Wondering what your twins need when it comes to sleep? This twin sleep essentials guide will help! From bassinets to cribs, sheets to video monitors, here are recommendations for everything to help twin babies sleep!
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First, Create an Amazon Baby Registry!
Before you go further, if you haven’t yet, create a baby registry on Amazon first. That way, as you’re going through this post and others, you can easily just add things to your registry that you’d like with the click of a button!
Bassinets
We knew that I’d have a repeat c-section with the twins so I wouldn’t be able to bend down far for a while. While we never actually co-slept with our twins, nor did we plan to due to safety concerns, this Arms Reach Co-Sleeper Bassinet was perfect for our little guys. We got two, of course, and once we were ready to sell them after the twins grew out of them we sold them to another twin mama, which was awesome!!
One side of the bassinet can fold down so you could have it next to your bed and breastfeed baby then put them back into the bassinet without having to get up and lift the baby quite as much. The side goes back up easily as well. Due to unforeseen circumstances we never ended up using this feature but we had planned on it.
The basket underneath each bassinet is big so can fit a lot of diapers, wipes, extra clothes, etc. Twins go through A LOT of diapers so we tended to store boxes of diapers, wipes, and extra swaddles in ours.
This bassinet also has wheels that can be locked, which is great for safety. There is also a mesh pocket on the front and back of the bassinet. We made signs with their names on it so we could remember whose was whose. It was neat, we actually had our oldest child, who was then 2 years old, help make the signs. These signs, though made out of simple copy paper and crayon, are still in the twins’ rooms today and they’re almost 3 years old.
Below shows where our twins slept for the first 6 months until we moved to a bigger house. This was in a nook in our bedroom. Once we had a bigger house they were in the bedroom next to us until they started keeping each other up, then we put them in separate bedrooms.
We had planned on having one bassinet next to each side of the bed but it didn’t end up working out well due to me not being able to sleep in the same room as the twins with all their grunts so I actually slept on the couch at first and then in our spare bedroom downstairs until they were able to be in their own bedroom.
Though we didn’t use all the features of these bassinets, we still loved them and feel that even though they’re a bit spendy they were well worth it and have decent resale value. Our twins used them for about 7 months before switching to separate cribs.
Crib
When we went crib shopping for our first child, Babies R Us was still a thing. Wow! Anyway, we wanted a crib that would convert into a toddler bed and then a big boy bed. After a lot of research and looking around, we fell in love with the Delta brand of convertible cribs. This one, the Delta Emery 4-in-1 Convertible Baby Crib in Dark Chocolate is great! The Delta beds have multiple levels for the mattress to be on depending on age and ability of the baby. As a newborn, the crib mattress should be as high as possible, whereas as baby is able to pull up, it’s best to have the mattress at the lowest setting so baby can’t crawl out.
Crib Mattress
Before having our first child we did extensive research regarding safe sleep habits, safe mattresses without harmful chemicals, etc. We found the Eco Classica III to be our safest choice for our baby boy! We love this mattress so much we bought two more for our twins!
Under Crib Storage
We’ve found that having a bin under each crib for at least one extra waterproof mattress pad and fitted sheet works out really well. There are of course a lot of really nice options out there that have wheels and whatnot but we opted to use what we already had, just a simple 41-qt under-bed storage box, like the one pictured below.
Waterproof Crib Mattress Protectors
Waterproof crib mattress protectors are essential from the newborn stage all of the way through potty training, so you may as well buy several. We have three for our 5-year-old that we can swap out when he has accidents overnight, and two for each of our twins, under their beds to change out overnight if needed if their diapers leak.
Crib Sheets
We also have at least one extra fitted crib sheet for each child, under their bed in the under bed storage along with the extra mattress protector. There are so many different fun crib sheets out there, especially at Target and Amazon.com. This set is really cute and a great deal!
Split Screen Baby Monitor with 2 Cameras
We didn’t have this one but it comes highly recommended by other twin mamas and if I had to redo it all, I’d get this one instead of the one we have below. This one is great because there is a split screen instead of having to toggle back and forth, like the one we have below does. This one doesn’t have WiFi so you don’t have to worry about anyone hacking into your system and talking to your babies (this is super rare but one of the reasons we have non-WiFi monitors).
Another great thing about this one is you can talk back and forth through the monitor.
White Noise Machine
We knew our twins would need white noise to help drown out their noisy older brother when they were sleeping and even each other. The Dohm had been great for our oldest and we knew we’d love it for our twins so we bought two more, one for each of their rooms.
Sleep Book
We weren’t sure where to start with sleep training but this book helped immensely!! From sample schedules, sleep charts, checking in, and step-by-step directions on how to make a plan, it’s fool-proof! It’s really the only thing that got our twin babies to sleep!
Need More Sleep Help?
If you need someone to help you through helping your children sleep, check out Batelle, a sleep training program that doesn’t include ‘cry it out’ and offers 24-hour live guidance and coaching for parents! Batelle teaches a 5-minute bedtime routine for kids ages 0-6 to help them sleep through the night.
Can Twins Sleep in the Same Crib?
No. It isn’t safe for twins to sleep in the same crib or bassinet as they may accidentally smother each other, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.