Twin Sleep!
Twins!
Double everything: love, cuddles, nap schedules, bed time routines… 😕 How is that going to work? No worries!
I wanted to go through a few information tid-bits before we get
into things because things work better if you have a better understanding,
a full picture.
Did you know most multiples (twins, triplets etc) are born early?
This is important because when you are looking at your child’s
wake windows or nap times… you want to base things off
of their adjusted age not their actual birthday.
Example: your twins were born 5 weeks early.
When they are 5 months old (counting from their birthday)
- biologically they are more like 4 months old ( 5 months MINUS 5 weeks)
So their sleep rhythms won’t be at a 5 month old level quite
yet as they are catching up on those 5 weeks they didn’t get in the womb.
A note on fraternal vs identical twins and sleep:
Fraternal twins will have their own sleep rhythms.
Even though they were born almost exactly at the same time,
biologically they have their own rhythms. It’s important to
keep that in mind so you aren’t confused if they are not
sleeping the same or they have different eating habits too.
Identical twins will have the same rhythms and because of that,
it should be easier to get them onto a similar schedule.
That being said every child, even identical twins are different
and unique so there will always be that aspect to take into consideration.
Another helpful tip is make sure to put their sound machine
between both cribs or between both babes wherever they sleep.
That way they both get the same amount of white noise!
Also, if one wakes up from a nap, don’t let the other nap
for more than 10-15mins extra. It’ll be hard and I know that
sounds backwards but in the big picture of routine
and consistency, it will be a big help.
So let’s get right down to it, here are some tips to help your babes get good sleeps:
General rule of thumb:
“What you do for 1, you do for the other”
For newborns (0-3m) this means you can start right
from wake up in the morning. Start their day the same,
feed the same, and if one baby starts to show sleepy cues…
put them both down.
Now here is where it gets a little trickier…
For children 4m+ it’s best to keep things the same for both,
starting with ending their last nap at the same time.
You’ll want to offer the same number of naps to both babes,
but let’s say for their last nap of the day, one wakes
and the other is still asleep… get them both up at the same
time and then you can do bedtime routine and get them down at the same time.
Remember!
Twins are comforted - not disturbed - by each others
sounds so keeping them together at night is key and
once they’ve got a handle on independent sleep, keeping
them together for naps too!
Working on getting sleep on track takes
time and consistency with any child, but it does take a
little longer with multiple babes. It will click, I promise.
Just be patient and gentle with yourself and give those
little angels time to get into their perfect routine.
There is lots of information in this blog post so bookmark
it for later or share it with a friend who’s got multiple littles.
As always I’m here for any questions or clarification and
even if you’d like to just run a few things by me, I’m here for you.
Book a free call through the website here,
message me on social media, or email me
and I look forward to chatting soon.
Have a great weekend everyone:)
Your Paediatric Sleep Consultant
-Marina
