Sleep and multiple babies

Becoming a new parent is challenging for most people, becoming a new parent of more than one baby at the same time is even more challenging. When looking at trying to establish a sleep routine for multiples the most important thing to begin with is looking at their corrected age and not their birth age. Many multiple births occur preterm, the babies are generally born smaller and they are not as strong as a full term baby. Developmentally they are not at the same stages or phases as a baby born full term. Also, it is important to understand that your babies may have differing sleep needs to each other. Below we’ve put some tips on managing the day-to-day schedules of multiples.

SLEEP ENVIRONMENT

Often parents like to have multiples sleeping as close to each other as possible, sometimes in the same cot as each other. If you are co-bedding your twins in the same cot it’s important to make sure you are doing this safely and Red Nose have a great article covering this https://rednose.org.au/article/sleeping-twins-in-the-same-safe-cot. As soon as babies become more active and begin to roll, for safety reasons, you would need to have your bubs sleeping in separate cots. Sometimes it is easier to do this sooner rather than later. Our recommendation is to have their cots as close to each other as you can, even if this means that the cots are touching each other, this way your babies are still close together and can see each other. 

NOISE DISTURBANCE

Many parents worry that one baby will wake up the other baby. In most cases multiples sleep well in the same room and they learn to sleep through the noise of each other, they adapt to this environment. White noise is also a great option to fade out any noise disturbances. 

ROUTINE

Establishing a routine is important for all children. For parents with multiples having a routine established early on makes it easier for the parents to juggle the day-to-day needs of their babies. A feed, play and sleep routine works well with multiples. To make it easier for you to manage your day with your babies a staggered wake, feed and sleep routine can make it easier for you (see sample table below). It is important to keep your babies awake times in line with their age appropriate wake lengths and individual needs. If you are unsure about your baby’s sleep needs or awake windows we have the perfect daily guide ready for you. Avoid trying to keep one baby up longer than they can manage to keep in line with the other baby, this will make it more difficult for your babies to sleep well.

SAMPLE 

SETTLING TECHNIQUES

By nature of having multiples and only having so many hands and arms it can be easier to support babies to learn how to self soothe and sleep more independently from a younger age. This is a personal decision for parents but for many parents, especially if one is at work, it is impossible to offer fully assisted naps and aid both babies to sleep for all sleeps. By learning to self settle babies are able to fall asleep and return to sleep between sleep cycles, this is so positive for your baby and will also allow you to get the rest you really do need. We have the perfect newborn program teaching you how to establish healthy sleep habits from the beginning and how to pave the way to a great sleeper.

FEEDING AT NIGHT

Although it can be more tiring for parents to feed their babies at different times in the night we recommend basing feeds on your baby’s own unique hunger cues. Treat your babies as having individual needs overnight. By feeding your baby in line with their own feed needs and hunger you will find they will learn to sleep for longer stretches at night. It’s hard initially but it really does pay off.

SELF CARE

When your babies are having a nap during the day make sure you get some rest for yourself. Take any help offered from family and friends and have some personal time. Even if you only set aside 30 minutes a week to have some time out, it is important to do it. YOU matter too Mama. 

Hayley & Katie x x