The sleeping arrangement that works for our twins (newborns and beyond).
When I was pregnant with my twins, I thought a lot about how we would handle the sleeping arrangements for them as newborns. I knew I wanted them to be in the same room with us. Call me lazy, but as a nursing mom, no way am I getting out of bed to go to a different room whenever they wake up! Plus, our pediatrician recommends it for safety, and I get better sleep knowing my babies are nearby.
When my now five year old daughter was born, we had a co-sleeper attached to my side of the bed. I absolutely loved using it. I could reach over and touch my baby whenever I wanted. Unlike with bedsharing, however, I didn’t have the worry about accidental suffocation.
With newborn twins, unfortunately, the same sleeping arrangement wasn’t going to work. I thought about putting them both in the same co-sleeper, but it’s not that big. Although it probably would have been okay for them as newborns, that wouldn’t have worked for long. Besides, this is also discouraged for the suffocation risks.
I have put them both in there from time to time just to hang out. They look adorable in it together. I just didn’t feel comfortable having them both sleep in it at night.
Options for Newborn Twins Sleeping Arrangements
There are plenty of bassinets out there for newborn twins, of course. I researched the top ones, and almost bought one of them, but it didn’t seem worth the money.
Basically, it’s a pack n’ play with a bassinet attachment that has a divider down the middle. Not a bad design, but not something I was really excited about either. I already have a pack n’ play with the bassinet insert. I can’t really see spending the extra money just for a center divider. Why not just buy two co sleeper bassinets and push them together? It would serve the same purpose and be more practical, money wise and space wise.
A pack n’ play is pretty large anyway and newborn babies can’t move around too much. If I wanted to use that, I would probably have felt perfectly comfortable putting both babies in the pack n’ play I already have. Then I could just move them far enough apart that I didn’t have to worry about one rolling into the other. No divider needed.
In fact, sometimes I still think about using the pack n’ play. The one benefit I see is that they are together, which I have read can help them to sleep better. After all, they spent many months together in the womb. But with the pack n’ play, you can’t adjust the height. You can’t just reach over from your bed and touch them, unless your bed happens to be the exact perfect height.
What other options are there for newborn twins?
This is a question I asked many times. I felt really sad about not being able to use the same co sleeper for our newborn twins, since I loved it so much. There really weren’t that many other choices for sleeping arrangements that I liked. So this is what we ended up doing. We bought a second co sleeper.
When the twins came home from the hospital, we had one co sleeper attached to my side of the bed and the other on my husband’s side. This way each baby could be close to a parent. We could take turns as to who slept on my side for the ease of nursing. I am not tandem nursing at night, so switching them throughout the night is sometimes helpful.
Eventually, as I got used to my nighttime nursing routine and decided to let my husband sleep, it didn’t make sense to have to go around to his side of the bed whenever the twin on that side woke up. We now have the second co sleeper on my side as well, a few feet away. This way I can still see the other baby, and only have to walk a few steps to get to them when they wake in the night. This is the arrangement we have had for the past several months.
What’s good about our co sleeper is that is can be used up to 5 months of age, or until the baby begins to push up on their hands and knees. In my experience with my older daughter, we were able to use it even longer than this, until she was about 9 months old. That’s a lot of usage for one baby item!
With my twins being born early and only four pounds at birth, I estimate we will be able to use them for even longer. This is really important, because I honestly have no idea what we will do once they outgrow them! Our house is really long, and the other two bedrooms are on the opposite end of the house. I am not sure how that is ever going to work and we are considering moving because of it. So at least we have some time to think about it thanks to our current sleeping arrangements!
What sleeping arrangements do you have for your newborn twins? We would love to hear your suggestions and what works for your family!
