Cribs in same room

Since I went back to work my boys have slept in separate rooms. On sleeps in the crib in their room. The other sleeps in the crib in our room.

This needs to stop.

The history behind this is that DH or I get up with one boy and my MIL gets up with the other during the night. This allows us to all get at least a bit of sleep. The problem now is that the one in our room usually ends up in bed with us. We are too tired to put him back in the crib and because he is in the room with us it is too hard to ignore his crying.

To be fair we alternate who is in which room each night. It means that they are both used to sleeping in either room.

The problem is that I am afraid to put them both in the same room. I am afraid that they will keep each other awake and neither one will sleep. They are both still waking up a couple times a night for bottles. I only do 4oz if they wake up and always try to get them to go back down with out eating first.

3 adults in the house that are all exhausted because of the boys not STTN is frustrating.

Any one have hints and/or feedback on transitioning them to sleeping in the same room at night. I am hoping to do it this weekend.

 

I think they will wake each other less than you think. I would just try it cold turkey and see what happens. Our guys occasionally wake each other, but not very often. We don't have a choice but to put them in the same room with the way our house is laid out, so they have learned to deal.

 

Since it's not working, I think it's worth a shot to put them together. Within a weekend I bet it'll be evening out. We have a sound machine on and while they do wake eachother every once in a while, it's not every time a baby cries. 1 can cry for 20 minutes and the other will fall asleep. :unknw: Give it a whirl! :bump:

 

Oddly enough, mine never had a problem sleeping through the others' crying at that age. One would start wailing at 3 am and the other would sleep soundly through it.. mind you, I could not tiptoe past their room without both of them waking, but their brother never bothered them. You'll probably have to be prepared for them disturbing each other a little at first, but just stick with it and I bet they'll get used to each other.

 

mine rarely wake each other up. not never, but it is pretty infrequent.

 

Just last night, one of my girls woke up around 4AM and I didn't go up there because I was too tired, and within 5 minutes, she was asleep again!! The other did NOT wake up. This seems to happen more often than not. They have been together in "their" room in separate cribs now for about a month and things are fine. I say go for it!

 

I agree with PP's. I would dedicate a specific weekend for it... and give it a HONEST 3 day/night shot at it. And possibly even with CIO if you are comfortable with that... and you might just be super surprised that by the end of the 3rd night, they are both STTN. 7 months is old enough where they could be sleep trained and successfully! Just takes some leg work!! Good Luck!!!

 

I think that its worth trying it out for a night or two and see if it works....it doesn't hurt to try, or else you will never know.

I still shake my head in wonder as to how my guys don't wake up to each other screaming their lungs off. If I wake up to them screaming and they are down the hall behind a closed door, how does their twin not wake up when their cribs are touching?!?! Boggles my mind!

 

We've always had our girls together since they came home. You will be surprised how they can tune each other out. It was rarely that they woke one another up. There were many times that one would be having a hard time going to sleep while the other went right off to sleep. And one would wake up in the middle of the night while the other would sleep through. We had no problems with them being in the same room and still don't.

 

I think it's time to put them in the same room! My boys have been in the same room since day one. They are almost three-and they've never woken the other due to their cries. One will wake up screaming he has to go to the bathroom-and I go in, and the other is soundly sleeping. You will be surprised. And if one WERE to have woken, he quickly went right back down. Give it a shot. You might be surprised.

Now-by that age, dh and I rotated who woke up. So-say Monday night, I woke with the babies. Then Tuesday dh woke with the babies. Or-we also switched it up(they were sttn at six months, but before then, this is what we did), and dh would take one baby/night and I would take the other. OR-he would take them both when they woke, then it was my turn. That way we were both getting some chunk of sleep.

Even to this day-we still rotate who wakes with the kids. MWF I wake up with them(between 7/7:30am). Sunday/Tu/Th dh wakes with them, and then I get up at 8 so he can get ready for work. Saturdays we rotate who gets to sleep in. I hope you can all work something out-and get some sleep in!

 

My twins have been together since day 1. Our #1 rule is never seperate them. And 90% of the time when one cries, another one never cares. It helps a lot if you have a fan or a humidifier or a purifier,.. For white noise.yes when one cries loud enough to wake me up, but another one still sleep nicely. You will be suprised! Gl!

 

Same here. DS is teething right now and very cranky. DD sleeps through most of it, shockingly. We do have a white noise machine on the floor between their cribs, so I think that helps.

 

My boys have been sleeping in the same room since birth. They don't wake each other up. Like the PP said they'll wake each other up less then you think.

 

It could take yours a few nights to get used to eachother, but beyond that I wouldn't expect too many problems. Ours will occassionally wake the other up, but its usually a situation when they will cry for a few minutes or even just talk and then fall back asleep.

Have you thought about giving them water rather than formula in the bottle? I'm not sure what yours adjusted age is, but generally if they are gaining weight well, they shouldn't need a feed in the middle of the night at 7 months. Plus, its only 4 oz so it seems to be more of a comfort thing for them than a nutrional need.

Your other option is letting them CIO. We were not fans of doing that in the middle of the night. We would usually go to them after about 10 or 15 mins if they woke in the middle of the night.

Good luck! I hope you guys get this worked out and you all start sleeping again

 

Thanks for this post! I kind of had the same questions, although my LOs are 10 months and I am wondering the same thing....can they sleep together since it has been so long? In the first 3 months they slept together, but DS had a minor surgery, feeding issues and reflux that required more feedings and attention through the night, hence they got separated so I could take care of DS and DH could take care of DD who what pretty much sleeping through the night at this point. We are finally at a point were DS is doing better and no more night feeds(I am pretty sure we let this go way to long, but that was the only time he ate) and we are thinking if they will sleep in the same room. I guess like pp said we just need to pick a weekend and try it. DS still wakes up once or twice through the night since he rarely gets his fill of food during the day. Feeding issues have been the death of me and sometime it feels like it is never going to get easy. :headbang: But I am so ready for them to be together. I don't want them to lose the bond and want them to get along well and I am hoping that sharing a room will help.

I wish you luck and please let me know how it goes for you. Also what type white noise machine do people have and where did you get it from?

 

Like pps have said, i think it just might take a couple of nights. It's going to be tough, but the key is to let them work it out. My boys were always together, but up until they were 8 months old, we would rush into the room when one would cry for fear that one would wake up the other. Then, cold turkey, we stopped. It was hard, but we had to let them work it out for themselves. And, they did. For us it took one night. We also have a white noise machine which i think helps. I don't know what make/model it is... my mom gave it to me. But it looks kind of like this one:
Target White Noise Machine

Good luck!

 

Remember - they are only 10 months old! It seems like forever that they have been sleeping apart, but they are still sooooo young. I think they can def learn to sleep in the same room.

 

Reporting in:

FYI my boys were born at 34 weeks with no NICU time. They are right on track with most 7 month old babies so I often forget that they are closer to 6 months adjusted age than 7.

So we moved the crib on Saturday and put them in the same room that night. They did okay but not great. They both have stuffy noses so they aren't sleeping well because of that. It was really nice to have them in the same room, and not in ours. They did end up coming to bed with us but not until later in the night mainly because we wanted them elevated with their stuffy noses and also because it was 3 or 4 am and we wanted the extra sleep (I had to work in the AM). I think that in another week or two we can have this figured out. Last night they both woke up like usual but didn't drink the bottles like they used to. They were fine with one bottle with 3 or 4 oz of milk, we can probably go cold turkey on the bottles pretty soon here.

The next steps will be:
- to try to get their stuffy noses cleared up
- remember the Tylenol before bed for teeth
- continue to rock them to sleep but not allow them to come to bed with us

For white noise we use THISmachine. I like it because it has a light on it that gives off a soft blue light which is just enough to see when we go in during the night. It also has different settings to play music or various types of white noise with a timer to shut it off after an hour. It also has a jack on it so that you can plug in an mp3 player. During the day if I am in there cleaning I will put a boy in the crib and play music.