Room temperature and layers for newborns - advice please!

[blueberry549]

Mummy-to-be seeking advice please! We're expecting our first in just a month now, and midwife made a big deal at our home visit about overheating being a SIDS risk.

Our house is generally quite warm with our room often being 19-21 degrees overnight even with heating off and top window slightly open.

From what I've read with the whole 'baby wears one layer more than you', during the day if I was just in t-shirt, baby should be in short-sleeved vest plus sleepsuit? But it was really sunny today so just worried about baby overheating?

Then for sleeping I would be putting baby to bed with short-sleeved vest, sleepsuit and either gro-swaddle or one cellular blanket on top. Is that about right for this temp or is that too much?

Also how do you tell if baby is overheating? I have contactless thermometer but I think this is for detecting fevers etc rather than just body temp?

I'm sure i'll work this out when baby actually arrives lol, but any advice to help me would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance x

Congrats! DS was born in May 2016 so we did the newborn stage in the summer too. Makes it easier for nighttime feeds as it's at least warm when you get up in the night.
I think the advice should be "one layer more than you're comfortable in" - today DS was in a t shirt and trousers - I would have been comfortable (temperature wise) in nothing. (For the record I didn't test it out ).
Check their body - put your fingers down the vest and feel their back or their front rather than their hands/toes - they are often cold on the extremities.
Nighttime DS wears a baby grow and a 2.5 (from memory ) tog sleeping bag. Until recently he was in a short sleeved vest too, and I used long sleeved ones in the winter.
HTH and congrats again!

The grobag website has a helpful chart with what they should wear if using a sleeping bag / swaddle. I think the mothercare site has something similar for blankets. My babies room is 21 tonight and she's in a long sleeved vest and 1.5 tog bag. I always use bags so rarely use sleepsuits too as she tends to get too warm with the feet.

I've had 2 summer babies and generally found the "they wear one more later than you" advice to be no good for mine. I generally went for what I was comfortable wearing and dressed DCs the same. Same in winter. Most nights in the summer they would wear a sleepsuit with a thin blanket or just a vest on really warm nights.

I'm in my third baby and have finally realised the joy that is a groegg (can get very cheaply on ebay and FB selling pages). Tells you the temp and colour changes accordingly.

Then I used gro bag website which has a chart for sleeping bags and a chart for blankets. Tells you what clothes to wear as well as which tog sleep bag or how many blankets to use

I do think you will get a feel for this once baby is here. The grobag chart is a guide and you can go from there. The evidence is shaky on this as a sids risk factor if you check the studies. When baby is newborn you will be waking frequently throughout the night for feeds etc so you can always put an extra blanket on if too cold, or take a layer off accordingly.

Congratulations! My LO is 11 weeks and I had the same concerns.

Basically I touch his nose and hands. If both are slightly cool to touch then he is ok. If cold then he needs more layers. If hands are hot then I remove a layer.

Up to week 8 I erred on the side of caution and let him be cooler rather than hotter due to sids risk. After that point I felt a bit more confident. Again still checking his hands and head not too hot.

You will get the hang of it it quickly once baby is here. Agree with PP all babies are a little different, some need more layers than others.

I find the grobag chart would have mine freezing. Our house is pretty warm. Over winter I have long sleeve vest, babygrow and a 2.5 tog sleeping bag. In summer I have either a babygrow or a long sleeved vest and a 1 tog bag. Times in between these are more of a juggle - currently she's in a vest and babygrow but no covers.

You'll figure it out - babies like different things too, my eldest is/was as a baby always on the warm side, my youngest is always cold.

You want to feel their skin on their chest or back to see if they're hot or cold. It's normal for baby hands to be cold/colder so don't use these as an indicative temperature. If they feel too hot whip the blanket/grobag off and if too cold add another blanket.

In addition to what PPs have said, remember SIDS is incredibly incredibly rare. So assuming you don't wrap your child in a winter duvet, the danger here is that instead of a microscopically low risk of SIDS, you'll have... a microscopically low risk, but just a teeny tiny bit less microscopic than the first one.

The bigger risk is that you'll lose sleep trying to work out if they're too hot/cold!

Congratulations!

I panicked about this at first too. I use this chart to help - there's also one on the growbag website.

Our room is generally 19 - 21 (we live in a hot country so this is as cold as we can get it). DS wears a vest, a sleepsuit and a one tog growbag. If it's warmer I leave the vest off.

Also, I've found the temperature thing to be oddly cultural - Arab women are always stressing that my baby is underdressed for weather in the high twenties/low thirties! The hospital advised that we keep our room at 23/24 degrees, which I think is unbearable! (Although we gave it a good go when baby came home )

Hello OP, Fartniss has given you basically what was my go-to. DD is now a year and I've never known her to be too cold too hot at night.

Here's my input; get thyself to TK Maxx pronto. They have an awesome selection of growbags and usually 50% cheaper than RRP.

We've got all the togs; 0.5, 1 and 2.5 thanks to that place x

I have an 8 week old DS and we live in a very cold house, my mum thinks I am he cruellest mother ever because he just has a short sleeved vest and a sleepsuit on top, day and night. Naps in the day under a blanket, 2.5 tog sleeping bag at night. In my defence I did try layering him up but it made him really hot and cross - wait and see what sort of baby you get and then respond accordingly

Thanks all, really helpful and much appreciated :D

The advise that I was given was to put them in less then you think cause a baby will wake up from being cold and you can adjust it as. Ended but if the baby is too hot they the it could be SIDS then they won't wake up. That was a rule I lived by until I got used to it.

Hope that helps x

Gauge temperature by feeling their chest / back with your fingers NOT by hands and feet. Their torso is where their organs are and can be quite different to extremities in temperature. Xxxx

Like darkangel if I was in any doubt I erred on the side of fewer layers as they'll soon complain if they're cold (even as a newborn they will cry if cold as it's an evolutionary thing to keep them close to mum). But if too hot they might get sleepy and not complain.
That obviously only applies if baby is full term and otherwise healthy - might be different if baby is premature/significantly unwell.