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Pregnancy

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Original poster

July baby - hot bedroom

16 replies

Wolowl · 20/05/2022 09:15

Hi,
we're expecting our first baby in July and I'm a bit worried about how warm our bedroom gets when the weather is hot. With the warm weather the past few nights our room has been really warm and stuffy, even with the window open. We got the fan out last night, and it's not anywhere near as warm as it could potentially get if the summer is decent.

I'm assuming you shouldn't really have a fan on when the baby's in the room but I'm concerned about them overheating. The master bedroom is at the back of the house and gets the sun for most of the day. In summer we close the curtains, keep the windows and door open and have the fan on, plus we sleep under a sheet rather than a duvet.

During the day the living room/downstairs are really quite cool, but the house is really well insulated so the heat just rises and the bedrooms get warmer.

Any advice for the baby would be greatly appreciated!

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GrowBabyGrow · 20/05/2022 09:53

Definitely empathise with your worries - we're due end of June and I've had the same panic the past couple of nights. I found this from the Lullaby Trust reassuring - www.lullabytrust.org.uk/the-lullaby-trust-urges-parents-to-keep-babies-cool-during-the-heatwave/

They say it is ok to have a fan on when a baby is sleeping in the room as long as it is moving and not fixed on them. Would it be possible for you to move your bed/ have an air mattress downstairs if it is just too hot upstairs?

If you have more than one fan it could be worth setting them up strategically to move air around the house, we did that last summer and it made such difference having a fan that pushed the cooler air from the back of the house towards the south-facing side.

Original poster

Wolowl · 20/05/2022 10:04

Hi, thanks so much for your reply!

We definitely can't move the bed, but could potentially sleep downstairs. That link looks really helpful and I will make sure we do everything they say.

It's good to know that you can use a fan - it does oscillate and we can also move it so it's further away from their crib, but still gets to them.

I wasn't aware it would be ok for them to sleep in just a nappy if it's really hot as well. So much to learn!

We do also have a room thermometer and I will be buying another fan I think.
Thank you!

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fancyfrogs · 20/05/2022 10:16

I did this last night as my toddlers room gets really warm but did the same last summer.
Blackout curtains closed when the sun is on the room
Windows wide open and bedroom door open
Fan on for a couple of hours before bed time
Then I generally find it's cooled down enough to turn the fan off when we actually go to bed
Once baby is a bit bigger and fits in a sleeping bag well, you can use a 0.2 tog one if you want something light on them for bed over a vest or nappy 😊
I also open the loft hatch (if you have one) as the heat will rise up there instead!

Amichelle84 · 20/05/2022 10:27

We had a july baby in 2020 and our flat was so hot!!

You can have a fan on and windows open but advice is just not directly by the baby.

We have a gro egg so you can keep an eye of the temp.

Dress baby accordingly to temp. Aden and Anais do some really lovely light sleeping bags.

Newborns like to be warm anyway.

Keep curtains closed in the day to keep the heat/sun out.

tobi21 · 20/05/2022 10:54

I had my son August last year and it was very hot - we're in a new build that absolutely traps the heat. We had the window open to let air in, a fan that wasn't pointed near baby, and also a little air con unit - that really helped. Baby slept in just a vest and he was fine. We also kept all windows and doors open during the day with the fan on spin to circulate the cool air

RandomQuest · 20/05/2022 10:59

My first was a summer baby. On really hot nights she had a really thin sleeping bag (0.2 tog I think) with just a nappy underneath. I’ve never heard that you’re not supposed to use a fan, we have the dyson one but point it away from the cot. Windows open as well.

Original poster

Wolowl · 20/05/2022 15:30

Thanks so much everyone! I will look into the lower tog sleeping bags as well.

Re the fan, I was just assuming you shouldn't have one on near a baby, but it's good to know you can have one in the same room as long as it's not directed onto the baby.

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LabradorFiasco · 20/05/2022 16:14

My first was a June baby and our bedroom (rented new build, total furnace) regularly reached 35’C. We bought a portable air con unit and it saved our lives. It brought the room down to 21-25’C which was so much more bearable, especially as I spent most of my time in there for the first few months, constantly bf baby and trying to recover. He ‘slept’ (ha!) in a nappy and a light muslin swaddle. It was about £300 and worth every penny. Not too expensive to run either, surprisingly. It really is such an upgrade from a fan.
We have now moved house but the air con has been installed again for baby #2 expected any day now…
Good luck OP!

Weathergirl1 · 20/05/2022 19:56

Just to say, keep windows closed if it's actually warmer outside the house than inside, otherwise you'll just let the hot air in. As soon as it cools down outside lower than inside, then open all windows and let the air circulate. Curtains shut on any side of the house that's in full sun until the sun moves round. We managed to keep our 1st floor bedroom at the sunny side of the house to about 26 degrees when it was in the mid 30s outside and that was with the 2nd floor (with roof windows) reaching high 30s - nothing we could do about that so kept those windows open to let hot air out.

If you aren't sure about temperature outside you can pick up a portable thermometer from Amazon relatively cheaply - we keep one part in the garden (in the shade) when it's hot and the other in the house so we can see what the difference is and it works really well!

doobedooboom · 20/05/2022 20:07

We have a dehumidifier which really cools the room down - no idea if they are safe or not for babies but quite cheap - the cooling down of the room was a surprising perk!

Thinkbiglittleone · 20/05/2022 20:11

We have an air-con unit. It's a life saver on the hot evenings.
Set it up and put it on an hour before bed with the windows, curtains closed, lovely and cool

Garman · 20/05/2022 20:15

Why would you not be able to have a fan with a baby? Stripping the baby to their nappy would be the obvious solution if it's that warm, maybe a light cellular blanket if needed at all.

SecondhandTable · 20/05/2022 20:22

I had my eldest baby in a summer heatwave a few years ago, we lived in a modern, third floor flat at the time. The living space was open-plan and had windows all round it in a semi-circle. We had a Gro Egg thermometer which was showing our living area regularly reaching 26 degrees! Our bedroom was regularly 24.

My advice would be:

Room thermometers in every room baby will sleep in. We had a little one from Amazon mainly in the living room, and a Gro Egg in our bedroom.
She spent most of her first 6 weeks just wearing vests in the flat. When she slept we'd usually just put one hand-made knitted blanket on her and tucked in tightly on a night. In the daytime sometimes just a thin cellular blanket.
We basically permanently had a fan on whichever room she was in, in the daytime, set to rotating. Sometimes we'd have it on all night long overnight too.
All the windows wide open!
We had blackout blinds everywhere in the flat so we kept a lot of them drawn as much as was feasible.

She was fine. Breastfeeding was a sweaty sweaty mess for both of us!

Sunnyshoeshine · 20/05/2022 20:35

We are in London. My DD was born during last June / July heatwave and to be honest, i ended up moving downstairs with her overnight as her room hit 28c one nighf. She slept in her moses basket and i slept on the sofa for maybe 3 weeks? It was by far the coolest place in the house due to having shutters downstairs and i slept much better not worrying about overheating in the bedrooms.

DD is already in a 0.5tog sleeping bag with a fan on!! We are looking into have air con installed in at least one of the bedrooms upstairs now because it looks like the summers are not changing so then we'll have one room we can all sleep in at a reasonable temp.

Sunnyshoeshine · 20/05/2022 20:37

our room" hit 28c one night^

NotMyselfWithoutCoffee · 20/05/2022 20:58

Shouldn't have a fan directly on the baby but can have it on rotation (because young babies can't regulate their temperature very well).
Baby is ok to sleep just in a nappy or vest, that's what we did during the 2020 summer with a newborn. Also if they are in the same room as you, you can leave the window open and shut it if you feel it's getting chilly. Rule of thumb is if you are comfortable add a layer more to the baby than what you are wearing.
In the cooler summer nights a warm fleecy sleepsuit, vest and a blanket should be enough, firmly tucked in but not so much it's restricting babies movement.
You can always buy a portable air con unit, might be a bit pricey but if you're overheating and practically naked could be a worthwhile investment..

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