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October is Infant Safe Sleep Month. It is also Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness Month. Together, they aim to raise awareness of sleep-related infant deaths and promote a safe sleep environment for babies around the world.
Keeping your newborn babies safe is any parent's top priority, but it can be hard (read: impossible) to keep a close eye on your little ones when your eyes are literally closed and you're sleeping overnight.
Sure, one parent could literally stay up all night long and be on guard duty, or you could each take three-hour shifts between wake windows and fall into the zombified oblivion that comes with running on next to no quality sleep.
But that's not doing any parents of newborn twins any favors.
This is why it's important to implement and follow safe sleep practices to promote a secure sleep environment for your precious, little babes.
Safe sleep practice checklist
- Make sure their sleep space is empty A baby's sleep space should not be crowded with comfort items. This means no blankets, pillows, stuffed animals / loveys, nor bumper pads should be in their cribs until they're at least a year old, or even longer, if you can wait.
- Sleep space should have a flat surface Your twins' cribs, cradles, or bassinets should each have a firm, flat surface with a tightly fitted sheet and no gaps between the mattress and the sides of the sleep space. Safe sleep practices suggest your twins' sleep area should be in the same room as their parents / caregivers for the first six months. Be sure to regularly check that the crib's hardware is tight and not damaged.
- Back is best Until your babies are able to successfully roll over from their stomachs to their backs on their own, always lay them down in their cribs on their back to sleep.
- Monitor the sleep space temperature Your babies can't regulate their own body temperature until they're at least nine months old, so they need their parents' help to make sure they don't overheat while sleeping. Avoid giving your babies toques or socks when sleeping unsupervised, as they can't remove them if they get too hot; a sleeper will keep them warm enough, but if you're concerned and your babies are big enough, you can give them a properly sized sleep sack to wear over their sleeper. A sleep sack is a wearable blanket that keeps the baby's arms free and doesn't pose a suffocation risk (if it's appropriately sized and worn properly).
- Don't let your babies sleep in unsafe areas As tempting as it may be for any tired parent of newborn twins, do not let your babies sleep unsupervised in a high chair, swing, bouncer, stroller, or car seat. Their heads can fall forward while sleeping upright, which can close off their airway because they have no neck control to move their head back. This can lead to suffocation. If your babies fall asleep in any of the aforementioned locations, move them to a safe sleep space as soon as you can safely do so. Likewise, couches, chairs, or a full-sized bed can all increase your babies' chance of falling or getting trapped if they sleep on them.
- Avoid smoking and second-and smoke Being smoke-free before and after the birth of your children decreases their risk of SIDS.
- Breastfeeding can lower the risk of SIDS If possible, breastfeeding your babies for the first two months of their lives can lower their risk of SIDS by about 50 percent.
Control the room conditions
Pay attention to the room conditions and consider how they'll change depending on what time of year it is—the temperature differential for daytime naps versus nighttime sleep sessions, the humidity level in the room, how crib placement will affect your routine or overnight activities, etc.
Think about how the temperature outside will affect conditions indoors and what you might need to adjust to keep your babies comfortable and within the desired range of about 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (20 to 22 degrees Celsius).
While your indoor settings likely don't vary much, living somewhere where there's a huge temperature differential (it ranges from -40 in the wintertime to +100 Fahrenheit in the summertime, where we are) can require some tweaking to keep the certain rooms at a desired temperature.
Other factors, like if the sleep area is on a side of the house that gets several hours of direct sunlight for a huge chunk of the day, can impact how much that particular room warms up during daytime naps, so you might consider putting a cool mist humidifier along with a fan in the room (make sure it's not blowing directly on the cribs but is just circulating the air) to help bring the temperature down a few degrees, if needed, during those hot afternoon naps.
The Frida Baby Cool Mist 3-in-1 Humidifier also helps babies breathe easier by preventing stuffy noses during drier seasons, like our winters, so they can sleep more soundly through the night.
Frida Baby Cool Mist 3-in-1 Humidifier
This is the Frida Baby Cool Mist 3-in-1 Humidifier. It helps babies breathe easier by preventing stuffy noses, so they can sleep more soundly through the night.
When you're outside of your babies' sleeping area, you may wonder if the room conditions are straying from the desired ranges.
Rather than trying to sneak silently into the room to confirm they're okay and don't need immediate assistance from you, invest in a baby monitor, like the Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor & Flex Stand, that can provide real-time temperature and humidity readings on their feed, so you can see at a glance if anything needs to be tweaked.
A feature like this is super handy for those times you've finally gotten the twins to sleep and don't want to risk waking them up for something you can easily check through the monitor's app.
We have two of the Nanit Pro smart baby monitors and flex stands and we absolutely love them. You can set up the app to show you side by side live views of each crib and you can add their names, so you can easily see who's who without trying to remember which pajamas they wore to bed that night.
Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor & Flex Stand
This is the Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor & Flex Stand. In addition to a live feed of your baby, it shows you real-time temperature and humidity levels, and has a built-in sound machine and night light.
Plus, like I mentioned, it gives you real-time room stats, like temperature and humidity levels, at a glance, and it has a built-in white noise machine with different soundscapes and a built-in, dimmable night light.
Why blankets are a bust in the beginning
When unsupervised, blankets are a dual hazard for newborns. Not only can they contribute to overheating, they can become a suffocation hazard if your babies burrow down into the blankets and can't figure out how to make their way back out for fresh air.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it's time to say, "See ya," to the swaddle once your babies start showing signs they're learning how to roll over. This can be anywhere from two to four months of age, depending on each individual baby.
If you're worried about your babies being cold when it's time for bedtime or naptime, you may choose to have your babies wear swaddling blankets or sleep sacks (you can read everything you wanted to know about sleep sacks, here).
Also known as a wearable blanket, sleep sacks are similar to a sleeveless, slightly oversized but lightweight sleeping bag that can be zipped shut.
Until your newborns are closer to nine months old (or even up to 12 months old), they cannot fully adapt and regulate their body temperature to external conditions.
Until your newborns are closer to nine months old (or even up to 12 months old), they cannot fully adapt and regulate their body temperature to external conditions. Babies are totally reliant on their parents to monitor and adjust their environment to ensure they are comfortable.
Sleep sacks help your baby regulate their temperature and sleep safely because they do not restrict the arms. Because they are pouch-like, they give your baby the freedom to move as needed, which promotes healthy hip development, and allow them to sleep comfortably.
We had three different kinds of sleep sacks over the first many months before we introduced blankets at bedtime. We began with Halo sleep sacks rated for their age and weight, and they were soft and cute and did a good job.
They have a little fabric pocket to tuck over the zipper pull, so that inquisitive minds can't chomp down on the teeth of the zipper with the teeth that are erupting through their sensitive, little gums.
HALO Sleep Sack with a TOG Value of 0.5
This is Halo's 0.5 TOG sleep sack. The wearable blanket is cotton and has a zipper that opens from the bottom for easier diaper changes.
Then, we ended up using the Nested Bean Zen weighted sleep sacks as our go-to choice every night because the small weight on the chest of the sleep sack, which mimics the sensation and comfort of a parent's hand gently resting on their chest, helped prevent their startle reflex from waking them up throughout the night.
Nested Bean Zen Weighted Sleep Sack
This is the Nested Bean Zen weighted sleep sack. It's designed to help prevent wake-ups during sleep regressions and help your baby learn to self-soothe.
Once our twins outgrew the Nested Bean Zen Sleep Sack, the Baby Beekeeper Infant Wearable Blanket by Burt's Bees became a staple. It's rated for 12-18 months (22 to 28 pounds; our twins were still wearing them at 24 months' old because they were still under the maximum weight threshold.
Burt's Bees Baby Beekeeper Infant Wearable Blanket
This is the Burt's Bees Baby Beekeeper Infant Wearable Blanket. The interior zipper guard and zipper pull cover help prevent your baby from pulling at or trying to chew the zipper when they get bored.
Above all else, you want to make sure your babies are comfortable, especially during their naps and overnight sleep sessions. You don't want your little ones to be too cold and you also don't want them overheating.
When you lay your kiddos down, remember, their fingers and toes aren't good indicators of their actual warmth level. If you're concerned, feel their core, torso, or neck in order to get a proper indication of how warm or cool they are.
When you lay your kiddos down, remember, their fingers and toes aren't good indicators of their actual warmth level. If you're concerned, feel their core, torso, or neck in order to get a proper indication of how warm or cool they are.
Or, you can take their temperature using a thermometer to get an accurate reading; oftentimes, a baby may feel warmer or cooler than they actually are, and the thermometer can put those worries to rest—so that you can also rest.
Practice safe sleep, so you can sleep easy
Promoting a safe sleep environment for naps and overnight sleep sessions can help save infants around the world.
Keeping your newborn babies safe is critical. But as any parent knows, those first few months with a brand new baby (or two, or more) are incredibly exhausting, and it can be difficult to keep a close eye on your little ones when your twins are sleeping and you're also trying to get some well-deserved shut-eye.
Implementing and following safe sleep practices like the ones outlined in the checklist above can help parents and caregivers promote a secure sleep environment, which will help everyone in your household sleep safe and sleep easy.
What safe sleep practices do you follow in your home? When did you move your babies to their own room? At what age did you introduce blankets? Let us know in the Comments section below.
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