Sleep training twins who share room?

hgrogers · July 2009

How do you do this? I fear that if one was able to put herself to sleep, the other's crying would wake her up & vice-versa. Any advice/ experience on this? If it matters, my DD's are 6.5 months old. NOw, we put them to sleep by walking them around after their last bottle, which usually doesn't take all that long. They go to sleep at 7:30 p.m and sleep straight thru until 6:30am. They have been STTN since 7 weeks. I am pretty good at telling their sleep cues. They currently nap in their swings (which also has to end, since the swings barely swing with them in it anymore) . I am also not a huge fan of the CIO idea, but realize there ma be some crying involved...They do take the pacifier.

Please provide any advice/tips/experience. Thanks!

meldoo2002 · July 2009

Wow I'm about a month behind you, but our routine is the same. Sleep in the swing for naps... fall asleep in the swing after bottle around 7:30 then we transfer them to the same crib. It's working for us right now so I'm not planning to change it any time soon, but just thought I'd say we're right there with you.

sara1014 · July 2009

I obviously can't help you...but I can't wait for the responses - DH and I just had this conversation the other night. I really don't want to have to separate them when we get to that point.

Good luck!!

shoegirlt · July 2009

i keep refreshing the page looking for some help too. my twins still sleep in a pack and play in our room and they ae waking each other up in the middle of the night. and unfortunately, i know i shouldnt but most nights my son ends up in bed with me. i tried to put them in their room in their own cribs upstairs(our room is downstairs) and i think i had to get up at 10 times a night, so after almost 2 weeks i gave up. b/c i was so exhausted. so i'm looking for some help too.. good luck!!!!

hgrogers · July 2009

Shoegirlt:

Your kids are too cute & love the names! Laney was one of the girl names I really, really liked when we were naming our twins & I still love it! We ended up naming them Lila & Claire!

Let's hope we get some help on the sleep training!

am369 · July 2009

Sorry I'm a lurker, but my SIL has 10 month old twins.

They both share a room and have the same nap and sleep schedule. Ryan is the fussy one who still doesn't sleep through the night. There big thing is a white noise machine. It really helps them not wake each other up and they both sleep better because it hides each others groans and moans. If one does wake up she can go in and soothe him quietly without waking up the other one with the white noise machine on.

yankee42 · July 2009

this is what i did

per my pedi's advice i started at 8 months, but my guys were born at 30 weeks, so it was 6 months adjusted and thats when he usually recommends sleep training. I started with the "easy sleeper" his only problem was that he needed the bottle to fall asleep, but he would sttn.

while i trained him, i took the other one into my room to sleep in the pnp (he actually slept in the bed with me mostly ..using the old methods of getting him to sleep, bottle, rocking, swing, whatever..ugh

i did ferber, and yes there was some crying, but for us...it went really fast (40 min the first night, then 20, then 4..then no problems for nap or sleep)..but you can do the other methods this way..i just can't recommend any because i don't know them

so once the "good sleeper" was "trained", i gave him a week (and me a week off) before starting the other one..and at that point i started putting the already trained one in the pnp in our room, and sleep trained the "bad sleeper" (he hadn't sttn then, needed A TON of help to get to sleep for bed and naps). I did the same thing, ferber, and he did even better than the good sleeper!

i gave him a week, and then moved them back into the nursery together..and kinda trained them together...but it was so easy then..they were just a little weirded out being together again! haha

sorry if that was long an convoluted, haha..any questions please pm me! my boys sleep GREAT now

hopewill · July 2009

mine are younger but i've always kept them in the same room. one is sttn and is not bothered by the other one who wakes up still at this point. initally they woke eachother up but now they don't ... i think they have learned to sleep thru

macchiatto · July 2009

I read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Twins and he says you can try doing it in the same room, that most twins learn to sleep through each others' cries. If you find that's not working, then separate them until the sleep training is pretty much "done" and they have good sleep habits, and then you can put them back in the same room if you wish. It worked for us with our guys in the same room but there were times we'd have to move one to another room/the swing for a little while.

hgrogers · July 2009

macchiatto:

what sleep training method did you use (CIO or other), when did you start & how long did it take? TIA

gymrat · July 2009

We followed the info in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. My son was pretty easy. My daughter took forever. We used the shushing and patting method for a long time with her and my son slept through it all.

Once summer came and it started staying lighter in their room longer (they go to bed at 7pm) we had to let them fuss and whine. I don't say CIO because they didn't really do that. She finally learned how to soothe herself to sleep that way.

Now, we put them to bed and they will usually whine a little or play in their cribs for about 20 minutes but they've been pretty good at getting themselves to sleep and also sleep through each others' fussing during the night.

Temp159135562506975 · July 2009

we started sleep training from day 1 (baby wise) and the babies both sleep in our room still - in separate bassinets. They never wake each other up.

they are sleeping together right now in the swing- Gray fell asleep first and Gibby was crying- didn't even make Gray flinch.... they don't seem to care about each other's crying at all. I hope that doesn't change!

we also don't keep the house quiet when they nap, etc- they are very used to noise (dogs barking, our toddler playing, etc).... I think that helps a lot - if they get used to quiet then things startle them to much.

Skatcat · July 2009

Ours sleep in two separate rooms (and have since 8 weeks, when DD started STTN and DS still woke several times), but honestly, since both your babies are already STTN, I think sleep training is going to be a snap for you. It sounds like all you need to work on is the falling asleep in the evening part right? For us, that took all of two days to work out. We used Ferber. Much harder (for us) was weaning DS off those night time feedings. Since you don't have a problem with that, I think you will find it pretty smooth.

(I hope!)

Want a personalized experience?

Sleep training twins who share room?

Re: Sleep training twins who share room?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards