How do you keep baby warm at night?

[PinkParsnips]

Do you leave the central heating on low now overnight?

We have DD who is 7 weeks and sleeping in our room so we have started leaving the heating on low all night (about 10 degrees) just to warm the house through but me and DH are waking up very dry, sore throats etc and more importantly DD is waking up very grunty and hoarse so its definitely affecting her.

What does everyone else do?

I'm thinking about buying a humidifier, does anyone use one? Are they safe for baby?

We've tried putting a jug of water near the radiator and leaving the door ajar but its not helping.

Or do you just wrap baby in more layers and leave heating off?? At the min she wears vest, sleepsuit, 2.5 tog grobag, mits and socks. She sleeps in a crib so its fairly open, no bumpers, canopy used.

cardi over the grow bag?

Shameless place mark as I have no idea either!

How cold does it get? At the moment our house drops to 17 overnight. The heating comes on at 6am then off at 10, back on at 4pm and off at 10. DS (6mo) has a long sleeve vest, sleepsuit, mitts, 2.5tog Grobag and then when I go up at 11 ish put a fleece blanket over him. When DD was small it was properly snowy and we kept the heating on all day but none of us could sleep if it was too warm at night, and it also affects DHs skin. She would have a fleece sleepsuit rather than just cotton, plus the other stuff as for DS.

Have you got a room thermometer? I would see what that says. The lowest I feel happy with is 16 tbh. If it went lower I would think about keeping heating on. The other thing is, are there any draughts? We close all doors, have draught excluders on the floor and thick curtains, because I hate the cold. The DC are fine, it's me that struggles!

We just leave heating on in winter. Whole family feel the cold so we keep it at 21 degrees min

What temp is your room? Can you get a heater which you set to come on/go off at a certain temp?

Our bedroom is at about 18 deg and at night the heater is set to come on if the temp goes below 17 and goes off once it reaches 19 so the temp is fairly constant (no other heating on at night).

My 7 week old wears a vest, baby gro and 2.5tog sleeping bag and is always nice and warm and sleeps well x

ours has always been off overnight and in the winter got down to 14°C. They still slept ok in 2.5tog grobags with bodysuit and sleepsuit/pj's

We never have our heating on over night. DS2 is 7 months now (so a big lad and not comparable to a baby whose weeks old) but DS1 was born in October and so was small in the winter. All we did was put him in woolly cardigan (to help keep his arms warm) a sleeping bag and we'd put a knitted shawl over him. This generally kept him fine.

I think the optimum temp for a baby's room is between 16-20 degrees (although we never bothered with all that) that's generally cooler than you think.

When DS1 was 6 months old, we went to stay with friends who lived in an old stone house. It was freezing overnight (so cold my hair felt damp) and it was the best nights sleep we had ever gotten out of DS1!

Doesn't matter if their hands are freezing as long as the back of their neck is toasty.

We have an oil filled radiator that plugs in, to keep DD's room warmer than the rest of the house. it's got its own thermostat so will come on and off when it needs to during the night.

She sleeps in 2.5tog grobag, pjs and vest and we try to keep her room at about 19 degrees using the oil filled rad as we've found she wakes up more if it gets colder than that. She seems to feel the cold very easily! (takes after me I think)

I must say I wish they made higher tog sleeping bags. A 2.5 tog bag is nowhere near the warmth of an adult winter duvet.

We did try having the whole house heated to DD's ideal temp but it was very expensive and we were boiling. That's when we got the oil filled radiator.

ha, cross posted with Eletheomel - shows how different babies are!

Ok thanks everyone, that reminded me actually eletheomel that the radiator is off in DDs nursery as she's not using it yet and when I thought it was really cold in there the other day the thermometer said 16/17 degrees so you're probably right that I think its getting colder than it is. Our house is a new build so it shouldn't get too drafty.

I think I'll turn it off tonight, wrap dd up in an extra layer or two and see how cold it says it is in the middle of the night and take it from there.

you can get 3.5tog grobags now

As long as their chest is warm, then they are fine.

I live in an old house and it gets very cold at night, but it is RARE for us to stick the heating on. I just used to-

Long sleeve vest, socks under
Onsie
Grow bag
Blanket on top if very cold.
I also used a hot water bottle to warm their bed before I put them into it (removed it once they were in it!)

Once it was -14 outside and then I brought ds into the bed with me!
Babies are more robust than you think.

Get a room thermometer, mother are have them. And congratulations on your new baby!

Hello
We are in Scotland so getting very cold but dont have the heating on through the night
Have never used a room thermometer, just go by how we feel.
Baby goes to bed in longsleeve vest, longsleeve babygro then into a baby sleeping bag then into moses basket with a little cellular blanket over the top
When the heating clicks on about 6am in the morning I take off the blanket
If it gets really icy and snowy this Jan / Feb then will keep the heating on low and still put baby in exactly the same layers

Babies must all be different - we live in an old house which does get very cold at night and have a 10wk old DS. Heating goes off about 9pm, DS sleeps in a sleep suit, no vest or socks and is swaddled. He is in a Moses basket with a folded fleece blanket in the bottom. It gets down to 16 degrees overnight, sometimes 15 but he is always fine (albeit with cold hands)
When I take him out in his pram he wears a vest, sleep suit, fleecy hat and is swaddled. Anything more than this and he ends up swimming in a pool of sweat, although I did add an extra blanket on Sunday morning when it was frosty

If you can afford it , for peace of mind, I would get a thermostatic oil filled radiator. Keeps baby's room at a constant 17 degrees and you can put it on a timer. It's probably unnecessary - I think your baby would tell you if it was too cold. It's probably more of a risk with the heating on to be too hot than too cold, and it definitely gave me peace of mind.

Every baby is different. I have to put heating off when LO goes to sleep 6pm otherwise he wakes up screaming cos it's too warm. His room is normally 21degrees when he goes to sleep. It doesn't fall below 17 during the night. He sleeps in a vest, sleepsuit and 2.5 gro bag.
He is 9 months tho, and moves about quite a bit during his sleep.

I must add that we often take DS2 into our beds during the night (after various night feeds I generally can't be bothered putting him in his cot again) and so he is often in his vest, sleepsuit, 2.5 tog bag and then under our 9 tog duvet..... (health and safety will be after me now...) Not because he gets cold, just because it's easier to slot him into bed like that.

cardigan. also several blankets and I used to tuck one of MY cardigans over the top (in the sides of the moses basket)!

or

Let them in your bed.

We co-sleep, and that suits us. Otherwise, I would keep the heating on (except that our thermostat is broken so I can't).

Minipie, babies have a much smaller body mass though so they really only need 2.5 tog unless its exceptionally cold .

Thanks everyone, I feel a bit better now that I aren't being cruel keeping the heating off!

I laid a fleece blanket over her bottom sheet last night to make her crib more cosy and turned heating off. I woke several times in the night and checked the thermometer each time - it was always 19 or 20 degrees!! So actually warmer than it should be! So no more layers for now.