Did your twins stay in your room for the first few months?

OK, so we are due in 6 weeks and I have FINALLY convinced my DH that we need a night nurse for a few weeks. (Thank goodness.) HOWEVER, in our Baby Essentials class, the teacher said that the babies should stay in our room for the first 6-8 weeks. (Due to possibility of SIDS).
SO, what would be the point of a night nurse if the babies will be in our room anyway?
I am so confused and don't know what to do.

Can anyone shed some light on this????

THANKS,
Ingrid

 

Our babies are still in our room. I would not be comfortable with them in their own room just yet. I am also BF'ing...so I have to wake up to feed them during the night anyway. I personally would rather have daytime help and do nights myself. Just an opinion. I'm sure you'll get lots of other feedback. Good luck!

reyna

 

I agree they should be in there for atleast the first 3 months... of course, I was so nervous and scared something was going to happen that mine stayed in our room for 2 years!! I just slept so much better knowing they were alright.

 

We had a night nurse. The nights we were here we ended up sleeping on our sleeper sofa and she would stay in our bedroom (we live in a duplex down and this was our only option since we didn't want our oldest to wake up either). I slept fine on the sleeper sofa. We had her 3 nights a weeks. At 6 weeks we moved our girl to her room since she was already sleeping 8-10 hours straight and her brother only 4-6. It worked fine. If I only had one, I would have moved that one out at 2 weeks. Things are different with twins though.

 

I guess I am the odd one out. My DS1 has slept in his own room since day 1 (just a side note I was bf him). The twins have slept in their own room about a week or two after they came home from the hospital. I told DH that I wouldn't move them into another room unless I had a monitor. One of the main reasons why they have never slept in our room is becuase DH is such a light sleeper that all the little noises they make keeps him up at night. Also, we live in an apartment so it isn't like they were really far away. I think you have to do what you feel comfortable with and what makes life easier for you!HTH!

I forgot to add that my babies started sleeping through the night at a very young age (6 weeks or so). So it I wasn't getting up in the night to take care of them.

 

Mine slept in our room for the first month or so at night. Then I moved them to the family room in a twin bassinet I slept on the pull out so DH could rest for work.

 

Call me a freak...my girls stayed in our room until almost 10 months!!! I did BF for 6 months, and the did wake for night feedings...We just got lazy about moving the beds out of our room.
My baby (8.5 months) is also in our room...really she is still in our bed. I BF her also and she wakes still for night feedings.

 

Ours were in the pack in play bassinet in our bedroom for the first month. After that, we put them in their own cribs upstairs in the nursery. I have both a video monitor and a regular baby monitor so I felt good that I could "see" and hear them anytime I wanted. They did just fine and I think we got more sleep because we were not hearing EVERY little squeek or other noise they were making. When they were truly hungry, you'd know it!! Believe me, I was a little apprehensive about having them so far from me and would bug hubby to go check on them often. But, they really enjoy being in their cribs now and equate sleeping or napping with the cribs. When they start to get cranky or rub their eyes, I know they want to go take a nap or go to bed. We put them in the cribs and they go right to sleep. They were sleeping through the night by 3 months.

 

I would have never slept a wink out of sheer worry and anxiety if the babies hadn't been in our room when they came home from the hospital. We still had our little ones in the room with us at a little over 6 months. DD was just moved into the nursery about 2 weeks ago when she started sleeping through the night. We are working now to get DS to sleep through the night so we can move him out of our room too. We would have moved them to the nursery sooner if our bedroom had been on the same floor as the nursery. Since our master is on the first floor, it would have meant an awful lot of trips up and down stairs in the early months. :wacko: Even with DD sleeping all night, I still find myself going upstairs to check on her at least once a night. :blush:

 

HI,

My kids were in our bed for 2 mos and then shared a crib in our room for another 4. I breastfed as well, so that was easier.

There's a school of thought that keeping the babies close early on really helps regulate their temp and heart rates -- so that's why your pedi suggested it. I'd definitely do that. Even if you don't bf, the babies get used to your scent (musk) -- so it's important that you and your hubby are there, and not some imposter this early.

As for night nurse -- in the beginning, you're running on adrenaline and you have lots of day help -- so I'd say, for the price, night nurse may be a waste of money. I'd hold off and spend that money after 6 weeks or so as the night nurse can really help you understand how to get more sleep hours out of your kids (dream feedings, swaddling, etc) -- stuff that just doesn't make a difference too early on.

Since I was bf, there was no real advantage to night nannies anyway.

Teri D

 

QUOTE(Ingrid111 @ Jun 30 2007, 04:17 PM) [snapback]313119[/snapback]
OK, so we are due in 6 weeks and I have FINALLY convinced my DH that we need a night nurse for a few weeks. (Thank goodness.) HOWEVER, in our Baby Essentials class, the teacher said that the babies should stay in our room for the first 6-8 weeks. (Due to possibility of SIDS).
SO, what would be the point of a night nurse if the babies will be in our room anyway?
I am so confused and don't know what to do


Everyone told me I needed a night nurse and I hired one (5-day min obligation, it was not cheap). I was ever so glad to see her go. I was (and am still) BFing, so there was very litte for her to do. I would hand one off to her to change and put back in pack n play, while I BF baby #2. My DH had taken off that week and he wanted to take an active role so he was happy to do the changes in the middle of the night. So in short I wished I hadn't hired her. I've hired a recent college grad who had previously nannied for twins, to work days for me. She's perfect. I need the help during the day because that is when I also need to followup on bills, write thank-yous, etc and without her help it would be really difficult. So we work as a team during the day, I BF and change a baby and she keeps the other one engaged when they are both awake (which happens pretty often).

The twins sleep in swing and bouncy seat in our BR. We had them in PNP in our BR but at some point the swing took over. I'm acclimating them to the crib during the day and at 2 months of age they are really engaged by the mobile over the crib.

Hope this helps. My main advice would be to get the help you really think you need, not follow everyone's advice. I wish my DH and I had had the week just to muddle through, our own bonding experience with the twins.

Everyone is different. Just do what feels right for you. By two months you will be beyond enduring and into enjoying!

 

we didn't have a night nurse but the twins were in our room for the first 4 months partly because they were in swings (colic) and partly because it was so hot during the summer and we didn't have AC in their room - but we had a window unit in our room...at 4 months we simply put them in the cribs and fortunately both took to the cribs right away!

 

We put the twins in their own room from the first night home. For the first 2 months, DH and I took turns sleeping in their room (3-hour shifts) so that the person who was "off duty" could sleep uninterrupted in our room.

 

My twins were in separate cribs in their own room from the day they came home from the hospital. We did have a night nurse for the first 2 weeks, and she was a god send in helping me to get the rest I needed to care for my babies. After the 2 weeks, I was ready for her to go and start on my own. Mine also slept for 6 hours at 8 weeks, and 12-13 hours at 3 months.

 

Our babies slept with us for three months, in the same crib in our room. Then gradually we would put them in their own room for the first part of the night (from about 8 weeks when we got into our night time routine, they slept in their own room in the same crib from about 6:30 or 7:00 until we went to bed at around 11:00, which was time for their first night feeding anyway) then we'd bring them into our room (and the odd time into our bed - say at 5:00 if we were trying to convince them to sleep a little longer). For naps, they slept in the pack and play or in swings or in someone's arms on the main floor until we started our daytime nap routine at around 11 weeks, then they went into their own room (in the same crib) for naps - I used the baby monitor to hear them. By three months I figured, if they're spending naps in their room and the first 1/2 of the night there, they may as well spend the whole night there. At 3.5 months I realized they were too big to be sharing a crib, so we separated them. They sleep WAY better in their own cribs in their own room. I'm sure it has something to do with them being older, but I suspect it's also because we're not disturbing them. I was NOT comfortable having them away from us at night from quite a long time because they were such pukers and Evan used to puke in his sleep sometimes and scare the crap out of himself (and me!).

The Canadian Pediatric Society recommends babies sleep in their own crib in their parent's room until 6 months but that wouldn't have worked for our family.

I think it's up to you. And there's no reason why you can't switch it up for the first few weeks, say if you're getting a night nurse - newborns have practically no idea where they're sleeping anyway (and, to be honest, they mostly like to sleep in someone's arms much of the time).

As far as SIDS goes, if you're having them sleep on their backs, you're not smoking around them, and you're keeping the crib free from pillows, loose blankets, toys, bumpers, etc. that's pretty much all you can do. Don't forget, although it's scary, SIDS is actually quite rare.

Good luck!

QUOTE(Ingrid111 @ Jun 30 2007, 04:17 PM) [snapback]313119[/snapback]
OK, so we are due in 6 weeks and I have FINALLY convinced my DH that we need a night nurse for a few weeks. (Thank goodness.) HOWEVER, in our Baby Essentials class, the teacher said that the babies should stay in our room for the first 6-8 weeks. (Due to possibility of SIDS).
SO, what would be the point of a night nurse if the babies will be in our room anyway?
I am so confused and don't know what to do.

Can anyone shed some light on this????

THANKS,
Ingrid

 

ours slept in a pack in play in our room for the 1st 6 wks. we then moved them to the nursery (right next door to us)where they share a crib. we have a video monitor.

 

Like others have said, our babies slept in our bed for the first few months. A nanny would have been helpful, but honestly I couldn't imagine turning my babies over to someone during the night. Someone during the day would have been great.

 

Our babies stayed in our room for the first 4 months. I felt better having them close just in case. It was a little hard for my DH to sleep at first because of all the noises they make when they are really young. But eventually he got use to them and was able to sleep. Since mine were born 7 weeks early and were so tiny, I wanted them close to me and that made me feel better.

 

Our twins shared a crib in our room until they were outgrowing it/wiggling around at approx. 2 1/2-3 mos. Then we moved them into their own room into separate cribs. We couldn't fit two cribs in our bedroom. Our house is tiny!

 

To be honest, our babies are still in our room. Only because we just finished building our house two months before I found out I was pregnant (surprise!) and we didn't know we were going to need another bedroom. Luckily our room is really big so it's no big deal for now (got to finish the basement so a couple of the older kids will get rooms down there). As for the night nurse, I agree with pp's - daytime help would have been way better. You have to feed them during the night anyway and if you have someone during the day you can always sneak in a nap.

 

My monkeys were in the NICU for 5 weeks but we have had them in our room ever since. they will be 5 months on the 12th. In fact they will probably be in there for at least another month. They have been sleeping in their car seats (Ped's recommendation) because of constantly spitting up. I have to transition them and they still have issues when lying on the backs so I like to have them close so I can hear whats going on and get to them quicker.

 

My DD didn't have a regular crib at all until a week ago. Her fiance's father is making the cribs adn they had told him was no big rush since they planned to keep the boys in the PNP in their bedroom for several months. After eight weeks, DD was going crazy with them in her bedroom and was so ready to get them in a crib. From the very first night she put the babies in the crib (together in the same one for now), they have slept so much better, going from a 4-hour stretch to a 7-hour stretch by the second night. She attributes that to the fact that she and fiance go to bed later than the babies which disturbs them and then her fiance has to get up at 4:15 to get ready for work. DD said if she were to do it over again, she would have moved them to the nursery by 3-4 weeks of age.

 

I put the twins in their cribs really early. i think they slept in my room the first month every now and them, if i just couldn't get them to sleep, and I was dead tired ... i wasn't breast feeding, but every noise made me go into their room ... so i had them sleeping in the bed with me in their boppies ... but i didn't want them to get too used to the boppies, and i thought it made the most sense to get them used to their cribs in their room as early as possible. My ped recommended it, she never told me that they needed to stay in my room.

It's worked out really well for us, me and DH already have our bedroom back to ourselves ... I was just really worried that we would never get a moment to ourselves, and that later on it would be harder to transition them to their own cribs, since they were always used to us being right there. I'm sure it's completely different if you are breast feeding, so what worked for me might not at all work for you ... But I would suggest if you are bottle feeding to use the night nurse, and get some SLEEP!

good luck!

 

My twins (20 months old) are still in our room.......LOL.....we have 7 kids total and ran out of rooms in the bedrooms.

 

I started my girls off in their cribs, in their room next to ours. I wanted to start good sleeping habits right from the beginning. Plus I wanted to keep our room our little sanctuary, for mommy and daddy time.

 

My babies stayed in my room in one crib until they were 6 months old.

 

Our twins and my other daughter all slept in their own room (& cribs) from the first night. My oldest DD slept through the night from the beginning, but I was up frequently with the twins for a few weeks while they got nights and days straightened out. I did occasionally sleep with one in the pack n play next to me on the couch for the first couple of nights if I was having problems getting one of them to sleep so they won't wake up everyone else. I also slept on the floor in their room quite a bit for the first month just because it seemed to take them a long time to fall back asleep after a feeding. An inexpensive twin air matress would have been great ! I never used a baby monitor with the twins either. I think you become so in-tune with your children, they barely have to make a noise before you hear them. I personally never wanted any of the babies in our bed or room. They make so many little noises which would constantly wake me up. Plus DH went back to work 8 days after the twins were born and he needed some sleep also. I had severe insomnia while pg so I was used to being up plus I was able to nap during the afternoon when all the kids napped. I will say both of the twins started sleeping 7 hrs at a time by a month old. By 3 months, they were sleeping 10 hrs straight.

 

QUOTE(ihavesevensons @ Jul 1 2007, 10:47 PM) [snapback]313945[/snapback]
My twins (20 months old) are still in our room.......LOL.....we have 7 kids total and ran out of rooms in the bedrooms.


I forgot to add that I BF for 13ish months too..... :a_smil09:

 

For the first few weeks the girls slelp in their bouncy seats in the living room and DH and I were in there with them. We also had my mom come to stay for two weeks during that time and then MIL and DH's aunt came to help when they were 4 weeks old. It was around that time they slept swaddled in the same crib in their own room. Our house was built in '78 and the bedrooms are SMALL. So, a pack and play nor a crib would fit in our room. The girls sleep just fine in their room and are now in their own cribs. Newborns make so many noises and I honestly think it would keep me more awake to have them in the same room with me. It's really whatever works for you. HTH!

 

I guess I'm in the minority here! We never considered having the babies sleep in our room - we never understood the point. As a pp said, "I wanted to start good sleeping habits right from the beginning. Plus I wanted to keep our room our little sanctuary, for mommy and daddy time." US TOO! So, they have slept in a shared crib in their nursery (bedroom next to ours) since day one. We can hear everything and have a sound monitor too.

 

Yes, they did for the first month but then it seemed when we got one down enough to put in the bassinet the other one would make noise and wake that one who wasn't totlaly gone so we split up. I took one with me in another room and my hubby took one in our room. We met to ngght tandem nurse and then split up again. Whoever woke, we woke the other.

 

Our girls slept in one pnp together in our room for the first 8 weeks. Then they started moving around and bumping into each other so we moved them into separate cribs in the nursery which is right next to our bedroom. I was so nervous about moving them so we slowly transitioned them into their room over a week. The transitioning was totally for ME because the girls did fine and slept so much better in their separate cribs. Now DH and I sleep better too because we don't hear every little noise they make while sleeping. We also have a monitor but honestly I can hear them though the wall just fine. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy! -Leighann

 

Ours were in our room for about 6 weeks. Then they moved right in the room next to us. We dont' even need a monitor to hear them.

I would have never used a night nanny. It would have been nice to catch some more hours of sleep, but knowing me, I'd be up anyways worrying!

 

Our twins spent a week in the room with us. They made so many farm animal noises that I couldn't get any sleep. I think it is whatever you prefer. However, I certainly wouldn't have them in the room with you if you're hiring a night nurse. You need to use that person so you can get a good nights sleep. You are so lucky to have a night nurse . . . ENJOY!