Baby's Room Temp

[FuzzyWuzzyWuz]

I've searched the archives for this and couldn't find anything.

I'm expecting my first at the moment and someone DP works with has kindly given us their old GroEgg room thermometer as her kids have grown up. We've plugged it in already just out of curiosity and discovered our house was way too warm (24c). We've since turned the heating off and started wearing jumpers but the room that will be the nursery is refusing to drop below 20, even with windows open.

The GroEgg says the recommended temp is 16-20, so will the room be ok at around 20-22? Also, that temp feels very cold to us, is it just us being used to much warmer?

We are planning to use GroBags and I'm just a bit worried that we'll accidentally boil the baby without having the heating on!

I read that the optimal temp is 18c. However, there are nights in countries like India where the nocturnal temps are higher and babies cope. I suppose you may want to lighten the layers and see how your baby gets on?

20-22 is fine, you'll just layer your baby in perhaps just a short-sleeve vest rather than a long-sleeve vest. You will probably find it drops down lower than that overnight, so you could always add a blanket on top rather than waking the baby up to put an extra sleepsuit on.

My son wakes up when it's below 20. I think the Gro Egg recommends it too cold. It's what they wear rather than the room itself that can be a problem.

DS sleeps in our room but I wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably at 18c. Room temp is usually 20-22c at night at the moment and I have DS in a vest, sleepsuit and 1 tog grobag. I'm in pjs and under a duvet at the same temperature.

My mum says when I was born the midwife advised dressing babies in a cardigan and knitted hat over the sleepsuit as well as under blankets - I think so long as you're sensible and make sure the baby's head is uncovered it'll be fine.

We had a gro egg and had the room at recommended temporature, only problem was that we were freezing as were any visitors (everyone sat around in coats).

In the end got rid of the gro egg and switched on the heating and made sure he wasn't laden down with blankets etc

20 - 22c is fine. Just adjust the clothing accordingly. If you look at the guidance on baby sleeping bags you could use a summer weight one with a short sleeve bodysuit at that temperature, or even a long sleeve one with a winter weight bag if it is 20c. The temperature in my DDs room is 20c now, and she's in a long sleeve sleepsuit and a 2.5tog sleeping bag. Of course it's better for baby to be a bit cold than a bit hot from a SID point of view, and your baby will wake you up if he/she is too cold.

BTW Grobag sleeping bags are loads more expensive than, say, sainsburys or asda ones, so I'd recommend shopping around. You'll spend literally twice as much for authentic Grobags. Or get them second hand - Ebay is fab.

I always took the "recommended" temperature to mean the coolest temperature the room got to. So set your alarm for the middle of the night and then go and look at the thermometer.

Then I realised this was madness and threw away the bloody thermometer and just checked my baby's temperature myself. Two fingers down the back of their neck - sweaty means they are wearing too many layers, cold means they are not wearing enough. Trial and error to see which combination of clothes/coverings is best for your baby.

Thanks all, there seem to be so many rules around being a new parent! I was surprised at how cold the room felt although it has now falled to 19 which is in the "recommended" temp range according to the egg.

We've got a while yet before LO arrives, so I'll see how it goes in that room as winter progresses and go from there.

Bobby, re other brands, I saw on the GroBag web site though that theirs is the only one that is at the BS standard? I haven't done any more research just yet, it's on my (never ending) list.

BTW, my mum says when I was little she had me in at least 2 sleep suits, cardie, hats, electric fire and blankets as we had no central heating - she thinks that's why I feel the cold so much now

Hi,
Of course your baby will be fine. Especially if you are using grobags, which come with a chart explaining what babies should wear depending on room temp and grobag tog rating.

I got into a panic when I left the hospital with my daughter, as the paediatrician's parting shot was "above all, the most important thing is to make sure the baby's room is never warmer than 20 degrees".
It was 32 degrees in the shade outside and our bedroom was 29 degrees at night. (god knows how hot it was in the hospital, incidentally!)

I got really worked up and upset about it and was convinced my newborn was going to suffer horribly or even die because of the hot temperatures.

Then a lovely nurse from the hospital came by to help me establish BFing and when I asked her about the room temperature, she said she was so cross with all these irresponsible doctors spouting "guidelines" at new mums and getting them worked up about things they have no control over! Basically she explained that yes in a perfect world the room temperature would be a constant 18 degrees, but the main thing was not to turn the heating up too high and overheat the room or overdress baby, but that there wasn't much parents could do if the room was warm due to the outdoor temperature! Just try and dress baby appropriately.

So in the end I followed the grobag guide religiously and our LO never seemed to get too hot.

Anyway, don't forget that people in hot countries manage fine, even without air conditioning, so we shouldn't worry too much!

Postnatal wards are heated to way over 18c - I found it quite uncomfortable sleeping in hospital.

Gosh, we live in a world of so much information (which is no bad thing) but it doesn't 'alf give us a lot to worry about.

Both my DS were born in Jan so very cold outside - my mother was obsessed with putting hats and mittens on them and wrapping them up in lots of blankets the moment I left the room - it was very difficult to explain to her that it was not good practice.

I think go with what is comfortable to you - you just have to remember that a baby cant throw one leg out to cool down in the way we might. but no point in you freezing and not sleeping.

Get another thermometer to check the grobag egg - we had one as did our friend and it always showed between 2 and 4 degrees hotter than it actually was!

Lol at "BS" standard in their promotional blurb.

We were just the same as you, to the point that DH and I would be arguing over our little DS because I thought he was waking up because he was too cold and DH wanted to take more blankets off because of the **ing Grobag and FSID people.

I came to the conclusion that no baby would die of cot death if you followed the FSID instructions because the poor little mites would never be able to get off to sleep for being to cold.

Plus, we binned our Groegg because it didn't seem to register the temp reliably.

Um, not sure any of this particularly helps you OP... Use the Grobag instructions as a guideline, but also use your own judgement. Ask the midwife to show you how to tell whether your LO is the right temp for them before you leave hospital.

It was a nice day on Friday... if you're due in the winter you'll have far more control over the temperature.

Do you have a wireless thermostat? We put ours in the baby's room and set it to 18 degrees which kept it pretty much constantly the right temperature

Maybe "BS" doesn't stand for British Standard in this case, maybe it stands for something else

I wouldn't worry - I live in the south of Spain and my dd2 was born at the end of August. The temp in our room at night was 30 - 35 degrees and she was fine! Babies can cope with all sorts of temperatures and climates, just dress them appropriately.

Hi,

I have 2 children (younger is 9 months) and my grobag egg has rarely shown the temperature to be below 20. And when it gets down to 18 I think it's too cool for my liking!

IMO 20-22 is fine. The grobags are brilliant and they do gie guidance as to what to wear with them (includin if the temperature is higher), so not to worry

One layer more than you is a good rule of thumb. You can check baby's torso (chest/back) with your (warm) hands for reassurance.

Throw it away & rely on your instincts.

We originally had a monitor with temp gauge on it. Didn't matter what we did to the room, it was either too cold, or too hot so the damn thing went off all the time. We took it back for refund.

In this house there is no central heating (houses in Oz rarely have it) and my dds bedroom are like ice boxes in winter. But they fair OK, as they do on hot 35o nights too. You just dress them accordingly.

Never go by a babies hands & feet to check how warm/cold they are, check the back just under their neck, or their chest.

Hehe, our monitor generally shows 23 or 24. DD wears a short sleeved vest, long sleeved sleepsuit, 1 tog sleeping bag, sheet and doubled over blanket!

In SCBU, during a heatwave, it was stifling in the room and she then had a vest, sleepsuit, sheet and about 3 blankets each folded in half (so 6 blanket layers)!

When we brought her home I panicked about keeping her cool, until HV said 'Babies in Africa and India survive in much warmer temps.' I relaxed a bit and she was fine.

Our DD was born in the height of a very hot summer where no room in our house went below 26 degrees. We dressed her appropriately in short sleeves and summer weight tog and she was fine. Come winter and she also slept fine when her room went down to 14 degrees one week when our boiler broke and we couldn't find free standing heaters anywhere to buy.

Babies are remarkably adjustable. Just dress them appropriately.

My gro egg won't go above zero even when I blasted it with a hair dryer for 20 mins.

IME babies are kept very cold by the guidelines! Obviously you don't want them overheating,and perhaps better to be safe than sorry, but if it is 20/21 that will be fine.

My DD's room has the water tank in it and is never below about 21. She is fine.

I use a Groegg and follow the guidlines on the grobags. 20 - 22 is fine, use a lighter weight grobag. Although my DD is happy in a winter weight one at that temperature...