Twins Co- Bedding at Home, Parents’ Perspective, Sleeping Pattern and Developmental Millstones.

Co-bedding twins is the practice of placing siblings in the same crib or bed. The objective of this study was to find out how frequently co-bedding was practiced at home among Malaysian twins. Moreover, parents’ knowledge and satisfaction was measured. Developmental mill-stones and sleeping pattern of twins were compared between those who practiced co-bedding versus those who did not.

Method: This is a cross-sectional comparative study. Parents of registered twins aged below 18 were interviewed to collect data on 204 Malaysian twins including socio-demographic characteristics, sleeping pattern and developmental millstones of twins as well as parent’s knowledge and satisfaction with co-bedding.

Result: Eighty nine percent of twins were co-bedded during their infancy and childhood. More than 90% of parents considered co-bedding as safe and believed it had a positive effect on psychological wellbeing of their twins (89.2%). No significant difference was found be-tween co-bedded and separately bedded twins in terms of their developmental millstones. Duration of sleep was described as complete for 89% of co-bedded twins with similar fre-quency of wakening between the two understudy groups (P=0.258).

conclusion: Co-bedding is considered a safe practice at home and carries a high satisfaction rate among parents of twins. Randomized controlled studies are warranted to investigate the long-term benefits of co-bedding at home.