Draught-y bedroom: WWYD?

[snowybean]

Hi all,

I woke up last night at 5:30am to my 12 week old daughter screaming. Whilst this isn't terribly unusual, I touched her face and hands to find the right side toasty and warm, but the left side freezing and clammy.

We have an enormous window with shutters, not a curtain. I've taped up every draught-y seam I've found and close the shutters in a way to minimise the draught coming through. We share a double bed, and it is not near the window, but it's still getting in somehow.

What should I do in this situation? I can't put a curtain up and I can't move my bed further away as the room doesn't allow it.

I've purchased a cot to put in an alcove away from the window but it's not coming for another week or so - and I can't put the bed there either as the walls are at an angle. If you have ideas of how to keep the draught away from my baby daughter, I'd appreciate it!

Can you take a spare duvet/blanket and trap it up through the shutter to act as a proviso curtain? Alternatively, can you order curtains from amazon and put them up or can you leave the heating on?

Why can you not put a curtain up? It’s the obvious solution.

I left the heating on from when we got home from the hospital until about 5/6 weeks, but our bill was £172 and I can't afford to pay that every month.

Unfortunately the shutters fit too tight (and are v slippery!) so I can't trap a blanket. Although perhaps a flat sheet would do the trick - thanks for the idea.

I live in rented accommodation so can't put a curtain up, and there's no rail already in place. By the time I got permission, purchased a drill, rail and curtains the cot would have arrived which will fit in the alcove away from the window.

You can get a small electric oil heater which a cost less than 100 pounds a month to run, just leave it on at night on a low setting.
Sometimes the draught can come from gaps but often it comes from the cold air forming on the glass and then convection send it down towards the nearby floor. I think that might be your case.
When i used to rent student houses or similar, with draughty single glazing, i used to buy a kind of cling film stuff with double sided tape, you just used a hair dryer to shrink it over the frame and it stopped the draughts and i even managed to do two layers one place and made triple glazing! The good thing is you can peel it off later, so even if you do a second layer on the opening bit there's no trouble getting to open them in summer by removing it.
Cost around 12 pounds for the pack but i obit used part of the pack every year.

Have you got a room thermometer to find out the actual room temperature. Lullaby trust recommend sleeping temp is 16-18 degrees I think which can feel cool to some people. I would be very careful with a heater overnight as it’s very dangerous for babies to overheat.

It's normally around 17.5/18 degrees, which is perfect for baby. But there's a definite draught, it's as though someone is blowing air in your face. That's why her left hand side was cold and clammy but her right hand side remained warm. Even I get cold and I have a 13 tog duvet!

We have old wooden sash windows and I've located where it's coming in. A bit of tape peeled off revealing a large gap. Thanks for the specialist cling film trick, Johnd2. I may do that anyway so it's a bit cosier in here!

FWIW I fashioned a makeshift barrier using a blanket and two chairs, making a sort of fort. That worked well last night.