Co-Sleeping WITH your twins?

With my first two boys I co-slept with each of them for the first year. It made night-time nursing so much easier and we all got more sleep that way. Not to mention, I just loved having them close to me. I had the Arms Reach co-sleeper, but it mainly got used as a changing station, diaper-holder, and night stand. I typically just kept them in bed with me. Is this even possible with twins? I loved the convenience and closeness of sleeping with my babies, but have no idea how this would work with TWO babies at once. Has anyone thought about this or have experiences?

 

I co-slept with my last 2 (had the arms reach thing too, but didn't get used much) also, and I have been wondering the same thing about twins! I'd love to hear some responses too!

 

I did it, but we have a queen-sized bed, so we kept an extra mattress on the floor for DH--sometimes there just wasn't room for four. I had one on eac side. I quickly adapted to having them on one breast a night and the other during the day rather than trying to shift them from breast to breast each time.

 

I used the Arm's Reach cosleeper with my 2, and they always started out in right next to me in that but, most nights, they ended up sleeping in the bed with me. I kept them side by side between me & my husband. Sometimes, it would get a bit crowded & he would go sleep in the guestroom, but most nights it worked just fine.

 

I coslept with my two. We have a king bed. Some nights I would put one in the crib right next to the bed and the other in bed with me. Some nights both in bed. Mitchell started wanting more space and so he would more often than not he would go in the crib. Its totally doable. I nursed for a year and that made it SOO much easier!

 

Yes, it's possible. I did it. Get the largest bed you can. We bought two twin matress sets and a connector thing that makes two twins into a king, then when the girls moved on from sleeping with me, the slept in one of the twin beds together (we had my brother-in-law make crib sides for it so it was like a giant crib) That was great because I could climb in with them to put them down for the night, then get up once they were sleeping. We were able to take the rails off, then eventually move them into one in each of the twin beds. And we never bought any furniture that won't be used for the long term.
I Put both babies in the middle, a little to one side. DH slept on the outer edge of the bed, and I moved from agaist the wall to next to him as I fed one baby or the other. I didn't like sleeping between them and rolling from side to side, because I didn't like having my back to one. But I was a first time mom. I know sometimes roll over and sleep with my back to my singleton. If I had had the twins second, I probably would have ended up sleeping between them.

 

Both of mine are sleeping with us. We have a king bed and what we do is use standard pillows that are moved all the way to the edge of each side. One twin sleeps between the two pillows at the head of the bed. I rolled a blanket and shoved it between the mattress and headboard for cushioning. Then I put a waterproof pad and very thin cotton blanket down for the baby to sleep on. It creates a nice little space. I then placed a pillow under the covers at the end of that pallet and it runs not quite half way down the bed. At the end of the pillow I placed another waterproof pad and thin blanket, but laying it horizontally across the middle of the bed where the second baby sleeps, about 3/4 of the way down the bed. Then I put a baby bed rail and placed all the changing stuff and a big heavy firm pillow across the foot of the bed in the middle to keep him contained. It has worked out great and I can scoot down the bed and lay on the pillow further down to comfort that baby. I was so worried about rolling over on one but with this way our booties are where the pillow is in the middle of the bed. Standing at thefoot of the bed it looks like an upside down T with one baby laying head to foot, then the pillow under the covers, then the other baby laying side to side. We are also using blanket sleepers and no covers on either of them. We also use firm pillows for sleeping and always make sure the cases are facing out.

 

Thanks for the replies! I am glad to hear there are some others who have successfully done it, because it was something I SOOO enjoyed with my first two kids. I really hope it works out with having two babies this time around. I know in some ways we'll just have to wait and see what works for us. There aren't any ways to tandem nurse laying down are there? haha!

 

I never liked having one at my back. But had co-slept with my older 3 and really wanted to. So I bought a full-size Arm's Reach Co-sleeper and attached it to my bed. I liked that it was sturdy enough to hold my 2 until well past when they were sitting up and too big to be in the bassinet portion. With other brand's similar items, my girls would have outgrown the weight limit in just a couple of months. So I would usually put them both in the co-sleeper and when one woke up, I'd pull her into bed with me. I'd often fall back asleep and then when the other woke, I'd just switch them. The only negative I can think of with the Co-Sleeper, is that I imagine it might be hard to climb in and out of bed with it, if you've just had a c-section. My girls slept with me for well over a year.

 

Later, when they can sit up on their own, you can lie on your back and they can sit-kneel on either side of you and nurse. We did that in "emergancy" situations like just getting home from somewhere that was a longish car ride and they needed to eat NOW!

I did like Dielle, fed one and drifted back to sleep until I heard the other one waking, then repositioned myself and feed that one and fell back to sleep there until I heard the other one, etc...

 

I've had a c/s with all my kids and was still able to get in and out of bed even with the co-sleeper without any problems.

 

We co-sleep with our twins too. We start them out for the night in their crib which is right next to my side of the bed. While they were newborn I usually rotated them in and out of our bed and the crib, i.e. nursing one and falling to sleep with him and moving him into the crib when the other one wanted to nurse, because I was nervous about sleeping with my back to one baby. Later I would just sleep with one on either side so I had the crib and a nursing pillow as a "bed rail" on one side and DH on the other to prevent the babies from rolling out of bed.
You do need as a big a bed as you can fit into your room though because as the babies grow older they move around in their sleep a lot more.
I love co-sleeping. The only thing that was really difficult about this sleeping arrangement was night-weaning (which I initiated at about 12 months).