If you had a baby in a heatwave how did you cope?

[babyorhouse]

This is such a trivial issue I know, but, anyone who has given birth in July/August especially if it was the last few years, how did you cope? I’m aware on MN a lot of people want to avoid summer born babies so they aren’t youngest in their school year but for me the idea of being heavily pregnant in a heatwave, giving birth in a heatwave in a non-air conditioned labour ward is far worse. And, on an even more trivial note, all those tiny newborn outfits not being worn! And how did you cope with breastfeeding during sweaty nightfeeds?

July 2020 baby - hot lockdown baby!

Tips:
USB charged handfans - take them and the charger wire to hospital. The wards are hot all year btw - this isnt a summer specific tip!
DH brought in frozen bottles of water in a cooler bag as well as frozen isotonic drinks which were crushed up and i drunk them like a slushy with a straw. The midwives loved it!
At home, do what you do in a normal heatwave - keep windows and curtains closed on the truly hot days. Invest in a decent fan. Baby was just in a nappy and vest - lots of skin on skin time to regulate tempreture.
I sat with my feet in the washing up bowl with cold water which also helped reduce how swollen they were.

Dont be a hero when pregnant - its perfectly fine to sit on your bum in a dark room watching netflix!

DS was born in August 2018, we were at the tail end of the heatwave although the warm weather stayed through September.

During the later stages of pregnancy I would put my feet in a bucket of cold water and sit in the shade after I finished work. Lots of ice lollies and fruit.

The hospital is always hot so I don’t think it made that much difference tbh. I took a portable fan and some cool mist spray (from the chemist) in with me but didn’t end up using them.

After being born he had a little woollen hat from the hospital (all the ones we’d brought were way too big!) as they still need to be wrapped up warm.

When we got home he was wearing little onesies still. I think we had him in only a nappy for the afternoons on one or two days when it was particularly hot. But not for very long.

I bottle fed but it didn’t feel uncomfortable to have another body on mine (like when DH puts his sweaty self against my back when I’m melting!).

My first was born in a place hotter than last year’s UK temps. It was grim - we lay around naked in a pool of sweat for a month. The ward was the worst as I had to stay in a week with no airco. I’d be buying fans at winter prices if I had to do it again - by the time we needed them they were sold out everywhere.

Going back to 1976, my mum says it saved a fortune in baby clothes. I think I was just naked for months.

Baby in just a nappy but they cope much better than us, they've just come out of a very warm place after all.
I took a cooler full of frozen water bottles into hospital with me but I didn't really need it as they were very "on it" with providing ice water and bringing around ice lollies
Cool showers and frozen hot water bottles
But there's no escaping those post partum night sweats anyway

Baby lived in a nappy and nothing else for weeks. At 6 weeks old I rang 999 as they went very pale and I thought they had sepsis. They didn't. The heatwave had just ended so they weren't red anymore and returned to their normal pale white colour 😬

As PP mentioned, the post partum period is grim anyway and I HATE the heat, but it was fine and we survived.

I have a July 2020 and July 2022 babies. DC2 was actually born on that 40 degree day we had.

I was pretty grumpy when it was hot and I was still pregnant but ate loads of ice lollies which did help.

We had lots of fans at home and a lot of the time baby was in just a vest.

The post birth hormones made me so sweaty anyway I don’t think it really made a difference how hot it was as I was a mess anyway.

We didn’t plan for either of them to be summer babies, DC1 took ages to conceive so we didn’t want to stop trying to avoid a summer birthday and DC2 was a happy accident.

June 2021 here and definitely struggled with breastfeeding during the night in the heat, with the added postpartum sweats. NOT a pleasant experience. I still recall beads of sweat running down my nose whilst trying to get a screaming newborn to latch properly. It was really hard but seems a distant memory now.

Stayed inside a lot during the day, light clothing, lots of feeds when required, lots of water. Early evening walks were lovely. I did enjoy having baby in the summer though - the light nights and early mornings made the night feeds feel a lot easier! If it had been dark and cold outside I think I would have struggled more.

I don't recall thinking the hospital was too bad - there was too much going on to notice!! If I could plan another I would go with early Summer again.

July 2022 baby for me. Took a handheld fan (usb chargeable) to hospital with me (although each bed on the post natal ward had a fan as it happens, but hey it meant that I could have 2 fans cooling me at once). At home I always had a big bottle of cold water in the fridge to drink (bought a 2 litre bottle of water and refilled it from the tap). Ice lollies, and got a face flannel, ran it under the tap, squeezed most of the water out and put it in the freezer to help me cool down when it all got too much. Stayed indoors with the blinds/curtains closed and fan on. Baby wore just the one layer - a nappy and a sleepsuit at night time, during the day a nappy and a summer romper i.e. short sleeves and leg part ended mid thigh/knee.

Had my first baby during a heatwave, remember the labour ward being so ridiculously hot. Definitely take a fan, have lots of water to hand, ask OH to bring you ice lollies, hair bands to keep your hair off your face and neck!

I was pregnant this summer during the 40+ degree heatwave in London. I don’t like hot weather at the best of times and this was torture!! I just didn’t really go out. I put my huge swollen feet in ice water. I bought a portable air conditioner and I tried to imagine a time when it would all be over! I also wore a wet tea towel over my head. I was quite a sight to look at!! Thankfully DC arrived as the heat was on the way out but damn…..I would not recommend being pregnant in London during the summer. First DC was a winter baby and it was a much more bearable experience!

June 2022 - was tough. Especially around August when we had the 40 degree heat!

Basically nappy, vest, fan in the room (not near him) and sleeping with 1 layer and a thin muslin cloth over him. Curtains and windows shut.

I wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - except his 8 week jabs were smack bang in the middle of it. That was a tough day. He was already unhappy because of the heat and then the jabs.

Oh and offering extra feeds to baby. Some people I know were told to give babies of a similar age cooled boiled water as a one off but my HV said not to and just milk still... that advice seemed to vary it seemed

DC2 born April 2018 so months old going into that heatwave. I was fully breastfeeding and co sleeping.
I had a tower fan that I put on a stool at the end of the bed and had it on all night pointed at us. Had a lot of cool showers and didn't go out very much. He always got out down for a nap instead of snuggling with mr like winter baby dc1.
Also found the "hack" of freezing a large bottle of water then placing in front of a table fan does work quite well.

It was tricky giving birth and being on the post-natal ward. Baby fell asleep whenever I picked them up to feed as it was so hot and it made them dozy; apparently that was a problem across maternity wards at the time. But it was lovely going out for walks in the sun and not having to put the baby in anything other than a nappy!

DD2 was born this August, just before a spike to 32-35 degrees that lasted two weeks 🥵

DD wore just a vest or even nothing at all but her nappy. As for me, yeah I just suffered. By day I slept topless on a towel, by day I wore the lightest, breeziest clothes I had. Even so I sweated constantly. I'm a sweaty person anyway so heat + postpartum hormones + breastfeeding + holding warm baby meant I was soaked all the time.

The labour ward did have air con though!

I have a July 2022 baby so she was a newborn and 6 week old during the two main heatwaves this year. If I could avoid it, I’d not have a baby at this time of year.

We have a portable air conditioner so I confined ourselves to the bedroom, with the curtains closed to preserve the cool. On one hand baby didn’t suffer in the heat but it was bloody tedious after a day or two and I got quite a bit of cabin fever.

It was also annoying that we couldn’t spend a lot of time outside in the generally hot months - everyone said to me that having a baby in summer is great but I’ve spent far more time outside now it’s cooler.

She also went through a growth spurt in the second heatwave (thirsty AND growing) so I ended up with a huge, painful oversupply that caused feeding and reflux issues and I needed help from a lactation consultant to manage it down.

I gave birth on the 40 degree day this summer!

At work I sat with my feet in ice water and had ice packs with me/used work freezer to refresh and had a fan on me constantly.

I spent a lot of time in a paddling pool in the garden when I was on mat leave. I didn't really notice the heat when I was in labour tbh!

When DS was born, he spent lots of time in just a nappy or sleeveless vest with lots of skin to skin. I sat with an ice pack behind my back when feeding to try and keep me cool.

I'm now finding it tricky to layer DS up for the cooler weather as I had gotten so used to dressing him in one layer!