Should the twins sleep in the same bed?

Here is one of the eternal questions that we ask of multiple mothers. Twins, twins, triplets ... do not know the world in any other way than in their mother's womb together, so why not continue with that practice once they leave the womb? Twins Together in the same crib or separated? Of course, this

Twins Together in the same crib or separated?

Of course, this decision depends many times on the circumstances of the parents rather than on the convenience for the baby, since sometimes putting two cradles in the marriage room becomes a real odyssey. But, leaving aside personal circumstances, there are several studies that lavish the benefits of babies sleeping together in the first months of life.

Although, as is usual, all pro has its counter. Some pediatricians, along with the Dutch Association of Multiple Parents, discourages co-sleeping between twins claiming that there is a greater likelihood of suffering from sudden death syndrome, and suggest putting them together only during waking moments. Another factor that persuades parents not to put their twins together is the idea that their children wake up to each other when they cry or that they may suffer from overheating.

However, in 2006, Dr. Hellen Ball of the University of Durhan, did a study with twins less than 3 months where it was found that all these observations were not true . In their study there was no greater risk for the babies to sleep together, they did not suffer a rise in body temperature, and they did not even wake up more frequently, but synchronized their awakenings.Benefits for twins sleeping together

Another revealing check was made at the Santa Fe Hospital in Valencia, where an experiment was carried out more than a decade ago, which definitively marked the way to treat babies from multiple preterm deliveries to from then on. It was found that

when they were placed together in the same incubator, their growth accelerated , their breathing became calmer and the oxygen level in the blood increased, which entailed a decrease in the level of anxiety and concern of the parents. From then on, double incubators and special cradles were imported.The benefits for the twins are clear, and in the case of triplets, quadruplets ... they usually rotate the shifts in the cribs so that everyone is next to their brothers.

As a mother of twins, I did the opposite of what pediatricians recommend in these things: I put my daughters in separate cribs and also in their own room

(my mother told me they were the first independent babies I saw). The case is that, first because of ignorance about the subject (at that time there was not so much information), and later, because our room was so small that it did not even allow me to have a single cradle next to our bed, the girls They became independent at birth faster than the stick insects. This did not pose any problem for us; although, perhaps the only downside, is that if the breastfeeding is maternal, the mother must get up to the next room to breastfeed, and that is much more difficult than having them next. The fact that one wakes the other with crying would also happen in separate cribs but in the same room, and I can assure you that they are so accustomed to the noises of the other that it seems incredible that they do not even flinch when the others cry out to the sky to shout peeled.

What is clear, is that the twins who sleep together approach, smell, search and touch each other

. They are reassured by being side by side, and it's nice to see them hugging each other.After all, they have always been like this.

Patricia Fernández.

Editor of Guiainfantil.com