Waking in night due to being cold?

[Hannah2025]

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if anyone’s experienced anything similar. I have an 8 month old who’s always run on the colder side (just like me lol). He’s been in a long sleeve vest, sleepsuit and 2.5 tog sleeved sleep bag since around September. He’s currently going through the 8 month sleep regression and we are in the absolute trenches.

However, now I’m wondering if he is actually a bit cold which is adding to the bad nights. He sleeps the first part of the night absolutely perfectly from 18:45 /19:00 onwards in his pram (he just won’t go down in his cot for love nor money), then I dream feed him at 21:30. Then I put him down in his cot. Until a couple of weeks back he would sleep through the night in his cot, but now he just despises it and will wake constantly. The minute I bring him into bed with me he’s out like a light.

I initially thought this was separation anxiety, but he sleeps fine in his pram on his own. Then I thought it was just that he couldn’t switch off, but he sleeps fine with me. It’s just his cot - he hates it and hates any other form of cot too (have tried travel cot).

So now I’m wondering if he’s cold. Our thermostat is set to 19 overnight, but his room always feels cooler to me and his Owlet cam says 18 degrees. He is still in the clothes mentioned above. His neck and tummy don’t feel cold, but don’t feel that warm either. Could I be missing a trick here and maybe he’s just cold?! What do others set their babies room temp at? I want to be safe, but also would like some decent sleep at some point!

i remember experiencing this and as awful as it sounds I think baby was cold because when I put an extra layer on the sleep improved!

I think I tried a thicker sleeping bag- the 3.5 one.

Remember in the cot baby will feel very exposed as the cot is so open and airy compared to the pram/ car seat/ beside a warm body.

Also the room could be a cooler room- we have 2 back rooms next to each other and they are always different temperatures.

I would try layering baby first rather than upping the house temperature - please check but when I researched this years ago it said it’s best to do it this way - can’t remember why, possibly something to do with the air not being too stuffy ?

Final point I’d add is if he’s been in the same night clothing since September- September to November was actually quite warm then around December the temperature actually dropped and more recently it’s been chilly in our house even though the temperature gauge is still the same!

Good Luck- let us know if warming him up helps!

Hmm that sounds like enough layers to me for 18 degrees but the room temperatures aren't exactly perfectly accurate and as you say everyone seems to feel the cold differently. My 15 month old is in our room which can be as cold as about 16 degrees overnight, occasionally slightly colder, and id say only when it gets around that cold does the layers you describe start to seem not quite enough.

Is co-sleeping for half of the night out of the question?

Have you tried socks under the sleepsuit? Ours always wore socks, long sleeve vest, sleepsuit 2.5tog sleeping bag and the temperature usually set to around 18-19. Or, we've recently bought our baby a long sleeve sleeping bag with detachable arms. Still trying to decide if it's making a difference because he's had a cold so has been fussy anyway.

The temperature of the room sounds OK, but it could just be a sleep regression phase. Our son was teething quite extensively at this stage and it was causing him to wake up frequently.

Please ignore any suggestions to co-sleep - it is a major SIDS risk to have a baby of that age in the same bed as you.

Thanks for your reply - this is exactly where my mind has been going too! I did try him in a 3.5 tog sleepbag but he seems to hate it, I guess because he can’t move around as much. I’m going to try socks on his feet tonight and see how that goes!

It’s a tough one as I followed the guidance to start with, but he was constantly cold so I added an extra layer and he slept so much better. I also run very cold so I think he’s just like me! It’s all so confusing. I do feel like the room should be warm enough, but then again I am in my own room under a big duvet with PJs on and that got me wondering if 2.5tog is actually keeping him cosy enough. I can’t wait until he’s old enough to have a duvet himself! Not that I’m wishing the time away though

Occasionally he will sleep 10-3 and then I will bring him into my bed so this works on some nights, but on the nights where he won’t settle whatsoever it’s just too mentally draining to get up and down so I just cave in. I did try keeping him in bed with me for the start of the night last night with the anticipation to move him over in the early hours but he was so restless and waking crying even in my bed last night that I couldn’t even think about it!

I’ve never even thought about socks but will give this a go tonight thank you! We do have the sleeved sleep bags. He just loves being cosy but with all the SIDS risks it’s an absolute palava thinking about what I can add which won’t overheat!

I definitely think he’s teething too as he was congested throughout the night last night and woke super frequently. He also tried biting my finger off which tells me his teeth were hurting! We are currently co sleeping following the safe co sleeping guidelines on the lullaby trust website. I never thought I’d co sleep to be honest, but we are in the pits at the moment! Luckily with the safe sleep guidelines and our owlet we are able to get some respite.

Put a baby blanket over him, over everything else, well tucked under the foot of the cot mattress so that it can’t travel up over his head.

As PPs have said socks are a good idea too.

Remember a wet nappy, no matter how much it keeps the wetness away from the skin etc, will also be very cold.

If he can roll over himself I’m sure he’ll be fine.

You could also try him in a safe hat. It really keeps the heat in.

Our baby sleeps in a vest with a thin merino jumper on top, then sleepsuit, then 2.5tog sack. Room is set to 18c overnight. We've also switched to a thick fleecy sheet. She started sleeping much better since we added the jumper and sheet, but obviously it's impossible to say if it's the additional warmth that improved things or if it's just coincidence.

When I mentioned to friends that we had added more layers than recommended, they immediately confessed that they had been doing the same. So I do think that the guidelines are a little conservative for older babies (would definitely err on the side of caution if baby is under six months or has other risk factors).

Is the cot on the lowest setting? It's often quite drafty near the floor. We're co-sleeping so we've put our matress on the floor on slats and it's noticeably colder. We put an extra blanket over DS