Where did your babies sleep when they first came home?

KingShawsBride

My husband and I are trying to figure out what people usually do when they bring their newborns home.  I am planning on nursing, so I thought it would be best to have them sleep in something next to the bed, but then I was reading about it being difficult to nurse in bed, so I'm not really sure what the best situation is.

So, did you have the babies sleep in your room in the beginning or did you have them in their nursery?  I figure if they stay in our room we need something for them to sleep in.  Do they share a pack n play, do you get two or do you get a seperate bassinet for them to sleep in?  I assume that if you put them in the nursery they would go right in their crib or cribs.

Thanks for the advice ladies.  I started crying when trying to figure this out tonight, but I think i'm just overwhelmed with going back to work this week for the school year and exhausted.

Haven1

Our babies slept in their crib (they're sharing now) since day 1.  Thankfully we live in a ranch, so it's not a far walk.  I nurse too, so I just tandem feed in the glider, swaddle them back up, give them a kiss, and walk back to bed.  Knock on wood, it's been working great so far.

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all of our babies (twins and singleton) slept in a bedside cosleeper (arms reach minis) - it's so nice to have them right next to you, but safe and not IN your bed.  Makes putting a paci back in so easy, patting a belly, etc... all 3 of our boys STTN at 8 weeks and I think the bedside cosleepers had something to do with that.

we did not have the twins sleep together- it is a SIDS risk.  They slept apart (we had 2 minis) and did just fine. They were in our room for approx 5 months... then moved to their cribs.

aloha510

I've been wondering about that as well. My cousin, who is a doctor and mother of twins, suggests co-sleeping them as long as possible. Everything I've read backs up this suggestion so we're going to go with 1 crib until they are too big to share.

There is also a bassinet out there called the co-sleeper https://www.armsreach.com which keeps the babies right at bed level and super accessible for nighttime feedings. 

I decided to forgo the co-sleeper because eventually they will out grow it and then we'll still have to buy 2 cribs. Easier (and cheaper) to get one now and one later.

Hope that helps! 

redshoegirl

They spent a few nights in their FP Newborn-to-Toddler Rockers by our bed because our baby monitor wasn't working properly and I was too neurotic to put them in their room without it - after that, they've been in their own cribs every night.

I guess my kids are weird, because they actually didn't seem to like sleeping together and slept much more soundly when separated (although their cribs do touch so they're still close to each other)...maybe they had enough of each other after 9 months of being squished in there like sardines lol!

ardilla

We had them each in their own crib starting the first night we were home.  The nursery is next door to our room, so not a far walk!  During the days they would sleep in the pack n play bassinets (we had a pnp for each of them) in our downstairs.  I had a lot of mobility issues the first few weeks due to 14 weeks of bedrest plus my c/s, so it was easier to limit my stairs to when DH was home to help.  They were sleeping a 5-6 hour stretch at night at about 7 weeks, and by 9 weeks were sleeping a 7-8 hour stretch. 

 It's a lot to figure out, but you'll get there!

daisybride78

When we first came home from the hospital, we only had one baby for the first week. He slept in our room for the first two nights and DH and I got almost no sleep. I woke up at every little noise he made, and everytime one of us got up to feed him, we both ended up waking up. The third night, we put H in his crib in his room and we all slept so much better. When Joey got home, he slept in his crib right away. I never had them sleep in the same crib (the nicu strongly recommended against it for SIDS reasons). Having them in their own room and own cribs worked really well for us, and as time went on, so many of my mommy friends talked about how hard it was to transition from a bassinet to a crib, and I was so grateful that we didn't have to worry about making that transition.

During the day, the babies napped in their swings, boppys and bouncers. They started taking naps in their cribs around 4 months old. 

RedWingsFan

Ours slept in their own cribs (they share a room) from the first night we brought them home from the hospital.  It's worked out well so far, and even from the beginning, DD managed to scoot around in the crib on her back somehow, so I don't think it would have worked to have them in the same crib.

We also didn't want to worry about transitioning them later.  They were napping in their swings during the day while I was on leave, but they now nap in their cribs as well on the weekends and at daycare.

Good luck!

kelliwill

We tried one arms reach co-sleeper, the larger one and it didn't really work for us.  Our girls didn't like sleeping together, I don't know why, maybe because they never did in the hospital either.  Anyway, we ended up putting each one in their own PNP, we got the kind with the newborn napper attachment and they loved those.  Our bedroom isn't big enough for two PNP's so we set them up in the living room and I slept on the couch to be next to them.  When I nursed I did it on the couch, never in a chair.  It wasn't the best situation, as I would have preferred to be in my own bed, so if you can manage that I suggest it!

macchiatto

We bought an Arm's Reach Original Cosleeper to make nighttime BFing easier, but we really didn't last long trying to sleep in the same room as the babies; they were awake way too much and made way too much noise (gassy, grunting little babies!) when they were asleep. So by the end of the second week we had moved them into a shared crib in the nursery. We had a guest bed in there and DH and I would sleep in shifts, so one of us was getting uninterrupted sleep in the quiet of our room while the other took care of the babies and slept in the guest bed when they could.

macchiatto

Also, the studies that indicate that cosleeping siblings is a SIDS risk are based on siblings of different ages, not multiples. So many doctors think that the research does not apply to multiples sleeping together; you just need to make sure they're not too close so they don't interfere with each other's breathing, and that they have adequate air circulation (e.g. no bumpers or breathable bumpers) so they're not re-breathing each other's air. Our boys were swaddled and after a few months we used reflux wedges with sleep positioners, and they were far enough apart that there was zero risk; no different than being a foot or two apart from Mom or Dad in a bedside cosleeper. They shared a crib until 6m, which was great because it allowed us to leave the guest bed in the nursery. At 6m, we stopped swaddling (that's when they were ready) and that is when we moved the guest bed out, put up a second crib and separated them.

ethansbride2b

ardilla:

We had them each in their own crib starting the first night we were home.  The nursery is next door to our room, so not a far walk! 

KingShawsBride

Wow...thanks for all the advice!  I am amazed at how many of you were able to have them in their cribs right from the beginning.  I do live in a rancher and the nursery is right next to our room, so I might just try them in their cribs right away. 

If I do this, do I really need 2 packnplays? 

leelee1718

They shared a PNP in our room for about a week or two but found that no one got any sleep with that situation because we were up at every little noise they made. They went in their seperate cribs after that and have been there at night ever since. Naps are a different story...they dont seem to like sleeping there during the day so we are still working on that. We have three PNP's (one still set up in our room just in case, one downstairs, and one extra). I LOVE my PNP's for when we go to family members houses and when they sleep over when they get a bit older.

finallyreilly

One was in the NICU for 4 weeks so we only were dealing with one at home at first.  We ended up putting DS in his crib in his room and did the same with DD when she came home.  It was the best situation for us because we had to supplement feed with bfing so this allowed my mother or MIL to take those feedings without disturbing DH or myself.  Our room is also 2 steps from the babies' room so they really were close by. 

During the day, they shared the basinette in our PNP.  We kept them on the first floor so I didn't have to do the steps. When they got bigger, we had 2 PNPs that we used.

Try not to stress yourself too much.  I know it is hard, but it really all works out in the end.

norika33

Go figure, we're different. Our kids are sharing a giant bassinet in our room still (1mo old) and also they are also splitting time in the FP rock n play (which is awesome) when they are gassy. We're going to get another rock n play and probably in the next week or so they will have they own and they will sleep in our room still. (its magical how easily they fall asleep in it) We're thinking at around 3-4 mos that they will go in their cribs, but they've been doing naps in there and in their PNP during the day to start getting used to them. My kids really like sleeping together, and our Pedi and the hospital both said that there is no increased SIDS risk as long as you are careful and they are swaddled etc.

Good luck, and I wouldn't worry too much about it now- you have to be flexible to your own situation when the kids come, so have a couple different options that you can use depending on your own kids.

OrangeSmoke

They shared a PnP in our room until they collectively hit 15lbs (about 2 weeks ago) and then we moved them into their nursery (right next door to our room).  They share a crib there.

We have two cribs set up, but I love having them share a crib. I really feel that they sleep better next to each other.  We'll move one of them when they get too big.