Baby's room is always freezing...

[twocultures]

Not sure if this is in the right category...
My DS is 11mo and for a while now he's been in his own room.
Up to now we've had heating on quite a lot in the house so the issue wasn't so bad but since It's been getting a bit warmer we've cut down on heating and I've noticed how freezing DSs room gets, if I ever check on him at night as I open his bedroom door I can almost feel a cold draft and his room is considerably colder than the rest of the house, I'm willing to go as far as to say it's probably by a good 3 to 5C colder as you get cold as soon as you walk in.
I'm not sure if it's to do with where his room is positioned or that it's a tiny room and it has a big window.
I always make a point of dressing him warm for bed but recently he's got a runny nose and I can't think of any other reason for him to have developed it other than his room being so cold!
Even if I keep his door wide open its still bloody freezing! We can't move him back into our room as his cot would never fit.
Can anyone recommend anything I can do to make the room warmer? (Wether its extensive and expensive or something I could do myself)

[murphyslaws]

I have no central heating... I open curtains through out day and heat from sun warms room up.

I turn a blow heater on an hour before bedtime. And she sleeps in a gro bag and sleep suit.

I have wood burner down stairs open door to hallway and so heat travels upstairs. Stops her room dropping down. Been like this from day one.

[poocatcherchampion]

We have this problem too. I dotn understand why. Therefore I have no plan to deal with it

[Artandco]

Turn heating up in his room?

[LuckySantangelo1]

I have a plug in oil radiator in my babies room to deal with this. It cost about 20 quid from Argos.

[Eveninties]

What is the actual temperature of the room? Babies rooms should be quite cool and this can feel very cold when coming in from a warmer room.

[twocultures]

Well as far as I know the temp in a baby's room shouldn't fall below 18C and his room falls to about 15C .
The electric radiator/heater seems like a good idea. But I could do with something more permanent for the future...
The way his room is positioned it barely gets any sun maybe an hour or two a day and it makes no difference as the whole house is stone.
He always has a grobag or a fleecy onesie pyjamas.

[Eveninties]

Babies room should be between 16c and 20c I believe, so 15c will feel absolutely freezing but maybe not as bad as you thought? Oil filled radiator the way to go temporarily I think- as least the summer is coming, well, hopefully!

[frangipani13]

Could you get some of that window insulation that looks like clingfilm?

[PigletJohn]

how many outside walls does it have?

Is the ceiling insulated properly in the loft (no gaps)?

Is the window draughty where it meets the wall (this is common with badly-fitted replacement windows) or where it opens?

Are there any holes in the ceiling, for pipes, downlighters etc?

Is the window misty in the morning?

Is there a draught round the skirting (also may leave black dust lines on the carpet)?

What is the size of the room, and what is the size of the radiator?

How old is the house and what is it made of? Are you in Penzance or Aberdeen?

If you want to use an electric heater, a small oil-filled radiator, fixed to the wall, is safest. Other types are a fire hazard if curtains, paper, clothes or bedding fall on them.

[twocultures]

There are down-lighters in the ceiling. The window doesn't fog up but every few days there's this weird black dust that collects at the bottom left of the windowsill.
Only one wall is outside but it's the biggest one. I'm not sure how old the house is but I'd say at least 50+years as I remember DP mentioning that these terraces used to be divided into like 2 in 1s (if this makes sense) so the staff/workers lived in the smaller section with no garden and little rooms and the employers lived in the bigger part with the whole garden etc.so sounds pretty old to me...

• they're all stone.
  And it's a small room I'm not sure if the exact dimensions maybe 1.5/2 by 3/4 ish meters.

[WordGetsAround]

We've got this - DC's rooms are north-facing and the one with 2 external walls is the coldest in the house. We have turned down the radiators in the rest of the house (to 2.5/3) and kept their rooms at 5. This means that all the rooms get to the 'right' temperature at the same time. It's worked really well for us.

[BeckyWithTheMediocreHair]

Free-standing oil-filled electric radiators are effective. I don't much like fan heaters - I find that they really dry the air out.

[twocultures]

Tbh WordGetsAround we've tried that and not made a difference....I'm considering having someone out to look at the radiator. I don't think they've been serviced for a few years...

[WordGetsAround]

Is it cold at the top? Does it need bleeding?

[PigletJohn]

An external wall, large, solid stone (no cavity) will lose a lot of heat. The coldest part of the room will be next to this wall.

Black dust by a window may be blowing in through a gap.

You mention downlighters. Warm air rises so will go up to the ceiling, then escape through the holes into the loft. One easy fix is to fit fire or smoke hoods. The loft insulation can be tucked round (not over) the hoods. While you are up there you can look at the thickness of the insulation and verify there are no thin or bald patches (though it should not be pushed into the eaves and block loft ventilation).

Downlighters are especially pernicious in bathrooms as steam will rise into the loft and may cause damp.

Feel the radiator when it is on. The top should be "too hot to hold" and the bottom should be "too hot to hold for long." It should not be cold in the middle.

Are you in Penzance or in Aberdeen?

[Buckinbronco]

We have exactly as piglet advises, I think a lot of traditional "nurseries" we're situated in such positions by house builders. I did worry about it but, the babies were OK. They didn't feel cold so I used grow bag with a wool
Blanket and assumed they'd wake up crying if cold

[TobleroneBoo]

When we removed the old wallpaper in our spare room, there was a layer of polystyrene underneath. Because walls in our own room were so shit we did one wall in the polystyrene and notices the difference straight away - it's just from homebase

[Lucked]

Is it on the ground floor? My DS's room is cold but a rug and underlay has helped. Also really heavy curtains.

[TeaBelle]

15/16 is about right if baby is in a 2.5 tog bag

[murphyslaws]

We have same issue 100 year old stone cottage. We have internally insulted walls. So once it's warm it stays warns. It cost around £1000 to stud, insulate and plaster walls (no labour as hubby did it). Downside is use loose around 6inches per wall.

[linspins]

We are adding internal insulation to our house to make it nice and toasty and keep heating bills down a bit. You battern all the exterior walls with strips of wood, fit insulation such as celotex in between batterns, the plasterboard over the top, and skim with plaster. You can also get plasterboard with insulation already fixed to the back, which is fixed to wall with dot and dab.
Piglet johns advice about checking insulation in loft is also good. Maybe get thermal linings for the curtains too?

[linspins]

Here is mine at the moment, only batterns in place so far...

[SnuffleGruntSnorter]

PJ please put me out of my misery, what's the significance of Penzance or Aberdeen?

[PigletJohn]

Penzance is warmer, because it is nearer the equator. Bedrooms in Aberdeen are noticeably colder.

[Artistic]

This may sound strange but I have the cheap Velcro blackout blinds from Amazon in my bedroom. They form a tight seal on the window and block light well. Thing is that they are also super weather proof!! We have sash windows in our bedroom and the wind whistles in them, so I know they leak a bit. After using the Velcro blinds the room is cosy! You can try them and see - they are definitely very cheap and might do the trick!