That’s the million-dollar question every parent of twins has to grapple with in numerous parenting scenarios along the way.
Sleeping arrangements for twins just happens to be one of the first of many you’ll need to consider.
The decision you make may even change as your twins grow. Really, sleep and twins are fluid. Things change and you have to learn to adapt.
So how exactly do you decide whether your twins should share a room or sleep in separate spaces? Well, let us spell out your options and things to consider about various sleeping arrangements for twins.
How to Decide on the Right Sleeping Arrangements for Twins:
Should They Share A Room With You?
We both left the hospital determined to put our newborns in their own room from the get-go. Our thinking was to minimize the number of transitions we had to tackle with two babies, so starting them in their crib from night one was our plan. Meghan was successful…her boys never slept a night in her room. Jenn, well, gave it a good go, but struggled to get up and hustle down the hallway so many times a night. Her boys ended up in bassinets by her bedside until they were about 10 weeks old.
The decision to start your babies in your room is entirely personal. Some of our clients want to eliminate the transition into their own rooms, some can’t sleep with the noises two babies make and others want to have their babies close by.
Should They Share a Crib?
We talk extensively about the decision to have your twins share a crib in this post, but we thought we should address the topic here as well.
Crib sharing is something that many parents with twins choose to do. We aren’t here to advise you one way or another. We simply want to make you aware that it is a viable sleeping arrangement for twins and if you choose to crib share, we encourage you to do so under the guidance of your healthcare provider, being sure that you are following the safety precautions they suggest.
Should They Share Room or Have Separate Rooms?
This one comes down to space, personal preference and how your twins feel about having their own room. Speaking from the perspective of our sets of twins, separating their sleeping arrangements (permanently) does not seem likely in the near future. They have been sharing a room since they were babies and love sharing a room even as young children. The thing to remember here is that we each have a set of boy/boy twins. It does seem common amongst our clients to separate boy/girl twins as they get a little bit older.
The decision to keep your twins together in the same room can come with its challenges. As babies, twins either sleep right through the other twin’s crying in the night or they don’t. While our boys do not tend to wake each other up (and let’s be real here, that has taken some practice as they get older), many of our clients struggle with the issue of one twin’s crying waking the other up.
The challenge we do experience now that our kids are young children is the mischievous behavior causing problems when it comes to falling asleep. As cliche as the saying is, boys will be boys, and they like to goof around with each other at bedtime. We’ll save the solution to that problem for another post!
Should They Nap Together or Separately?
Ok, we will be frank here…when in doubt, separate. Daytime sleep can be one of the most frustrating challenges parents deal with. It’s hard and often times not nearly as blissful as you anticipate naps to be.
We have both had the experience of our twins napping in the same room and then having to adapt and separate them as challenges arose. The sleeping arrangement changed with our twins’ needs. Go with the flow and as you begin to deal with naptime struggles, change things up a bit!
Twin sleep can be tricky, both at night and during the day. Be willing to try new arrangements, take a few deep breaths, eventually, you will find what works for your family.
Let us know if you found success together or apart? We’d love to hear from you!
