Twin Sleeping Arrangements and SIDS

I apologize if this has been asked a million times, but I am currently 30 weeks pregnant with B/G twins and am wondering about sleeping arrangements after my twins are born. We have two cribs, but almost all of the twin moms I know put their twins in the same crib for at least some period of time after birth.

My question for you twin mommies is, have you been enouraged not to do this (or TO do this) because of the risk of SIDS? I know the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend babies co-sleeping with siblings to prevent SIDS, although I don't believe they address twins in particular. I am guessing the worry is rebreathing/overheating. On the other hand, I've also read that co-sleeping twins REDUCES the SIDS risk, supposedly because having another person in the crib prevents the baby from falling into too deep a sleep and helps them "remember" to breathe. The information is all over the map, and I can't seem to find any consensus on what's safest.

So, I'm interested to hear: (1) whether you plan to sleep your twins together or separately (and if together, for how long); (2) whether you have been encouraged to go with one arrangement over the other to reduce the risk of SIDS; and (3) whether the twins will sleep in a crib/bassinet your room or in their own room (or co-sleep with you).

Thanks ladies. I'm just so confused and want to do the right thing!

(I am also posting this in the Twins - First year forum...)

 

I am curious about this too and cant wait to see what other people have to say. I also have two cribs but think it would be cute to see them sleeping together at the beginning. But I worry if they get too used to sleeping together how hard it would be to separate them later?

 

I am curious about the this issue as well. I have sent an e-mail to Sids Canada to see what their opinion is. I have always worried alot about sids, but also always believed in family beds as I slept with both my children for the first year. I had planned to let the twins sleep together but am now concerned about the sids factor so waiting to hear the answers.

 

My twins will be sharing a crib, but sleeping in our room. They will sleep this way until its no longer productive for them too (ie: waking each other up, using one and other to get out of the crib). To touch on the SIDS issue, we may use a crib seperator or wedges, but Im not 100% on either of those yet.

 

you know this has been on my mind too. my ob (whom i think is a great doc) has twins. he actually had them in the same bassinet for the first 2 or 3 months. I think ill do the same and then leave them in the same crib untill they start moving around. i would be worried about one rolling onto the other or someone getting hurt.

 

QUOTE(hardinfamtwins @ Sep 29 2008, 08:46 PM) [snapback]1003915[/snapback]
My twins will be sharing a crib, but sleeping in our room. They will sleep this way until its no longer productive for them too (ie: waking each other up, using one and other to get out of the crib). To touch on the SIDS issue, we may use a crib seperator or wedges, but Im not 100% on either of those yet.

I plan on doing the exact same thing.

 

I have almost 2 year old twins and they did share a bed till they were about 4 months as for one was kicking the other and keeping them both awakw at night so we put them in there own beds but they started climbing in to each others beds when they could to sleep and now they sleep togeather in there day beds.......{Not we had nother baby in Feb and once in a while we catch all 3 in the babys crib sound to sleep togeather they love there baby sister.....

 

We planned on cobedding the boys and during our NICU stay the Neonatology team told us that the recommendations from the American Academy of Peds had just changed within the past few months to suggest that there is a high correlation of cobedding and SIDS. The boys were unable to sleep together in the NICU and they did ok so we just have them sleep in 2 separate pack n plays in our room at night and we have them share one out in the living room (but keep them separated with the boppy sleep positioners)during the day. Since the boys both had an apneic spell during their NICU stay I was a bit nervous and thought I better follow the NICU's recommendations. However the developmental specialist who was also our RN in the NICU said that she would like to see the studies that have proved that cobedding was not beneficial and increased the incidence of SIDS. It sounded like she wasn't buying the new guidelines. She looked up the research and told me that the AAP says that they cannot recommend cobedding, but they do not say that they don't recommend it either (hope that makes sense). I would talk to your pediatrician because it seems that a lot of moms on this site have coslept their babies with no problems. gather info and decide what is right for you. Personally my little guys wake each other up when they are together and they don't really snuggle up the way I thought they would.

 

I wrote to Sids canada and asked their official view explaining both presented views. This was their response.

"Your right, the information is all over the map! Twins and co-sleeping has not been greatly studied. Very little data is available, CFSID suggested babies should sleep in seperate cribs but recognizes that many Mom's will choose to co-sleep the babies especially when they are very young. If this is your choice, place one baby at the head of the crib and one at the foot. This will help keep the babies seperate and reduce the risk of overheating or re-breathing.
Mary MacCormick
Executive DirectorCFSID"

 

As long as the babies aren't right next to each other, SIDS shouldn't be increased by cosleeping. The risk with sleeping with a sibling is that the baby will roll towards the other child or that the child will roll on the baby.

We had the girls in the same PnP bassinet for a month and then moved them to separate bassinets. They were in our room until 10 months old because that was easier for me. We were never given any advice about putting the twins together versus not putting them together and it's relationship to SIDS.

 

My girls have always slept together - they sleep better that way. Now since dh is always out of town and I breastfeed, they just sleep with me. Some nights, I wake up and Ava will have reached over and be holding Addison's hand. SIDS has always scared me so bad but I figured if they were together - maybe the movements of the other would keep them from going into such a deep sleep?

 

My girls slept in the bassinet part of a Pack n Play for the first 3 months, when they were not sleeping in their car seats due to severe reflux or in a swing or on someone's chest . They were always swaddled and on either side. They never got close enough to endanger the other in any way. At 3 months we put them each in their own crib because they were getting too big for the bassinet and were starting to move more and break out of the swaddle. They've been happily sleeping in their own space for 2.5 years. I think they love the other being in the room but would not sleep comfortably with each other. We'll se what happens when they have beds.

 

QUOTE(Lawyerlady @ Sep 29 2008, 04:48 PM) [snapback]1003579[/snapback]
I apologize if this has been asked a million times, but I am currently 30 weeks pregnant with B/G twins and am wondering about sleeping arrangements after my twins are born. We have two cribs, but almost all of the twin moms I know put their twins in the same crib for at least some period of time after birth.

My question for you twin mommies is, have you been enouraged not to do this (or TO do this) because of the risk of SIDS? I know the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend babies co-sleeping with siblings to prevent SIDS, although I don't believe they address twins in particular. I am guessing the worry is rebreathing/overheating. On the other hand, I've also read that co-sleeping twins REDUCES the SIDS risk, supposedly because having another person in the crib prevents the baby from falling into too deep a sleep and helps them "remember" to breathe. The information is all over the map, and I can't seem to find any consensus on what's safest.

So, I'm interested to hear: (1) whether you plan to sleep your twins together or separately (and if together, for how long); (2) whether you have been encouraged to go with one arrangement over the other to reduce the risk of SIDS; and (3) whether the twins will sleep in a crib/bassinet your room or in their own room (or co-sleep with you).

Thanks ladies. I'm just so confused and want to do the right thing!

(I am also posting this in the Twins - First year forum...)


When my twins were first born, my pedi told me to put them in the same crib. They can't move or anything, so I really don't think it is a big deal.

When they started rolling and kicking around too much, I had to separate them because they kept waking each other up.

 

The ped at the hospital told us not to worry about it, that there wasn't conclusive evidence on the matter. All he said was just to make sure that there was no clutter in the crib - just the babies and that's it. Right now they don't sleep foot-to-foot; they're positioned the other way, with plenty of room between the two, and since they're only a month old, they're not rolling around and getting into each other's faces.

 

It is safe for your twins to co-sleep because they aren't gonna roll over on each other and suffocate each other that way. Older siblings may. My b/g twins shared a crib until they were 2 months old, then they wanted to be separate. They would fuss and cry until I separated them. But they were always swadled tight and couldn really touch each other but would stare at each other until they fell asleep.

My ped told me that twins are less likely to have SIDS just because they co-sleep most the time. Other things that reduce SIDS are breastfeeding, keeping babies in room with parents, not being around smoke.

 

Thanks for posting this. It got me thinking... and I asked my new pedi about it. He said until he finds any conclusive proof that its really a SIDS risk, he considers it an "ask your Granny" question.

I think we're going to try it at first because I remember when DD was swaddled in the beginning there was so much room in her pack n play and she wasn't going anywhere! I just can't imagine them bothering each other.. unless of course one is a good sleeper and the other isn't.... which based on their activity at night, could totally be possible! Oy!

 

the nurses at the NICU also told me not to cosleep my premies.

I cosleep them during the day during naps and stuff when i am awake and can keep an eye on them. At night they share a crib even though i have two, and i use a divider this one actully http://www.amazon.com/Leachco-Crib-Spacer-...7916&sr=1-1

I also pulled off all of my crib bumpers even though they are so cute i have had nurses and drs both say they are a bad idea.

 

We've gotten 2 cribs for our b/g twins because my friend who has a pair of twin girls didn't do well co-bedding after 3 months when they started to move around more, and one will wake the other up for no reason and wail (and as if they don't wail enough?). She strictly told me,'GET TWO CRIBS'. Hahaha...we'll see how that works out to be!!

 

I work in a nursery. We used to co bed twins but do not anymore because of the risk of SIDS. Our NICU still does but those babies are all on monitors. When I had my twins 6 years ago we cobed them for 8 months.

 

ours slept with us in bed for a few weeks and then off to the swings.. they slept together in a crib for about a month from 5-6 months. We tried the crib thing and it sorta worked but swing sleeping worked best for us.
I think you will figure it out when th ebabies are born. Its hard to plan ahead. It never really goes how its planned anyhow.

Also, newborns are no small that they will not even touch in the crib.. until they are 3 months or so.

Good Luck!

 

The recommendations for SIDS keep changing. When I studied we were told babies were ONLY to sleep on their sides so they could not inhale vomit. When I had my babies suddenly it was totally forbidden to put them on their sides, because of rebreathing.
My best friend lost a brother to SIDS and I was right there when it all happened, so I was very aware and afraid of it, so much so that I kept my 31 weekers on monitors for the first 6 months of their lives. It was a pain and we got constant false alarms, but I could not sleep otherwise. In out NICU they co-slept once they were in regular warming isolettes (and not incubators anymore). At home it was too difficult to have both babies and all cables and everything in one cot, so we had 2 from the beginning.

With my daughter I was/am much more relaxed. This time around I was told that dummies (pacifiers) could decrease the risk of SIDS because the baby doesn't fall into that very deep sleep due to the sucking and will startle when it does because it loses the dummy, waking then up. So Ella has a dummy to sleep, which the boys didn't (because 5 years ago it was sacrilegious to give babies dummies !).
Research keeps advancing and changing things, but my mom still swears that sleeping on the tummy, under a blanket, in a room full of smoke will be just fine... (JK, kind of)
Millie

 

If you're worried about co-sleeping, there's an option that will at least get you started. It's a Pack 'n' Play that contains two bassinets. This solution won't last forever, but it seems like a good place to start.

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Portable-Playa...d=2D54RRXOWWM1H