When we found out we were having twins and started preparing for their arrival, we began to set up the nursery.  Having heard all the “sweet” stories of how twins had shared the same room and slept better and woke up talking and playing together, we just automatically assumed this would be our case and we prepared one nursery for them both.

When they first came home, they slept side by side in our room.  This worked for a while, but if one woke up first, the other one would automatically wake up even though they were still sleepy.  As we transitioned them to the nursery, we discovered the same thing was happening, even though they had separate beds on opposite sides of the room.

They also have different sleeping habits and needs.  My daughter likes to be snuggled when she is tired and to fall asleep either in your arms or in the crib if there is background noise such as a TV or the radio.  I think if she hears voices she feels like she is still part of the crowd and will not miss out on anything.  She also requires an additional 1-1 ½ hours of play at night.  My son, on the other hand, wants you to give him his snuggly and pacifier, close the door and get out!  He likes to fall asleep on his own, with a sound machine on in the background and nothing else and when he is ready for bed, he is READY for bed.

What is the result of these sleeping differences?  We currently have one crib shoved into our bedroom for my daughter, my son has his very own room and we have plans to add onto our house this summer.  We thought the addition would wait until they were four or five years old.

Of course, this is just our experience and everyone has their own multiples sleeping/nursery stories.  I have a good friend whose twins wake up in the morning and play, passing objects between cribs and holding hands for about 45 minutes before they want out of the crib.  I also have a friend with quads that still share a bedroom five years later because they can’t stand to sleep apart.

My biggest suggestion regarding sharing nurseries is that it is ok to try sharing one, but be prepared to be open and flexible if it doesn’t work.  My twins are happier to see each other than anyone else when they wake up, they just don’t want to share in the joys of slumber together.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 6th, 2006 at 1:51 am and is filed under Multiples. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.