Temperature in baby's room

[MarriedToARussian]

My DS2 is coming up to 6 months old, DS1 is now 3.5. I've had previous "conversations" with my OH about the correct sleep temperature when DS1 was younger but never really got anywhere.

Last night the temp in DS2's nursery was about 29 degrees. He was crying and I went to soothe him, took him out of the room to cool him down and took off his sleeping bag. I then turned on the aircon in his room to cool it.

My OH left the aircon on, but set it to 25 degrees. Apparently the OH doesn't believe in the "16-20 degrees celsius" rule that pretty much every website I visited advises, saying that it wouldn't be comfortable and the baby is fine at 25 degrees. The OH also says the temperature sensor on the baby monitor is wrong, probably because it currently reads 27!

I realise not everyone has aircon and so in this current hot streak some people will have rooms higher than 20 degrees. But when does it get "too high" and does anyone have any suggestions for how to approach this situation? Am I worrying about nothing?

Turn off the heating/air con, open a window and ditch the grobag on very warm nights. DS is 10m and sleeps in short sleeved, long leg PJ's with no vest and I put a thin blanket over him when I go to bed later in evening. Can you show the web pages to your OH as by having the room at wrong temp he is being a bit selfish and potentially harmful to your LO. Is much better to have fresh air than an air con which dries you out.

I've shown all the webpages, OH simply believes they're right and I'm wrong despite all the evidence!

DS is 11 months - his room is around 25 degrees atm - it's been a warm day, and our upstairs seems to collect all the heat in the house.

I've opened the windows, and put him in his cot with just a short sleeved bodysuit on. I normally put a thin blanket on him later when I go to bed and it's cooled off a bit. He just gets too hot if I leave him in his sleeping bag when it's this warm.

If your OH thinks the baby monitor temperature is wrong, you could get a cheap thermometer and put it near the baby monitor.
And maybe you could suggest to your OH that you try lowering the temperature for a few nights as a test, to see how your LO sleeps - after all, if LO finds it uncomfortably cool, he'll be restless. Would it convince your OH if the baby slept well at a lower temp?

(just a word of caution, if he does agree to a trial at a lower temp - if your LO is used to a hot room, and you suddenly drop the temperature by 10 degrees, he'll probably feel cold at the recommended 19 degrees. So take it slowly.

We found that out the hard way with DS - he was in SCBU for 3 weeks as a newborn. The temperature in there never dropped below 24 degrees, and was usually around 26 / 27 degrees. The first night we brought him home, we diligently ensured the bedroom was at 19 degrees, and put the recommended amount of bedding on. DS woke whimpering every 10 minutes, until we thought to add a few blankets. He slept wonderfully after that. It took us a while to acclimatise him to normal household temperatures.)

The recommended temp is 18 degrees, but babies acclimatise just the way adults do - you don't need to whack up the aircon so that the room temp is 18 degrees. Otherwise those of us without air conditioning would really have problems! Temperature in my DCs' rooms hasn't gone below 22 this week.

If the temperature in the nursery was 29 degrees, your DS really doesn't need a sleeping bag or probably even a sleepsuit. I wouldn't try and bring the temperature down below 25 and just put him to sleep mostly naked. Cover him up later when you go to bed.

I live in Asia and before I had DC1 this used to really worry me.

Most people here set their thermostats for the aircon at around 25- i.e. not uncomfortably warm but not going to bankrupt you either (because running the aircon at 20 seriously would).

I understand that the 16-20 thing is due to overheating being a SIDS risk, but much of the world sleeps in far warmer temps, so providing your son doesnt feel hot and sweaty, I wouldnt worry about keeping the max of 20.

yesterday evening our temp thingy read 26, even with the windows open. DS sleeps in a zip up woombie otherwise he doesnt sleep but other than that he just had a nappy on. i imagine this is how people in hot countries manage.
29 degrees is very hot - if you have air con or a fan you should use it. 18 degrees is not always possible, but 25 usually is and 25 is ok without bedding - just put him to bed in his vest and cover ith a thin sheet.

Our DD's room temp is currently 26 degrees at night. She won't sleep unless she is in just a nappy with no grobag or blanket. She sleeps soundly for 12 hours this way.

Thanks for the replies all. Still not too sure what to do, but the idea of getting another thermometer is an excellent one so I'll try that first.