How do you put twins down to nap?

taryn30 · October 2012

My twins are now eight weeks old. Getting down to nap is a disaster. They want to be held to go down for nap but clearly i can't hold and rock both At same time. Today they only catnapped throughout day for five minutes or so at a time. What do you do when you are alone and trying to get them to nap?

mrsluckyjune · October 2012

Mine nap in their swings but they rarely nap at the same time. However, they eat, wake-up, and go to be at the same time. I use Babywise for the feeding and night time sleeping but their naps aren't really at any set time. However, they do the same activity at the same time. So one might sleep during boppy time when the other slept during swing time. I haven't found this to be an issue yet but I know I need to get a nap schedule down for when they get older. However, I'm not too worried about it at the moment since I can get stuff done with one or both awake.

emilyec1 · October 2012

We try to go with the eat/play/sleep method and wear them out during activity time so they're ready to sleep. One twin sleeps better than the other, so I just swaddle him, lay him down, offer a pacifier, and within a few minutes he's out. David however isn't as easy. I try to hold him until he's drowsy but not yet asleep and then put him down but he often wakes back up once his head hits the cushion. It is a constant back and forth at this point but hoping it gets better in time!

CourtneySue · October 2012

I hold rock both all the time. We swaddle for every nap though which makes it easier. They have always been put down drowsy after a few weeks take 5 naps a day

taryn30 · October 2012

Do you hold and rock both at the same time? Or one at a time? If both at once, hiw do you manage?

Jen0204 · October 2012

At that age they napped either in their swing or in the RNPs. We also swaddled them. They were normally both good about going down in their swings, but I was always able to get at least one down in the swing and then if the other one would only sleep on me so be it.

Breezy8407 · October 2012

I just did one at a time at that age. The more tired fussier one got held to sleep. Not ideal of course. I felt like all I did all day was try to put babies to sleep and keep them asleep!

futuremrs.hunt · October 2012

Mine are 9 weeks and I also do eat/play/sleep routine. I swaddle them and put them down in the crib when they start getting fussy which is usually after they have been up an hour. Last week, they laid down and went to sleep with no fussing/crying. This week not so much. I've been patting, shushing, giving paci and basically comforting them until they calm and drift off to sleep. I always turn their sound machine on and sometimes turn on the mobile depending on if I think it will help. They usually sleep at least an hour and fifteen minutes. Yesterday, we had a fussy, short nap day but their nap this morning has lasted an hour and a half and they are still asleep!
I do rock them at the same time sometimes. I prop one in each arm, babies facing out, and rock. Getting them into the crib afterwards is not easy. I usually have to put one down in the rocking chair, put the other in the crib and then go back to get the other to put him in the crib. Not perfect but it works!
I've come to realize as much as I want every week to be calm and peaceful with long naps, great eating, sleeping through the night which has yet to happen! they are going to have fussy days/weeks and some days/weeks are going to be harder than others. I try to enjoy it all even though that takes A LOT of reminding myself to enjoy it sometimes!

angelfire02 · October 2012

At 8 weeks mine were out of sleeping in their Snugabunny seats, but still napping in the same crib. They were swaddled and from day one have gone down drowsy but awake. They always go down at the same time and if one wakes up that that age I woke both up. A totall PITA at the time, but we had to stay on a schedule when I was by myself. Have you tried putting them together?

MrsLnt · October 2012

It never felt safe to me to hold them both and then try to put them down at the floppy newborn stage.

My DD would get tired first and she was better at putting herself to sleep, so about 5-10m before DS, she'd get swaddled, a paci and put in the nursery with the white noise on. DS was usually on the playmat in the living room, one room over, while I put her down quickly. Then I'd get him, swaddle, paci, and help settle him, because he needed more help, then put him down. Then, if she needed any maintenance, I'd help her. It was a lot of back and forth at that age of getting them down to sleep and staying asleep.

We started doing naps in bouncy seats at first but it just proved to be too much going on in the living room for them to sleep, so by 5 or 6 weeks old, they were swaddled and in cribs for at least the start of each nap. If they woke up 45m into the nap (which was often), they went into their swings, which were in the living room, but the motion at least helped them fall back asleep.

Kristi1971 · October 2012

My girls are near 9 months and still don't sleep at the same time. One piece of advice I can offer about sleeping - whether it's night time or nap time. Think about how you want your children to sleep - what habits do you want them to have - and start out that way. Don't start out by doing something and then 5 months down the road want them to do something else.

As for naps, I have always let them dictate their schedules. I can usually tell when they are tired and need a nap. They will actually sleep wherever they are at, but they do sleep best in their crib. So if I see then needing a nap, I just put them into their crib. They know the crib is for sleeping, so they just go to sleep. I don't dictate when they should be in their crib napping, though. I watch their cues for their different needs.

I hope that helps.

Mrs.Greg · October 2012

At 8 weeks old, my babies napped in their bouncy seats, side by side, on the floor in the living room. Worked for us at the time. When they were about 3 months old, I started trying to swaddle them and put them in their cribs for naps (they were being swaddled at bed time, sleeping in our room in pack n plays) and it worked out great right away.

macchiatto · October 2012

Right at that age I started following some of HSHHC's tips for how to put them down drowsy but awake and honestly, it worked wonders. We did have a simple routine of rocking them each for a minute but then put them down and if I caught their drowsy window just right, they'd fall asleep! I love that book; huge help.

AmyJoy728 · October 2012

I always put them down at the same time when one showed sleepy signs. If one didn't fall asleep after a few cries I asleep pick that one up and hold for another few before trying to put him down again. If both didn't sleep, I would pick them both up and play for another 5mins and then put them down again.

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