Pin

Share

Email

1.0K Shares

Having a good and strict sleeping schedule can be tricky and sometimes stressful. Specially if you have kids close in age who still take naps. Speaking of children close in age, having twins sleep at the same time can also be challenging. I have 3 year old twins, boy and girl who I am proud to say have the same sleeping schedule. They literally sleep at the same time, every single day and through hard work, commitment and consistency you can also have your kids sleeping at the same time  too!

When I found out that I was having twins I was shocked and extremely happy! I never thought I was going to have twins and it never ever crossed my mind, I just wanted my oldest daughter to have a sibling to play with. After the excitement of founding out, I then started to panic a little bit because I didn’t know how I was going to feed two babies at the same time, how I was going to manage to sleep them at the same time and even potty train them! I had a lot of help with my twins, thanks to my wonderful family and friends who helped me everyday and still do. I developed a great plan and system to having my twins sleep at the same time, for their naps and for their bedtime. It has worked for me and I hope it does for you too.

I will say that my family and friends are always asking me how in the world my twins are still taking naps and how I manage to get them to sleep at the same time. They praise me for it and I of course feel  like a boss! When it comes to my twins bedtime and nap time, I don’t play games honey. When I visit my parents, they still nap at the same time, when family visit, they still nap. It’s a must to create consistency and for the twins to know that everyday at a certain time, they have to go to sleep. I am lenient from time to time but 95% of the time, I follow through with their nap time schedule. Since it’s summer vacation, my kid’s sleep time on the other hand varies a little bit, but once school starts it gets back on track!

I hope you enjoy reading these helpful tips to getting your twins to sleep at the same time and remember these tips works for me and every child is different! Also, these tips are not limited to twins only, anyone can benefit from it. Whether you have twins or not 🙂

5 tips to help you have your twins on the same sleeping schedule

Pick a time and stick to it

It’s always best to decide on a nap time and a sleep time for your twins and then sticking to it. Always, be consistent and I will dare to say that consistency is the most important key to having a successful sleeping schedule for your twins. Knowing the time for nap time will help you get other things done around the house that needs to be done before you sleep your kids. Pick a time that you know you will be dedicated to 100% because it takes time, patience and commitment from you to ensure effectiveness and a successful sleeping routine. My twins have the same sleeping and nap time schedule since they were new born and they are 3 years old now. It works and I couldn’t be happier. Sometimes the time may change by an hour or so.

Benefits of picking a time and being consistent

• Your twins will get used to their sleeping schedule
• You will have a smoother sleeping routine
• Your twins will start getting tired around the same time that they have to take their naps or sleep at night
• You will see positive results
• You don’t have to be guessing if your twins are tired or not because you will know the time that they need to sleep or nap.
• You will not loose your sanity

Sleep them at the same time

I can’t stress this enough, please find a way to sleep your twins around the same time. This may be a little hard when they are newborns because they need to be held in order to fall asleep. Even though you can certainly have them soothe themselves to sleep, but I never mastered that. So instead, I always slept them right after the other. If I had visitors helping me, I would nicely inform them that it’s the twins nap time and if they can help me sleep them. And of course, they did! When it was time for them to sleep at night, I used the same approach in sleeping them together at the same time.

Newborn and toddler, things I did that worked for me!

• When they were newborns, I would first sleep the twin that I knew didn’t put up a fight to go to sleep. That my friends was and still is my baby boy. That boy loves to sleep!
• Once the first twin fell asleep, I immediately grabbed my other twin (baby girl) and would feed her and rock her to sleep. She put up a fight, but I fought harder! It’s all about consistency.
• If you have family or friends over, let them help you and try feeding and sleeping your twins at the same time!
• Once, the twins learned to grab their bottles and feed themselves, I would place one of my twins in my bed and I would rock the other to sleep. The bed movement (from me rocking one of the twins) would make the other twin fall asleep as well. They would almost always fall asleep together!
• Know which of your twins has the hardest time falling asleep and hold and rock that twin first!
• Lastly, even if you see that one of your twins is not falling asleep, is crying or just plain being cranky, Still follow through with these steps. I did and my baby girl would eventually fall asleep. Of course, make sure your baby or toddler is not crying for something else other than not wanting to sleep.

Quiet and dark room

To ensure a smooth and more effective sleeping schedule, I always recommend to sleep your twins in a quiet and dark room. No television or radio noise on, all the curtains closed and this will help your twins fall asleep smoother. I have an older daughter who was a toddler when my twins were born, I would have her lay down next to one of the twins very quietly. She would not make any noise because she understood the importance of her baby brother and sister going to sleep. If her daddy was there or family members, then she would stay with them in the living room. I still use this method for my twins when they take their naps (they are 3 years old now) and it works every single time!

Every time I walk in my room, I close the curtains and make sure everything is set up for the twins to take their nap. They sometimes see me preparing and ask ” mami sleep time?”, it’s so cute! They already know that when mommy closes the curtains and turns off the television, it means nap time! This also, works for when it’s time to go to sleep at night, I always turn everything off in my apartment. The television and all of the lights (my apartment is small) and my kids, all three of them know that it’s bed time!

Quick tip:

• During the summer, you may want to turn on the air condition in the room that you sleep your kids in. Let the room cool a bit and then continue with your sleeping routine. Also, as always be consistent!
• Nicely ask your hubby or visitors to lower their voices while you sleep the twins
• Also, ask to lower the television volume while you sleep the twins, do not feel bad about it either 🙂
• Having a dark room will help your kids sleep better because if your room is bright they will assume is playing time or just plain make it harder for you to sleep them.
• Having a quiet and peaceful setting will help your kids not be distracted with any kind of noise and therefor making it easier to fall asleep.

Bath and bottle

I always do and recommend moms to do what best works for them and their children. For me, taking my twins a bath before nap time works every single time. It’s amazing! Combining it with their bottles afterward, boy easy peasy sleeping time! My twins are toddlers now, so they do not take bottles but they do have sippy cups that I give them milk or sometimes juice watered down with water. There is something about feeling fresh and clean from their bath to feeling full from their drinks that makes my kids fall asleep almost immediately. So I continue with this step through their toddler years because it works! of course they eat their breakfast and lunch before they take their nap 🙂

Other useful tips to consider

• Make your kids tired before nap time, let them run and play (if they are walking already) or using a walker, let them crawl around the house, play in their stationary entertainers ( life saver for me) and other things of that nature.
• Take them a nice cool or warm bath, massage them with lotion and dress them in a light comfortable pajamas or shirt or whatever you can find really, haha!
• Wait for naptime in order to give them their milk or juice and if they ask for something to drink give them water, this helps them look forward to their naptime or sleep time. This only works for toddlers because newborns and babies need their milk at any given time 🙂

Do not give up

Please mama, whatever you do, do not give up! You don’t know how many times I wanted to give up on one of my twins because she simply did not want to go to sleep. It was terrible and time consuming you know? But I didn’t cave in, I managed to keep trying, to be consistent with their sleeping routine and guess what? It worked! Even the most stubborn child will eventually fall asleep, it may take you a few more minutes ore or even 30 more minutes (like it took me with my twin baby girl) but it’s worth it. Tell yourself that “you got this” and that you need this time for yourself. You deserve an hour or so of quiet time, or even time to finish up your house chores. Do not give up!

Recommended E-book + definitely worth reading!

Bonus tip: What I do when my toddler twins do not want to go nap

There are times when my twins do not want to nap because they are busy playing with a toy, watching a movie or they simply think they don’t need one. Let’s be real, it happens more than I would want to, but I always make sure that they understand that nap time it’s part of their daily routine. I know there will be a time when they will no longer have to take naps, and I will surely miss it!

• I explain to them that they need to have their rest in order for them to regain energy and keep playing.
• I tell them that they will continue playing after they wake up from their nap.
• I explain the difference between bedtime and nap time. They sometimes tell me that there’s light outside and there for they can’t go to sleep (haha!)) but I explain to them the difference.
• I am consistent
• I give them their favorite toys to sleep with

I hope you found these 5 tips to having your twins on the same sleeping schedule  helpful and can implement some of them into your kids sleeping routine!