Heating the home for a newborn

[Blueberryscones]

Hi everyone,

First time poster here so apologises if this is the wrong topic to post under. I’m currently 38+3 weeks pregnant with my first child due in under two weeks.
With the recent snowy weather, I’ve been more aware of how cold my house gets. I live in 3 bedroom, Victorian end terrance with no carpet, and not very well insulated except having had the loft insulated last year. My partner and I generally never have the heating on, we can’t work from home so aren’t in during the day and I don’t get home from work until about 7pm most evenings- don’t know why we never have the heating on, we just have never really put it on unless it’s been unbearably cold.
I’ve recently had a new boiler installed in preparation for our little boy knowing that we will need to put the heating on and hoped by updating to a more modern system, it will help with its efficiency thus keeping bills down.
Currently sat in the living room with no heating on and the thermostat tells me it’s 9.9 degrees- I don’t feel cold though, my hands are warm and I’m sat under an electric blanket. From my understanding, 16-20 degrees is ideal for a baby- I would have to have the heating on all day to keep it regulated at 16 degrees, do people actually have the heating on all day and overnight? There’s no way I can afford to do this everyday. If in the day time, the temp was for example 14 degrees and baby is wrapped up and chest is not cold to touch and he doesn’t appear to be in distress, is this temp okay? Does it HAVE to be 16 degrees? Same for overnight, I spoke to my health visitor last month about whether people really did have their heating on overnight to keep them temp at 16 degrees and she advised this was unrealistic as most people can’t afford to heat their homes all day. I’ve invested in 3.5 tog sleeping bags and will also dress baby in guidance with the Lullaby Trust so I’m hoping this will be sufficient but just wanted to get thoughts from other parents about the temp of their homes during the day/overnight.
Naturally if when he wakes for feeds in the night and his chest is cold to touch I’ll turn the heating on but would like some realistic advice on whether they actually keep the house temp to a min of 16 degrees or whether this is just a guidance- I appreciate every baby is different but just wanting to get some thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

My baby would wake up screaming (and still will) when the temp drops below 16C. Currently she's wearing a LS body suit, sleepsuit, 2.5 tog sleeping bag AND we have to have the heating on in blocks multiple times a day to keep her room above 14C.

I think at 9 degrees you’d be chill without the electric blanket so you can’t so you have no heat and aren’t cold, and obviously can’t use one on baby. Plus the poor poppit will have its nethers exposed for 10 mins every 2 hours to change, and you may well have your boobs out for 40 mins at a time

Last months bill was £145 for gas

£215 in all

Was a very cold month and temp -2 for a good week or so at night so was on all night but at think 16 so clicks on and off

Our house barely reaches 16 degrees this time of year and it's costing a fortune. This morning it was 11 degrees in the lounge at 6am. Heating has been on 6am-11am and then 4pm and it's still on now at 9.30pm. it's now 15 degrees.

Victorian large house, 12 foot ceilings!

This isn't technically correct.

Building regulations changed in 2022 so any house built since then will actually have very good ventilation.. they measure air flow as part of sign off.

We have a very cold house, the kids wear extra layers and at bedtime we have an infrared heater in the baby’s room. They’re a bit pricey to buy initially but much more efficient and than an oil filled radiator and we have the thermostat set to 16 so know the baby is okay while the rest of the house is more like 12.

We have one that is also a mirror, so doesn’t even look like a radiator.

You've had good advice on beds but I really wanted to emphasise how sedentary you will be, how having a newborn is a 24/7 experience with no real difference between day and night and how a nappy change can take a good few minutes with them being exposed to their air for that time. It is very different to being an adult in a house and being able to use hot water bottles, blankets and those sorts of things.

Thanks everyone- I honestly appreciate all your replies and have taken note of them all. Just want to stress that I wouldn't allow the house to stay at its current temperature when baby finally arrives- I will most certainly turn the heating on and make sacrifices elsewhere if necessary and money is tight (not to the detriment of baby of course- more like, less treats for me at the supermarket kind of sacrifice!) I may have phrased my wording incorrectly as I wanted to know if 16 degrees was the absolutel minimum I needed to keep the house temp at, not if I could keep the house at 10 degrees- I know this is not possible. I have an answer now along with lots of other helpful tips- thanks so much all who commented x

Best of luck OP - you've been piled on a bit here but I reckon everyone is actually all on the same page! Some good advice here too. Enjoy your newborn when they arrive! Congrats

We live in a fairly new house and a 2-3 hours heating a day keeps most rooms above 16. In really cold spells the bedrooms have dipped to 14 overnight and my kids still slept in that as babies with layers on. I couldn't afford to have the heating on all day either. Could you look at insulation again or get carpets fitted in some rooms.

Your house is going to take a while to warm up, it's not going to go from 9 to 18 when the baby arrives without the heating being on 24/7 for a few days. You should start turning the heating on now for a couple of hours every day to get any damp and must out.

16 is very much the minimum. 16 is not warm enough, it's the lowest it can safely be. You want baby to be comfortable.
Turn heat on asap.