How did you keep babies warm years ago?

[GarlicCrackers]

Posting here for traffic and visibility.

Also maybe a slight AIBU for being totally ignorant and naive!!

I am due my second child in Feb, due to recent events with my dearest wanker of a half - I am now single and my first thought was, well I better reduce the energy bill if I want to financially survive.

I am 33 so have never lived without central heating and modern amenities.

Sat down, looked at electrics, you know vampire devices, plugs that get left on. Moved on to heating. I like being cool, I dislike the heat so I think well hot water bottle at night and wear my oodie during the day. Heating off at night and we will all be fine. Will have the dogs upstairs and we can all share heat.

and then I remember….I’m pregnant, I’m due a baby in cold cold February. Babies can’t regulate heat they are tiny.

How did we keep babies warm before CH? I have grobags and blankets. Can they have hot water bottles? I can’t afford heating on all night but dear god will I get into energy debt if that’s my only choice

I know this sounds stupid, I just realised I have no idea. I see people talk about how no heating = constant chest infections etc

The house I grew up in only had two gas fires in two rooms downstairs. They didn't throw out much hest. Upstairs was freezing in the winter. It was that cold I could see my breath when I breathed out.

I moved in with my partner when pregnant he had a wood burner. It kept downstairs warm but upstairs was freezing. I had to use a plug in heater to get the children dressed and he would moan about that. He was a control freak with money etc.

I got a council house left him lived here since. Only have central heating. But we honestly don't need the heating on upstairs apart from the bathroom. even in winter heat from central heating seems to rise not like heat from gas fires.

Our heating is crap night storage that we havent used for years. We have a wood burner in living room (free wood fortunately) and i have a small plug in oil radiator in my office that goes into DDs bedroom for her bedtime. I dont use the plug in much during day. We only switch on for an hour and keep door shut. Shes fine. In fact she wears nighties mostly not pjs. And naked Boxing day is her thing soshe doesnt have to leave the house

I grew up without heating. Parent got that installed when I was around 12. I remember using those horse blankets in the cot and on beds. They felt weighted and we didn't feel the cold, until we got out of bed.

I like it cold, DH likes it
hot so we compromise. I said thermostat but I didn’t mean that - I meant the heating timer thing - unfortunately a thermostat is useless in our house because it’s had lots of different bits added on over the years so the temperature varies hugely room by room. I imagine it is more efficient to keep the whole house at 14 or so if possible but it wouldn’t work with our current heating system.
I would be ok with 14 at night but I don’t like it higher than 17/18 during the day so at night time that temp feels awful to me!

The winter I was born, my mum and dad spent a particularly cold spell sleeping with me on the living room floor in front of the open fire.

I really hope that one of the options being considered by the government for support is a cold weather payment for parents of babies, like the ones for pensioners. I might email my MP and suggest it.

This sounds dreamy to me! My DH would hate it though. We always joke that if I die first he will live in a sauna for the rest of his days and if he dies first I’ll live in a fridge.

Hate to be a wet blanket but some babies became seriously ill and inevitably some died. I was blue lighted to hospital in the 1950s with breathing difficulties, the same happened to a sibling. We were lucky but I think damage was done to my lungs that never fully recovered.

When I was struggling in the 70s I had a January baby and he co-slept for a few months and we kept each other warm.

One big issue people need to consider is the housing conditions. If you have a nice dry house the cold will do far less damage than in a house riddled with damp. Similarly if you have an overcrowded house there is more chance of infections spreading and a baby with a nasty chest infection in a cold damp house won't do well.

When I was blue lighted to hospital I was living in a 2 bed house with 5 adults and 2 children so you can probably imagine how infections would spread particularly with a toilet at the top of the yard and no running hot water.

I found this online

Or Supersers were popular, if anyone remembers those lovely attractive condensation-spawning things.

Hi everyone. We're receiving a few reports about inaccurate information on this thread regarding SIDS. Unfortunately, we can't vouch for anyone's credentials. Please take a look at the NHS website and the Lullaby Trust for guidance on safer sleep.

Still amazed people have the heating on all night! I feel the cold and I only do this when it’s a real run of exceptionally cold weather.

It's like saying that a baby can sleep or survive at 18/19 degrees.

They must be able to or I wouldn’t be here, nor my siblings. The only heating in the house we grew up in was a coal fire in the living room, and that was only lit during the day.

I've never had the heating on at night, one of my children is a Feb baby and one is a Jan baby, I co-slept with all my children, all of them refused to go in a moses basket/bedside sleeper. I always just dressed them in a vest and babygrow. You'd layer up if they were in a moses basket, clothing, gro bag and cellular blankets if it was that cold. You still need to make sure you are doing safe sleep. I'd only ever use a hot water bottle to warm the basket then remove when you put them in. Be mindful of overheating them. Those thermometer cards you get with gro bags have a guide on what to dress your baby in according to temperature if you are unsure.

This is a thread about babies. Babies can't snuggle in under a big toasty duvet and warm up with a coffee in the morning.

I wish I could ask my DM but she’s long gone! I was born in early Feb, long before we had central heating, ditto two younger siblings. None of us ever had any respiratory trouble - I dare say we were lucky though.
I remember thin, woollen baby vests by a co.called Chilprufe.
A lot more wool - no synthetic fibres to speak of, plus gas fires and paraffin heaters. Small portable electric fires. Hot water bottles.
Lots of hand knitted ‘matinee jackets’ in wool, often with hoods. Ditto mittens.

…and ‘bootees’.

Liberty boddice under your wool vest. I hated liberty boddices.

Dehumidifier ? Gro bag?

Ideally you need to keep one room warm and dry.

lots of layers.

plus hats indoors
plus bumpers around the cot (outside) to keep out the draft.

I've never had the heating on at night. I didn't think anyone did until I read about on Mumsnet. The heating goes off at 10 and comes on again at 6 in the winter. Had two winter babies, was up with them in the night ; it was fine and babies did well.

We've never had heating on at night, you're in bed, you don't need it.

My mum was brought up with no central heating. She says they only heated one room, you only got a fire in your bedroom if you were ill. The furniture in the living room was clustered round the fire rather than at the edges of the room, and old people just sat near the fire.

Also they're shawl was what I used most for them to swaddle them in. Have you not had parent craft classes at the hospital? Not sure if they still do them. They were good and get to meet other parents.

Co sleeping is safe if you follow the safe co-sleeping guidelines. Health visitors even give out information about it now. Most families will sleep with the baby in the bed at some point out of sheer desperation to get the baby (and parents!) to sleep so best to get the info out there to do it safely.
I plan on continuing co-sleeping with my DD (she tends to come into the bed in the early mornings) through the winter to keep her warm. Also will be looking for thicker tog sleeping bags (according to room temp of course). She’ll be on the move by winter so I’m struggling to think how to keep her warm, tiny babies you can put down your top or put more blankets on. She’s not going to keep a hat or gloves on inside.

Im the same age as you and have lived in 3 houses without centeral heating.

Bumpers are a suffocation risk. Only items in the cot should be babies sleeping bag.