Baby room temp 13'C the last two nights, what to do!?

[LadyLouOf2]

My 6 month old DS is in his cot in the room immediately next door to us. He shares this room with my DD (2.5years). She sleeps like a log and doesn't feel it but he has had a couple of terrible nights. According to the monitor, the room was at 13'C, despite having double glazed windows etc (it's an old Edwardian house and is draughty). He sleeps in a vest, baby grow, grow bag and 2 cellular blankets on top.
I know they say that babies' hands and feet are always colder but his hands have been like absolute ice blocks. His chest and the back of his neck have felt okay (not hot, not cold) but his hands and his forearms are just beyond cold. Last night I had to bring him in with us at 4am and I just rubbed his hands and arms until they were warm. He slept like a log as soon as he warmed up.

Other than leaving the heating on all night (it's a 5 bed house, too big to heat the whole thing every night)- do you have any suggestions of how to keep him a bit warmer? I've brought his cot into our room this evening as our room has less windows and feels warmer. He is appropriately dressed according to the guidelines. Any bright ideas please!

13 degrees is too cold IMO. You either need to have the heating in more or put a electric radiator or similar in there.

We use an oil-filled radiator in my daughter's room. It has a thermostat so it keeps the temperature fairly constant. That might be an option if the room isn't too large?

There's a few weeks until spring, would it be easier to keep in your room for a little while?
Or have a little plug in heater for the one room?
(I'm expecting my first, can't claim I know much from the baby raising point of view)

A long sleeved vest under the babygro would help. Maybe get an oil filled heater in the room to take the chill off.

An electric oil filled radiator. Put it on a timer plug, and get one with a temperature sensor so it shuts off at your chosen temp so the room doesn't get too hot.

Socks on his hands!

Seems strange that you can afford to live in a 5 bed Edwardian house but you can't afford to heat it to keep your baby in warm...

Mittens

Oil filled electric radiator. I have one in dds room as she’s got 2 outside walls in her room and it’s always cold in there.

You can also get 3.5tog sleeping bags

Keep him in with you. He's only tiny.

Oil filled rads here too

Socks, two babygros. I thought the babygros usually still had mittens attached at this age still as well so see if you can get some of those.
Personally I would use more blankets but I know that's against SIDS guidance.

Can you put the heating on a timer for 1-3am? That's when it drops really really cold so the boost might help.

Turn the heating on.

Our DD's room can get really cold and dipped to similar levels last winter. We bought smart thermostats so we can control the temperature room by room so hers is always around 17⁰c now. They were about £40 each and the hub was about £100.

13 degrees is too cold for a baby and bundling him up like a bolster is dangerous.

Ours is about 13/14 degrees overnight. We keep our son in a 3.5 tog sleeping bag, with a vest and long-sleeved pyjamas. I think layers are your friend here - the 3.5 tog bags are really cosy with the right clothes underneath. You could also pop some socks on to keep the warmth in - hands aren't generally an issue if they're cold, as long as their bodies are warm

Put your thermostat on 16 degrees overnight to stop it dropping too low?

Turn off the radiators in any rooms you don’t want heating in the night and put the thermostat in the kids room.

Put the heating on. Why wouldn’t you?

If you have 5 beds is there a warmer room he can use? Or just keep him in with you!

Put a jumper or fleecy top on on top of the sleepsuit? Or just keep him in bed with you.

Draught proof the windows and pop an oil filled radiator in there with a thermostat on.
Ps- leaving heating on low (eg we turn ours down to 19oC overnight) will cost less than you think.
Heating a big house like that from COLD in the morning will use LOADS of energy.
Much better to keep it on low.
Also - perhaps you can reduce the flow of water to the radiators in other rooms and leave the flow fully open on the radiator in their bedroom. Look up ‘balancing radiators’.
My daughter has the coldest room. Big semicircular bay with crappy insulation. We’ve done this and it makes a big difference.

The other heating related thing you can do is get a plumber to install a radiator in their room which has a greater BTU. For around £250 you could make a big difference if the other ideas don’t work.
X

That's freezing! Put the heating on?

Yes we had a 3.5 tog bag from jojomaman and it had sleeves that you could pop on and off. Didn’t use it loads, only when we had really cold spells.

And maybe an expensive solution but we have moved into an old house with a hive heating thermostat, so you set your minimum temp overnight - we have 15, and it will come on and maintain that minimum overnight if needed.

Wrap a blanket around him and THEN put him in the growbag. It works brilliantly, keeps them toasty and warm as they cannot kick anything off.

Alternatively keep him in bed with you.