Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins.

I’d like to kick off this Tuesday’s post, the final installment in my 3 part book review series.

Cover via Amazon

Today I will summarize the key points from the book “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins”.

This book has been almost like a chapter by chapter guide to building healthy sleep habits with the boys. It lists amounts of sleep needed by age, numbers of naps and general step by step guidelines to help sleep train your babies. Once I read “Babywise”, I knew that sleep was MY number one priority for the boys. Once you read the first couple of chapters of this book, you will see why quality sleep should be on your list of priorities when it comes to your children. It is so true, that babies who develop good sleep habits seem happier. Ever been around a kid that doesn’t sleep much? They are miserable. And so are their parents.

Some babies are naturally better sleepers than others. But intervening very early on and creating good habits can mold any baby into a good sleeper. Why do I believe this? Because I have fraternal twins. They have been completely different in their sleep habits right from birth. But at 10 months, I would say they are both good sleepers. It wasn’t always that way, but we were diligent and stuck with the suggestions in this book.

Here are the key points that helped us:

Understand that there are 5 key elements that encourage healthy sleep. When they are in proper balance, children will get the rest they need. They are: Sleep Duration (night and day);Naps;Sleep Consolidation;Sleep Schedules/Timing;and Sleep regularity.

Most twins are born before their due date. Use the ADJUSTED age in their first year to set and determine sleep schedules.

The basic keys to Sleep Training (the earlier you start the better);

-Put twins down to sleep while they are drowsy but still awake (in other words, don’t rock them to sleep!)

-During the day (before the age of 4 months)-put twins down to sleep often, with only brief intervals of wakefulness

-Practice Sleep Routines

-Institute Synchronized Schedules

-Make bedtimes easy with no more tears

All of these points are talked about in detail and I found the ideas to be extremely helpful.

The book also breaks down total sleep needs (in a 24 hour period) by age:these are approximates, please consult the book for details

Birth-2 weeks-15-17 hours

Month 1-13.5 hours

Months 2-2 years-14-14.5 hours

This was a huge help for me when looking at naps and bedtimes and waketimes. It ends up being simple math. For instance, for me..at 10 months, if the babies are napping twice a day for an hour and a half each time, then they need 11 hours at night. This may mean a bedtime of 7pm and a wakeup of 6am which would total 14 hours of sleep. Keep in mind all babies are different so these are general guidelines. I have one baby that needs less total sleep than the other so his naps are shorter and he typically wakes up a little earlier in the mornings.

There is also a section on troubleshooting and general information on other challenges and tips specific to twins. Overall, this book is an absolute must read no matter what type of parenting style you have. Everyone wants happy kids, right?

Thanks for popping by and make sure you share this with a mom who could use it!