Can your twins sleep in the same bedroom?
Absolutely.
Start Your Twins in One Crib
When we brought our girls home, they both shared a crib for several months.
When they started to roll over and get a little too crowded, we moved each girl to her own crib but kept them in the same room.
Two Cribs
Remember, your twins have been together since those early days inside the womb. They are completely used to each other and we noticed that ours actually missed each other when we first moved them to separate cribs. Our girls would squawk at each other to make sure the other was in the room.
Two Beds
When the time comes to move out of the cribs, you’ll probably want two beds, too. You should be able to fit two twin-sized beds (yes, they call them twin beds) in the floorspace of even a small bedroom. Alternatively, you can look at bunk beds or a trundle bed to economize space.
Advantages of Sharing a Room
- You only have to decorate one room.
- When you hear one of your twins crying in the middle of the night, you don’t have to figure out which bedroom to run to.
- All the kids’ clothes will be in one room, which makes it easy for dressing when they are young and makes it easy to share clothes (especially if you have identical twins)
- If you put both your twins in the same room, you don’t have to buy that bigger house right away.
Disadvantages of Sharing a Room
- As they get older, your twins will wake each other up. Most often this happens in the morning, when you are hoping for a few more minutes of sleep.
- Quieting down for bedtime is a challenge. Our girls like to chatter and sing to each other after we put them in their cribs. This leads to about an hour of activity before they calm down and finally go to sleep.
- Naps in the same room are difficult because your twins will just want to play with each other and not sleep.
- Boy/Girl twins will eventually reach the age where sharing a room is awkward.
If you’ve already had your twins, do they share a room?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
My twins are 14 months old and we were never able to have them sleep in the same bed – not from the first day!!
They ALWAYS woke each other up. By the time they were six months old I’d been struggling with getting them to not wake each other up and let me sleep for more than an hour at a time by being in the same room and gave up.
They are in separate rooms now and I am MUCH happier, and so are they.
I know many twins who share beautifully, but I don’t think that it’s a steadfast rule. I expected it to be because I talked to so many twin parents who told me that’s how it was…. but there are definitely exceptions
@Lara – You make a great point that everyone’s twins are different and that we as parents need to adapt to what is working and what isn’t.
We had to do some creative problem solving to get them separated for naps so I understand that the same room method doesn’t always work in every case.
We have boy/girl twins your article mentions they will feel awkward sharing the same room at what age does that start? Obviously if they still sharing when entering teen years sure but before that when?
@Jay – When girls start to get cooties, that is when the brother will want to move out. My guess would be between ages 8 and 10.
My twin boys are almost a year old and they have been sleeping in seperate rooms from about one month old! Now, I need to give the one twins room up and am wondering if i should move him into the main bedroom or move him in with his brother. The problem is, his brother sleeps through the night (yay) and he still wakes up twice (boo), so what do I do?
@Kathy – Since you will be disrupting the sleeping arrangements anyway, I’d recommend you move him in with his brother if that is ultimately where you’d like him long term. Otherwise you’ll have another transition later which may or may not go smoothly and you’ll have to repeat the process.
The book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins, is a great resource for helping get your twins in a good sleep routine.
From our experience, any transition in sleeping arrangements may have a bumpy start but you’ll have to stick to it for it to work.
Our girls often sleep through each other’s night time wake-ups when they happen. So your sleeping boy may be very similar and just keep sleeping despite his brother. Remember, just because one twin wakes up, it doesn’t mean the other will too. You won’t know until you try.