If you think setting up a night-time routine with twins is totally impossible, then you are wrong. It may be a bit cumbersome but it ain’t impossible.

The first six months with my twins (A&A) I didn’t face any issue putting them to sleep. I would feed them, sing a lullaby or rock them and they would doze off gently. Post six months, however, things begin to change. They became more aware of their surroundings and would want to look around, babble and play. Putting them to bed started to take unusually long and I would struggle to keep my eyes open, while trying to make them sleep.

Gradually I started to work upon a night-time routine with them. Every day I would follow a fixed pattern of bedtime activities that would help them relax and add for a gentle sleep time. And that helped a lot, so much so that their body clock got conditioned to function as per the routine.

Even now, when A&A are 3 years old, our night routine is the same and we do the same set of bedtime activities. Since the start, we preferred co-sleeping. So all four of us (my husband, kids and I) sleep together on the same bed. Both my twins too have a habit of sleeping together. In the past 3 years, they have never been put to sleep in separate rooms for even once. Initially this used to add to our trouble- if one wouldn’t sleep, he/she would wake up the other too. But that persisted only for a few months. Now if I see, they gain a sense of comfort with each other’s presence in the room and just don’t like to sleep without each other. 

So here in this post, I thought to share with you all the things that we do that add up to our bedtime activities. If you are looking to create a fun night-time routine with twins, then continue reading this post to gain some ideas.

Start Early.
This is important for an easy routine to ensure kids do not get overtired and cranky as a result. My kids’ bed time is 9.30, so we start half an hour before just to build enough time for that extra story, or lullaby or the cuddles.

Brush/Bath Time
Not only this helps in good habit formation, but this has a calming effect on kids too, making them feel light and relaxed. When A&A were young, I used to massage and gently sponge them (if not bath) every night. Now we have done away with the massage but brushing and bathing exist. Also because they go to park late evening, rolling in sand, climbing tree, etc are some of the mandatory games they play. So this just ensures they get refreshed and free of all the germs before they hit the bed.

Fun Activity
Both A&A are highly active and restless before bedtime. They jump on the bed, sing, scream etc. I don’t know where they get this energy from but yes they become little monkeys in the night. And they have been this way right from the start. So I have always tried to channelise their energy in some mindful activities. When they were young, we used to play simple games like racing, chasing each other, etc. As they grew up they started enjoying dancing. So we would just put on some music and dance for ten to fifteen minutes. Now a days they have invented their own games. They ask us to make shadows (after switching off the light) and they love playing with their own shadows.

Reading Books
This is the favorite part of our bed time routine. It gives us some quiet moments and helps to bond well. I have subscribed to a kid’s library nearby and so we get to read new books every week. And A&A totally enjoy watching the illustrations and listening to the stories. Sometimes when I am done reading the books, they themselves pick one book each and try to read on their own (as if trying to recap what they just heard) and it’s cute to watch them doing that.

Talking, Sharing & Storytelling.
My kids are a little chatterbox and they love to talk and tell stories. So once we switch off the lights, we start telling each other about our day. One thing I don’t forget to ask them is their favourite thing that happened during the day. I also make the most of this time by telling them one good thing and one bad thing that they did in the day. For the bad one I explain them why the bad thing was bad. Usually my husband talks to one kid and I to another. So we also get to spend some one-on-one time with each kid. Once we are done discussing our day, begins story telling. They have their few favorite stories and often fight whose favorite should we should tell first. So again my husband and I take turns and pick one baby each and tell stories individually. Usually they both doze off while listening to the story.

Cuddles
No bed time is complete without snuggles and cuddles. We give each kid some amount of snuggle time (to ensure we are fair to both) before they doze off. We make both of them cuddle and kiss each other too and wish good night. I think this helps at multiple levels. We get to bond with kids and kids too get to bond with each other. Also as parents it helps us too to relax, unwind and have a peaceful goodnight sleep.

Did you find this post ‘night-time routine with twins’ useful? Do you follow a similar bedtime routine with your kid? Do share in the comments below. 

This post is a part of#BlogchatterA2Z Challenge on the alphabet ‘G’. You can find all 26 posts on ‘A to Z of Twin Parenting’ under the hashtags #atozoftwinparenting and #themomsagaswrites on Facebook and Twitter.