Here are 10 settling tips to help soothe and calm your multiple babies to sleep from our very own sleep consultant at Willby’s, Nat.

1. Make sure you’ve got a support system set up with your partner and family/friends.   Creating clear communication within this support network will be significantly helpful. Organise a communication pathway with apps or a communication book, especially in the early days to record feeds and sleep.  This will help other caregivers to know what your babies are up to.

2. In the early days especially, focus on getting your babies’ feeding schedule sorted.  Work out which is the more sensitive or trickier twin to settle. Aim to feed within 30 minutes of each other – this will help you and your partner to get more continuous, unbroken sleep.

3. Once you’re home, always follow the safe sleeping guidelines when settling your babies.

4. Try working around the more sensitive twin’s schedule, but be prepared for this to change. If your babies are going into the same room, allow your calmer baby to have some more quiet time so you can focus on the more unsettled baby.

5. Aim to synchronize your babies’ feeds and sleeps. Have this as a goal even if, in the early days, there’s lots of flexibility. Go gently, especially in the first six weeks or so and be realistic. Aim to feed your babies within 30 minutes of each other and settle them to sleep within 15 minutes of each other.

6. At night when one twin has woken and fed, gently wake the other one for a feed. This can help with the same timed care.

7. If you have a more settled twin who is napping well and is settled overnight, it could work to separate your babies briefly so you can focus on the one who’s more wakeful and unsettled. Move the settled twin into your room and focus on the more wakeful one who’s in their existing room.  Check here for information about room sharing.

8. Provide consistent sleep messages so your babies know it’s sleep time. Use swaddles, sing a song, darken the room – provide your babies with two or three messages so they learn when it’s time for sleep.

9. Aim to create small changes over a longer period of time than big changes quickly.   Creating neural pathways takes time, sensitivity and gentle consistency.

10. Importantly, look after your own needs -from this everything else will follow. Be kind to yourself, your partner and your babies and remember, you are all be learning together.

 

These tips were repurposed from this article and reproduced with permission.