Answers for Twin Sleeping Issues

Question: What do I do? One twin seems to be sleeping well while the other is waking up. Do I wake them both up or let one sleep for as long as possible?


I say "Absolutely!" let Audra sleep as long as she wants at night. My twins were the same way. My daughter could go longer without eating at night and my son needed a little bit more to eat. I did it like you during the day. I would feed them on a regular schedule and let them go at night (at least at this age; when they were brand new, I would wake the other one up.). Grace was sleeping 8-9 hours per night by the time she was 8 weeks old. Parker was about 3 months old before he could give up that extra feeding at night.

As long as they are healthy and gaining weight, it sounds like this is Audra's way of telling you that she's ready to sleep longer. Before you know it, Joshua will be able to do the same thing and you'll actually be able to sleep all night. You won't know what to do with yourself. :) A full night's sleep will make you feel like a new woman!

Follow your instincts. Whatever you decide to do will be the right thing for them and for you.
I woke the other twin in the middle of the night too. I was just so afraid she'd wake up 30 minutes after I laid my son back down and I'd never get to sleep. We finally did try letting her sleep at about four months, and she slept through the night...and has been doing so ever since. Unfortunately, it took a lot longer for my son to sleep through the night, but its all about the little victories - - especially where sleep is involved! You might want to try letting her sleep one night to see what happens. If she sleeps through to the next feeding...awesome. If not, then you can always go back to waking them both up again.


Okay I really was bothered by this I remember. I tried both and found that waking was the best thing to do in the long run for all involved. It will not hurt anyone and it doesn't last long and suddenly he will catch up to her. Mine were 13 weeks early so I was always worried about them and questioning myself but I found that if you just treat them normally and keep them on the same schedule it works wonders in the end. I am so thankful I woke my daughter up when I fed my son. They were fine and I was gaining some sanity!!
Good luck and best wishes!


I hope this helps... but I my oldest was he slept through the night. I remember waking him up the first night we were home just as the doctors said and I spent an hour and half trying to get him to eat and he cried unrelentlessly... I ended up putting him back to bed and he slept through the night 6 hours and we were to 8,9, 10 hours pretty quickly, I learned very quickly not to wake a sleeping baby. Now when we had the twins... I knew how important it would be to keep them on the same schedule.., even through the night. So here is what i did with them... When one woke up to feed and the other one didn't, I tried to make the one that was awake go back to sleep and stretch the feeding closer to the one that was sleeping, this worked great for us! The one that woke up quickly went back to sleep and was able to hang on for a couple more hours...(i just didn't get up right away) I let them cry for a 5-10 minutes and usually they fell back to sleep before I would even be able to get out of bed. For a while the switched back and forth as to how would get up first at night, but eventually, by 3 months, they were sleeping 8 hours a night and by 5-6 months they were going 12 hours and continue along the same schedule and they are 14 and half months now. Plus they both take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Being a mon of one first really helped me when it came to having twins and it worked in my favor to get them to sleep through the night as soon as possible and I took advantage of the one that didn't wake up to get the other to sleep longer. IT's all about outsmarting them!! LOLHope this helps... like I said it worked great for us, but I know every situation is different.


At that stage I still found that it was better to continue to wake the other when the first one woke up - otherwise I was sometimes up all night feeding babies, because they would trade off. But at some point I started to try to just let them sleep and see what would happen. I think that it was somewhere between 2 and 3 months that one of them started sleeping consistently about 6 hours at night. It was easier for me to let him sleep and then try to have one feeding later with the 2 of them together. Then I could nurse the one that woke earlier in bed with me and my sleep wasn't so disrupted, either. I hope that you find something that works out!

I can only tell you what worked for us. We woke both boys up at night if one woke and the other didnt. They do everything together. Bottles, nap, play, baths, cereal...everything. It makes it MUCH easier to get them on a schedual. If I were you, I would try giving Joshua an extra half ounce at his last feeding before bed. That may help keep him sleeping until his sister wakes up. We had to do that with Dominic. My boys go to bed at 7pm and dont wake up for their middle of the night bottle until between 4:30am and 5:30am. And then they get up at 7-7:30am for a bottle. We feed at 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and the last bottle they want at 6:15pm before they go down for bed at 7pm. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask! Life for us changes so much once the boys were on their schedual! We are much happier parents for sure! Good luck!


I always woke up one when one woke up to feed.......from those with singletons it doesn't make sense but in a life of multiples it does:)


My girls are 2 and still nap and go to sleep at the same time and are used to this routine.
I did wake both babies when the other woke for a long time. I would do this as long as you feel right about it- you will get more sleep if they are on the same schedule. After a while, Ellie would consistently have to be woken because she would always sleep longer. When it got to the point where she would always have to be woken and just seemed to want to sleep longer, than I would try it out. Sure enough, she did sleep through the night sooner. So, if you want, you can experiment with the baby that sleeps longer. You can let Audra sleep and if she is up just a short time later, than go back to waking her up with the other one. But, if she does sleep a long time, then you can let her sleep in the future too


You probably got a ton of answers on this, but I thought I'd respond since I just had the same issue. Our daughter Gillian started sleeping through the night before our son Connor did, and I kept waking her up just as you are doing. I mentioned it to the doula I was using and she said that if Gillian is sleepy and not eating much (I was complaining that I couldn't keep Gillian awake long enough to feed her more than an ounce or so) that that was her way of telling me to let her sleep. She told me if I keep waking her up, she'll get used to that and I will have a harder time later getting her to sleep through the night. So I stopped waking her up and instead, waited for her to wake up, and within a few days she was sleeping straight through from 8:30-9:00pm to 7am. Gillain was about 13-14 weeks old. I then just waited for Connor to wake up during the night which he would do 1 time around 3-4am.. Each day, he slowly extended his time daily, until about a week later, he started sleeping through the night. Since then, both have slept through the night. I did notice that during the day, they both wanted more milk to make up for the feeding(s) they were missing at night, especially in the late afternoon/early evening feedings.