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As any new parent can attest to, sleep is important. So, so—zZZzz—important. While your newborn twins will likely spend the first several months sleeping in a bassinet by your side, once you make the decision to move your babies into their own bedroom, one of the first things you will probably teach your children is how to fall asleep on their own.
An integral part of this process is having an appropriate sleep environment in place.
Setting up the nursery for success
While you've probably already had your nursery set up since before the twins arrived, you'll want to take the time to go through the bedtime routine in your mind to make sure you've got your nursery set up for smooth sleep training ahead of time.
The training method you choose is important (you can read all about how we implemented sleep training with our twins, here); however, having the right set-up in your nursery for this transitional time will also contribute to how successful your sleep training will be.
Pay close attention to the room conditions and consider how they'll change depending on what time of year it is...
Pay close attention to the room conditions and consider how they'll change depending on what time of year it is—the sound, any light that comes through for daytime naps and how dark it will be when it's time for the bedtime routine, 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.
Sound and light
Make sure the sleep environment you set up for your babies isn't overstimulating. This means staying away from mobiles, aquariums, or other distracting toys with lights, music, or noise.
The only kind of noise you'll want in their nursery for bedtime and naps is white noise. It helps create a calm environment and will help your twins sleep longer.
The only kind of noise you'll want in their nursery for bedtime and naps is white noise. It helps create a calm environment and will help your twins sleep longer.
Even if you live on a busy street or in an active household, white noise will do wonders for helping to block any unwanted sounds from creeping into your babies' bedroom. Make sure you have some sort of white noise in place, whether it's built into your baby monitors or is a standalone unit, playlist, or app.
You'll want the white noise to be fairly loud, as loud as the sound of their cries. Having said this, you obviously don't want to blast it right next to their heads; you don't want to give them hearing damage. If it's too loud for you, it's definitely too loud for your babies.
While having bright daylight cascading into the room is wonderful for wake windows, you don't want bright lights streaming into the room during naptime or bedtime.
You may want to invest in some room-darkening curtains to help create the right ambiance for nodding off to sleep in the middle of the day.
Having said this, if you notice that your babies really have a hard time sleeping in total darkness, it IS possible, if they spent a significant time in the neonatal intensive care unit, that they grew accustomed to falling asleep to the bright lights and loud noises of the ward.
If this is the case for you, try using a dim night light to see if that makes a difference. But I'd start with total darkness and go from there because lights tend to be a distraction that your babies will focus on when they should be focusing on trying to fall asleep.
Temperature and humidity
One thing to think about is 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).
Your indoor settings likely don't vary much, but living in a locale where there's a huge temperature differential (where we are, it ranges from -40 in the wintertime to +100 Fahrenheit in the summertime) can require some adjustments to keep certain rooms at a desired temperature.
Other factors, like if the nursery is on a side of the house that gets several hours of direct sunlight for the majority of the day, can impact how much that particular room warms up during daytime naps.
If this is the case in your home, you might consider putting a cool mist humidifier along with a fan in the nursery (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 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.
While it has a built-in night light that ranges through the colors of the rainbow (and it does look really cool as it fades through the hues), we keep it turned off, so it's not a distraction at bedtime.
When it's time for bedtime or naptime, your babies may be wearing sleep sacks (you can read everything you wanted to know about sleep sacks, here). This is because 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.
We had three different kinds of sleep sacks 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.
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.
Some baby monitors, like the Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor & Flex Stand, will provide a real-time temperature reading on their feed, so you can see at a glance if anything needs to be tweaked, which is super handy.
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.
When it's time for your twins to lay down for a nap or their overnight slumber, it's also important to remember that 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.
Crib placement
One thing to think about when setting up the sleep environment in your nursery is how you want your twins' cribs to be placed. We have our babies' cribs on opposite walls, and we kept them in the same room during sleep training.
We went with the Graco Solano 4-in-1 Convertible Crib, which has a built-in drawer underneath that is handy for seasonal clothes and bedding. My sister, who also has twins, loved this crib for her babies, too, because this crib grows with your babies as they transition from newborns to toddlers.
Graco Solano 4-in-1 Convertible Crib
The Graco Solano 4-in-1 Convertible Crib has a built-in drawer that is handy for seasonal clothes. This crib will grow with your babies as they transition from newborns to toddlers.
When we were still doing overnight bottle feeds, I remember thinking we should have set the cribs up to be within arm's reach of each other so one person could reach to hold a bottle for each at the same time, but now that they're not doing overnight feeds (we ditched those a few weeks before their first birthday...you can read about how we weaned our twins off of overnight feeds, here), I'm happy their cribs aren't within reach of each other.
While I still think it'd be cute if they were able to reach and interact with each other, I'm pretty sure they'd constantly be poking each other in the eyes, biting each other's fingers, or tapping each other and laughing about it instead of getting drowsy and falling asleep, so it's better for us to have them not be able to reach each other from their cribs.
... if one's awake in the night or during a daytime nap and yelling, the other one sleeps right through it because they have that bit of a buffer space between each other.
Plus, if one's awake in the night or during a daytime nap and yelling, the other one sleeps right through it because they have that bit of a buffer space between each other.
Like I said, white noise does work wonders to block out sounds from other parts of the house, but it also miraculously (and magically?) blocks out the sounds that each baby makes within the same room. It's very rare that they wake one another.
The zen zone
One last thing to consider when setting up your nursery is where you'll have storytime as part of your bedtime routine.
We opted for an oversized chair-and-a-half that could accommodate both parents and both twins for a snug and cozy storytime at any time of day.
We'll read with our twins whenever they want, but we always make sure that reading a handful of books is a steady part of the bedtime routine.
Seeing the books come out is a signal to our babies that it's time to start winding down, getting into relaxation mode, and preparing to drift off to sleep very shortly.
Seeing the books come out is a signal to our babies that it's time to start winding down, getting into relaxation mode, and preparing to drift off to sleep very shortly.
Even on the most rambunctious days, when it seems like sleep is nowhere in sight, these books work their magic and bring our twins' energy levels down to the point where we see yawns sneaking in or eyes being rubbed gingerly as a wave of tiredness rolls in.
Dream up a set-up that works for you
The right sleep environment for your twins can be a dream come true. You just have to put the work into setting yourself, and your babies, up for success.
Think about the room conditions (including any unwanted sound and light) and how they'll change with the seasons.
Take into account the temperature differential for naps and overnight sleep sessions. And don't forget about the humidity level in the room.
Equally as important is planning out how crib placement will affect your routine, both before bedtime and during overnight feeds in the nursery.
Lastly, make sure to incorporate a spot for relaxation, if possible, where your twins can unwind and consistently have a visual reminder that it's time to head off to Snooze Town.
What do you think is the most important part of a comfortable sleep environment and why do you think it has such an impact? Let us know in the Comments section below.
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