Sleeping arrangements

We're having a bit of problem coming up with solutions to some issues with where our twins sleep.
Until now ours have always slept in separate rooms...due to our choice...not theirs. DS transitioned to
his crib over one month ago (having out grown his bassinet)...but DD is just now outgrowing her bassinet.
Now that they are just shy of 6 months they are moving around a lot. We don't do anymore night time
feedings and we are doing CIO with night wakings. (for the most part). Problem is that we have a 2 bedroom
condo so DH has been sleeping in one room with DS (who sleeps through the night) because he snores
and wakes both myself and DD. Then I sleep in the other with DD. This has worked until now because
now DD wakes several times at night and just moves around and might cry just a minute or so BUT wakes
me up every single time...so, basically I'm not getting much sleep...even less than when I was getting up for
feeding 3 times per night! I know that I need to get the babies out of the room I sleep in or I wont be getting
enough sleep. The problem is that we have tried putting them together in the room (in separate cribs) at nap
time and it is a NIGHTMARE. One wakes early (DS is not a good napper but DD is) and then wakes the other
and they sleep a max of 30 minutes that way. Then add to that, DH snores so loud that I have to wear ear plugs
in order to sleep with him...use to be ok to do that BEFORE babies were born! Now I cant wear them or I wont
hear if one of the babies cries! I'm at a loss. What to do?

I thought maybe we would give the babies a week to get use to sleeping in the same room together (in separate
cribs)...but am afraid no one will sleep then.

Where do yours sleep and how have you handled challenges to sleep arrangements?

 

Our boys are in the same crib in our room. While that has the convenience of allowing them to be together and us not having to run from room to room all night, it does have its problems. They still arent sleeping well yet, and have hit that stage where theyre doing alot of grunting and straining. So we will get one to sleep, turn around and head for the bed and as soon as we sit down ( i kid you not ) the one we just got to sleep starts grunting and startles and wakes his brother. Needless to say at thes point we are spending half the night bent over the crib trying to get one to sleep and at the same time not disturb the other. DH works and has to be up at 6am which means he has to be able to sleep so he can function during the day, which mostly leaves me as the one awake all the time. The past couple of nights they have been particularly fussy and by 4am i cart them off to the livingroom ( i have blankets laid out on the floor for them to lay on during the day ) so he can get some sleep. Its been working in that respect, but now im out of my own bed and not sleeping with my husband, which i hate. Hopefully they will start sleeping better soon.


Kenneth and Ian are 26 days old

 

I havnt had much of a problem. My twins slept in the same pack n play since they were born until 3 months old. Then I started back at work. They slept in the same crib. I wanted them to wake up together so I can get them on the same schedule. Now that they are 5 months old, they have their own crib each in their room. Sometimes they wake each other up but I will just feed them both and they go back to sleep. I suggest you feed them both at the same time so that they are on the same schedule somewhat. I also suggest your husband goes to the doc and gets some suggestions on his snoring if its that big of a problem! Youd be surprised how the babies get used to having each other in the same room. Once they are on the same schedule it wont be that difficult. It may be hard at first since they have been on their own schedule, but they will adjust. Trust a mom of 4 that you would rather do it now, then later!!!

 

Wow! What a predicament! I would give it a week (yes a very tired week) to get them used to sleeping together. I know this would be a pain, but could you let them sleep together at night and separate during naptime? Do you have a pack n play you could set up in your room for naps while the cribs were in the other for nighttime? That might help ease the transition. My boys always did better sleeping at night then naptime. As for your DH, he can sleep on the couch! :lol: Just kidding! I think if you are tired enough, you may just learn to sleep through his snoring!

 

QUOTE(mommymeg @ May 16 2009, 11:54 AM) [snapback]1316179[/snapback]
As for your DH, he can sleep on the couch! :lol: Just kidding! I think if you are tired enough, you may just learn to sleep through his snoring!

:lol:

I have tried and tried to sleep with the snoring. Actually DH has been diagnosed with sleep apnea but refuses to wear the CPAP mask. That issue
in itself irritates me! Funny thing is, I wanted both babies to have their sound machines on for their sleeping (the sound is like rainfall) and I can totally
fall asleep and stay asleep with that on...but DH can't stand the sound machine and insists on turning it off when he is going to bed! But yet he can't understand why I can't just 'put up' with his snoring! It is totally exasperating! I would love to be able to snore as loud as he does just for ONE night so
he could know how horrible it is. That being said, I know I'm a light sleeper, which is why I have a hard time sleeping in the room with the babies...I hear
every move they make.

 

I agree with pp as far as putting them together. Mine shared a bassinet and then a crib until 4 months, because DD started rolling over. They now have their own cribs and share a room. Yes they do wake each other (sometimes), but for the most part they sleep through each other crying or babbling. I agree, give it a week. I actually like them being together because it helps keep them on the same schedule. My DD is a shorter napper than DS, so I usually let him sleep a "little" longer when she gets up. If I really don't want the other one ot get up, as soon as I here one I go in a quickly get them out so the other one can sleep a bit longer.

As for your DH, thats hard. Has he ever been tested for sleep apnea? Maybe he could try those nose bands, or get a white noice machine in your room....... :lol:

 

we're in a two bedroom flat too and we're just transitioning them to their own room now (at 10 weeks). my plan (fingers crossed) is to just make them get used to each other. they've become accustomed to the NYC traffic and sirens and such, so i'm hoping they'll get ignore each other. that said, this week i've been super sensitive to either of them making noise and going in to feed them before they really start crying (i feed on demand over night).

 

OMG what a situation. I have always had my girls in their own room, in their own cribs from day one (well, same crib for the first 4 weeks). I have the issue of them waking eachother too. But you know what, I came to the conclusion early on that it's not my problem. LOL I know that sounds sooo mean, but they take turns doing it to eachother and fair is fair. If one baby wakes up fussing (I let them fuss through it too), the other will often times sleep through it for awhile, unless it really persists. Then she too will wake up fussing (I think out of annoyance lol) and I just leave them both to put themselves back to sleep. It does not happen often, but when it does, this is how it's handled. If your babes would have been used to eachother's noxious noises from day one, then the transistion wouldn't be so bad. However, I encourage you to insist they share the same room and I assure you, they will get over it and teach themselves to work through it. We don't have a six bedroom house, so our kids have to just deal. I put my baby monitor at nighttime and keep it down low. That way I only hear if they are really crying, not just stirring. I also keep white noise on in their room so that cuts down on my hearing every grunt and snore. I will go in to make sure they are alright, and if they are but keep fussing, then I shut the monitor off and let them go back to sleep on their own. Again, this RARELY hhappens anymore, as they are sleep conditioned to sleep through the night. Good luck to you!

 

I would go for it! Put them in the same room and do CIO, since you are doing it anyway. They will get used to each other's cries, and sleep through them. I did CIO with my two in my room at 6 months. We had no choice at the time, we just didn't have any space! Emma woke up the first night when Jake started crying, but never again after that. They still sleep in the same room at almost 3, and when one happens to wake(rarely, and usually because they are sick), the other usually sleeps through.

As for your husband, tell him to wear the darn CPAP :slap: !

 

Ours shared a pack-n-play to begin with, then a crib until 6 months. We transitioned to each having their own crib at 6 months when they started rolling over and had to quit swaddling. Yes, sometimes they woke each other up in the beginning, but truthfully, for ours, if they are tired they will sleep through the screaming! for the most part they don't wake each other up now. If one is fussing I do not try to take the fussy one out of the room when they wake up, but I try to calm them down in the room.

 

Well I don't want to jinx myself but things are going well! I'm amazed! Three nights ago we placed both cribs in one room in a L shape.
DS in one crib, DD in the other crib. Bedtime was the usual 7:30pm. DH and I sleep in our own bed again! :banana: Amazingly I wore
my ear plugs with DH promising he would wake me if either baby cried for longer than 15 minutes or if they screamed unusually. Well I
woke at 6am to DS crying. I was shocked. I asked DH if either baby had woken during the night...DS woke up twice and cried for about
10 minutes. DD didn't cry at all. Seems she likes her new spot with her brother! Next night was even better with DS again waking but
this time only once and cried for 10 minutes or less. Last night was the third night and neither one woke. Slept from 7:30pm until 6am.
I'm still exhausted from the build up of no sleep for 5 months but this is nice! I also love that DH supports me wearing the ear plugs
so that we can sleep together...he'll hear them crying at night and wake me if needed. Which I think is good on many levels!

 

Congrats on getting some sleep!!!! :yahoo: Doesn't it feel amazing?! I tell you, I will never take sleep for granted again.

My guys have always slept either in the same crib or the same room, and most of the time sleep through the rare middle-of-the-night crying.

I'm so glad this is working out for you. Wishing you many sleep-filled nights to come!

 

Thanks Valerie! Kinda makes me feel guilty for not putting them together in the first place! I really think
they like being together. It's so cute...I'm starting to love being their MOM! It is sooo much work but soooooo
rewarding to be watching them grow. It's beautiful.

 

Mine sleep together in the same room, in separate cribs, at night. I started putting them together for nights when they were 3 months old (I had them separate before as DS constantly woke DD). DS is very restless and I often have to go to him in the night. DD has got used to her brother and tends to sleep through his night wakings. During the day, they sleep in different rooms as they have different napping needs. We used to sleep all together in one room and I think we used to interrupt each other´s sleep that way. I can see that my LOs sleep better now they have their own room which I gave them when they were 5 months old. However, I will have to separate them one day as DD is a sleepyhead and DS is too active to sleep!!!

Glad to read you got some sleep!! Yeh!

 

Mine sleep in separate cribs in the same room. They woke eachother at first but now they sleep through it if one wakes up at night. I found that rooming them together made them better sleepers because they had to get used to the noise quickly. (At least that's what worked for our family, yours may be different but it's worth a thought)
At any rate, good luck and I hope you get some quality sleep.

 

:yahoo: Glad to hear things are going well!

 

Well I spoke too soon! :angry: I jinxed myself! DS woke at 2am. We let him CIO for about 20 minutes. He SCREAMED. Then he stopped. 2 minutes later DD started screaming. She screamed for 15 minutes and then I was worried because she doesn't usually scream for long. I thought maybe she had pooped because she will NOT sleep in poop. (DS could care less, DD wants to be changed right away with no delays!) So I went in and picked her up to check her diaper. She immediately stopped crying and then DS started again when he saw me. She smelled so I changed her...though it was only very wet. I figured I had picked her up I better do SOMETHING! After she was changed I put her back in her crib. By this time BOTH were crying, well, I should say, SCREAMING. It was now a little after 3am. DH and I decided to just let them cry. Nothing else we could do. They cried in unison for about another half hour and then fell asleep. It took DH and I another half hour to fall asleep after all of it. So up from 2am to 4am. Not so great. Then they were up for the day at about 5 minutes to 6. Yuck.

Still I want to be firm in my resolve to #1 let them CIO. And #2 have them sleep in the same room but in separate cribs. How do you handle it if your doing CIO and you think one might have a dirty diaper and really need you!? I know the Healthy Sleep Habits book says not to put a limit on crying at night. I find it easier to let them cry at nap time than during the night for some odd reason. I'm trying to remember that crying isn't necessarily a bad thing...I mean when my 7 year old cries because I won't let him have soda I'm not going give in to the crying because I know it's not healthy for him to drink soda...so how is it so different not to give in to the sleep crying?!!?

 

Our girls slept in our room in the same crib until they were 3 months old. My DH could not sleep through their noises though so he slept in their bedroom. At about 3 months, when I was comfortable having them sleeping in a different room than me, we moved their crib to their room. Shortly after that the girls started waking each other up by kicking each other, so we bought a second crib. They now sleep in their own room in different cribs. During nap times during the day though we separate them - we have a packnplay in our room, so one baby is in our room and one in their room (their nap times tend to be very different like your babies).