Indoor clothes

[NK5]

My 14 day old babys temperature has dropped on two ocassions in the house to under 36 degre.. we rushed to A and E first tjme but when they measured it was 36.5, so observed for a bit and discharged her.. How do I ensure she is always warm - Her chest/ back were between slightly lukewarm to touch.. We are keeping thermoatat on at 21.5 degree after this eposide but the heater sometines overheats to 22 and waits for temp to drop below 21.2 before switching back on..how do i adress this..
we dress her in a bodysuit, cotton sleepsuit, wrap in a thin sheet/ shawl (summer shawl) and a fleece blanket in cot at night

I’m not one for overdressing babies, but I don’t think those clothes are warm enough. I’d be cold in what is essentially a vest and a thin cotton babygro, even with the thin sheet. Maybe put a jumper or cardigan over the top, and maybe a hat if her temperature drops. Is she being held close to you or another adult?
You could check that the thermostat is actually functioning accurately too, and bear in mind that the temperature in different rooms can vary. But I’d have thought 21 degrees should be fine. Is she feeding ok?

We have thermostat in babys room, we hold her close whilst feeding etc but dont know if its enough when we put her to sleep.. nhs says no hat etc, she is feeding ok does a bit of breast milk ( mostly sleepy feeding) and then formula top up half times

Indoor I'd definitely have her in a hat and cardi/jumper
It's cold this week!
You could get a small oil filled rad for your room where she sleeps and then you don't need the heating on loads.
You could go for a thicker tog sleepsuit or sleeping bag and then the blanket tucked over her and tucked in at the sides and bottom of cot. I do have to say I've always used wool blankets or feather duvets and tucked them in. My kids were before the sleeping bag thing

Merino wool sleepsuits are much warmer than cotton and naturally breathable

When you say baby’s room has a thermostat-are they in a different room to you?

I used a gro egg to get an accurate temperature and used grosnug sleeping bags for newborns- but she was held most of the time

I keep reading overheating is bad for babies and everyone mentiones SIDS so how would I know what is too much - apologies its my first

we are in same room as baby, but put her down in cot bed whenever she sleeps

I feel for you OP, the information out there is so hard to follow!

I generally went with the guidance that baby needs one layer more than I’m wearing. So if I’m in a tshirt and leggings in the house, baby needs a vest and sleepsuit. If I have two layers on, baby needs three. Which meant that generally in winter mine wore a vest, an all in one sleepsuit, and a cardigan. I found this guidance much easier to follow than worrying about what the thermometer reads.

Was baby premature/early? DD was only 3 weeks early but struggled with feeding and we ended up back in hospital a couple of times due to low temperature - we basically had to feed way more frequently than advised and keep her in way more clothes than advised to keep her temperature up.
She stabilised at about 6 weeks old however we always had to do her baths much hotter than advised otherwise she would scream the house down and she still has pretty wild swings in her temperature at 10 years old and finds it impossible to do any exercise, even gentle walking without stripping off!

I highly doubt baby was cold if the room is 20+ degrees. I find it difficult to get an accurate temp on babies with home thermometers, so don't rely on them 100% just use as a guide.

If baby is cool to touch then skin to skin will warm them up quickly, and then when they feel warmer put an extra layer on. But don't put a hat on baby indoors, especially if room temp is over 20!! Lullaby Trust advise room temp between 16 and 20 degrees anyhow.

Agree with pp that easiest thing to remember is one more layer than you have on.

@NK5 you’re right it’s better to be too cold than too hot. You need a gro egg in the room the baby is in. They need to be in same room as you.

yoy could try long sleeved vest. Baby grow. Socks over and a cardigan. Then thin blanket when awake or with you. I used sleeping bags as I couldn’t get my head around blankets for night. Check the tog. I found the dressing baby for sleep charts really helpful. the one more layer then you idea is also helpful.

is baby feeding ok? Did hospital suggest why they were struggling to maintain temp?

have you got a decent and accurate thermometer?

Follow lullaby trust re temps too.

Put a cardigan on her! And some booties!

And wrap in a cellular blanket.

Following guidelines is good but common sense is important too. It's winter- if she feels cool, then wrap her up more warmly.

Lots of cuddling will help too- transfer your body warmth.

With kindness, stop looking at thermometers and trust your gut, we had babies before all these gadgets. Touch the back of neck and front of chest, shop be warm not hot, if feels cold, add a cardigan to the outfit, if the room temperature is 20 ish (ok in t shirt but not hot) what you describe will be enough with a cardigan as required. I personally didn’t have heating on at night so use cellular blankets as required. You need to trust yourself

I have seen a few people recommend sleeping sacks/bags for night time, they are great however with you saying your little one is 14 days old please double check the weight limit on them, if you are going to use them. I am sure some that we had were not suitable for babies under 14lbs.

Also it can be so anxiety provoking, worrying about their temperature I remember it well. It does get easier and you trust your judgment more and more as time goes on.

Room temp for newborns should be between 16 - 20. And what other poster said I only used a thermometer for fever not lower temp we used to feel the back of the neck

I would add a cardigan to the vest and baby grow in the day time. I would say no to a hat indoors at that temperature.

For night time, I found the gro egg, sleeping bags in various togs and the little dressing guide that comes with the gro egg incredibly helpful. It’s a chart of what layers are recommended depending on the temperature, and it takes the guess work out of dressing the baby - especially for stressed first time parents. Link to the guide here - scroll all the way to the bottom of the page:
www.tommeetippee.com/en-gb/discover/sleepwear-range

Personally I didn’t like to use blankets in the cot, even as a now parent of three. I don’t like the potential of the blanket to shift. But of course if you’re happy with that, do carry on - but a cellular blanket is recommended to reduce risk of suffocation.

I would agree that a thermometer is not really necessary unless you suspect a fever. Their chests and backs are supposed to be relatively lukewarm, rather than hot. Hot would indicate overheating or a temperature.

For thermometers, we have a digital underarm for the newborn stage, when their ear canals are too small to use an ear thermometer accurately. We then used digital ear thermometers from around 6 months.

But again- I wouldn’t use one unless I suspected a temperature. I’m sure you know this, but any temperature over 38C is an A&E situation for a baby under 3 months. It’s not even worth trying the GP first, because they will send you straight to A&E. But hopefully you won’t experience that anyway.

When we saw temp as 35.8 I wrapped her up in wool cardigan and we wnt to A and E her temp there was 36.5 and then 36.3 they felt baby is warm enough and when I asked room temp should be 16-20 but its too cold they said its general guidance - no one knows how big a room is etc.. I stay home in pyjamas and baby wears vest and sleepsuit but we take a duvet cover when we sleep - baby has none so bound to be more cold then us.. We checked online tog ratings and its so confusing - they recommend 1.0 tog for 20-22 temp but again how does this gurantee how hot room is.

I have been using cellular blanket - used same yesterday and temperature of baby was low, when health visitor visited today she suggested measuring temperature every few hours as thats best way to determine if baby is cold or hot and another midwife suggested thick blanket. There is so much conflicting information from one person to another that its astounding and stressfull

I think all these measurements are approximate. Certainly 1 tog and long sleeve vest seemed ok for our babies at 20C, and 2.5 tog and long sleeve for under 20C.

I would be more worried about the fleece blanket which isn’t breathable so not recommended for baby sleep.

I always went by a rule of my newborn wear one layer added to mine. So if I was wearing a t-shirt and jumper (2 layers), I would dress her in a vest, top and cardigan (3 layers) indoors.

She needs a sleeping bag overnight in this weather. Preferably 2.5tog. If your room is 20 degrees id have a long sleeved onesie with the 2.5tog bag. If it drops below 20 overnight id put a vest on too. Below 18 degrees we'd pop on a long sleeved vest instead of short sleeves.

Our flat is really cold as we have terrible insulation, it's awful. She's currently in 3 layers and 2 pairs of leggings bless her, it's just so cold this week!!

We had a GroEgg nightlight which was so helpful the first few months. Over time you do figure out how to tell by touching their chest/back. Every baby is different so you'll figure out what your baby is like but their skin should be warm to the touch, like yours. If it's cool or lukewarm, add a layer and re-check in 30 minutes.

I have kept my room at 21 degrees and we are usually in tee/ pyjama or jumper & warm leggings..I have put on a onesie, fleece sleepsuit for her

She'll need one of those sleeping bags

You seem like you are dressing your baby for summer.
If she's cold add one layer, In this weather I'd be doing a vest, Sleepsuit/outfit and then a wooly cardigan on top.
At night I would be doing a vest and a fleecy sleepsuit maybe with a cardigan as well if she's just under a blanket, otherwise if she's in a sleeping bag a vest and sleepsuit should be ok at that temp.

The sleeping bag should at least be 2.5 tog this time of year, but you can get thinner ones for summer.. Check baby's weight first before putting in the sleeping bag.
You would know if your baby was overheating as they would be flushed and sweaty and their temp would be higher.. Too much fear mongering these days about overheating leading to cold uncomfortable babies.. Just use common sense on how you are dressed and add one extra layer for baby. Some babies feel the heat differently and need an extra layer, others are fine with less.