Help stop me Worrying about temperature and what to wear…

[LongLostSleeper]

Morning everyone,
overthinking FTM here- my 9month old is a very active sleeper, was in bed last night with a short sleeve vest, thin babygro and a 1.5 tog bag. Room was saying 23.5 degrees but didn’t feel that warm in there. He went to sleep fine and comfortable (he normally feels fine then can get chilly but sometimes just suddenly hot if moved a lot so we change what he wears to allow him to settle) and I kept checking temp with hand etc and he was okay. He woke at 3am due to outside loud noise and room did feel warmer suddenly, he felt warm so I took off his sleeping bag briefly as he doesn’t like being trapped sometimes and wants space. Fell asleep soundly and comfortable straight away. Checked him 45mins- and hour later and still felt nice and comfortable when touching him, he then slept soundly for another hour. I checked then and he felt chilly to touch but was sound asleep still- I don’t think he was shivering when I put it on or anything.

Put back in sleeping bag while asleep and got ear thermometer- it said 36.5 then 36.1. Hes still fast asleep nice and cosy and hes 36.6 when I checked again and feeling nice warm to touch.

Just anxious I may have caused him harm if his temp dropped while didn’t have the bag on. He felt fine until the change in that last hour. Room was still say 22.9 but doesn’t feel that hot - comfortable warm though.

sorry for the ramble just wanted some reassurance to stop the mum guilt and worry!
thanks if you read this far x

I'm sure you won't have caused him any harm but if you wanted to, you could look for a 0.5tog sleeping bag? We have a couple from John Lewis and I use them for this sort of weather, when it's really hot when they first go to bed but the temp can drop in the middle of the night. Might put your mind at ease that he still has something covering him for if the temp falls.

Remember its always better for baby to be cooler than too warm, and they are more likely to wake themselves up if they are too cold, so the fact he was still asleep means I'm sure he was fine.

Why would you have harmed him?

Being cool won’t harm him under those conditions. He would have just woken up if he was cold.

The ear thermometer is probably not very accurate at that age, they tend to work better with slightly older children.

Your baby sounds fine, he's been happily asleep through the night. However, have you been awake checking on him since 3am? You must be exhausted! Getting little or no sleep can't be helping your anxiety.

In warm weather maybe just use cotton sheets tucked in over him in his short sleeved vest. You are definitely over thinking and losing sleep over this is going to make that worse.

I don’t use sleep bags when it’s that warm.

Just let him sleep in his sleep suit. 23.5 is pretty warm.

I would err on the side of being too cold rather than too warm - he'll wake up and let you know if he's cold!

He's not going to have got really cold in a 23.5 degree room anyway. Just leave the sleeping bag off while it's this hot, or get a thinner one.

I don’t think you need a vest + sleepsuit personally - DS was a sweaty baby and I never layered up. It’s always better to err on the side of being too cold but if they’re sleeping soundly, that means it’s not too cold for them.

Thanks everyone, hes normally colder so always needed the layers to settle- obviously changing but he starts and one end and goes the other!

appreciate the answers and know worrying won’t help nor do anything just a big over-thinker at times with him.

thank you

Thinking you’ve harmed him in such a scenario is not entirely rational. It’s better to keep babies in a cool room. Are you anxious about other things?

No- actually extremely level headed and logical usually

Hi OP,

You made me smile, because this sounds very much like me at 3am. Completely tired and not rational and just worried about how hot/cold the children are. So much worse in summer right? You go to sleep and all is well, but then the temperature drops in the early hours and the windows are wide open.

Been there and done that.

If she is with a sheet I usually plonk another blanket on my baby around that time, and she usually kicks it off again. She is 10 months and very mobile, so I assume she is ok without it. I co-sleep so it is easier to do half asleep fussing.

… my LO also wakes up when she is too hot / cold, and if she is asleep it means she is happy.

Thank you @Silverfoxlady - glad I’m not alone- it’s hard when it happens isn’t it. I’m so rational and logical about everything else but baby is everything and makes you think these worries!

Meant to cool off from today so can hopefully relax a bit more! Thanks for your supportive reply x

Mine's in a vest and 0.5 tog bag when the room is 23°. At 21° we use a 0.5tog with sleeves. We add a blanket if he feels a bit chilly in the night because that's easier than changing the number of vests! He's in a moses basket on the bed, so probably warmer than a free standing cot because there's more under him.

If your baby is too cold, they will wake up and cry!

Especially at nine months, they are better able to regulate their temperature than a newborn. They still have their baby fat, which is brown fat specially for keeping them warm if the temperature drops. Give yourself some grace to relax.