If you cobedded your twins. . .

[ThankfulMama]

how long did they stay in same bed?  Mine are 3.5mo corrected and are still in the arms reach cosleeper together-- they are getting too long (i lay them crosswise) but I dont want to separate them--I love to see them hold hands at night.  They are kicking around a lot and waking each other at times.  I just don't know.  Separating them doesn't seem right--they wait for each other to "get into bed" before they fall asleep.

Advice? BTDT stories?

[mamalovex3]

I guess sleeping together in a crib would still be too crowded?  What about sharing a mattress on the floor?
 

[sekenamoon]

A crib is a decent size bigger than the co-sleeper.  I think that could work!  I'm only buying one crib for now. i'm interested in hearing what others have been doing.

[~Adorkable~]

mine slept diagonally on a cosleeper till 6-7 months and yeah it got crowded big time, i finally moved one the cribs in and sidecarred it and wow, all the difference in the world, they loved it, i loved it and i felt silly for not doing it earlier.  i got a firm foam block that crammed in and filled the space between their mattress and mine and it was against the wall and our king bed was tight against it so thing felt super secure.  some foam block (was actually from 2 reading wedges and the center from my nursing pillow, had i dont this set up earlier i would have bought a single smooth firmer piece that fit perfectly) fit tight and stuck up about 6-8 inches above their level 4-6 inches above my bed which was 2 inches higher.  it worked great as a barrier and in the mornings after they work later on they would sit and play in their crib right next to me while i rested and kept an eye on them, we kept this set up till they could crawl over the barrier at about 10m when we put the side back on, but kept it next to me.

the greatest thing about the crib sidecarred with the foam was that i could actually lay the top half of my body in the crib and nurse someone in place if i wanted to. i didn't do it a lot, but when some teethe came in and one wanted to nurse a lot and the other would only wake if i took one out of the crib, this allowed me to leave them in the crib together and sooth them back to bed. it actually was pretty slick.

hee they are at 10.5 months right before we put the side back on, and yeah that is my girl giving her little brother a back rub.

[rinap]

Ours shared a sidecarred crib until 8 months, at which point they got a bit big for it and we moved them to a queen sized futon on the floor in their room (still together). We block rolling with pillows. I wind up sleeping there most nights.

[QMtwins]

Ours shared our bed/cosleeper and then a crib until they were about 6 months old.  Then, M began moving a lot and ended up on top of Q and woke her too many nights.  After that, we had them in seperate cribs, pushed together and parallel, so they could always see each other, etc.  They stayed like that until we took the side off when they were 20 months.  At 22 months, they began to leave their cribs and push them around the room to climb onto other furniture.  Now, they sleep on their crib mattresses on the floor pushed next to each other. 

They don't cuddle or anything, and they certainly claim one bed as their own...there's no swapping back and forth, but they do get upset if the other isn't right there.  We've also woken in the middle of the night to Q yelling at M to get back in her own bed!  M was sound asleep in Q's bed and Q was not happy about it!

I am a twin and at 18 months would climb into my sister's crib every night.  So, I never wanted ours girls separate.  But, just as my sister and I are different people, so are my girls.  They are such different sleepers.    

We're expecting another set and I will start them off together and we'll go from there.  Who knows!

[ThankfulMama]

Thanks.  I guess I need to just sidecar the crib.  I'm just worried that I don't know what to fill any gaps with (or where to get it).  

[mylilmonkeys]

Ours shared a crib-sized cosleeper until right around a year.  I put them down short ways, so they had lots of side to side room, and as they grew their feet stretched into our bed.  Daddy built the co-sleeper, so there was no gap to worry about. 

[Shuli]

My boys slept together until they were about 10 months old. They started off in a basinet because we lived in a very small apartment and had no room for a crib. We moved when the boys were about 5 months old and they were moved to a crib. At about 10 months old I tried to put them down for a nap (they slept feet to head) and I heard giggling. I went to investigate and saw them both on their knees facing each other bumping heads! Too bad I didn't grab the camera on the way up the stairs. Anyway, we borrowed another crib from a neighbour and put them side by side. One night when I went into their room to check on them, they were holding hands. It was so cute. Now they sleep in their own beds (they're five) and they are protective of their space, but they won't go to sleep unless the other one is there. They have been like that their whole lives. But it stands to reason, they were womb mates after all .....

[Emaya]

Adorkable, that is the most adorable photo ever :) Thank you for sharing!

[4Marmalade]

My two turned 4 in June and they still sleep together .  They slept in our king size bed with us for the first 2.5 years and then we slowly them to sleeping on the double size bed in their room.   

[ThankfulMama]

OK, so I went ahead and sidecarred our crib and they have so much more room.  I stuffed quilts on the far side and pushed the mattress up to our bed.  It is still about 4 inches lower than our bed.  I'm worried that the end of the crib that is midway down our bed could be unsafe--am I just overly cautious?  could it be a strangulation hazard (a curious head getting stuck)? Our crib is a convertible so i put the mattress in high position and left the front panel off.

[julyaugust]

Our girls are in a king bed with us, with a crib sidecarred to the side, but no one's actually sleeping in the crib yet! We put the crib there because that's how we slept with DS (now 3). Now with the twins, we've pushed the bed againt the wall and actually have the girls on that side next to the wall, vs being in the crib. They sleep next to each other, perpendicular to the wall and to me. So their heads are by the wall, and their feet are at my side. Then when they stir, I just move to nurse whoever stirs, and either go back to my original spot, or fall asleep with one nursing. I basically just shuffle to whoever needs to nurse. Sounds a bit crazy, I know, but it works for us! I find that if I sleep with a babe on either side of me, they always skootch closer and closer to me in the night, so I end up squished in between them and then can't roll over to nurse the other one! Then I can't get back to sleep cause I'm too aware of which girl is potentially going to get squashed when I roll over to feed her! I'm not sure how long our current configuration will work, not sure if eventually one or both will end up in the crib. We'll see!!

Oh, and when DS was in the crib, I was also worried about the part of the bed that was open (without the crib there) and ended up piling a whole bunch of pillows on the floor there. Sure enough, DS crawled his way out after a nap once, tumbled off the bed, and was saved when he landed on the pillow mound!

ETA: I think one of the reasons our configuration works, is because I'm really short, so I don't take up the whole bed when I lie the other way!!

[Xerxella]

Any preemie ideas? I like the idea of me in a big bed and then rolling back and forth for whoever needs me. But, when they're still so little this scares me and I'm just not sure what we'll do. (My dd was 9lbs 9 oz. I can't imagine a baby half her size!) What did anyone else do in the tiny baby phase?

[ThankfulMama]

Mine were preemies--by the time they came home they were still between 4-5lbs.  I started with them perpendicular to our bed in an arms reach full size cosleeper and it was perfect until now--they are now 12 &14 lbs.  I recommend it.  I just changed to sidecarring our crib and that seems to be working.

[rinap]

Ours were born at 6 pounds, but we did perpendicular to the bed in a sidecarred crib (like the arm's reach setup, but lasts a bit longer). But I loved the way it kept them very close, yet let me sleep a little more deeply.

[Xerxella]

So, when each cried or woke in the middle of the night, you'd just move them into bed and then nurse? And, then put them back when they were done? I'm just trying to picture it.

With my other 2 we had a co-sleeper and I'd roll over nurse them in the co-sleeper and not move them. With 2 it seems there'd be more shuffling. I never had much luck moving a baby after they were already asleep after nursing. (Hence my previous plan.)

[rinap]

There was a lot of shuffling, and they put up with it up to about six months. Now they're very hard to move while asleep.

[julyaugust]

Mine were preemies too, and also between 4-5 lbs when they came home. I had/have them perpendicular to me in the bed and it works well for us. I shuffle to whoever wakes because mine are not easily transfered once they're asleep. They were more easily transfered for the first 4 months, which actually coincided with the time when they'd wake at the same time and I could nurse them simultaneously on the nursing pillow. At around 4 months they started waking at different times, which allowed me to start nursing them while side-lying. Now, every once in a while, they'll wake at the same time and I'll either nurse them simultaneously (in any number of crazy ways/positions including sort of hovering over them to keep them lying down/in the position where they can stay asleep!) or I can nurse one and offer the other my finger or knuckle to suck on while she waits (they spit out pacifiers but not my finger!).