads to strong feed/sleep associations.
I will not play it down, getting your twins to be superstar sleepers is not going to be a doddle. It is going to require strong will, determination, consistency and discipline on your end. It is 100% achievable but you will need to put in the work first and foremost.
It is key here to remind yourself why you want the twins to sleep better. What would you do with the extra time you will have once both your babies are sleeping on the same schedule and sleeping through the night? How much easier would parenting them be?
Having a baby sleeping well is a total game changer for one baby so imagine how amazing it would be with two!
Let's look at ways you can achieve better sleep with twins:
Firstly, it is key we look into their sleeping arrangements. If you have space, I do recommend placing babies in separate rooms. This does not apply for under 6 months but once they do hit that 6 month mark, I would seriously consider this option.
You don't need to separate them but having them separated makes it easier to manage the noise levels whilst they are learning the skills needed to sleep independently.
Once they are superstar sleepers in a few weeks, you can reintroduce them back together again!
Next, you are also going to want to get them sleeping on the same schedule. The great thing about twins is that their sleep needs are going to be pretty much the same, so putting them on the same nap/bedtime schedule is effective for both of them.
One complication can be that you will find that one baby will sleep for longer than their sibling. This is fine but only for around 30 minutes. Beyond this, you will want to wake the baby up to prevent them getting out of sync with their sibling. When the next nap time is due, ignore the 30 minutes difference and put them down together at the same time.
Ensuring both babies are sleeping at the same time is important for your mental health also. This will give you a little peace to get things done or to have a well deserved hot drink!