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Getting All Four Eyes to Sleep

Tips to Help Babies and Parents of Multiples Get a Good Night's Sleep

By Shannon McKelden

Jill Spivack and Jennifer Waldburger, co-founders of Sleepy Planet in Los Angeles, agree. "Keeping both children's schedules in sync plays an important role in keeping life manageable and allows parents to have some predictability in their day," say the co-authors of The Sleepeasy Solution: The Exhausted Parent's Guide to Getting Your Child to Sleep – from Birth to Age 5 (HCI, 2007).

It's possible to follow this advice while also taking into consideration your babies' individual sleep personalities.

"When one [daughter] woke, the other one had to wake up, be it from her crying sister or me," says Shannon Rosenberg of Wesley Hills, N.Y., who discovered her second-born twin slept through the night quickly, while the firstborn twin was more restless and fussy, waking twice every night. A nighttime routine not only helped get the babies on a regular sleep schedule, but provided a little quality one-on-one time with each child.

"Starting around 10 p.m., I would wake Natasha first, since she was the [better] sleeper, give her a bath and a bottle of formula," Rosenberg says. "After laying her down for the night, I'd wake up Brittany and repeat the routine. Within about a week of starting this Brittany woke just once during the night."

Another thing parents of multiples suggest is distinguishing between napping and nighttime sleep. Not only does this give the babies strong cues for what's expected of them at sleep time, but it makes things easier on the parents, too.

From day one, Layton's girls were put on a schedule recommended by a pediatrician friend. "At [about 7 p.m.] we give them a tub, get them in their pjs and then sit with them in their darkened room and give them their last bottle," she says.

Want to see more?

• In Search of Slumber: Sleep Solutions for Moms-to-be
  of Multiples
• Rock-A-Bye Babies: Getting Your Multiples to Sleep
• Co-sleeping Considerations: Does Sharing a Bed with Baby Increase the Risk of SIDS?
• Check out our Article Library.
• Talk about it!

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