Is anyone else finding that they need to put trillions of blankets over a grobag??

[Thankyouandgoodnight]

DS has a 2.5 tog + 4 blankets and he's JUST warm - not even toasty! The room says it's 19 degrees!

Is he waking up because of the cold?
What's he wearing? A vest or babygro?
Are you checking him for warmth on his body or hands?

Our room goes down to 13 and sometimes 12, DS in long sleeved vest, fleecey suit and grobag with a blanket on top sometimes.

2 yo DD2 is in a 2.5 tog bag wearing a pyjama top and long sleeved all in one with legs. She has a cell blanket, a double layer of fleece blanket and a fluffy cotton blanket on top. I peel the top blanket off after a couple of hours as she gets a bit sweaty...
It goes down to about 15ºC in our unheated house at night...in the south of Spain!

I put a cardigan over the grobag for DS, as he moves a lot.

I have to put DS in a babygrow and a cardi and sometimes put a blanket over him with some mitts but make sure you are feeling the back of the neck/chest and not their hands or face.

didnt think you were supposed to use any blankets with a gro bag- doesnt it come with a little advice chart thing that says what to wear underneath it in different temperatures. From my memory they recommend just a short sleeved baby-gro and a pyjama top at about 18 degrees. I dont think you can tell how cold they are by feeling hands or face. think you need to check the tummy area. If they ever feel sweaty this is definitely too hot! If they are not waking up from the cold they are probably fine. 4 blankets seems a bit extreme!

Erm do you like to be roasting hot when you go to sleep?

But he really isn't roasting hot or even 'nice and toasty'. I check him by unzipping his gro bag and feeling under his vest on to his bare tummy with my hand and it just feels warm. Any less coverage and he wakes up every 1.5 hours and feels very very luke warm/cold. One of his blankets is a cellular and they're thin ones not thick chunkies. It's defeintely right for him. I think the room does go down to 17 degrees inbetween its bouts at 19.

If the room is 19 degrees I would follow the advice on the grobag chart tbh.

We have an extra cardi because it goes to 12/13, at which point the grobag chart says "too cold"!

well I suppose as long as he is not over-heating its ok. How old is your ds? perhaps you should ask for advice from a health proffessional. I thought it could be dangerous for small babies to be too wrapped up but if you say he doesnt feel even warm then might be ok. In my personal experience I have only ever used 1 cellular blanket over a gro-bag when it was really a cold night. Are you sure he is waking up because of the cold?

Always followed the advice chart and thermometer myself and never really felt the need to add anything else.
(And I'm in chilly Scotland!!)

I'd say that 19 is plenty warm enough without adding extra blankets - in fact our very cold and drafty house would feel positively tropical at that temperature. DD's room went down to 10.4 one morning this week and she was fine with just pyjamas, longsleeved vest 2.5 grobag and a thin extra cover loosely placed on top. There is more danger from overheating than being too cold.

At 19 deg mine would be in a 0.5 tog and no blankets

2.5 tog for 15 deg and below but no blankets

i wouldn't be able to sleep with my baby in a grobag and four blankets - that is waaay too much. I tend to think he likes the weight of the blankets and that is why he is waking up. The gro bags are much warmer than blankets because they are enclosed. Babies cannot regulate their body temperatures and if he gets a fever in the night, with four blankets and a gro bag, he is going to get dangerously hot!

LEM makes an interesting point, I know I like to feel the weight of the duvet even in summer maybe your LO is the same thankyouandgoodnight, maybe you could try one night with just the blankets?

As far as I am aware it's much more dangerous to allow them to get too hot than too cold (too cold they let you know, too hot they get drowsy)

For 16 and below my LO gets a long-sleeve vest, sleep suit and 2.5 tog.

Im the same libra - i have to be covered up even if im boiling. The problem with grobags is that the little ones can't kick them off if they get too hot, so NEVER add blankets too. My DD has outgrown her grobags now, she doesn't like to be covered up, or wear very much - last night, in artic conditions, she was laying ON her bed, no covered - i covered her up (she has big duvet now - she is 3) and she kicked it off again - strange child. I could honestly get away without actually having any covers.

I have been putting a blanket on he sleeps in a long sleeve vest, fleecey all in one suit and a 2.50 tog gro-bag - my DS2 room though is at best 15/17 degrees when we put him to bed so must get much lower than that during the night.

19 degrees all night long is tropical - you must have the heating going all night?
Ours goes off at about 8pm and we all put on a extra layer......

I have this problem too.

If I put DS in a vest, babygrow and 2.5tog grobag ONLY (Nursery around 20.5degC), he would wake up because of the cold.

He prefers to sleep in my bed (Same room temperture) with MY duvet over him too.

He is nearly 8 months now and has slept like this for most of his life. He doesn't move much in his sleep, unless he gets cold when he starts thrashing about and wakes himself up...

My LO is just three months and I follow the guidelines on the Grobag. It does concern me that sometimes her arms, not just her hands, are like blocks of ice. It doesn't really bother her but then she seems happiest slightly cold. My son is the same and enjoys pouring cold water over himself when he's in the bath. I'd always follow the guidelines, they're there for a reason. But speak to your health vistor if you are worried.

It's 19 in dd's room and she has vest, fleecy sleepsuit and 2.5 gro bag. She used to wear just a normal babygro and not a fleecy one and was waking cold around 4am even though her thrmometer still said 19. This is more clothing layers than recommended but it works for her.

I find it difficult to tell if my LO (5.5 weeks) is too hot or too cold unless she is actively letting me know she is uncomfortable. The HV and MW said not to worry about hnds and feet being cold but to feel the back of her neck and top of chest for an idea but shrt of her feeling like a block of ice (which she w0uldn't unless she was practically hypothermic) or sweating like fury, I don't really know what I am feeling for. The gro-bags don't seem to offer very muchprotection compared to, for example, me in my big duvet, and I certainly wouldn't want my arms outside with only a single cotton layer over the, so why would my LO - OTOH, I know the advice is no blankets with a babygro. Its a bit confusing...

Also, we bought one of those gro-bag egg thermometers but discovered we had a tiny micorclimate in the corner of the room where it was sitting and it was always measuring 2-4 degrees higher than the rest of the room. It has no been resited and seems to be working more accurately.

If he needs blankets to sleep, I would try him without the growbag, which is what we have done. My DD is 12 months and we found it easier to use a baby douvet now she is that bit older. I would use a growbag and blakets because if they did get caught up in the blanket, they don't have as much movement to be able to get out as easily. And there is the fact of getting too hot is very dangerous for a baby, although not sure how old your Ds is. We often have to go and cover DD up again once she is asleep as she wriggles out before she drops off, but that is no problem.

ds's room gets down to 14/15 degrees on colder nights and he has a short sleeved vest, pj's a 2.5tog grobag and he likes a cellular blanket on top that he can put his hands under. I have only recently given him the blanket and he is 2.3 years and I wouldnt have put one on him when he was younger and less able to regulate his body temperature. 4 blankets is far too much on top of a 2.5tog bag.

reluctantincubator - you can use blankets with a babygro. As far as I remember a 2.5tog is the equivalent of a sheet and 2 blankets.

DS is 6 months...

Th other thing that I am sure that you can relate to is that when the room says 19 degrees in the summer time say, it feels very different to when it says 19 degrees in the winter!

Oh ok. I wouldn't use a douvet then but I would still see if he will sleep without the growbag as I think he has too many layers. What about a long sleved vert, a baby grow and the the blankets? Maybe a cardigan when really cold?