Baby sleeping in a cold room - advice please

[maxmissie]

Hi My dd is 19 weeks and sleeps in sleeping bags with a 2.5 tog. She wears a vest and sleepsuit. I'm a bit concerned as to whether this will keep her warm enough, particularly her arms, as over the last few days the temperature in her room has gone down to the 'too cold' level on the room thermometer (13 degrees and below), and I guess it's likely to get colder in the coming months. Her hands are freezing although I know they will always be colder than the rest of her.

I don't really want to keep the heating on over night as the room will get far too warm as there is no thermostat and also the rest of the house would be warm for no reason and it would cost a fortune. I also don't want to put blankets on top of the sleeping bag. Should I put extra layers of clothing on, e.g. long sleeved top as well, or maybe a long sleeved vest instead?

Or am I maybe worrying about nothing and she's fine?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

We had similar worries when DS was a baby. Were living in Bulgaria and it got VERY cold. We bought one of those oil-filled plug in radiators for his room and set it to come on if the room got cold. Seemed to work well.

you could try swapping to a long sleeved vest

I sometimes end up putting a cardigan over the grobag after the 3am feed if dd's chest feels chilly - not the smothering risk there is with blankets

our dS sleeps in a room that frequently gets that cold. He is now 2.8, and has been in thre since he was 20 weeks. I put blankets over grobags (sorry, blanket singular!) or two pairs of pyjamas - presuming you are still feeding at night, you'll have a chance to check her. Is this your bedroom?

You can't win, I know I worry if DC's are too hot or cold all the time. Thus far they seem to have survived!!

If she is cold, she will wake up and complain. It's not like the risk of overheating, where they'll sleep through it. She will tell you WAY before it gets anywhere near dangerous (AFAIK)

I think colditz's advice is excellent.

our ds is one and sleeps in a cold room too and we have an oil filled radiator (so we don't have to have the heating on in the whole house) which is on a thermostat - think he has gotten used to being toasty as he definitely notices when it gets chillier! I might put him in a fleece sleepsuit too if it gets a lot colder, thats what i did last year when he was a tiny newborn.

My dd had a velour sleepsuit, a 2.5 tog sleeping bag and a blanket last night - I felt her feet this am and they were FREEZING. Her neck wasn't too warm either. I think the oil-filled rad is going to come out.

My DS sleeps in a very cold room - I don't worry about his safety but we do have a little oil-filled radiator (about £20 from argos) that clicks in when it gets really freezing, mainly because the temperature drops so much in the night that the layers that are appropriate for 7pm are too skimpy for 3am, iyswim!

He wears a long-sleeved vest and a PJ set, and a 2.5 tog suit. His hands are often very, very cold but I don't worry about that as long as his forehead is warm.

Only very cold nights I used to put ds in a cotton sleepsuit, then a velour sleepsuit, then a sleeping bag - but the heating wasn't on in his room. I knew he wasn't overheating as I used to stick a finger down the back of his neck to test his core body temp.

Agree with Colditz.
If she is too cold, she will let you know.
We cannot go to sleep if we are cold and wake up in the summer if we have gone to sleep with the blanket turned down but gwet cold in the night.
If she is sleeping fine then i would think she is okay.
Wearing a vest and suit and in a sleeping bag should be comfortable.

My DS used to sleep with a long sleeve vest, a fleece all-in-one sleep suit, sheet and couple of blankets (wouldn't use the sleeping-bag from 8 months). He was always kicking blankets off so got the oil filled radiator out and left it on low all night. Seemed to help.

I'd switch to a long-sleeved vest and possibly add a long-sleeved top as well. Colditz is right, though -- unless there's some kind of extreme situation then a baby will wake up if he/she gets too cold.

Primark sell fleecy sleepsuits for over PJ's at about 3.00

I agree. Although DS (16 weeks) sleeps with us in the night, if I'm lucky he'll go in his cot in a grobag for the evening. Our room house is bloody freezing but I put him in a vest and sleepsuit only. I'd rather the inconvenience of him waking up cold than the risk of him getting too hot and not waking IYSWIM. His hands are often freezing but if I unzip the grobag and have a poke inside his sleepsuit his feet are generally toasty.

we also had an oil filled radiator, to tackle this problem.

13 dgrees is mighty cold. surely, the little mite isnt in short sleeves??

how about mittens too?

I have read somewhere that the ideal temp for a room for baby is 18-20 degrees centigrade. 13 degrees sounds far too cold to me ...

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I might switch to a long sleeved vest and maybe add a long sleeved top. I don't want her to overheat and as people have said she's likely to wake up if she's really cold. Didn't realise I could check the back of her neck for her temperature - will start doing that. Think I might invest in an oil filled radiator as well for when it gets really cold, just in case she needs it. If she doesn't need it I probably will!

shrinkingsagpuss - no she's not in our room and we're still feeding her at night so we can check her.

noonar - the vest is short sleeved but not the sleepsuit. Had thought about mittens but she's not too keen on them, maybe she won't notice them at night!

thanks everyone again.

We have an oil filled radiator too- it keeps our 13 week olds nursery at a comfortable 18C all night through. Like Madigan we had read the ideal sleeping temperature is 18-20C so we wanted to keep the ambient temp in babes room around about that.

Instead of separate mittens, how about sleepsuits with integral scratch mitts? Agree you'll get complaints if it's too cold.

You must all be stronger than me. If I wake up and my baby is cold in his cot, he gets whisked straight into my bed

It won't hurt her to sleep in a cold room, in fact it's good for her. Just make sure she's well wrapped up. (sleeping bag helps)

James, am just the same and there is no way I would put our 6 month old DS2 in his own room. Prefer them to be close to hand when they are so small...

The thermometer that comes with grobag has instructions on what to wear in what temps... have you still got that?

i put my DD in long sleeved vest, sleepsuit and a grobag. then when colder, I put a thin cardigan on the outside, so it covered her arms but not front ( not fastened.) IYSWIM?

I also put sock on sometimes.... but like jamesandbanana, I tend to whip her into my bed if shes very chilly

I have heard that young babies can freeze to death in their sleep. When you are freezing to death you actually start to feel nice and warm.

My duvet is 15 tog. Our room at night is never below 15 degrees. And I wear a night shirt. My sons have 10 tog duvets and pyjamas.

I would put a fleece blanket or two over babys growbag.

Is baby sleeping in own room? Isnt current advice babies should be in parents room till atleast 6 months?