Is it too cold to not have heating on for a baby?

[Ladylout]

I have a 4 month old. We cannot afford to pay for heating. We have some coal and sticks which we are trying to keep for the winter months. The temperature is dropping to 4c outside this week and I am wondering how low is too low for a baby? And what to do about it when we can't afford to sticks/fuel/oil in right now. His hands have been very cold but the nape of his neck is warm.

What is the temperature inside your house right now?

Well it depends on the inside temperature. Dd1 the heating never went on because the neighbours heating was enough to keep the house warm despite it being very cold outside. Dd2 house didn't have heating or insulation so she slept in a snowsuit on very cold nights.
There are charts for what clothing to wear for what temperature (obviously keep an eye on the actual temperature of the baby too) just keep him dressed appropriately and remember in Scandinavia they regularly sleep outside in the snow.
I hope you can get some help with heating though.

Cuddle up and you’ll be fine. It’s October! Try a hot water bottle and lots of layers if you’re chilly. Oh

Boil a kettle let it cool and use a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel to warm baby’s bed. Xxxxx

Mittens.

Many a baby (including me) were reared in houses without central heating.

But take it out before baby goes in there.

I think it is too cold. Start looking at sources of help. My council is doing grants for those struggling for energy costs etc.

Presumably you had a fire though. If you truly grew up in a house in the UK that was entirely unheated throughout the course of your childhood, wearing only mittens, you were neglected.

Presumably you had a fire though

Not in the bedrooms. And of course not wearing only mittens.

According to my DM as babies we would nap outside in the big coachbuilt pram every day year round, unless it was foggy. Sun, rain and snow. We all survived without frostbite so I presume she just wrapped us up well!
Do you have a snowsuit which fits? He will start to be more active in the coming months and will probably kick blankets off.

If your baby is dressed in a sleep suit and has a suitable blanket or duvet, he'll be fine.

I was brought up in an unheated house, and I never have heating on overnight but ds is completely healthy 14yo.

One sec.

We're suggesting that you dress your baby in a snowsuit to keep him warm in the house?

Is this how far things have come?

It depends on what the internal temp is but you don't want it below about 15 degrees for a baby.
If at night make sure they are in the right number of layers and/or tog sleeping bag you can get 3.5 tog rated suits for less then 15 degrees but they aren't very common so don't come up much second hand etc.
Flip hands over on aleepsuits and set of mittens or socks ontop.
Babies actually sleep better around 17 degrees

Fucking terrifying.

My grandmother's house had no heat and there was frost on the inside of the windows waking up. She'd be horrified to think of her great grandchildren living in similar circumstances. We were bloody freezing there.

Some houses today still don't have heating installed so it's definitely getting ok to not switch it on as long as you are doing everything necessary to keep the baby warm.

Vest, sleep suit, cardigan, mittens and socks, and blanket/duvet. Keep a thermometer in the room so you can keep an eye on it.

Do you have a gro bag and cellular blankets? Layers are great.a hat keeps warmth in too bi it depends how cold it is inside your house.
I dont have a baby but frot context my old very cold house I'd dropping to about 12 overnight now u thats exceptionally cold I realise. You need y contact your health visitor as a matter or urgency for support and advice

You know what, this is taking competitive coldness/heating frugality too far. This is a parenting site and you are all so caught up in this joyless madness that you are advising a new parent that her baby will be fine if she doesn't heat her house. That is not true.

OP your baby's health will definitely suffer if you do not heat your house. Houses that don't/didn't have heating do/did have fires which raises the ambient temperature. This is what you need to do. Putting mittens on your baby (as per a pp) is really not sufficient. Speak to your health visitor about accessing local authority grants to help with heating costs.

It's actually safer for a baby to have a cooler temperature. Ideal temperature for sleep is 16-20 degrees. We used to have our bedroom close to 16 degrees and our DD would wear a vest, sleepsuit and 2.5tog sleeping bag. In the day just apply the same rule- vest, top, cardigan, tights and trousers. She will be absolutely fine unless you're literally talking about freezing temperatures in your house which seems unlikely

You don't really want it below 16 in baby's room, but you can get away with it a bit with a 3.5 tog sleeping bag. Can you afford an electric heater? We have a small one that's the cheapest way to heat a single room - works very quickly.

Failing that, pile on the layers.

Oh op 😢 this is horrible for you. You do need to make sure your baby is warm. At four months could you wear him in a sling as much as possible and co sleep to share body warmth.
I would speak to your health visitor to put you in the direction of help. They might be able to offer an electric heater or know a charity that provide them.
Ignore those saying they lived without heating 🙄 if it was that great we wouldn't consider heating a necessity.

There is a HUGE gap between 16 and freezing. We don't heat at night and it was definitely below 16 in our house last night. Fine for us under wool duvets and no babies. Not for an infant.

OP, that's awful. You shouldn't have to live like that in 2022. It's ridiculous how things have panned out with heating costs and your family shouldn't be in that position. I'm lucky enough to have just moved into a really well insulated new build that's currently maintaining 22° without the heating on. I'd be happy to give you some of the cash I'd expected to spend on heating that you could put towards a warm baby sleep sack, or a heater, or more fuel for your fire, or a heated mattress topper, or pay to heat a room in your house for a little while. I have a 2 month old and I hate to think of her being cold.

We've got a 15 month old and I've had hearting on in his room but we are in Scotland and it has been cold at night

I've never heated my house overnight, an hour in the morning 3 in the afternoon/evening is all I've regularly had (putting on an extra hour or two in midwinter if home). Put layers on children including a hat but make sure you don't over compensate, babies only need a layer more than you.

My heating still hasn't kicked in yet, it's set at 18 meaning it hasn't dropped below indoors

I didn’t have central heating or hot water in my home when I had a baby, we were often cold, we often slept in the same bed and room for warmth, we literally bathed using a kettle and a baby bath. We didn’t have a choice to put on the heating because it didn’t work, and if it had I couldn’t have paid for it. We had a three bar stand heater which could be used for a short time if I had the money to boost one room, we frequently slept downstairs to benefit from that.

Don’t let babies sleep in snowsuits or anything with hoods. Nothing wrong with mittens but use the built in kind. Several slim or thin layers work better than one bulky. The best way to stay warm is move, and keep your baby against your skin, so they will warm up too. Use a sling or baby carrier and keep moving. Move the furniture away from the walls to stop damp. Make sure the pipes do not freeze, ours did once and the mess was spectacular - but don’t worry, it was 3 degrees indoors that day and -10 outside so we are a way off that. Hopefully if you have hot water running through sometimes too that will help. If it’s colder indoors than out open up the windows and doors. Cover up all droughts and draw all curtains, hang more curtains over doors if you have them, sheets or towels if you don’t.

If you do have access to heating try to heat here and there, maybe for an evening or two during the week as if you do that the temperature will never drop too far down, boosting it up even a few degrees means it takes a while to drop off. That was my problem with it, with no heating or hot water to fall back on it never got boosted up and after a few months of that it’s as cold indoors as out.

do you have access to any schemes for warm homes or insulation? Are you on a priority register with your energy provider?