introducing a lovey

Hi All!

I'm considering introducing a "lovey" to my girls in an attempt to help them sleep better....I just have no idea how to go about doing it!
What did you choose to introduce and how did you go about it?

Also a couple other sleep-related questions:

at what point did you start putting your twins in separate cribs?
mine are 5months and still in one crib, I lay them width-wise, but they seem to be getting too tall...does that mean I have to separate them or is there another way to lay them?

Silly questions from a first-time mom...bear with me!!

Thanks for your help!
Melissa

 

We started rotating stuffed animals in and out of the cribs and each of the girls just picked a favorite.

I started separating mine for nighttime around 4 months old. Mine continued to nap together for a long time. If they are both sleeping then I wouldn't worry about it!

 

Hi,

Mine were separated at 2 months. In my opinion, yours really need to be separated because they need their own space to move and being in one crib does not help.

We introduced loveys just in the crib. I make a "kiss" to their eyes with them and they lay them beside them. They think it's their sleeping buddy.

Good luck!

 

we swaddled ours until 6 months, and they were in the same crib until then. when we quit swaddling and they were free to move around we separated them into their own cribs.

a lovey, I guess I just kept giving them one of those animal head blankies and even though I tried to rotate them... they both seem to have a favorite... just give it a big hug and a kiss and give it to them...

 

I use the animal head blankies too and have just started giving it to them when they are in their swings. My girl loves hers and cuddles up with it and my boy just doesn't seem to want to wrap his arms around anything lol guess he's a real man not needing a lovey and such hahahaha! My 18 mo had a bunny animal head blanket as her lovey and I did the same thing with her. Soon it went with her everywhere still does although it is getting less frequent now that she's getting older, life was not the same without her bunny.

Some advice - buy 2 (or 4 if they are the same) of your intended loveys. We almost lost ours so many times that I went on ebay and paid 5 times what the original cost to get a "backup bunny". Great business venture for someone though LOL!

No advice on the sleeping thing as my twins are still together at only 3 months.

 

We separated our boys at 2 months because they were rolling. We have the head blankies for loveys and my boys love them. We started out by putting the loveys with the boys when they napped, but now they just use them when going to bed. The boys cuddle with them and chew on their heads! :laughing:

 

Ours slept together until 3-4 months of age. Then they got their own cribs but same room.
We used a "swankie blanket, security blanket" as our lovey. We put it to bed with them, naps, and in their infant seats anytime we left the house. My kids are almost 2 and sleep with these things for every nap/nighttime. DD still wants to take hers out with us sometime but I make her leave it at home. She does tote it around the house.

 

I also used the blankie's with a head as their lovey's. I started by accident, we were at the zoo and my dd wouldn't calm down, she was so sleepy. My best friend had her dd's little blankie with us and laid it against my dd's cheek in the stroller, she went right to sleep with it! So we bought a couple for at home and a couple for in the truck. They were around 3-4 months old, we would lay it beside their cheeks in the strollers, or at nap time at home, and they would go right to sleep.

Now at 9.5 months old they have them in the bed but aren't quite as interested with them. They also each have a stuffed puppy in there too. They usually sleep on top of the blankie and puppy!

As for when to separate, that's totally up to you (and them). Mine are 9.5 months and still together in one crib. They move around now so I just kind of lay them in there, they are never in the same spot when I go to check on them. We do plan to separate them soon, once we are finished painting/putting new floor down in their bedroom. Hopefully they will sleep alone, they are so used to each other now I don't know how it's going to go! But they sleep fantastic so I haven't felt a rush to separate them yet.

 

we separated at about 4 months when we moved them out of the pack n play and into their own cribs. they move so much and were so big that they wouldn't fit together. also, my DD loves her 'flat-o-pup' she got that at about 4 months too when they moved into their cribs and she can not go to sleep without it! ugh... we had to get backups!!!! DS can live without his lovey, though lately he has really been chewing on it more and 'loving' on it more than before. both have been sleeping through the night since about 3 1/2 months - we are VERY blessed! so i don't really think it's the lovey... GL

 

We have the animal head loveys as well as little squares that are silky on one side and blanket material on the other. I slept with the lovey the night before I introduced it into the crib to get my scent on it and give them comfort. I actually introduced them a couple nights before we did CIO so that they would have something comforting. I started with just laying it next to them and letting them take the lead. Turns out they like to play or chew on their doggies but when tired use the blankies. DD actually holds it in the crook of her arm and sucks her fingers and DS pulls it over his face and sucks his thumb.

As far as separate cribs, we had planned to wait until about now to separate because we were getting the second crib as a christmas present. We ended up separating them about a month ago because DS started moving so much that he would scoot himself down to the other end and then DD would kick him in the head and he would start crying. He moves all over and usually ends up flipping himself over to his belly at some point overnight!