Keeping 4 month baby warm overnight

[Expectingfirstbaby]

Posting here for traffic. We have a 4 month old baby and we currently heat house for 5 hours a day. Our gas and elec currently costs £10 a day (gulp).

It's getting colder though and we want to keep her warm overnight so looking to just heat 1 room overnight so it stays at 18 degrees.

What are your recommendations? Any links items would be much appreciated

I just use a long sleeved vest, babygrow and fluffy blanket...

This has reminded me of when my January born DS used to wake because he was cold. I bought a pink sleeping bag thing for him from a jumble sale. He went off like a light afterwards. He's 6ft3 now and in his mid 20s!

His brother also inherited the pink thing and slept like a log too!

We use a small oil filled radiator to just heat one room. It was handy today to have when I was wfh too to save turning on heating for the whole house.

Another vote for no blankets and instead try a higher tog bag. we used 2.5 or 3.5 tog in winter. You can get them with sleeves on too so super cosy. Try jojomamanbebe or vinted.

Get an oil filled radiator with a thermostat and basically shut yourself and baby in the bedroom overnight. Not ideal but how I coped with a winter new born baby and no central heating in the north of the UK. She's now 15 and perfectly healthy! Don't panic, as long as you and baby are warm. Electric blankets is a good option for you, but definitely not for the baby

Agreed with others. 1tog is a summer/hot hot night.

3.5tog Atleast now id say (I’m in Scotland though)

i did use cellular blankets to layer too

It doesn't sound as though the room is getting THAT cold really, maybe down to 16 in the middle of the night?

Overheating poses much more of a risk than being cold. If they're cold they'll wake up and shout at you about it and it'll be obvious as they'll feel cold.

Friends who prefer not to heat their house too much used to put their babies in a long sleeved vest, sleepsuit, knitted wool cardi then a 2.5 tog bag.

When we used to stay in my parents' old stone house DD would use one of the thick sleeping bags from JoJo maman with detachable sleeves.

Definitely a thicker sleeping bag. They are not considered safe to use layering with blankets!! Also please don't put socks on hands. Too easy to come off and end up in/over mouth. Check out Lullaby Trust info for sleeping bag advice especially regarding extra blankets. Midwife advice was 'cold babies cry, hot babies die'. Brutal I know but it makes the point that they shouldn't be overdressed, and you can find what works for them starting from the cool side and working up if they're waking cold.
My oldest used to be in a 2.5 and a long sleeve bodysuit and socks - she never really felt the cold. My youngest (10m) feels the cold so wears 2.5 bag, socks and full pyjamas, his room has dipped to 17.8 overnight this week. Both are in the suggested what to wear guides range for sleeping bags in temps from 16 through to 20. Youngest does occasionally have cool hands but his chest and back are toasty so I know he's not actually cold. If his room got much colder I'd add a sleeveless vest as by now I know how he is with the cold.

Can easily get a cheap digital max/min thermometer (approx £10 or under) to see how low it goes overnight, I have 1 in both kids rooms here. And little oil filled rad if you still think it's too cold - but do spend the extra few £ for one with a thermostat so you're not overheating the room. You can get smart remote max/min thermometers, they show all the temperature readings on your phone, and you can set high and low alerts. I used one in the super hot summer weather - maybe about £15-20 on amazon.

@Expectingfirstbaby Bless you, yes you are overthinking it, taking blankets on and off. Reminds me a bit of that classic thread where people reflect on some of the crazy things they did for their first baby. It is really lovely how much you are worrying for your baby's comfort, but...

Don't heat the room. Put baby in a onesie and 2.5-3 tog sleeping bag. Relax. It is absolutely fine if her face and hands are cold. That is her body's natural way of keeping warm, by making sure she doesn't lose heat through extremities.

If you are worried, put a finger down the back of her onesie to check her body temperature. But, honestly, a baby that is too cold WILL let you know ALL about it. You don't need to keep checking.

Thank you again for your posts. I'm now worried about the blankets and 1 tog sleep bag together so I've just removed her third blanket and will order a thicker sleep bag to be used on its own.

Do you use your 3.5tog sleep bags with a long sleeve vest and baby grow underneath or is that OTT (assuming room is around 20 degrees at hottest temp at 8pm and 14degrees overnight)?

We used 1 tog in summer.

In winter 3.5 tog bag and baby wearing singlet, socks and full onesie/baby grow.

I think that's a lot of blankets on top of a sleeping bag at 18-20degrees.. In fact, I think three blankets at any time is excessive. My baby sleeps in a vest, Sleepsuit and 2.5tog sleeping bag. We have an oil filled radiator on a low setting. I would definitely ditch the 1tog and blankets and put the baby in a 2.5tog sleeping bag. Especially if they show signs of rolling.

I try to avoid big fluctuations in the temperature, but my main worry is always around overheating and not about the baby getting too cold. I read on a chilling rhyme about cold babies and warm babies, and it stuck with me. The jist of it being that a cold baby will let you know that they are uncomfortable by crying, so it's better to risk her being cold then being too hot.

2.5 tog bag, the heating has never been on overnight here.

Get a 2.5 tog sleeping bag and ditch the blankets then vest and babygrow , I’d say a 3.5 is for when it’s really cold especially if the heatings coming on in the morning.

3 blankets and a sleep sack is too much there better off being cold than. Hot.

Probably vest, sleepsuit and 2.5-3.5 tog sleeping bag. No hats, gloves or blankets. Baby will wake up if too cold, better that than over heat

www.tommeetippee.com/en-gb/parent-room/baby-sleeping-bag-guide?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1ayXzJHc-wIVCPN3Ch3eRg1ZEAAYASAAEgKmOvD_BwE

towards bottom of this page tells you what tog sleeping bag to use and what to dress baby in 🙂

And agree baby will wake if cold, better to have that than overheat 🙂

I had my children in the days before Baby sleeping bags came with sleeves, but sleeveless sleeping bags were growing in popularity. I used to find with my eldest, that as long as her torso and legs were warm, she wasn't fussed about her arms being cold - so even in February (she was born in January and swadddled for the first four weeks), a long sleeved vest, long sleeved sleepsuit and sleeveless 2.5 tog sleeping bag was fine. The room probably got down to 14 or 15 degrees in the coldest part of the night. My second baby was born in summer when it was really hot and I used to panic about him overheating, so sometimes, he would go to bed in a nappy and 0.5 tog sleeping bag.

I think a previous poster is right though - baby's cry if they're cold. They just sleep too deeply if they're too hot

Cold babies cry, hot babies die

Obviously only in the extreme, but it's a useful rhyme to use as a guide.

I've got socks with a higher tog rating than that!

I had a winter baby and I used to buy these padded sleep suits from Mothercare. They had a tog rating. They were effe tiveley a sleeping bag with arms and legs and feet. The arms were thicker than the rest of it too.

Then I'd put a flannel sheet on first and cellular blankets it tucked in, over the top, but like you from about hips down.

The best way to tell a baby's temperature on the middle of the night is tomout your finger down their neck, under their clothes.

It's a minefield trying to follow all of the advice, I remember this constantly checking the guidelines and if I was doing it right. Eventually you learn to trust your gut, promise!

I was told cold babies will be uncomfortable and wake up crying so if baby sleeping soundly they are warm enough.

Is she waking cold though? Cold babies wake up, it's the ones that are too warm that don't so miss feeds and don't do so well. I've never heated bedrooms through the night. My dc had 3.5 tog sleeping bags for the coldest nights, plus vest, baby grow and socks.

You shouldn't put blankets on top of a sleeping bag. Layering should go inside the bag. Honestly, it's not safe. I think if you used a higher tog sleeping bag it would make more sense. You can get sleep bags with arms, or up to 3.5 tog.

My 6 month old is currently in a 2.5 tog bag and the room is probably between 16.5-18.5 depending on the stage of the night. A long sleeve bodysuit and sometimes a pair of socks is all I put on underneath. Back and chest are warm to touch but fingers and cheeks are cold. Overheating is dangerous (I'm sure you know this).

When the temperature drops more we will use a sleepsuit instead of a bodysuit. Then add more layers from there as needed through winter.

@Slinkyminky22 what is the difference between a sleep suit and a body suit please? (New mum over here!)