Sleep and Multiples

Deciding to try to improve your multiple's sleep can be an overwhelming thought for many parents so it may be best if we take it in small steps that will ultimately help to encourage better sleep for everyone.

- Lucy Wolfe

If sleep has been elusive for the first few months, you can attempt to use my sleep shaping guidelines for under 6 months' age range, but if your babies are 6 months plus then you can embark on a sleep improvement exercise using my stay and support approach. I always work on their adjusted age if they were born before 37 weeks and your medical team is also adjusting their age, which may mean you need to wait until 6 months corrected age range before gentle sleep learning is attempted. You will also need your GP to confirm that there are no underlying medical issues that need to be managed first.

DECISION 1:

Where do you want your multiples to sleep by day and by night?

It’s not unusual for families of multiplies to split and to take a child each or keep one child in the family room and move one to the nursery. Or one parent could bed-share with one while the other room shares with another. The different tendencies as you try to survive are plentiful but provided your children are over 6 months corrected, and you plan to improve their sleep, I always try to encourage initial changes that endeavor to future proof your sleep. This means that it is manageable by one parent and not requiring many adults to help put them to bed. If you plan to keep them separate then define their different bedrooms but also pick one bedroom where we will consistently do the bedtime routine.

Think carefully about the long term ramifications of separate rooms especially if only one parent or caregiver will be about by day for naps. I try to avoid a staggered bed and nap time as one child may become overtired and so I do like that bed and nap times are done at the same time.