Sleeping Bags & Heat

[SH27]

Hello,

I am a new mum to a 2 and half week old son. I am getting slightly neurotic in terms of him overheating at night.

We are using 2.5 tog sleeping bags, plus he has a short sleeve vest and long sleeve baby grow on. The room is around 20-22 degrees, which the temperature says is too warm. However, if the room gets down to 19-20 degress (the recommendations) it is really cold and my son wakes up!!!

Does a 2.5 tog sleeping bag, short sleeve vest and long sleeve sleep suit in a 20-22 degree room sound acceptable?

I am so paranoid of him overheating.

Thank you for any advice.

SH27

What does it say to wear for the temp of 22 degrees?

My ds wears a 2.5tog bag, + shortsleeved vest and a long sleeved pj top in an 18 degree room.

Maybe just a short sleeved vest and a long sleeved top rather than the baby gro. Think he may have too much on!

You are the best person to know if he is too hot or not - feel back of neck etc. Does the room stay at a constant temperature? I have found using one of those thermostatic oil filled radiators is good - I keep it at 18C. But they're expensive to run.

this site suggests that at 20 degrees he only needs a longsleeved bodysuit under the grobag...

... but also says that the ideal time to start using them is 4-6weeks, when their temp regulation will have improved a bit.

That's true MrsB - think I used to swaddle both ds's until they were about 6 weeks anyway.

I didn't use one until ds was 10lbs, think he was about 6 weeks then.

Thank you ever so much for your messages. Mrs B do you use sleeping bags? If not what do you use?

SH, we use long sleeve vest and babygrow in 18 degree room. If it drops colder than that, which it often does, I add a blanket. Most of the people I know use a blanket too. I've spent many a sleepless night worrying about overheating my LO and I really think we're made to feel frightened about so many things that we forget to enjoy our babies. Beween 20 and 22 degrees a short sleeve vest and baby grow are fine IMO. I could never get the hang of swaddling so my LO was in a sleeping bag quite early on. Providing you get the appropriate size you can use them from birth.

SH27 when my lo was 2.5 weeks I had short sleeved vest, long sleeved babygro, sheet to swaddle him in and a cellular blacket on top which is probably about the same as a 2.5 tog sleeping bag. He was also a December baby. His room was usually 18-20 degrees, he used to wake up with the cold if he had any less on, as ballbaby says - feel his neck or chest and if it just feels warm he will be ok imo. Know what it is like to be a panicky first time mum - I was exactly where you are this time last year - I rang my mum to ask how many blankets/vests etc as I hadn't discovered mumsnet at that point! hth

My dd usually has a short sleeve vest with a long sleeve sleepsuit with a 2.5 tog sleeping bag.
If you are worried, you could remove the vest as we have done this with no problems.
Go with your own instincts.IMHO as long as the room doesn't get hotter than it is, he should be ok

Meant to say that mine is in a 2.5tog sleeping bag too. I don't just leave her in her babygrow!

Funny you should ask, I've been wondering exactly the same thing recently - used to do the sleepsuit thing when she went to bed, but the temp drops quite a bit during the night and then she's too cold. I go by the guide on the grobag leaflet - for 18degrees I just have her in a long sleeved vest and pyjama top. If I notice it's a lot cooler during the night (that's if I happen to wake up mind you) then I'll put a pair of PJ bottoms on her. That's the downside with these quilts, you can't just put on/take off an extra blanket..

oops, just re-read and doesn't make sense... i'm sure you get the gist. Sleepsuits are all or nothing, at least with pj's you can add/remove trousers.

i end up using the 2.5tog bag with a longsleeved vest and a sleepsuit, otherwise he would wake up with the cold. when it was extremley cold a few weeks ago, i ended up putting a blanket over the bag as well. he waskes 3-4 times a night still so i check him when i feed him. he was swaddled for a couple of months as he was 12 weeks before he was big enough to fit in his sleeping bag. it says for 7.5lb inside it i think. then again he was born during the big heatwave this summer i cant compare what a new baby would be like in this weather.

we only have storage heaters and ours is a fairly big room with a small storage heater for some reason. i think if you feel cold yourself then check him also.

DS is in a 2.5tog bag with pyjamas. If it's mild, the pjs are cotton jersey, if it's chilly, they're flannalette. We also have an oil filled radiator, which doesn't have a very effective thermostat, so we set the timer so it comes on a couple of times a night, for half an hour to an hour on the lowest heat setting. That's enough to keep the room from going below 17. I don't like it to be too warm - would rather DS had thicker pjs than for the room to go above say 20. Mind you, for his first 6 months, I'm sure he was perpetually cold because I was completely paranoid about him overheating. If his colour was rosier than lilac, I took off a layer! He was not a good sleeper

hello macdog, fancy seeing you here!!!

think it depends on the baby. I've had exactly the same worries. with no heating on the bedroom is between 22 and 24 degrees although its cooled down in the past few weeks to a stable 22 and having read all the baby books and the guff that comes with tthe sleeping bags i've been tearing my hair out worrying that he is too warm and I'm going to do him some sort of damage. We have 2.5 tog sleeping bags and ds wears a longsleeve sleepsuit and short sleeve vest. I've been paranoid that he is too hot but his hands and sometimes face are always freezing and his tummy and back of neck feel a normal temperature. If we use the 2.0 tog sleeping bag with the same clothing he feels even colder and wakes up more often. He weighs about 9lb now and has been in his sleeping bags since he was just over 8 pounds. Before that I either swaddled him in a fleece blanket with either a cellular blanket or nothing over the top or tucked him unwrapped under 3 or 4 blankets. In the last week or so I've come to accept that guidelines are just that and DS needs to be kept a bit warmer than they say.