Tips for Co-Sleeping with Multiples

Whether to bring a baby into the parents' bed may be a matter of debate for parents of a single baby. It's more often a matter of survival when there are multiple babies to care for at night. Human mothers sleep with their babies in almost all cultures so it isn't anything new. For tens of thousands of years mothers have appreciated that everyone in the family copes better during the day when they've gotten as much sleep as possible the night before.

Babies and young children will not be in your bed forever, so relax. Although parents sometimes worry that they might hurt a baby by rolling on her, such happenings are rare unless a parent is under the influence of some drug or alcohol. When you sleep with a baby in the crook of your arm, it is virtually impossible to roll on her. Babies in bed do not affect physical intimacy for new parents. Most couples are creative enough to figure an alternative approach when they wish to be intimate and babies are in their bed.

Parents of multiples have discovered many ingenious ways to get more sleep by bringing babies in bed for all or part of the night. Co-sleeping with two or more babies is a little more complicated than bringing one into bed with you, but with little imagination, it can be done.

1. Remove one side-rail from a crib. Adjust the crib mattress to the level of your mattress and fasten it securely against your bed. One baby can sleep between you and your husband, and another can sleep in the crib. Roll from side to side to meet babies' breastfeeding needs during the night. Portable cribs that attach directly to the parents' bed have been developed to give everyone more space when co-sleeping.

2. Some parents refuse to be limited by standard bed sizes. When even a king-size bed may seem too small with two or more babies sharing it, extend the width of a bed. Simply place two or more mattresses side by side, making sure they cannot separate and allow a baby to slip into a crack. It may be safest to place the mattresses directly on the floor.

3. If you can deal with only one at a time in bed, it may save steps to set up a crib in your bedroom. You can rotate the babies in and out of it as they wake to eat during the night. Babies may begin nighttime sleep in this crib, in your bed, or in a crib in another room. When Baby A wakes, breastfeed and fall asleep with that baby until Baby B wakes up. Settle Baby A in the nearby crib and fall asleep again while feeding Baby B.

4. Instead of bringing babies into their bed, some mothers place a mattress on the floor of the babies' room and go there to feed, and fall asleep, once babies begin waking.

5. It becomes easier to prop on pillows in bed and breastfeed two using the side-lying, prone, or a combination position to fall asleep as babies get older, although some are able to achieve this from the start. If you sit up and lean back against a bed-rest pillow, you might be able to feed two newborns without getting out of bed.

6. Some find they are more comfortable feeding newborns simultaneously when they sit in a more supportive chair, sofa, or recliner. Many mothers call a recliner, bed, and fall asleep in it while breastfeeding for several weeks or months after bringing multiples home. Some mothers place the recliner in their bedroom and others prefer to go to another room.