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

People put heating on at night? Wow! That’s bonkers.

A little bit of history here for you @GarlicCrackers

And everyone else who simply HAS NO IDEA!

I was born in the 1950s. My parents had 2 rooms (living room and 1 bedroom) and a kitchen as part of a shared Victorian house. The toilet was outside. They had no running hot water. No bath.

The heating was a single coal fire in the living room.
I lived there from birth to age 3.

Yes, it sounds like a scene from Call the Midwife.

I survived!

I expect I had a lot of blankets (then) on my cot, and plenty of clothes.

We moved to a house when I was 3 and had no central heating till I was 16. My bedroom had ice inside the windows in winter.

My younger brother was born in that house so he too survived with no central heating.

As an adult I have never had the central heating on at night. It's unnecessary. High tog duvet, added wool throw, long nightie, bed socks if necessary.

I'm the same age as you, my baby was born at the start of March and we haven't had the heating on since he was born yet.

There's really mixed advice here - depending on the guidelines that were around previously, where people live, how insulated their homes are, north-facing/south-facing rooms, and how tolerant they are to the cold!

Just go on the lullaby trust or NHS guidance (Google what baby should wear to sleep) and you'll get clear guides for how many layers of clothes and togs of sleepsuit/blankets/sleep sack they need. A cellular blanket is 1 tog, folded over in half to double thickness is 2 tog and so on. Optimal room temperature guidance is 16-20 degrees, in addition to following the recommended clothing and togs for coverings at those temperatures. Get a thermometer to check temp, turn off your radiators round the house at night, set the thermostat to 16 and leave the one on in your bedroom.

If you choose to co-sleep, you can do it safely but only by strictly adhering to the evidence base around how to do it safely - one rule being no pets or other kids in with you so it may not be an option for you. I recommend checking out James McKenna's books on sleeping with your baby because their sleep lab explains all the do's and don'ts and why thoroughly. The books are endorsed by the doctor who established the 'back to sleep' campaign in the UK. There's a brief summary on their sleep lab site linked below but you would be better to educate yourself fully before using this option, 3 babies die a year in the UK of suffocation in bed, that is not the same as SIDS but ignorance wouldn't make you feel better if either happened to you. But just because it isn't the 'done thing' in the UK doesn't mean half the world doesn't do it, and so many mums admit to cosleeping at least sometimes that it's neglectful of health services to not acknowledge that and provide better advice around it than simply 'don't do it' in my opinion, it happens so let's make sure it's done as safely as possible: https://cosleeping.nd.edu/safe-co-sleeping-guidelines/

I grew up without central heating and pre duvets. Obviously can’t remember being a baby but as a toddler my bedding was a flannelette sheet, a blanket, both tucked in under the mattress, a candlewick bedspread that covered the bed to the floor and an eiderdown to top it all. I can’t ever remember being cold in bed though we did have a hot water bottle for our feet!

I'm not that old and my kids both napped outside in their prams, in Scotland, all year round. You just make sure they're well wrapped up! I hate the house being warmer than about 15 when sleeping so they would have been fairly layered up overnight even in the house.

How sad that you're depressed about other people having different thresholds for the temperature they feel comfortable at.

There were a couple of winters at the end of the noughties where we actually had snow and it didn't get above freezing for several days. We kept the heating on, but turned down low, at night because it took so long to get warm again if it was turned off for several hours. ExH probably wouldn't have bothered, but I have an underactive thyroid so feel the cold more than most.

I've never kept the heating on at night even when mine were babies. I had a groegg to monitor the temperature and put various layers on them. Their hands did always feel kind of cold but they never seemed to mind - the rest of them was warm and they slept fine.

I didn't have central heating in the house I lived in with my first baby and no heating upstairs at all so we used to have an oil filled radiator in our rooms. They work well and I think are quite cheap to run. I still use one at work as the heating doesn't work properly and it keeps me fairly warm as I'm right next to it.

Our bedrooms are typically 14 degrees overnight in winter. I found Moses baskets were really cold so I would think about layering baby and sticking in a cot that's been warmed. There used to be a really good guide on layers depending on temp and I got some good sleeping bags with a cellular blanket over the top when really cold.

I co slept with dd in 2 freezing flats in North Greece with no central heating. She had gro bags with gloves or mittens as their hands can get freezing! Also, keep baby away from the walls as a cold wall feels like a fridge in the depths of winter. Open all the windows for at least half an hour in the morning to reduce condensation. Men's socks stuffed with cat litter help to reduce condensation.

Right now, in 2022, the vast majority of houses in NZ do not have central heating. Babies wear light layers and a lot of merino wool jumpers! When I took my infant DD back to visit my parents in NZ in winter the inside air temperature in the house was 12 degrees (outside was below zero). I put an oil heater in her room to get it up to 16 degrees (and paid my parents nz$400 to cover the electricity cost for a month once they got the bill. That’s what Nz’ers tend not to have central heating - fuel costs are many many times higher than the uk).

We’ve never had heating in at night, and we have windows open a crack, even in winter! I’d much rather dress warmly.

When mine were babies a few years ago there were temperature charts that showed you what they should have on based on the temperature in their room.

So a grobag with babygro or vest and babygro in winter. They do different togs for summer and winter. There’s really no need for the heating to be on!

They found the cause of SIDS. Very early in it, more study needed but they found it.

An Australian researcher whose baby died from SIDS 20 years ago has been studying it. She and her team found that all the babies who died from SIDS were missing an enzyme. They dont produce it. It could be the cause. As I said, early days and more research needed into how and why but those babies were all missing that enzyme.

I'd forgotten about hot water bottles! I hated it when I woke up and found that I was sharing my bed with a stone-cold hot water bottle.

We had a lovely cat when I was a kid, he was really laid back. He used to sleep in my bed with me on cold nights, and was lovely to snuggle up to. He actually used to lie with his head on the pillow, too.

I used to have lakeland terriers, they make very good bed dogs on cold nights. They don't moult, either, so you don't end up with a dog hair duvet.

Op please check out the lullaby trust for advice on SIDS. There's lots of guidance on correct temperatures for newborns and young babies, as being too hot is a risk factor. Also cannot have things like water bottles in their crib etc.

For the first 6m the baby will be next to you when sleeping so might be worth looking at the best way to keep your bedroom warm. Whether that's plug in oil heater/thermal lined curtains etc. During the day you can do layers easier as your more awake to keep an eye on baby getting too warm, and you'll be moving a bit more too.

If you are anything like me you'll be a one women nuclear reactor for most of the winter when you are in your third trimester, so no heating needed. Once baby is here, you can get long sleeved insulated grobags from Jojomaman (I got all mine second hand off ebay). I seem to remember that one of the swaddle companies do a fleece sleep sack that fits snuggly over it. My Aunt in Canada sent me some fleece sleeping bags that she had made in newborn size (she made them for all my Canadian counsins too), and get some good old cellular blankets. Also fleece sleepsuits for cold nights.

Beast from the East was when DD was 4 weeks old and we live up high on a mountain side with some weird localised wind effect in Easterlies, so even before the power went off our normally toasty house was cold. DD had on a fleece sleepsuit, swaddle wrap, Aunts fleece sleepsuit, plus a cellular blanket, and was absolutely fine.

There is a lot of evidence from Scandanvian countries that babies nap better outside in the cold, so no reason to get worried about the day time. DD had a 4 season lodger bunker for her pram and then pushchair, lasted her till she stop napping. They are expensive, but you can pick them up for £40-50 second hand on ebay and they are a brilliant investment especially if you're tempted to go down the outside napping route, as I did from about 2 or 3 months.

In the very cold 6 weeks after DDs birth (lots of snow -yey!) when we went out DD was generally in a fleece sleepsuit, with a Tuppence and crumble starwrap (essential in my opinion, and again ebay) over the top, and then in a Ergobaby carrier with the bulky newborn insert, which are a pain in the arse, but do add some decent insulation. I then wore a 3 in 1 maternity/baby wearing coat over it. Another great second hand investment, you can alternatively purchase a extender panel for your normal winter zip up coat.

The tuppence and tumble starwrap was also great for trying to do lots of skin-to-skin and establish breasfeeding in a cold house.

Thicker clothes and blankets. Mine are young adults and I never had the heating on at night when they were babies (don't now either) - bodysuit, babygro and blankets feet at the bottom of the cot was the norm, though mine slept with me.

The cost of the bills really scare me. Already really strict now. Am confused as to why 18c is the NHS ideal temperature and SIDS risk reduction temps 16-20c but hospitals are way hotter than this? For the non mobile, disabled, elderly etc 18c is likely to be not “ideal”. It wasn’t long ago that the “ideal” temp was 21c very convenient it’s now lower.

@Daisydoor12

I was told 18 degrees 23 years ago so I'm not sure it has changed. I've always had my central heating set at 18, I thought this was normal! I've never had it on during the night

The good thing about February is that it's getting warmer, not colder!

mine were all born around then (they're grown now) and I never had the heating on at night.

they will be fine. I think the saying from when I had them was "one more layer than you".

i agree that the danger is from overheating, not being cold. A baby that is cold will let you know.

I didn’t think anyone left their heating on all night. I had a baby in mid November and we definitely didn’t. DS slept in a long sleeved vest, a babygro and a sleeping bag. I don’t remember it being a problem really.

Statistically yes it is warming up in february, but there are certainly years where that is not the case like 2018.

But I agree that there is no need for heating at night, or excessively warm rooms at anytime.

I never knew heating on at night was the norm.

That's what duvets (blankets for babies) are for. Surely no one needs the heating on at night although I appreciate you may be cold when you have to get up to feed.

Baby sleeping bags with arms really helped mine stay warm. The arms can be removed on warmer nights. I was so worried by overheating my first I think he was cold

I was just going to say exactly this too.

Well we have never run the heating all night long! Used to go off around 9pm/10pm later if really cold.I dont think babies are supposed to be too warm?16 to 20 degrees is recommended by Pampers website . I grew up without any CH in a large rather draughty 1930s house in North London ,still here 50 odd years later!