freezing house - how to dress newborn?

[PeshwariNaan]

Hi everyone. I'm 16 weeks and due in January, and already quite worried about baby's warmth.

Our flat is part of a very old terraced house and it's absolutely freezing in the winter. Last winter, to save money, we turned the boiler on from 5-11 pm daily and during the day the temperature got down to 9 C in our bedroom! (That was the lowest I saw, but it never gets above 12 C in the winter even with the radiators on.) This is the room the baby will be in.

Obviously we will be keeping the radiators on full time when baby arrives (and baby will not be next to the radiator). However, how am I supposed to dress baby for this? I'm usually in thermals, wool jumper, fleece and three pairs of socks myself!

I was planning on swaddling baby in a merino wool swaddle, and I've already knit merino wool hat, socks and mitts for him/ her. However, given that we can't put blankets on babies due to cot death, how else should I keep him/ her warm? Can I put him/ her swaddled inside a sleep sack, or should I just got for the sleep sack?

We are short on money, so can't afford to fully insulate our home but will be doing fake double glazing and sealing all cracks, etc.

Thanks for any ideas!

Bloody hell, how cold does it get in Oz?

Can you tackle the mould? It's not good for babies let alone adults.

Also it's more efficient to have the heating on low than have it on/off.

Can you save up for a new boiler? What happens if it breaks? We got a new boiler just before DS was born - glad we did as last one was on its knees and we had a snowy cold winter.

Also you can lash a cot to the side of your bed, roll up some towels and put them between the cot mattress and outside rail of cot to create a level sleeping area and have baby in there next to you for warmth. Also could you get an oil filled electric radiator just for your bedroom. Sleeping in low temps has been linked to breathing trouble iirc.

FannyFifer It gets down to 2 or 3 degrees here but the houses are not built to retain the heat that well. Without heating our place will be as low as 9 degrees overnight. Towns inland can get much cooler. We once lived where it got down to minus 6 and that house had no central heating! I did even own thermals until we moved to Australia.

Try to remember that the optimal temperature of the baby's room is 16C.

I was a bit like this when DS was born, umpteen blankets, vests, baby grows and a hat and was told by the MW that I was actually probably over heating him.

You guys have got me worried now. My house never gets as high as 14 degrees unless we have guests and whack the heat on. I never thought below that was particularly cold

I thought babies needed slightly cooler rooms that adults any way. My friends have never been worried when they have visited with their little ones. Obviously I need to read some more books.

Sorry, not read all the replies, but we were in the middle of renovating our house when we had our first and had only partial heating throughout our first winter. We followed the camping philosophy of layering clothing and that 1 layer underneath you as you sleep is worth 2 on top (sounds weird, but true).

We put a fleecy under-blanket underneath the fitted cot sheet (pulled taut to minimise suffocation risk should he roll onto his tummy) and it always felt warm to the touch. I would notice the difference when we stayed at my parents' house and they would only have a sheet over the cot mattress.

I agree heating on low constantly is the most effective, and saves money. We started doing this: our freezing house was actually warm and bills much less. I do mean really low tho!

We also then got a wood burner, which made a massive difference- sometimes the room it's in gets truly hot

Pesh Have you thought about a storage heater for the bedroom? I used to live in a flat with them and in winter they were fab and we didn't find them any more expensive than gas central heating. It's an investment (and this is presuming the house is yours), otherwise could you get a little portable radiator? You can set it to a low temperature and just leave it on over night.

Hi everyone - thank you so much for all of the replies and advice! Have chatted with DH about this.

We will be getting the boiler surfaced and of course we are prepared to replace it if it goes.

We do have a portable heater so that's always an option.

Not sure how much mould is actually in our room (can you tell if you can't see it?), but I've got Dettol anti-mould stuff and will tackle the walls and bathroom. We also leave our dehumidifier on quite a bit.

DH has agreed to keep heating on low all the time. :)

We will also attempt to fake double-glaze the windows and we've got draft excluders.

I'm going to start collecting vests/ sleepsuits/ fleece sleepsuits/ sleeping bags/ merino wraps. Will follow the advice of no hat just in case, and will continue to knit soft socks and mitts for baby!

Not sure quite why our house is so cold. We live in southern England but in the middle of the day last Feb. with no heat on our room thermometer measured 9 C.

Thanks, all xx

*serviced!!

Check your local area to see if there are insulation grants available.

try to make sure you dont go overboard on things over heating is very dangerious.its safer for a baby to be in a room that is slightly colder than you would like it than it is for it to be very hot.obviously im not saying freeze the baby or anything.

dont know how true this is but several of the hv's ive come across have said that more babys die of cot death in winter than they do in summer and they belive it is due to people thinking 'ahhhh little baby must wack heating up so room is as warm as hospital wards are and when ive done that i will also give baby 27 layers of thermal stuff'

I'd second the grants. Try the local council for advice or look at warm front on the government website. Even if you don't qualify, the changes can be minimal cost through the scheme. You could maybe ask for help with the mould too, that really needs sorting - please don't leave it. You can wrap your baby if cold but mould can cause serious health problems.

Also think about investing in a lambskin rug for under the sheet in the cot or Moses basket. My DS slept in a cold room, though not that cold only about 14 degrees and a combination of a lambskin underneath and merino duvet weight sleeping bag kept him lovely and toasty. These are both expensive but worth it and maybe ask for them as gifts, or ask for vouchers as gifts from several people to get them.

Good luck

My first baby is due in November and I've just bought two lambskins in good second hand condition from Ebay, one for the car seat / buggy which has openings for the straps, and another one for under the sheet in her moses basket / cot. Good old John Lewis, www.organicsheepskins.com and even some good butchers do new ones!

A friend at work recommended the one for under the sheet in the cot, both her children (now teenagers) were winter babies.

Now that I have bought the one for the buggy (a bit of an impulse buy) I see them out and about everywhere (and in magazines under the bums of celebrities children!) even in the summer -I suppose its true what they say about wool wicking away moisture and being a good temperature regulator.

For the rest of the time, I have Raynaud's and have never lived anywhere that wasn't completely freezing, so I live in woolly cardigans, socks and blankets myself in the winter. Because of this I'm planning on keeping baby next to me in a www.wilkinet.co.uk sling for the first few weeks and we can keep each other nice and toasty!