12 weeks.
12 solid weeks of no sleep for my husband and myself. And it was rough.
We were blessed to start parenthood with a set of boy/girl twins. I’m a twin, so we knew there was a possibility of multiples when we started trying to conceive.
We just didn’t understand what an adventure it would be.
In my mind, I had 8 weeks of maternity leave, so I would have them sleep trained at 8 weeks.
Makes sense and seemed a realistic goal prior to their birth. Maybe if we had been more prepared it would’ve been easier? Although, I’m not convinced (See Preparing for Twins to learn from my mistakes).
My husband had four weeks of paternity leave and when he went back to work after week 4, I know he was skipping out of the house. He needed a break. We both did.
Something had to change.
We received so much advice on how to get them to sleep through the night, but honestly, we learned the most by making our own mistakes.
I am, by no means, an expert on sleep training but my husband and I have learned quite a bit after four babies.
So, there is hope for some shut eye!
This is not a step by step or “how-to” post, nor are these suggestions full proof. These are some simple, yet effective, tips when sleep training your twins.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click on a link and purchase something, I may earn a small commission. Rest assured this is at no additional cost to you. Please see my disclaimer HERE.
Turn off the light
Seems so simple, doesn’t it? But, when you are new parents to premature twins, stress and lack of sleep doesn’t allow for the highest cognitive function.
Those first several weeks of parenthood we always kept a light on. We wanted to visualize our babies, watch them sleep, watch them breathe throughout the night. This mistake hurt us in the long run because we weren’t able to create a sleep-friendly environment.
Very important: turn off the light!
Sound Machine is a must
I CANNOT stress this enough.
It took us months to figure this one out, as well. Sound machines not only decrease disturbance from environmental noise but, after so long, it will train your baby that it is time for nighttime sleep. If you’ve ever taken psychology you have probably heard of Pavlov and his work with dogs. Sounds terrible, I’m not really comparing babies to dogs, but still basically the same concept.
They learn. Sound machine (#ad) equals bedtime.
Invest in Angel Care or Owlet
As a new mother, I would check my babies’ breathing multiple times every night. I couldn’t sleep for fear of what could happen to them in their sleep.
Our oldest son had some health issues early in life due to his prematurity and both of these systems, at one time or another, saved his life. Angel Care (#ad) was the first to pick up our son’s episodes of apnea (lack of breathing) at home. We upgraded to Owlet (#ad) shortly after for both of our twins. It is more expensive but will provide both heart rate and oxygen saturation monitoring, which, as a former ICU nurse, I loved.
You really can’t go wrong with either.
Use a silent alarm
This wasn’t something I was aware of until our FOURTH child! Fitness trackers and smart watches have an option for vibration to awake you, rather than using the typical alarm clock or alarm setting on your smartphone.
Why is this important?
Our babies sleep in our room until they are one year old. Decreasing the number of disturbances throughout the night/morning will obviously improve sleep quality for your little one. My husband wakes up at 4 am for work and, before I discovered this setting, we would dive for our phones to silence the alarm when it would ring out. I use a Fitbit Charge (#ad) and am so thankful for this feature!
Practice safe sleep
As a nurse practitioner I can’t leave this out.
I love co-sleeping with my babies; the cuddles, the hugs, even the occasional kick to the ribs.
But try to wait until they are older.
The safest place for baby to be is in a crib without blankets, bumpers, toys, and bottles. This will help with sleep training, as well. When your baby can sleep in a crib and self soothe, he or she will sleep more deeply for longer periods of time.
I think it is important to mention that by using these suggestions I still can’t guarantee a sleeping baby. I joke that, overall, it is effective but not full-proof. Obviously, each child has their own personality that can determine their sleep habits.
Our twins were sleeping 12 hours+ a night at 12 weeks; our third child by 7 weeks, and our fourth child still wasn’t sleeping through the night, consistently, 8 months out. I don’t know why this last one is defective. Joking, of course! She’s perfect in her own, sweet way.
Enjoy the uniqueness of your child. Enjoy the extra time each night with your baby because this precious time in their life won’t last forever. And, despite the lack of sleep, you’ll want this back.
Hang in there, Mama.