When I was studying to be a sleep therapist, and we had to work with volunteer clients, I was dreading my twin volunteer family assessment. As it turns out, it went really well, but I still worried about working with twins once I had qualified.
Over the past six years, I have worked with many twin families, and I love it. It never ceases to amaze me how one twin can sleep through the other twin’s crying. Sometimes, each twin has their own room, but more often than not, they share a room. This isn’t a problem as we implement strategies to make it work.
Each twin is assessed separately, as even identical twins have their own personalities and temperaments. Sometimes, we are able to use the same sleep training technique for both, just tweaking things for each twin; sometimes, they have to have totally different sleep training techniques that suit their personality types.
If you are planning on sleep training your twins, this is my advice;
1. Look at their temperament and personality types, and choose a sleep training technique that works for each twin as an individual, even if that means you are using two different techniques.
2. If you have the space to give them their own rooms, I would advise you to do so. This will make the sleep training easier for you. Sometimes, once they are sleeping well, they might want to go back to sharing a room, which is fine once they are sleeping.
3. Share the load, if possible, and get someone to help you with the sleep training, especially if the twins are in separate rooms.
4. Choose a time when you are likely to be able to catch up on sleep during the day; that way, you are less likely to give up.
5. As always, be consistent; consistency will be your key to making the sleep training process work.
