Co-sleeping with twins
I’m not sure if I should actually use the word co-sleeping in this post as ‘technically’ it’s not me doing the co-sleeping, but even so it’s the word I’ll use!
I write a lot about the sleeping habits of my children mainly because I want other parents to know that they’re not alone, but also so that my children can read back on this one day and learn all about their younger selves!
Our twins are three years old. Before they were born my husband and I hadn’t discussed co-sleeping. It didn’t enter our minds that it would be something that we’d do.
We had their nursery all ready for them. Two cot beds complete with cute, pink bedding and a butterfly border on the wall.
They slept in their cots so well for the first six months! In fact they sleep so well all the time! They were a dream!
When they started to get their first tooth through at around seven months old that’s when the good sleeping habits went out of the window!
I love my sleep – my husband can vouch for that! You’ll quite often find me saying to my husband that it’s a scientifically proven fact that women need more sleep than men!
All joking aside though, I have to admit that my husband is brilliant when it comes to the girls sleeping.
I look back to when the twins were babies and he’d quite often sleep on the sofa with one or both of the girls. Or he’d have one on the sofa and I’d have one in the bed. The joys!
Just when we’d managed to get into a fairly good sleep routine with the twins we decided to move house and it felt like starting all over again!
I remember sitting in an armchair in the nursery with M fast asleep in my arms. I’d be too scared to move in case she woke up! Every time I’d go to put her down in her cot she’d wake and I’d have to start all over again! I certainly don’t miss those days!
The sleep deprived, walking around in a daze days!
Thankfully both girls are now really good sleepers. Our bedtime routine consists of going up to the girls room, putting their pyjamas on them and then I’ll sit in bed with R and M will sit in her bed with daddy whilst we watch ‘In the Night Garden’.
I say whilst we watch In the Night Garden, but in truth they never get to the end of it! They usually ask to go to sleep before it finishes meaning that both girls are usually asleep by 6.45pm. 7pm at the latest.
Some people say that’s really early for them to go to sleep and that they wish their children would go to bed that early, but going to bed early often means waking up early too! You can’t have it both ways!
Anyway we’ll talk about the time they walk up in the mornings in a moment!
For now when the girls are peacefully asleep in their beds upstairs, my husband and I will be sat downstairs usually watching TV.
It’s inevitable that at some point during the evening, M will wake up. This can be anything from 8pm onward, but is almost always before 10pm!
When she wakes my husband will go up and bring M downstairs where she’ll stay asleep on the sofa until we go to bed. M will stay in our bed all night cuddling up to daddy.
Great for me, you may think as it means I get the other half of our super king sized bed all to myself. Maybe so, but it would be nice to be wanted at night time!
R will wake around 5am and come into bed with us too. She always climbs in daddies side. I assume because he’s closest to the door so R has just got used to being in bed with daddy. So much so that she won’t come near me in bed.
She actually woke in the middle of the night not long ago and I got up and brought her into bed with us. I was amazed that she let me get her and she actually stayed cuddling me for a good few hours, but when she woke up and saw she was next to me, she soon crawled over to her daddy!
It’s great that they love their daddy so much, but I’d like night time cuddles too!
When it comes to waking up the girls usually stir around 6/6.30am. I’m lucky that most mornings my husband will leave me in bed to get an extra hours sleep! He is a good husband!
Do you co-sleep? How and when did you break the habit?
6 Comments
Hannah
July 7, 2015 at 8:02 pm
I co-slept with the girls when they were tiny up to about six months – one either side of me, both in Sleepyheads so they couldn't roll out. It worked a treat – I barely had to wake up to settle them, so much so that when they went into their own room it was a shock that they weren't sleeping through! Now, at nearly two, and us both working full time there's a lot of co-sleeping. We invested in a super king bed, and we have a king size mattress in the spare room too so if they're both up we take one each. Normally it's just one though, thank goodness!
Emily
July 7, 2015 at 8:06 pm
Hi Hannah, thanks for your comment! We have a super kind bed too! I couldn't imagine having a smaller bed now! Co-sleeping is great isn't it! x
Gemma
July 10, 2015 at 2:53 pm
Wow this gives me hope of some sleep eventually my girls are 8 months
Emily
July 11, 2015 at 7:38 pm
Ha ha, aw is it that bad? I hope things get better soon for you Gemma. It really does get better the older they get. Thanks for your comment 🙂
Michelle Murray
July 15, 2015 at 4:55 pm
great post Emily. We never co-sleeped with big J even though he never slept he never ever wanted to come in our bed. With little J he slept through from 4 months so we have been lucky that he loves his bed. My friend little girl co sleeps and they are now looking for tips on how to stop. #toddlersAndTeens
Emily
July 18, 2015 at 9:20 pm
Hi Michelle. Co-sleeping has actually grown on me a bit more since I wrote this post! Last night R came into bed with me and it was lovely cuddling her bed, but even nicer to wake up to them in the morning cuddling us both! x