Winter Worries in a Cold House

[lauraloola]

Hi, I know I am a bit early with this one but I want to make sure I am prepared!

We live in a good sized 2 bedroom house that we rent. We only have a gas fire in the front room and a gas heater in each bedroom - Thats it. The front and back doors aren't double glazed and the house gets very cold in the winter. It has started getting cold already at night.

I was just wondering how other people have coped in the past. Can you use blankets with baby sleeping bags? Dd is 9 weeks old now so will be in her cot by the time it starts getting v.cold.

Any ideas would be great. I want to start buying anything I will need now x

I don't have a cold house, but I don't have the heating on in the bedrooms at night either.

With ds I used to put him in a vest, cotton babygro, fleece babygro (Next do them), then the Grobag (winter tog). This seemed to work well.

Oh, and you aren't supposed to use other bedding with sleeping bags.

Why don't you buy one of those room thermometers they don't cost much. Then all you'll have to do is find out what temperature the room should be, and what covers a baby needs in a room that's the correct temperature. Your HV will know.

One more thing, of all the money I spent on gadgets with my 3 kids the best money I ever spent was £30 from B&Q on a portible carbon monoxide detector. I brought it to take on holiday with us but it would also come in useful if you live in rented accommodation. Static ones are cheaper, but you can take portable ones anywhere.

It really gave me peace of mind and allowed me to sleep peacefully (baby permitting) at night. It lets off an ear-shattering alarm if it detects carbon monoxide - you can test it.

It's amazing how warm they stay in their sleeping bags. They lock in their own body heat so they do stay toasty. Their little arms can get cold though.

If I were you though I'd be buying a portable electric heater for your DD's room I wouldn't be too happy using a gas heater.

We used to stay in what felt like the coldest house in the UK. We were (and still are) on all electric heating which is ridiculously expensive. But what I used to do is to put the heater on in DS's room for a couple of hours before he went to bed, set the timer for a couple of hours in the early hours and then again about an hour before getting up time. Still though, with outside temperatures down to minus 10, his room was usually well below the recommended 18 degrees.

So generally he'd be in a room around 14 or 15 degrees with a 2.5 tog Grobag, wearing a pair of pyjamas. He was absolutely fine.

Thanks everyone. I have one of those carbon monoxide detectors already as our gas heaters arent the best - I am going to get a 2nd for dd's room.

Good idea about an electric heater x

laura - we got one of those plug in oil filled radiators with a thermostat. So we set it to come on if the temp in baby's room fell below a certain temp.

Like this

www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4150482/c_1/1%7Ccat_10197552%7CHeaters+and+coolers%7C10197 884/c2/2%7Ccat10197884%7COil+filled+radiators%7C10197900/Trail/searchtext%3EHEATER.htm

Hi Laura

When I was young we lived in a 3 bedroom Victorian terrace with no central heating and no double glazing and in the winter it used to get very, very cold. We only had one gas fire in the whole house. But we used lots of blankets and thick nightgowns etc and it was fine. My brother and I were two of the healthiest children you could have wished for.

Now I live in a 2 bedroom Victorian terrace with DH and 2 year old DS and another due in December - we do have central heating but I can't bear to sleep with it on at night and our house gets very cold at night in the winter. We have thick quilts on the beds and DS goes to bed well wrapped up. For the new baby we will reuse DS Growbag Egg (room thermometer) and pile the blankets on if he is in a crib, or snuggle up if he is in bed with us. It will be fine.

You should ask to see your landlord's gas safety certificate - I am pretty sure they are supposed to get them renewed every year and have the boiler/gas appliances checked over. And get another carbon monoxide detector too as you say.

Here's to kids who don't have asthma from dust mites caused by overheated rooms and poor ventilation

I second the cold house = healthy kids thing.

We are in a Victorian terrace and while it does have central heating we don't turn it on at all. Just rug up nice and warm all the time. With a little one I would put them in a long sleeved cotton onsie and then in a baby sleeping bag or even better as he will be a bit bigger by the time it is really cold, snuggle him up in bed with you so you know he is warm.

There really is a marked difference in our health through the winter versus that of most of my friends who do turn the heaters on all the time.

Slippers, tracksuit, dressing gowns - much better IMO.

Thanks x I am not so worried now. Good idea on the heater gagarin, I will look into that.

Landlord does a gas check every year. The guy who did it this year said the heaters are nearly condemable More reason for us not use it especially in dd's room. I think I will pick up a couple of the oil heaters xx

how does stuff like that work