Overnight with Twins

SwetaV · February 2013

My DH and I are thinking about different scenarios on where we will have the babies overnight. Here are a couple of our ideas -- moving upstairs in a room across from the nursery and putting the babies in their cribs immediately OR staying in our bedroom downstairs and getting bassinets or PnP(s) for our room and then moving the babies upstairs into their cribs after a little while. Here are our concerns -- if we commit to moving upstairs before they are here and I end up with a C-section (which is likely it seems) it may be difficult for me to go up and down the stairs. If the babies start in our room, will we get too comfortable and have a hard time moving them into their own cribs?

Just need some outside opinions of experienced / about to be experienced MoMs so we can make a more informed decision. TIA!

Ruthie04 · February 2013

I'd go with option 2. I had a c section and, while getting up and down stairs wasn't too terribly difficult, it really hurt to sit up at night and get out of bed. I wouldn't want to walk further than a couple of steps to soothe a baby. This is especially true if you are planning on nursing. We kept our boys in RnPs to one month and put them in PnPs after that. We waited to move them out if our room until they were STTN . We just moved them into their nursery without any issues. We followed the same bedtime routine, put them down awake in their cribs and walked out. We didn't hear a peep until 5am. So, I wouldn't worry about the transition. In the beginning it is all about sleep at any cost!! GL!

dgancz · February 2013

Well babies started out in our room in RNP and yes we got comfortable.They are 7 months old and we only moved one out of our room a week ago and one is still with us in a pack and play.

We hope to sleep train them soon, so once we bite the bullet we will move them both to their own rooms.

mirnb · February 2013

The first 3 months I wouldn't worry much about making bad habits having them sleep in your room....the name of the game is sleep so having them close by is key!! We had our boys in bassinet together, then RnPlays until 3 months and then transitioned them to their cribs at 3 months with no issue! I say keep them in your room!

zombiemommy · February 2013

For your own sanity, keep them in your room to start off. We kept them on either side of the bed in rock n plays and it was the best decision we ever made. We're in the process of moving them into their cribs (in the next week), and I'll admit that I'm nervous about not having them with me where I can hear them breathing the second I wake up, but I keep reminding myself that they have to go in their own room eventually, and I'll be fine.

macchiatto · February 2013

I'd start with them in your room and see how it goes.

workerbee82 · February 2013

we kept our babies in our room in RnPs for thefirst 8 weeks. then transitioned them to the Pack n play in our room (sleeping flat) and then have had them in their room on another level, each in their own crib. I was worried about transitioning them if we didn't start with them in their own beds from the beginning but it wasn't a problem.

angelfire02 · February 2013

I laugh bc I had biiiiiig plans to put the babies in their own cribs from night one. Yep. That lasted three nights. No one was sleeping and I was about to lose my mind. They slept for 5 weeks in our room in their Snugabunny seats swaddled on the top, strapped in on their legs. Then they went swaddled into one crib until 11 weeks when we busted the swaddle habit and put them in their own cribs. They slept through the night two nights later.

Their room is literally 6 steps from our room but it was craziness going back and forth, in our room we could just get up, stick their nuks back in, and fall back into bed. I wouldn't worry about them getting too used to being in your room, in the beginning you just do what you have to do. As long as they are out before they really start to figure it out (like 3 months I would say) you are totally fine. And stairs weren't hard for me, but the getting up and down out of bed was, so if it would take you awhile to get upstairs, then for sure put them in your room.

I would also suggest (this is just me) getting the Snugabunny or I think they are monkey ones now, they were a TOTAL lifesaver for us. Sleeping upright made all the difference in the world for our babies, and they were never diagnosed with reflux. If you don't want to do that, skip the bassinets and go right to the PnP which you can use for years unlike the short lived bassinet.

Brummy14 · February 2013

While ours spent a long time in the NICU, once they were home, we went straight to cribs. They are both SO grunty in their sleep, they would have kept us up all night. And, they were in cribs the whole time in the NICU, so they were definitely used to that set-up! While they're not always super sleepers or super easy to get down, that's worked best for us.

Combined with Angelcare monitors (the dual-pad ones -- since these girls are squirmy!), we've had a lot of luck letting them do their own thing. DH and I currently sleep in separate bedrooms since we're on "shifts" overnight -- to try to maximize each others' stretches of uninterrupted sleep (which would be impossible if they were in the same room as us!). Obviously that will change once the girls are nearly STTN, but for now, with their 3-4 hour stretches, it works really, really well for us!

SwetaV · February 2013

Thank you all for your candid advice. I am sharing all of them with my husband and now we are definitely leaning more towards first in our room and then transition to their own.
Here's a second question to all the moms who suggests RnPs how are those working out for you? We read quite a few reviews that said after a while their child was diagnosed with torticcolis, did that happen to any of you? The RnP seems like a great idea but bc of those reviews we decided on a cosleeper instead.

rinascita · February 2013

macchiatto:
I'd start with them in your room and see how it goes.

This... we moved our boys to their cribs from their RnPs last week but I have been sleeping in a recliner between them just to make for a smooth transition. Next week I plan on trying to sleep in my bed (for the first time since I left for the hospital since we had them in the living room so a DH could sleep) and I will just see how that goes...

FWIW, recliner > couch

ppants · February 2013

At our house, all the bedrooms were upstairs. We put a changing table on the main floor and the babies slept in their bouncy seats on the main floor for the first 10 weeks. DH and I took turns sleeping on the couch on the main floor with them.

Once we put them in cribs in their shared room, DH and I would pick a baby to feed before we went to sleep. When we heard "our" baby cry, we'd take him/her downstairs and warm a bottle and change baby. After they were fed, they thankfully went back to sleep without any issue. I had a vaginal birth and we FF if it matters.

BabyCarryingVessel · February 2013

My big plans for going straight to the crib didn't pan out either! They were in bassinets in our room for the first 8 weeks, then the twin pnp from 8 to 12 weeks, then cribs after that. No problem whatsoever transitioning them to cribs.

Want a personalized experience?

Overnight with Twins

Re: Overnight with Twins

Choose Another Board

Search Boards