If you are expecting twins - congratulations on your twin pregnancy! Here we give you some tips on setting up your twins' nursery.

Twins sharing a room
The vast majority of people have their twins together in the same room because not only will the twins enjoy each other's company, but it’s more convenient to have them together. One bedroom houses the cots, the nappies and all the clothes, and it’s faster to have everything you need at arm’s reach. But there are some decisions you’ll need to make as your twins grow up.

When your twins are babies, it makes sense for them to share a room. It’s easier for feeding, comforting and settling from a parent’s point of view, and the crying of one twin rarely wakes the other as babies are heavy sleepers. However as your twins become toddlers, they are more likely to wake each other, and more likely to want to play. Same sex twins are more likely to share a twin for longer than boy/girl twins, but the general consensus is to let them share a room until they are old enough to decide whether or not they want to anymore (at around 5 or 6 years of age). At school age, it’s ideal for them to have their own desk to study on, and a room each will help their sense of identity which becomes more important as they grow up. If you have a large family, it might be more practical for them to continue sharing a room due to space limitations and this is fine too.

Bassinets for twins
It’s common for parents of newborn twins to want to sleep their twins together to embrace that special twin bond, and here are the common ways of sleeping newborn twins:

- Cots which have an in-cot bassinet attachment such as the Cariboo Classic Cot and Bassinet Twin Pack enable you to sleep your newborn twins close together when they are little, then you can simply remove the bassinet attachments when your babies are old enough to need their own cot for safety reasons.

- There are twin bassinet portacots available in the US, such as the Graco Twin Bassinet which converts into a single portacot.

- Many twin prams these days come out with a bassinet option, which can fit into the twin pram frame while the babies are young. Mountain Buggy Carry Cots come in a single and twin version, and are designed for use when using the pram or inside the house.

- Bedside co-sleepers such as the Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper Bassinet are a unique creation which sits next to your bed and allows your twins to sleep next to each other from the moment they come home. A co-sleeper allows you to reach over and bring your babies close to you for feeding or comforting. These products cleverly convert to a portacot. We recommend the Universal model, not the mini, when buying for twins. In Australia, you can purchase these from bebeonline.com.au.

- Sleeping newborns side by side in the same cot will allow the babies to have that same closeness, and while there’s no danger of them rolling over and smothering each other, provides a cheaper alternative to buying these extra products. If you do this, make sure the other cot is also made up so if one chucks up in the middle of the night, you can simply place them both in the other cot until the morning.

On a practical level, bassinets are not an essential nursery item and if you are on a budget, don’t feel as though you have to buy something extra for sleeping your newborns.

Cots for twins
There are plenty of twin parents-to-be out there Googling to find twin cots or twin cribs, and there are companies overseas which make them. However there are a few fundamental practical problems with cots designed especially for twins.

- The ‘L-shaped’ twin corner cot (see a picture here) was designed to sit in a corner and therefore had odd shaped mattresses, but babies do creep up the bed when asleep and we were concerned about them getting trapped in the corner. Not surprisingly, this cot is no longer available on the market.

- The double decker twin cots (see a picture here) which are built to sleep one baby on top of the other might have the same footprint size as a single cot, but at 6’ high, in our opinion they are dangerous (when they are old enough babies can climb out of their cots), and with the mattress size being smaller than a standard cot, they would outgrow their cots before being ready for big beds, and bedding is difficult to find.

- There are a couple of different brands where two cots are joined together (see a picture here), but apart from not being able to sit in between the cots and pat/settle your babies at the same time if you need to, as the twins get older they will start to poke and prod each other and play together in the middle of the night.

- There are also brands where two cots can be joined together or separated, but we recommend just purchasing two separate cots and placing them together at the start, that way you will get a bigger choice of product design, styling and price.

- Cot dividers are popular in the US and the UK, and the most common product is the Safababy Cot Divider.

We recommend purchasing two standard cots which meet Australian Safety Standards, and placing your newborn twins together in the same cot when they are very young, then in their own cots as they grow older.

When positioning the twins’ cots, it’s a good idea to put a ‘chair’s’ width between them so you can sit on the chair and reach out to both babies if you need to pat/settle them (although it’s best to try not to get into the habit of patting/rocking as it’s hard to keep up on a long term basis, so teaching them to self settle is best). This will also give you room to walk in between the cots, whilst keeping the babies close enough to see each other.

Layer your sheets
If you place multiple layers of bedding on the cots then if there’s an accident in the middle of the night, you can simply remove the top layer of bedding and put the baby straight onto the bottom layer, saving you having to change the cot sheets in the middle of the night. In other words put a mattress protector on, then the fitted sheet and then another mattress protector and fitted sheet. So if you have to change the sheets you just pull the top sheet and protector off and the bed is still made and ready to go.

Toddler twins daytime ruckus
There will come a time when your twins will want to play and not sleep during the day, and this can become a real problem. Sometime it helps to put a sheet over the cot to cordon off the twins so they can’t see each other, but the most common technique is to sleep one twin in the nursery, and put the other twin in a portacot in another room during the day so they are well and truly separated. If one twin wakes earlier in the morning than the other, it’s often a good idea to have a portacot made up in another room so you can transfer them to the portacot and let the second twin sleep longer.

Breastfeeding chair for twins
Although a breastfeeding or glider chair is very useful when you have one baby, it is not practical for twins because there is a danger of the babies falling off the sides of the chair. You will not be able to safely breastfeed twins together in a glider chair, as this really needs to be done on a 2.5 couch or sofa, or in the middle of your bed so there is plenty of room either side to put the babies. When setting yourself up to tandem breastfeed your twins, you’ll put your babies at either end of the couch, each lying on a standard bed pillow. Then you will sit down in between them and put a twin breastfeeding pillow on your lap, then bring each baby onto the pillow and on to the breast for feeding. You may need a box as a foot stool to get more comfy. It's most likely you'll have to tandem feed your twins on a couch in the living room rather than in bed, so you don't disturb your sleeping partner.

Change table
You’ll only really need one change table with twins (as you can’t change two nappies at once), but it’s sometimes handy to have a change table in the nursery and one in the living room for quick and easy changing. Newborn babies need about 8-10 nappy changes a day each, so nappy changes are going to be a huge part of your life in the first two years. If the two cots fill up your nursery, you can put all the gear you need on the change table and have that in the living room, stocked with nappies, wipes, nappy rash cream, spare clothes and rubbish bags. The advantage of having a change table in the living room is that you don’t have to carry the babies through doorways to the bedroom during the day when you are tired (at night you can do the nappy changes on the spot, in the cot), and that you won’t make noise and disturb the other baby. It’s also handy if you need to keep an eye on an older sibling at the same time. Other people recommend having the second change table in the bathroom, as that is where you are often changing them for bed. It all depends on the space you have available and what works best for you. A second hand change table or one on loan from a friend will help keep costs down, but if you are buying new, it’s a good idea to get one with wheels so you can move it around if you need to. If you don’t have space for a second change table, then a spare change table mat is a good alternative as it can be laid on a bed or on the floor for a quick nappy change.

Storage space
Storage space in your twin nursery will be at a premium. Remember to think vertically to make the most of your space. Good ideas include floor to ceiling shelving and armoires (computer wardrobes) instead of dressers, as these can double as change tables if you are really short on space. You can also make good use of the space beneath your twin cots by tucking storage baskets under there.

Lighting
It’s worth getting a dimmer switch installed by an electrician in your nursery, so you can have the light on really low when feeding or changing nappies. Otherwise you’ll need a lamp or night light in the nursery that will give you a soft light. There will come a time when your twins will want a night light on in their room, so it’s worth getting one from the start so you aren’t doubling up (pardon the pun!). If you are on a budget, you may be able to simply turn on a light in the hallway or opposite room to give you enough light to operate. There are lots of fancy lights on the market – some that also act as thermometers such as the Groeggs - but these are expensive and not really necessary.

Baby monitors for twins
There are two main types of monitors. The use of noise monitors are very much a personal preference for the parents – some parents want to hear every noise the babies make and other parents go to great lengths not to hear them! Then there are the movement monitors which utilise pads under the bedding. These are useful if you only have one child who sleeps in their cot alone, but if you have twins co-sleeping in a cot, or sleeping in two bassinets, then a set of two Snuza baby monitors are perfect for this situation. These monitors can provide peace of mind for parents as they vibrate and set off an alarm when motion is not detected after a certain period of time.

CD player
Many parents use special CDs as a way to settle their babies (eg baby music or white noise), so you may need a CD player in the nursery.

Clock
A clock is a good idea to keep track of feeds, nappy changes and so on, so this could be a wall clock which is still visible in low light, or a digital clock which lights up when you touch it. As well as recording the time of the feeds, with a clock in the nursery you can keep track of the length of the feeds too.

Heating and cooling
Nursery room temperature is important especially if your babies are born in the middle of summer or winter. An oil column heater is useful for heating the babies room in winter, and a fan is a useful addition in summer. Our babies were born in January, and we found that running a fan in their nursery also helped settle our babies as they seemed to like the dull whirring sound.

Twin Nursery Themes
If you want to decorate your twin baby room with a theme there are many that work very well for twins.

Unisex nursery themes for twins
- Stars and clouds
- Two peas in a pod
- Noah’s Ark
- Enchanted forest
- Old McDonald
- Jungle Fever
- Circus Fun

Boy & girl twin nursery themes
- Peter pan and Tinkerbell
- Cowboy and Cowgirl
- Superman and supergirl
- Dr Seuss – Thing 1 and Thing 2
- Phil and Lil (Rugrats)

Twin Boy nursery themes
- Bananas in Pyjamas
- Stars and stripes

Twin Girl nursery themes
- Princesses
- Butterflies and Flowers
- Fairy Fun

Twin Nursery Décor ideas
If you want to individualise your twins’ spaces rather than use a joint theme, here are some ideas on how to create distinct spaces for each child:
- Painting each twin’s name above their cot (you can use different fonts or colours if you are having a boy and a girl).
- Using different but coordinated bedding sets.
- Painting the walls of your twin’s nursery in two different colours.
- Using different coloured nursery rugs under each of the twins’ cots.
- Placing different wall decals on the walls above their cots.
- Hang a mobile above each cot.

Colours for the twins nursery
Boy/girl twins: blue and pink, pastel pink and pastel blue
Twin boys: blue and red, blue and chocolate, blue and yellow
Twin girls: pink and purple, pink and green, pink and chocolate

Your babies will love to look at colour and movement – our pediatrician also recommended using pictures of us, their parents, in the nursery.

For pictures of other twin nurseries, visit Creative Baby Nursery Rooms, or try Oh Dee Doh for nurseries with a modern twins, not necessarily twins specific though.

Did you design a fabulous room for your twins? We'd love to show it off here and create a gallery of ideas for beautiful rooms for twins. We'd love to see your room for your twin babies. You may also inspire others to create their own.

Email your pictures to us and if we use it on our site, we'll send you a $20 book voucher.