Can Twin Babies Sleep in the Same Bed?

As the parents of twin boys, we were lucky enough room for two cots in our room but what about if you don’t have enough space for two cots? This post looks into whether twin babies can sleep in the same bed. We look at why co-sleeping twins can be popular especially in hospital and what the experts say when it comes to co-sleeping twins together.

Can Twin Babies Sleep in the Same Bed?

Let’s just get straight to it. According to Red Nose (group responsible for safe sleeping against SIDS), the safest way for twins is to sleep is in their own sleeping place. But what about if you’re travelling or you’ve got limited space at home? Let’s explore when it’s OK for your twins to sleep in the same bed.

It’s OK for twins to sleep in the same bed from the age of 0 to 3 months. At this stage of their life, babies are less likely to move around when they sleep however there’s a few things we recommend when co-sleeping your twins we’d recommend:

• Avoid using any bedding (like sheets or blankets) if in the event one of the babies accidentally kicked it on to the other baby.
• Place the babies on their back – This falls under the recommendations by Red Nose who encourage a baby on their back rather than stomach to avoid suffocation.
• Use a firm mattress – Using a firm mattress will help your baby accidentally rolling over.
• Put them on opposite ends of the bed –  If your twin babies are sharing a bed, we recommend placing them on opposite ends of the bed.
• Use individual sleeping bags – Sleeping bags are a great way to help contain any movement of your baby. We’ve written about the best sleep sacks in the past.
• Keep their room at a good temperature – We’ve talked about safe sleeping temperature in the past with our post on what to do when babies wake up early but experts recommend that your child’s room should be 18-21 degree celsius mark or 75 to 72 degrees fahrenheit.
• Offer a pacifier – Pacifiers are a great way to promote your baby settling into a calm and relaxing sleep. The hope by using a pacifier is that they’ll fidget around less before they fall asleep which is important when they’re sharing a bed with another baby.

While we understand that not everyone has the space for two cots, we’d recommend avoid it after the 3 month mark. Twin babies sleeping in the same bed after the 3 month mark has an increased risk of SIDS as they become more active. Or if your twins start moving around earlier than the 3 month mark, it’s also time to reconsider them sharing a cot together.

Twins Sleeping in the Same Bed While in Hospital

While our twin babies slept in different bassinets while they were in hospital, possibly due to not being born pre-natal and otherwise healthy, some babies have been known to share the same bed while in hospital. It’s thought that twins being in close proximity together helps promote co-regulation which in turn, continues fetal co-regulation that promotes growth and neurodevelopment. Neat huh!

So you’re probably thinking… If twin babies sleep in the same bed while in hospital why’s it matter if I do it at home? Fair question. The key difference is tat while you are in hospital you are under close monitoring with nurses coming and going during the night checking on your twin babies (you generally receive a bit more attention when you have twins). So for this reason, it’s safer for your twin babies to sleep together in the same bed while they are in hospital vs at being at home.

Why Your Twin Babies Shouldn’t Sleep in the Same Bed

While we mentioned earlier in the post that it’s recommended to stop having your twin babies sleep in the same bed after 3 months. Largely due to babies being to move around more in their sleep at this stage which could result in them rolling onto the other twin and potentially suffocating them.  There’s also other risks/issues which come with twin babies sharing beds together which includes:

• Higher rates of illness – Sharing the same bed together, twins are likely to cough and share their germs on one another which can result in higher rates of illness.
• Difficult to individually care for – Similar to our next point, say you need to care for one twin who is sharing the bed with another twin, it can be difficult to care for them without disrupting the other twin.
• Sleep disturbance – Having twins in the same bed means that if one wakes up, there’s a chance they’ll wake up the other due to begin in close proximity to one another. With that said though, if your twins are sharing the same room (which is generally everyone), you’re going to encounter sleep disturbance eventually anyway so this one is less of an issue.
• Possible injury – If one baby moves around during the night, you run the risk they may roll onto the other twin and suffocate them. It’s not worth it.

Closing and Summary

Thanks for reading this post on whether twin babies can sleep together. In summary, yes, they can sleep together from the age of 0 to 3 months. Although while it’s super cute seeing them in the same bed together, we’d recommend against it which is further backed by the experts at Red Nose. If you must have your twins sleep in the same bed together, please ensure you’re creating a safe sleeping environment by following some of the steps such as using any bedding like we mentioned earlier in the post.

Thanks again for reading and we hope this was valuable for you.

All the best with your twin journey!

Alex

My name’s Alex and I’m a husband, dad to beautiful identical twin boys, cyclist, photographer and connoisseur of great coffee!

Help I’m Having Twins has been created for me to share what I found useful as a new parent and dad to twins.