MIL not sleeping over our house being too cold

Well you and baby would be wearing warm coats , baby would be wrapped up in a pushchair, not crawling around or sitting in a high chair in indoor clothing 🙄

You put on a scarf, coat, gloves as appropriate?

What about if you leave the house and it’s less than 16°c in the autumn/ winter 🙄

Re the main bedroom being too cold, get the boiler serviced, bleed the rad in there. If it’s an older property, you may have bits from the circulating water blocking the pipes (according to my plumber) . We had a new boiler put in, but there were constant issues, turns out there was a fault in a part, had to have the specialist from the manufacturer out eventually.

This is for baby’s room when sleeping, not necessarily for the whole house all day.

In perspective.. the AC in the car only goes down to 16 and that’s considered cold..

Loving the frost inside the window anecdotes, this is how my Dh grew up. I used to dread staying at his parents’ place. He is a ‘cool’ person but I have Reynauds, just boosted the heating to 24 for a couple of hours.

Why is your dh discussing the house temperature with his dm? Interesting topic of conversation!

Some would ask how babies survive in countries where the temperature never drops below 22 degrees.

Some would say your house is insanely warm and dangerous for a small baby.

Against advice from Public Health England, NHS and Asthma + Lung UK. Minimum indoor temperatures guidance is 18°C and slightly higher for babies, etc. As many posters have said on this thread, OP's home temperature of 16°C is OK as it is the guidance minimum for their nursery. The Lullaby Trust advice is clearly concerning the baby's bedroom/sleeping.

We've tragically had a SIDS death in the family so we were acutely aware of low temperatures in baby's room and not swaddling, etc when DC were babies

I'm sorry but I'm with the mil on this one. You can't be a tight arse with a baby around.

https://www.lullabytrust.org.uk/baby-safety/safer-sleep-information/room-temperature/
how is OP going against advice? Lullaby trust clearly state 16-20°c which means 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20°c are all advised room temperatures. There is a higher risk of SIDS if a baby overheats

Thermostat settings can be altered and doesn’t necessarily mean it is actually the room temperature. When it was installed it didn’t occur to me that it would show anything other than the actual temperature, give or take.

Ours used to show 22deg and it would feel cool. I have now altered the setting so what was 22deg is now 19deg on the display, which feels about right. I could alter it again to make it display 16deg instead of 19deg and join the competitive under-heating threads.

So there’s probably no point people comparing their temperature settings as one person’s 16deg maybe the same as another’s 22deg.

And during the day it's too cold (according to guidelines) so they aren't doing the best thing for their baby's health (or theirs).

Well OP hasn't done her research as they are going against advice and her house is too cold. MIL is (understandably) worried about her very young GC plus her son I expect. Don't think anyone is advocating for them to turn the heating up to max, just a couple of degrees or so during the day for the baby's health - plus theirs

16 degrees?! With a baby?! That’s insanely cold and dangerous if baby is very small.

Ours is on 22 c and comfortable there.

16 is when I’d put the heating ON!

I have a 10 month old and our heating is permanently set to 17 degrees. My partner is also a tight arse with the heating, but before our son was born we did a bit of an experiment and switched the heating from only coming on at certain times of day, to being ‘always on’. We found that it worked out more cost efficient to keep the house at one consistent temperature, rather than let it drop down lower at periods of the day and then bring the temp back up/pay to run additional heaters.

We have an old house but 17 works for all of us, and we find that our son’s room is warmer if we keep the door shut as much as possible. We also had the dangers of overheating drilled into us when he was first born. If a baby is too cold they will let you know!

We run a nursery and the minimum temp for a baby sleep room is 18 degrees. Babies cannot regulate their own temperature well and it's much better to have the room a decent temperature than to put them in lots of layers. Can you use an additional heater to warm babies room.

I fear the money you save in heating bills will be lost if the house gets damp from being kept at such a cold temp.

Im clearly in the minority here and with you OP. Our house is on the cooler side and suits us. I’ve turned the heating on twice this autumn so far, and both times the DC made such a fuss about it being ‘boiling’, my youngest got a cold flannel to put on their head for bedtime 😂
I just turned around to DH and said what temperature do you think the room is at the moment, he said “dunno, probably 16c at the most”
We are fine! All sleep fantastically and aren’t ill. Live in an old draughty house with very old double glazing.
Your baby is fine. You’re dressing them appropriately with the tog rating sleeping bag. It’s far more dangerous for them to be too hot.

I’m in a new build , very well insulated house ,but 16 is too low , it’s a waste of time putting it on for all the heat you’d feel , I’d have 18 as a minimum

16 degrees is our overnight temperature. During the day it is set to 19. Occasionally this feels a bit chilly if we are just sitting about and we put it up to 20.
if your house is 16 during the day it must be colder than that overnight.
I would personally find 16 far too cold during the day unless I was doing lots of housework and being active

If you had a gro egg the light would be blue! 16 degrees is chilly 🥶

That’s fine for overnight whilst sleeping in the cot and in a gro bag. The baby is 5 months old and will soon be crawling on the floor and will be cold if the heating is at 16 during the day.

Definitely too cold. Needs to be 18-20