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Sleep

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Original poster

Is 14 degrees too cold for DS (19 months) room?

53 replies

LotusPalm · 05/12/2011 09:59

I'm not sure that this si the right place to post this, but not sure where else to put it!

DS is currently in the coldest room in the house. Its around 17/ 18 when he goes to bed, but is dropping to around 14 by the morning, and not really heating up much during the day! He seems warm enough when he wakes up in the morning, and does sleep in most days but i'm a little worried that we should keep his room at a more consistent temperature.

He sleeps in a l/s vest, sleepsuit (fleece when we know it will drop below 16); socks and a 2.5 sleeveless sleeping bag.

he soemtimes wakes int he night, but goes back to sleep quite quickly.

Hands and feet are cold int eh morning, but body temp is fine. He sucks his thumb so cant put anything on his hands, and he'd pull them off anyway.

Am i worrying (propbably) unecessarily?

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Original poster

LotusPalm · 05/12/2011 10:00

Apologies for typos! Being too speedy and not checking my work!

OP posts:

winnybella · 05/12/2011 10:07

Yes, it's too cold. If his hands and feet are cold in the morning than it's because he's cold-sorry for pointing out the obvious. Recommended temp is around 18-19 degrees, I think. You need to heat his room or dress him more warmly.

leftmymistletoeatthedoor · 05/12/2011 10:11

God yes that's really cold. I think I'd be a bit worried about him breathing in that cold air all night but I don't know if I'd be right in worrying about that.

Are you able to warm it up? We have a room in our house which won't warm up because there's a ghost so dd is in our room over this winter and we're looking at exorcism better insulation for next year.

Original poster

LotusPalm · 05/12/2011 10:11

If i dress him more warmly his body gets sweaty though as he has more layers on his body.

Personally, i think 18/19 degrees is really warm for a room at night, but was bought up in a cold house myself! He's been fine at 16 degrees, but my concern has stemmed from the recent drop in temps.

Also, i have cold hands and feet even when i am warm - is this not the same for children too?

At this time of year, do you keep the heating on all night? Isn't that incredibly wasteful?

OP posts:

winnybella · 05/12/2011 10:14

How is it wasteful if it prevents your small child from freezing in the night?

14 degrees is too cold. 18 degrees is not too warm, it's just about right. Do you think you would be warm sleeping in 14 degrees room with just a vest, cotton sleepsuit and sleeveless bag? Really?

Original poster

LotusPalm · 05/12/2011 10:14

We can warm it up but the temp will drop over night as the room has 3 external walls - if we heat it up a lot (which we can) what do we then dress him in? I cant dress him for night temps if the room is 19 degrees because he'd be boiling! He also wont keep blankets on as he moves around too much.

OP posts:

Tigresswoods · 05/12/2011 10:16

It's fine!!! Just dress him warmly.

leftmymistletoeatthedoor · 05/12/2011 10:16

I don't mean to be rude but what kind of an answer are you wanting? We've said yes its too cold but you don't seem to want to accept that?

leftmymistletoeatthedoor · 05/12/2011 10:18

Dd is 14m, she sleeps in a vest and pjs (no blanket cos she won't tolerate it) - our room is about 19/20. She's been ill recently and so I've been taking her temp sometimes in night and its been 35.9 frequently so not too warm.

winnybella · 05/12/2011 10:19

Well, if you search the net you'll find that most recommended temp is 18-22 degrees or sometimes 16-20.

He will not be sweating in a cotton sleepsuit and sleeveless gro bag at 19 degrees, I wouldn't think. You can adjust it, though, if you find him all sweaty and hot in the morning (which I doubt,tbh).

Btw, if you think that 14 degrees is fine and that at 19 people sweat I wonder if there's any chance you might have thyroid problems, perhaps?

suzikettles · 05/12/2011 10:20

I completely disagree that 14 degrees is too cold. How on earth did the population survive before central heating?

Ds would throw all his covers off at that temperature and slept perfectly soundly in an unheated flat which got down to those sorts of temperatures in the small hours at that age.

I dressed ds in similar layers to you.

Flisspaps · 05/12/2011 10:20

What do people who don't have CH do?! Their babies don't all freeze in the night and I bet 14 degrees would feel tropical in some of those homes (thinking of DMs house here!)

Put him in cosy pyjamas with plenty of warm bedding - not too much though, overheating a baby is worse than them being too cold

Ineedacleaneriamalazyslattern · 05/12/2011 10:21

I agree with Tigress it's fine as long as he is dressed warmly. Maybe invest in a couple more fleece sleepsuits so he has enough to wear one every night and possibly chuck a blanket over him when you go to bed in preparation for the temp dropping.
If you are that worried can you set a timer on your heating to come on for a bit in the night just to take the chill off but honestly shouldn't need it as long as he is in his baggy and some cost jammies.

Original poster

LotusPalm · 05/12/2011 10:22

winnybella - i very much appreciate your insightful comments, but if you would read my original post you would see that he is dressed in a long sleeve vest, fleece sleepsuit, socks and a sleeping bag.
And yes. I sleep naked with a medium weight duvet in that temperature and still sleep with my feet out of the duvet because i get too hot.

And it is environmentally and economically wasteful to keep the heating on all night!

I have a electric radiator that we had in his room last year and will put in his room now the temp has dropped, but i am not heating it to 18 (where Grobag suggest that he should wear only 2 long sleeve t-shirts!) becasuse i think that is wasteful. I was hoping for some helpful comments about what was usual. We have always mantained a approx 18 average temp in his room up to now, but he is getting older and more resiliant, and i was wondering if people changed temps as their smalls get older! SIDS say a range of 16 to 20 is acceptable, but this refers to infants up to the age of 12 months!

OP posts:

south345 · 05/12/2011 10:22

I was told by our gp to keep ds2s room around 22/23 but he's asthmatic. He wriggled out of his covers too so I've been putting slipper socks on him too which helps as his feet kept being cold.

WowOoo · 05/12/2011 10:23

I think it's ok ish.
But 14 does sound a bit too cold. 15-17 when asleep is fine, but 14 does make a bit of a difference.
I will not keep heating on at night. If anything, it wakes me up as I start feeling too warm, dc too.
Ds1 room gets cold in v late night and early morning. Never wakes him.

I was brought up in a house that was too warm for me.

How about getting a duvet and tucking it in?

CinnamonStar · 05/12/2011 10:23

I think our bedroom is probably colder than that at night and we have 6 month old DD in there with us. If he is used to it being cold then warming it up too much might be too hot for him, I know I can't cope with the heating on at night.

Can you put some socks on him to keep his feet warm, and maybe an extra pyjama top or something like that? Cold hands are OK, I think - aren't their hands supposed to be cold? Is his nose cold? If it is, I would say he needs warming up a little. Maybe you could go in after he falls asleep and drape a cellular blanket on him or something.

suzikettles · 05/12/2011 10:24

To clarify, ds would throw off all his covers at 18 degrees, not 14 - he's a warm blooded wee soul (because of those dreadful parents of his who only got CH installed last month), but not quite that hardy

winnybella · 05/12/2011 10:25

What is it with British people and thinking that keeping their houses close to freezing temperatures is somehow virtuous? Seriously.

No, the baby won't die because of sleeping in a cold room. But it's not very nice or comfortable.

LovesBloominChristmas · 05/12/2011 10:26

It's core temp you need to check not hands.

winnybella · 05/12/2011 10:29

Yes, SIDS people will recommend that as it's mostly infants under a year old who succumb to it, but I googled and it seems that all the websites say 18-20 all 16-20. None of them say 14 degrees. Why don't you have a look for yourself?

CamperFan · 05/12/2011 10:32

winnybella? It would be ridiculous to keep the heating on all night! OP, we have one of those little electric heaters in his room set in a thermostat so that the room never gets too cold at night. I'm not sure how much they cost to run though - do you?

Francagoestohollywood · 05/12/2011 10:36

Well, my answer would be that I personally wouldn't enjoy sleeping in a room at 14 degrees.

14 degrees is cold, in the winter.

winnybella · 05/12/2011 10:37

What, CamperFan? OK, I might be generalizing here and it might be because we are going to MIL for Christams and I know that she will only put one radiator on low for a couple of hours and a small fire downstairs of an evening to heat an 8 bedroom house and we will be bloody freezing for 5 days.

But isn't it true that MN is full of posts along the lines of 'It's 12 degrees in my house and I'm sitting here dressed in a vest, long sleeved top, 2 jumpers, dressing robe, slanket, a hat and gloves and I'm all toasty' on the 'How warm is your house' type of threads?

calypso2008 · 05/12/2011 10:44

I think it is absolutely fine - he sounds wrapped up warm and cosy also, he is sleeping through the night.
But I do prefer sleeping in cooler rooms, nothing worse than over heated bedrooms IMO.
You could always put a little hat on him as that is where heat is lost (if you are worried) as someone else said, socks for his feet (apologies as you probably already do this)
I wouldn't worry.

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