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| More Co-Bedding Stories! |
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From Gail & Bob, parents of Curtis 26 months and Jayne & Lauren, 3 months, Ontario, Canada
I was hoping to find a quote from a book, but couldn't find anything in my "Double Duty" (by Chrisitina Baglivi Tinglof). I was surprised! I do know that many twins' books do talk of co-bedding for medical and psychosocial reasons: It lowers the stress of being born and out in the cold, cruel world. Twins have been accustom to being together in the womb and can possibly miss each other following birth. Twins are known to comfort each other in times of crisis. Also, the heart beat and respirations of one twin can stimulate the other twin, thus possibly decreasing or avoiding apneic and bradycardic spells (decreased breathing or slower heart rates). Don't wish to alarm anyone. These are common occurrences with some newborns.
Many hospitals are adopting a co-bedding policy. I've heard that a local hospital is working on a policy for co-bedding presently. Many nurses also encourage and support the theory of co
We are co-bedding our 3 month old twins until they begin to roll (between 4 and 6 months). Later, we'll probably put their cribs along side each other so that they can be close.
Many older twins choose to sleep together. Our friend has 19 month old twins. The girl recently started climbing into her brother's crib. The cribs were already side-by-side, so they just lowered the rails between the two cribs so that they could crawl back and forth as desired.
From Sue, Ontario, Canada
Tom and Richard were born by C-Section in the early morning hours on April 16, 1999. Tom had been in distress since the induction was started 7 hours prior. At the time of labour, we still didn't know he had Down Syndrome but when he was born, he was rushed into the NICU where he stayed for the next 5 days before we brought him home, and he was back to being healthy. (His complications were more from the symptoms of Downs, with low muscle tone, and not getting enough oxygen, and a small hole in his heart that eventually healed itself)
As Tom was in the NICO, co-bedding wasn't an option. However with the power of hindsight, if Tom had been healthy at birth (but still with
Downs) and we had been offered to co-bed the twins, we would have declined. Poor Richard was squished for almost 18 weeks in one spot, never moving, with Tom turning cartwheels over him right before delivery. My thoughts would have been to let him have some peace and quiet before they went home where we planned to co-bed them.
We did co-bed them in their cribs until 5 months, and then separated them until they were 24 months in separate cribs. When it was time to make the next bedding choice, we decided on a futon on the floor and they went back to co-bedding. Tom is still doing flip-flops during the night.
We are currently shopping for new captains beds for the guys, with extra guard rails for Tom. Whatever choices we've made so far can't be too bad as they at least sleep through the night.
From Geneviève, Ontario, Canada
One mother's thoughts on co-bedding in the NICU........
- It takes less room by your hospital bed, which is very important if you are sharing a room;
- There is less confusion in the nursery (only have to worry about one bassinet);
- It MUST help the babies feel more secure as they have yet to be separated;
- It must also help them conserve body heat; AND
- It is very cute in pictures
BUT, it all depends on the size of your multiples. My twins were 4 lbs 13 oz and 6 lbs 5 oz. They were able to stay in the same bassinet at the hospital and in the same crib for more than three months at home. I can imagine that if you have more than 2 babies or, if your twins weigh more than 7 lbs each, co-bedding in the hospital will be difficult, the bassinet is simply too small. Maybe there are larger bassinets, you would have to ask.
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