how to get twins to sleep through the night
All three of my kids are great sleepers. As in 12 hours by 14 weeks great.
I’ve had a lot of people ask me how it happened, and I have a very specific method that I followed with all of them.
Today I will tell you how I got my twin babies to sleep through the night by 14 weeks. Every baby and mommy are different.
If you disagree with something that I did, that’s fine! I won’t be offended. As my mom says, different strokes for different folks.
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My twins were 8 weeks early. Their adjusted age (according to their due date) when they started sleeping through the night was only 6 weeks.
Some say that it is luck, and I will just smile and nod my head because we put a lot of work to get these little ones to snooze the way they do.
We woke them at times during the day when they were sleeping, and coaxed them to drink their milk, even when they didn’t want to; we made sure we were home for every single nap (as preemies, this was every three hours!), no matter what.
I love and swear by the books On Becoming Baby Wise
Eat, Play, Sleep
When my babies wake up, I feed them immediately.
After they eat, it is playtime. Playtime for newborns can consist of a diaper change and a few songs.
Once they have eaten and had their playtime, it’s sleep time. Newborns need sooo much sleep. 30-45 minutes of awake time is plenty.
Eat, play, sleep is important for two reasons.
- If you feed them right when they wake up, then you won’t end up putting them to sleep by eating. Babies can become dependent on nursing or taking a bottle to fall asleep. Some moms love this, but I want my babies falling asleep on their own. Otherwise, they will be well over a year old and still need to be rocked to sleep. That’s not exactly an easy task with twins!
- If they fall asleep while nursing, they will want to nurse back to sleep when they wake up in the middle of the night… or 20 minutes later.
Full Feedings
While my babies are eating, if they start to fall asleep, I gently wake them up.
I stroke their cheek (this triggers the swallow reflex), blow gently in their faces, undress them, etc.
With my first, I would nurse him on one side, change his diaper to wake him up, and then finish nursing him on the other side.
With bottle fed babies you can also rotate the bottle in the mouth or wiggle it around.
Related: Tips and Advice for Feeding Twins
Feedings No Longer Than 3 Hours Apart
It is very important to not move to a 4-hour schedule until your baby is sleeping through the night.
This goes for both breastfed and bottle fed babies.
When you stretch to a 4-hour schedule you essentially drop a feeding. It is very likely that your baby will try to make up that feeding in the middle of the night.
I know it’s hard. My husband BEGGED me to switch to a 4-hour schedule because feeding twins is so much work.
Our girls struggled with reflux for several months. They would only eat if they were swaddled, and we walked around the room holding them.
During the week I had to feed them one at a time because I was on my own. It would take at least an hour and a half to feed them because of the constant screaming and arching of their backs.
By the end of the day, my biceps would be on fire! Coincidentally, once we found a medicine that worked, they upped their milk intake, and almost immediately started sleeping through the night.
Had we switched to a 4-hour schedule, it probably would have taken them much longer to eliminate that middle of the night bottle.
Newborn Twins Sleep Schedule:
This was our nap schedule when the girls were several months old. An actual newborn requires much less awake time– 30-45 minutes. You can read more about our newborn twins sleep schedule <– here.
- 7:00 AM: eat, play
- 8:00: sleep
- 10:00 eat play
- 11:00: sleep
- 1:00: eat, play
- 2:00: sleep
- 4:00: eat, play
- 5:00: catnap- about 45 mins-1 hour
- 6:00: play
- 7:00 eat and bedtime routine (should start the bedtime feeding around 6:45 for a prompt 7 pm bedtime)
- 10:00 or 11:00 PM: Optional dream feed. A dream feed is when you feed your baby without truly waking them up, and then put them right back to bed. This sometimes makes them sleep longer, but I have heard that it can have the opposite result. You should experiment and see what works best for your baby. I gave my girls a dream feed, and it did help them to sleep for longer stretches. I eliminated it once they were sleeping through the night and waking up in the morning with no desire to drink their bottles.
Babies will likely get up several times in the middle of the night. If you stick with this schedule, they should quickly go down to one or two feedings in the middle of the night because they are getting plenty of calories during the day.
Enough Sleep
This will feel weird, I know. With my first, I thought that the less he slept during the day, and the later he went to bed, the longer he would sleep in the morning. PSA: this is not true! If babies are not well rested, they will resist sleep even more. Make sure your babies are getting adequate naps during the day and going to bed early enough at night.
Consistency
I put them to bed at the same time at night, and wake them up at the same time every morning.
This one was essential for us but was really hard. We decided on a desired wake time, and stuck to it: no matter what!
We chose 7:00 am at first because Theo was getting up at 8:30. The babies took a 2-hour nap every three hours at this point.
Waking them up at 7:00 meant that they took a nap at 8:00, and I had 30 minutes to pump and get Theo’s breakfast ready before I got him up.
What if the babies are up at 1 am, 3 am, and 5 am and are sound asleep at 7:00 am? I would wake them up and feed them anyways! I would much rather be sleeping myself, but I believe that consistency is important.
Their naps should also be at the same time (within 30 minutes) every day. Imagine if you took a nap every single day at 2:00 PM.
Your body would become accustomed to it and every day at 2:00 PM you would begin to get drowsy in anticipation of your nap. This is exactly what should happen with the babies.
Stretch Their Nighttime Feedings
How the heck do you do this?! When the babies would wake up in the middle of the night, we gave them a paci before we fed them.
If they settled, even for 5 minutes, they were learning to sleep for longer stretches. If they spit it back out and screamed, then we, of course, would give them their bottles!
DO NOT do this with a brand new baby until you get the OK from your pediatrician to let them wake on their own in the middle of the night.
Once they are one month to a few months old, they should be able to handle it. As always, trust your gut and follow your baby’s cues. Baby sleep is different for everyone.
Our middle of the night feeding ended up getting later and later until it was 5:00 AM.
I would still feed them and put them back to sleep, but then they wouldn’t be hungry at 7:00 for their morning bottle.
In my opinion, it is VERY important to have a consistent wake time. Think about how your body would feel if one day you got up for the day at 5, but the next day you could sleep until 7:00.
It’s confusing! Plus, with 3 under 3 (or even just twins), it’s just easier to have everything at the same time every day. Trust me.
We got off schedule a few times; the toddler wanted breakfast at the same time I had to prepare bottles, and everyone napped at different times. Nooooo!
Eliminate the Middle of the Night Feeding
Once my twins woke up at 7:00 AM not wanting their morning bottles, I knew it was time to eliminate that 5/6 am feeding.
You can do this two ways.
1. You can decrease the amount you feed them each morning until they no longer wake.
2. Soothe/settle them until their morning feeding.
I followed the second method. I didn’t have fun doing it, but it worked in 2 days.
They woke up and fussed for a few minutes. Once I gave them their paci they went back to sleep for 10-15 minutes. We repeated that process until 7:00 AM.
It took two days of this and the end result was worth it! They went to bed at 7:00 PM, received a dream feed at 10:00 PM, and slept through the night until 7:00 AM.
Curious about what makes twins identical or fraternal? Or just curious about what whether or not our girls are identical or fraternal twins? Check out this post for answers!
But What About Crying?
Crying. Ugh.
When I first wrote this post I tiptoed around the whole ‘crying it out’ and sleep training part, because I didn’t want to scare anyone away.
After much thought, I decided that it’s something that needs to be addressed. So here we go.
I personally believe that there is nothing wrong with babies crying a little bit.
I’m not saying to let a brand new, not even-month-old baby cry, but I even think that letting them ‘cry it out’ can be done appropriately.
Even if I didn’t think it was OK to let babies cry a little bit, I would have no choice but to let them cry sometimes.
I had twins and a 2-year-old for an entire year, so there was no getting around sometimes one of them would cry and I couldn’t do anything about it because I was busy with the other baby.
When my girls were babies, I would let them cry for a few minutes after I put them to bed. They had had a full feeding, had dry diapers, and I knew that they were ready for sleep.
I actually would set the timer for 3 minutes, which is one of the things that I highly recommend doing (you can increase or decrease the time to whatever you are comfortable with. I did this with my son when he was older, and I started at 5 minutes).
The majority of the time, they would fuss for 1-2 minutes and then fall asleep on their own. If they were still crying after 3 minutes, I would go and resettle them and repeat the process. If their crying was slowing down, I would wait a few more minutes to see what they would do.
I followed this method and never had to let my twins full on cry it because they learned how to fall asleep on their own from the start.
Cry it out isn’t for you? No worries! There are many other ways for sleep training twins that don’t require crying. You can read about them all here: 5 Popular Sleep Training Methods Explained
Why Not Let Babies Sleep When They Want To?
I personally believe that the parent knows best.
Babies don’t know what they need and require guidance from parents.
I get comments all the time about how happy my kids are. They are happy because they are well rested and get the sleep that they need and deserve.
I now have 3 year old twins (they are actually mirror image twins, which is incredibly cool) and watching them grow up has been a highlight of my life. It has been especially delightful because they have been great sleepers from birth!
When Do Twins Sleep Through the Night
It definitely varies. My twins were 8-weeks early and still sleeping a full 12-hours overnight at 14 weeks.
Don’t stress if yours aren’t sleeping well that early on… all babies are different. Keep working at it and they will get there.
Tools and Resources
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- You can read this post on Optimal WakeTime for your baby.
- Swaddles: We always use swaddles until the babies can roll over. Some babies will fight the swaddle, but then relax and sleep better once they are in it. Babies have a Moro reflex up until 3 or 4 months. This reflex makes the baby feel like they are falling and startle themselves awake. Swaddling helps with the Moro reflex! There are some babies that sleep better without a swaddle, so it’s worth experimenting with. The Halo sleep sacks are some of my favorites. I used them with my first, as well as the twins. They make a cotton
one as well as a really nice fleece
one. My absolute favorite swaddle that I discovered with my twins is the Woombie. It is seriously so easy to use, it’s like zipping them up into a little sleeping bag. My girls could still wiggle their hands up to their chin, but it definitely made them feel safe and secure, and they didn’t startle awake.
- Read this post about making sure that you create a good sleep environment for baby.
- Here is how we handled bottle feeding twins at night.
- Rock n plays: While I definitely suggest getting babies used to their cribs as early as possible, sometimes they just like to feel snuggled and secure. My babies all slept in a mix of their crib and rock n plays when they came home from the hospital. Rock n Plays are slightly inclined and are especially helpful if babies have reflux. We just have basic ones such as the Fisher-Price Newborn Rock ‘n Play Sleeper
. They make all kinds of fancy ones that vibrate and rock on their own.
one as well as a really nice 
one. My absolute favorite swaddle that I discovered with my twins is the 
. They make all kinds of fancy ones that vibrate and rock on their own.These tips worked for my kids. If you have any other tips that worked for your family, I’d love to hear them!
Follow me over on Instagram for lots of twin cuteness!
Joanie says
This is so informative! I don’t know how people with twins do it (I’m barely getting by with one kid), but this seems manageable!
Caitlin says
Thanks for reading! I definitely couldn’t manage if they weren’t sleeping!
Kelsi Heiberger says
Caitlin- when you mention arching their backs and screaming. What medicine did you get? What was it for?
Caitlin says
Kelsi, I am so sorry… I am so behind on comments here! They had silent reflux and were on medicine for that. I can’t remember which one, because we tried two different ones and the first one didn’t work.
Rachael says
Where do you nap your babies? My babies are napping in the rock n play and night sleeping in the cribs. Do you think this is confusing for them? What do you recommend?
Caitlin says
How old are they? I suggest putting them in their cribs as much as possible. They will eventually outgrow their rock n plays and it could be a rough transition to the crib. That being said, if they are going to sleep on their own in the rock n play, and fighting the crib… sometimes you just do what you can to survive! I remember times when my girls would wake up really early from naps in their cribs, and I would put them back down in their rock n plays. I hope that helps! 🙂
Heather says
Caitlin this is a seriously meaty post! I don’t think there’s a thing you missed. 🙂
Caitlin says
I’m glad you think so! I documented everything as I was going through it thinking it could be helpful to others 🙂
Kayla says
Thanks for the info! How long did you keep the twins on this schedule ? Thanks!
Caitlin says
They were on a newborn schedule for a LONG time because they were almost 2 months early. They started sleeping 12 hours at 14 weeks, and we slowly transitioned to a 4-hour schedule at around 16 weeks. It took them awhile to get used to a 4-hour schedule because they just didn’t want to be awake for that long!
Martina says
This is great! Thanks!
Cortny Anderson says
Just curious if you did anything to help them go to sleep for nap. Any routines or rocking before? I have a 2 week old (and a busy 2 year old) who is on this every 3 hour schedule. With my first I was terrible about rocking to sleep and not letting her cry. But I don’t have that luxury this time around.
Caitlin Rogers says
Ohhh, mama. I feel you. The luxuries of being the first baby! We did nothing aside from swaddling, shutting the curtains, and white noise. The majority of the time I was by myself and I couldn’t rock them both at the same time, while also worrying that my 2-year-old was downstairs doing something ridiculous. I knew that they had full tummies, so I was OK with letting them cry for a few minutes. I also had no choice because there was only one of me! A little bit of rocking is totally fine if you can manage it with your two-year-old, BUT make sure you aren’t rocking them to sleep. Setting them down awake is the key to teaching them to fall asleep on their own!
Erin Rivera says
Hi Caitlin, I just discovered your blog and I’m so excited! I have a 2 yo son and 8 week old twin girls. May I pick your brain on some sleep stuff?
I didn’t do BW with my son as a newborn and he was super colicky and we were all miserable. This time around, I started BW with my girls from the beginning. They sleep in their crib and I always put them down awake. Their eating schedule is 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4:30pm (I stretch this one so I can nap), 7pm, 9:30pm, and one MOTN feeding (usually).
My first question is: how did you figure out the appropriate wake times for your girls as newborns given their prematurity? My girls were about a month early and I just can’t figure them out. Their sleepy signs are nearly non-existent. They seem to get over tired if i stretch them longer than 35-40 mins. Is this normal?!
Question 2: did your girls (or son) have trouble in the late afternoons or evenings with sleep and what did you do about it? My babies just this week started boycotting their last nap after the 4:30 feeding. One baby consistently refuses to sleep between their 7:00 feed and the 9:30 feed (I consider them in bed for the night during this chunk). She literally cries the whole time and this has been going on for about 4 weeks. We alternate between checking on her, sticking the paci in (she spits it out when we leave the room though, I don’t think she likes it), and just letting her cry to sleep (I HATE this one, because it takes until about 9pm for her to sleep). This same baby was awake yesterday from 4:30pm until the 9:30 and she was NOT happy. My husband held her part of the time but she did not sleep. After the 9:30 feed she was out like a light.
I know that was really super long, but do you have any recommendations? I have been told to try nursing them to sleep in the evenings but I’m not sure if I want to go down the road or not. But maybe I should? They both refuse to sleep in the Rock n Play and we have no room for a swing (which I assume she would hate anyway). Is this just a phase–does it get better on its own? Is there anything I can do?
Thanks so much for reading all that! I need all the help I can get. 😉
Caitlin says
Hi Erin! I’m glad you commented. I know exactly how crazy your life is right now!!! OK… so your first question. That is totally normal. I felt as if my girls slept alllll the time. They didn’t really show signs of sleepiness either, so I really went off the clock. I think they had 45-60 minutes (maximum!!) of awake time for the first 5 months of their lives. It sounds like you definitely need to go by their adjusted age if they are getting overtired. So bascally treat them like a 1 month old! Most preemie moms that I have spoken with have agreed, that it almost seems as if preemies need even MORE sleep than a newborn. Trust your gut, even though I know it feels so weird to CONSTANTLY be putting them to sleep!
Question 2. Yes. The witching hour. It’s the worst. Here’s a link to an extremely helpful blog post on the witching hour: http://www.babywisemom.com/search?q=witching+hour
Basically, do what you gotta do! If they’re falling asleep on their own for the rest of the day, don’t worry too much about ruining them by putting them in a swing or rocking them to sleep. Nursing them to sleep probably won’t work since they aren’t used to it. If they boycot their naps, try going for a walk, car ride, or wearing them/singing to them. The only advice I can give you regarding this is that it’s normal, and it won’t last forever!! The witching hour is usually gone by about 12 weeks, and for us it definitely lasted until they were 12 weeks adjusted. I know that seems forever away!
I hope that this was somewhat helpful!
Erin Rivera says
Hi Caitlin,
It’s me again…so my girls are now 13.5 weeks and started STTN until wake time at 11 weeks. They did this for about 10 nights until one woke one night, so I fed her. So then she woke the next night and I gave her a paci and she settled back down. Same thing the next two nights (wakings are all over the map time-wise). The next night she did not resettle after the paci and I was so torn about what to do (not good at making decisions at 2am!). I ended up letting her cry while going into check on her and she kept it up off and on for 3 hours! I felt like the worst mother in the world the next day and began to second guess myself…I thought maybe I should have just fed her, she maybe really needed it. So the next night when she woke (4 hrs after our dream feed) I fed her and all was good after that. But at 7:30am when I woke the girls, the one who had eaten wasn’t very hungry! I definitely don’t want them dropping a DAY feed and adding a NIGHT feed instead.
Last night I gave her a paci again at 2:30am and she resettled until 5am when she woke up sister too! I then spent the next 1 hr and 45 min giving sister a paci over and over. She finally fell asleep at 6:50am by sucking her own thumb. Ugh! I know that if I feed them that late though that they won’t eat at 7:30am when I wake them.
What would you do in this situation? I’m torn between thinking maybe they still need to eat at night and thinking that if I just wait this out with the paci thing that they might go back to STTN again. Older brother did the same thing and STTN for about a week at this age and then reverted back to eating TWICE each night until our baby monitor broke without my knowledge at 5.5 months. So he essentially cried it out.
Any thoughts on this situation would be super helpful! Thanks!
Erin
Caitlin @Rogers Party of 5 says
It is THE WORST when they start sleeping and then revert. I am so sorry! So… my personal opinion, is that if they aren’t hungry in the morning, then they do not need to middle of the night feed. I think you did the right thing by feeding the first time because you never know if it’s a growth spurt.
Are you rocking them to sleep, or are they falling asleep on their own?
A few things you could try…
1. give the paci like you have been doing
2. feed a very small amount, and gradually diminish the amount. So if you are BF, decrease the time spent, if you are bottle feeding, decrease the ounces.
3. other sleep training methods (there are SO many out there, I can give you some more resources if you’d like)
Whatever you do, be very consistent! If it doesn’t change after a few days, you can then switch things up.
Personally, I would probably either do the paci, or cry for short intervals, but you have to do what you’re comfortable with, and what you think your babies will react to the best.
Erin Rivera says
Thanks so much! Still thinking this through. Last night I was so exhausted that I went to bed super early and set my alarm for a late dreamfeed at midnight. After the late dreamfeed (which is usually at 9:30pm) the girls slept until 7. It was a nice break from the habitual 2am-ish waking! Maybe I’ll try a backward slide type of thing with the dreamfeed and see if that fixes the problem. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Jillian Hagerman says
Hi Caitlin,
I am currently pregnant with twins and am enjoying reading your blog! Did you start the above mentioned schedule as soon as you came home with your twins or did you wait it out until about 14 weeks to start this approach? My son will turn 3 right around the time that our twins arrive and the sooner that I can get my twins on a schedule, but I’ve read that starting before 4ish months is not good as the child (ren) won’t adapt to it as well. As a newborn and for the first several weeks, I feel like my son ate all the time, so the feedings and when he dropped the nighttime feedings all seem to be a blur now. Just looking for some good beginning advice as this is a whole new world I’m entering into!
Thanks in advance!
Caitlin @Rogers Party of 5 says
They actually started the 3-hour schedule in the NICU and our whole family thrived on it. I would wake the girls in the morning, feed them, put them down for a nap, and then get my two-year-old up. It really helped my son transition with the babies, and it was also nice to be able to feed them first thing and interact with them without having a two-year-old running around.
I would definitely try for a consistent routine in the beginning. This doesn’t meant a super strict 3 hour schedule; if they are hungry at two hours, that’s fine, obviously feed them! The key is to make sure they get a full feeding and not want to eat again in 20 or 30 minutes. Especially if you have an older child, that’s just not possible. Will you have much help in the beginning? It’s so exciting to have twins. Congratulations!!
Jillian Hagerman says
Thanks for the reply!! My mom is planning to stay with us for atleast the 1st full month and play it by ear after that. Also my son will continue his routine of going to daycare 5 days a week. I think keeping him on that schedule with help with the transition and hopefully not regress in the potty training area. We too, live in Columbus (small world as I found your blog through Pinterest) and would love to pick your brain about some other topics, if and when you have the time!
Caitlin @Rogers Party of 5 says
Yes, of course! You can e-mail me at rogerspartyof5blog@gmail.com. Have you joined the CMOTC?
Allison says
I’m currently 25 weeks pregnant with Di/Di twin boys and my firstborn will be two when they arrive. Sleep is verrrrrry important to me and so I was obsessed with ensuring my little guy learned good sleep habits from the get go. We basically did everything with him that you did with your twins, which gives me hope that it wasn’t a fluke and I will be able to do it again! He sleeps from 7pm to 630am every night, and has been doing so consistently since he was 3.5 months. It was a lot of sacrifice initially: staying on a super strict routine with newborns means you really don’t have much of a life…but you are right that it is all worth it! I would always make sure we were home for nap time and he was sleeping in his crib no matter what. Reading this has really helped assuage some of my sleep related anxiety for when my twins arrive. Great post!
Caitlin says
YOU CAN DO IT!! Especially if you’ve done it before, you know the hard work and consistency pay off in the long run.