Those Without Heating... How do you Keep your Toodler Warm at Night??

[QS90]

Just that really. I have a two year old, who no longer sleeps through because he gets cold in the early hours. His room temperature fluctuates between about 13 and 17 degrees Celsius. I put him to sleep in a long sleeved vest, sleepsuit, extra thin sleep sack and a toddler duvet. Apprehensive to pile on too many blankets in case of suffercation / overheating. Have also read electric blankets and hot water bottles aren't safe until age 5? Anyone got any tips??

No insurance, because no money. No money to fix the boiler. All the money was going into the battle I had on my hands to keep the house in the place. I had to work to get the money to fix the boiler. It took me nearly two years to save it up. If I’d been paying insurance, it would have taken me far longer. Insurances were one of the first things to go.

I saved two years to fix the boiler. If I’d been stuck on the pay I was able to get whilst I should have been on maternity leave it would have taken me another four years to save enough to fix the damage caused by the leak. Thankfully I was working, working working and working my way up onto better pay. So in the end it only took me one further year to save enough to have it fixed. But that was a year of living without a ceiling between a bedroom and the kitchen, and the worst black mould. I cleaned and bodged and tried to fix things but I can’t build houses or replaster walls to the standard needed! It was, eventually, fixed. I have home insurance again. I now put my heating on for at least an hour every day in the winter. And the DC do not remember.

A sore throat could very likely be from snoring which is common in pregnancy.

I agree. 13 is way too cold for me, let alone my young child. I would feel worried about having so many things in the bed and on my child from a safety perspective.

All your family over the age of 60 will have lived their childhoods in houses that weren’t heated overnight, in pyjamas/nighties/babygrows, a sheet topped by one or two blankets, and what we used to call a counterpane which was like a thin duvet.

In very cold weather (minus degrees C), we’d have used a hot water bottle to warm the bed in advance, removed before bedtime, and maybe added an extra blanket.

Your toddler will be absolutely fine at 13-17 C with the bedding you describe.

Noone has heating on at night! Just PJs and duvets and blankets. If is really cold.... family bundle!!!

My DD is 2 and the temp in her room is usually about 14-15 degrees.
Tonight she's wearing fleece pjs and has a toddler duvet (so quite thin) and a thick coverlet. She's always warm enough and very rarely says she's cold. Sometimes she has a microwave kids hottie that she cuddles.

I do worry about my 9mth old though as he always feels so cold. If it's really cold we'll have the heating on for an hour around 9pm to try to warm the bedrooms and living room through but turned off in other rooms. We're on LPG so need to have at least £500 spare before we can refill the tank.
He sleeps in a 3.5 tog baggie with a long sleeved vest and a Sleepsuit on. His extremities are cold but inside the bag he's toasty warm. He isn't too restless during the night.

Dd5 when was 2 would wake up if room was 16/17. She likes it warmer

did a oil filled radiant is plugged in somkuxk in when cold

but we put her in gro bags of 3tog. Not thin ones @QS90

Mountain warehouse do Merino wool base layers starting aged 2-3 and we find they run a bit small.

We use them for our two for camping under a onesie. A fleece blanket to lie on, sleeping bag, and fleece blanket on top all kept us warm when we camped during a frost.

All your family over the age of 60 will have lived their childhoods in houses that weren’t heated overnight

Should be pointed out child mortality rates were higher then too. Cold weather makes it harder for your body to fight off respiratory infections.

What about those microwave heated bags or stuffed toys instead of a hot water bottle.

Depending on how close to 3 your child is I found my DD was getting cold last winter because she was getting bigger and she would roll over in her toddler bed and the duvet would slip off. Moved her to a proper single bed where the duvet is obviously a bit bigger and she was absolutely fine. I also put an extra blanket on when it’s really cold without issue

This! We’ve also never put heating on at night. Often low teens when we wake up before heating kicks in. I don’t think your DC is waking from the cold. My dd definitely doesn’t sleep as well when too hot though. She runs hot at night as do lots of young children I know.

Swap sleeping bag for duvet now 2. We moved Ds around 18 months as his sleeping bag was getting small and he was fine and slept better.

Hes now 2.5 and needs duvet instead of sleeping bag as toilet trained. We have no main heating 2 weeks atm as it’s being replaced. I have borrowed two plug in heaters and just move one to his room about an hour before bedtime. He’s in normal pjs, socks, toddler duvet, and quilted blanket over the top.

The plug in heater i then move to hallway upstairs and it’s on a timer plug, so it comes in again automatically around 6.30am to warm hallway, upstairs bedrooms and bathroom a bit before everyone gets up

13 is too cold op, scientifically it can reduce the ability to resist respiratory illness, it’s not cool, it’s cold. The world health organisation recommends a min of 18 and a maximum of 24.

id run a little electric radiator in his room over night or he needs to sleep with you, as this could significantly impact his health, he’s too little to be sleeping in this sort of environment

People saying they have never had heating on at night - nobody has heating on at night!!! The point is that from heating your home appropriately in the day, enough of that heat heat is retained overnight and few homes will drop below 15-16.
The people claiming they sleep with windows open all night? Aye you do, in January, when it's 2 degrees outside? Absolute nonsense, your energy bills would be HUGE as your home would drop in temp massively with 2 degree air flowing in all night. Don't lie. You might open them for half an hour at 10pm to freshen the air but anyone claiming they sleep with a bedroom window open in January when it's freezing outside is lying. It would make you ill! There's a reason when camping at lower temperatures you need specialist sleeping bags etc!

OP you need to put your heating on for an hour from 9.30-10.30pm to ensure its not going to drop as low as 13 overnight.
If you are struggling with energy bills talk to citizens advice or your energy provider as if you are at this point now, in 3 weeks time it's going to be worse and it's going to make you all ill

Our heating usually goes off overnight, and the house only drops maybe 2 degrees between 8pm-6am. Ie down to 18 coldest

If it’s really going to 13 I suggest a boost of heat on at 10pm for 20 mins to bring it back up

Thanks Hedda - exactly what I was going to say but much better articulated!

My mum is 89 and still insists on opening the window at night. She’s never had a respiratory illness and rarely gets a cold. As a PP has said, the idea of keeping houses heated to 18 degrees or more at all times is a very modern one and unachievable for many (including me). The science of how cold temperatures affect us in the longer term is still emerging.

We never have the heating on overnight even when it’s snowing, let alone those temperatures. Put him in thicker pjs or a onesie.

If you Type in "Toddler grobag sleeping bag" in eBay search

• You'll get plenty of second hand decent makes ones 1.5 or 2.5 togs (sleeveless, put sleeve. baby grow on underneath )

Eg £6 +£4 postage Eg one currently at £12 for 4 x 12-36 months grobags 2.5tog

Cheaper than £30 each they are in grobag or maman Bebe websites (great makes)

We never had heating on overnight.

We don't have heating in over night . My ds wears socks bodysuit and velour/ fleece pjs . Toddler duvet and sometime a fleece blanket . I put a microwave heat pack in his bed around a hour before he goes to bed. But remove it once in bed as he doesn't like it in the bed with him

Yeah we have the windows open all night all year, we maybe only open them a couple of inches if it's really cold. We also didn't put the heating on at all last year. Max duvet is 4 tog.

We live in a well insulated flat in the middle of a block which is lucky as it never gets that cold and if we have the oven on for a bit the whole place gets warm. We also have a heated surer for clothes.

There is a big difference between no heating on at all during the evening and heating off at night.

We didn't leave the heating on overnight and our toddlers used to kick off their duvets, get cold, wake up and come into our bed until morning.

We have summer, autumn and winter different tog duvets that get changed according to temperature. 4-tog summer, 10-tog spring and autumn, 13-tog winter with possible blanket over if really cold.

Long sleeve, long legs pyjamas and if again really cold fluffy lose warm bed socks.

Yep, by Tommy Tippee. They’ve whacked the prices right up and also done something to the sizing. We have a 1 tog grobag (one of the new made by TT ones) and rate it for my toddler, bur they’re quite little and slim for their age. A chonky toddler would struggle to get in.