sleep together or apart?

Hi, I had been planning on my twins sleeping together the first few months, but I just heard from the nurses at the hospital where I'm delivering that they are no longer allowed to put them together because of the risk of SIDS. So, if they break the habit in the hospital, should I just go ahead and put them separately when we get home?

 

Oh, for crying out loud!!!! The stuff they come up with. RESEARCH please!!??!!!

Let 'em sleep together. It's a bonding experience. The benefits FAR outweigh the risks.

 

QUOTE(mom23cuties @ Apr 15 2007, 12:32 AM) [snapback]220221[/snapback]
Oh, for crying out loud!!!! The stuff they come up with. RESEARCH please!!??!!!

Let 'em sleep together. It's a bonding experience. The benefits FAR outweigh the risks.


I completely agree!! My twins slept in the same crib for 10 months and they are perfectly fine. They also had alot of co-bedding in the NICU as well. Definately let them sleep together!!

 

When I think about it today I'm sort of embarrassed about it but... Gerda and I continued sleeping in the same bed up until the age of 11 :blush: We did have our own rooms (with two bed each LOL) but we preferred being together and my mom figured she'll leave us until we're ready on our own to make the move. We also shared a cot/crib (my mom says mainly because that was the only way she could get us to sleep... she ended up selling the second cot/crib ) Anyway so obviously with us it did not cause any damage. Worst that came out of it was us sharing a room up until we were 11 years old, LOL I'm not a doctor though but I honestly don't think there's any problem with letting them sleep together

 

It depends on the babies, some do good together, some dont. My girls slept ok together for the first month after they were out of the NICU but after that it was not fun, they woke eachother up constantly so I seperated them

 

Mine are still sleeping together at 14 months. I'm separating them in a few weeks when I get my second crib...

 

my guys were in the same crib until about 5 months old and they were moving all over the place...when nathans leg was across bradys neck i decided it was time to seperate them...but their cribs are very close together!

 

We kept our twins together for about six weeks. Once they started waking each other up we knew it was time to separate them.

 

I just did a quick Google search ( lots of time for this now!) and a couple things came up: twins have a higher rate of SIDS due to lower birth weights and prematurity, but there is no higher risk in the first three months due to sleeping together; now another thing I found was that in North Carolina it's against the law for care givers to put kids in the same crib --I don't know about in hospitals. So, sawyerkustomz, I don't know where you are from, but that might have something to do with it at the hospital.

Mine are going in a co-sleeper next to our bed when they come!

HTH

Erica

 

Hmmmm...I've heard there are a lot of benefits to letting them sleep together. For example, they can help regulate each other's breathing which I think would reduce the risk of SIDS. We plan on letting our girls sleep together, but like others have said...it works for some but not for all. If, after a while, they seem to always be waking each other up, then it would make sense to separate them.

 

QUOTE(mom23cuties @ Apr 14 2007, 08:32 PM) [snapback]220221[/snapback]
Oh, for crying out loud!!!! The stuff they come up with. RESEARCH please!!??!!!

Let 'em sleep together. It's a bonding experience. The benefits FAR outweigh the risks.


Medscape has some interesting information about cobedding multiples.....

QUOTE
Co-bedding of multiples, when twins, triplets, or more siblings share a crib, is a common practice in many NICUs. While some have suggested that co-bedding is developmentally beneficial, there are no randomized controlled trials that demonstrate clear benefits or risks of co-bedding. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not specifically address NICU co- bedding of twins or other multiples. However, their general recommendations are clear -- it is not safe for infants to share beds with adults or other children. Unfortunately, co-bedded infants are often placed in side-lying or prone positions, in close proximity to one another. Given the risks of overheating, entanglement with bedclothes or with one another, co-bedding of multiples should be discouraged until proven to be safe. The National Association of Neonatal Nurses Policy Statement on Co-Bedding of Twins or Higher Multiples states that the practice should only take place where clinical evaluation protocols have been established to look at safety and efficacy.


As with just about anything with parenting, postives and negatives have to be weighed and you need to decide what is best for your family. K&K share a crib until 4 months when Kyle got his helmet and I didn't want K getting hurt unintentionally!

 

My 2 slept together for 3 months. I did buy to cots but when they had them in the hospital they had them co-sleeping too. I only seperated them when they started to roll about and disturb each other. x

 

Hiya,
In New Zealand there have been a couple of cases where co-sleeping twins have both died of SIDs. In both cases they seemed to think that overheating was a factor and advised twin Mums in NZ to ensure twins were not overheating when sleeping together (Overheating is believed to increase the probability of SIDs. ) Because they can't regulate their temps and there are two little warm bodies the chance of overheating is slightly higher so you neeed to use less bedding than you would for one baby (according to a programme they did on SIDs here) This may be why the hospital is cautious.
(NZ historically has a very high rate of SIDs per capita so there is a lot of research and info made available to mothers here)
Just my 2 cents worth.
Maryann

 

So much of that research is insane. Lots of ladies on here have thier babies sleeping together. No harm. I have no idea where the SIDS and sleeping together come in(that hospital is the only one I've ever heard of saying it). When they get older and rolling over it could cause issues but small ones..none.

Tried to find article to help but couldn't find any. Found research supporting co-sleeping though. Ask them for the article. Might shed some insite.

 

Our NICU nurse told us that legally that have to discourage co-bedding. We even had to sign an 'education' form that said we had been told this. She said they do it there because the babies are hooked up to monitors and they know right away if there is a problem. I had intended to co-bed but my DH got so freaked out that we have our three in separate cribs. But, I know a couple other triplet moms with babies right around the same age as mine and they are co-bedding.
I say do whatever you feel comfortable with. BTW, I was also told that putting them to bed too warm does increase the chance of SIDS due to overheating. Don't know if that is true or not but I was told that by a couple different sources.

 

Only Garrett went to the NICU, but our nurses told us they would have put them together if Gillian had been there as well. Once we broupght Garrett home, we put them together. They slept much better together. They stayed that way until about 6 months.
You have to decide what works for your household ( and that will probably require trial & error)

 

I had a port-a-crib ready in my room for them to sleep together (No NICU time) and they were not having it. They each slept in their infant carriers for the first two months, pedi said it was fine since it would mimic the womb, and then it was bouncers for about a month until I put them in their own cribs at 3m. It really depends, like ppl said some do and some don't like sleeping together. I would have definately had them sleep together in the beginning if I could have.

 

I plan on having them sleep in the same crib. If it doesn't work out then we will get another crib. I do hear they sleep better since the are used to being on top of one another. I will take the point though of over heating.

Emily slept in her car seat for the first three months. It was a life saver. She looked so uncomfortable, but she slept good. She was collicky, so that helped a lot too. She went to her crib at about 3-4 months.

April

 

We will be putting our kids in the same crib at the beginning.
I really don't lose sleep over SIDS - it is not common and there can be a LOT of reasons for it.
We are going to breastfeed, so that requires checking on the kids a lot more which may calm my fears some. Also, I have a really good relationship with our ped and even he said we are scaring parents unnecessarily about SIDS. For instance, the cases were decreasing even before the "back to sleep" campaign.
Not that SIDS isn't an issue, it is. However, my personal opinion is it is more of an undetected health issue with the baby rather than something the parents did to put the child in danger - we just have to use our "mommy sense".