Cold bedroom - what sleeping bag/blankets etc

[cat234]

Hi all,

My baby is due early December and currently confused as to what I should have for baby to sleep in.

Our bedroom losing heat really quickly - mix of probably some poor insulation, undersized radiator, three outside walls and two windows…doesn’t particularly bother me normally over winter tbh, as I don’t like being too warm when I sleep, but worrying now it’s going to be too cold for baby in the next to me.

Have had a thermometer in there the last few weeks and it’s generally 14degrees overnight, reaching 17/18 degrees when heating is on and rest of the house is toasty. Worried this will drop lower at night when it’s cold during winter, even with heating on longer during the day.

googling it seems to suggest a 3.5tog sleeping bag would be appropriate for this temperature, but other things say this should only be for ‘very cold climates’…although maybe my bedroom is!

I’ve been looking at swaddle sleeping bags at 3.5tog, or am I better with blankets? I’m conscious overheating is bad, but so much being cold? Feels a bit of a minefield…any suggestions.

thanks x

Perhaps it's changed but when I had my first we were explicitly told that blankets were not safe for children under 12 months.

I’d go for 2.5 with vest and grow and see how the baby gets on. Make sure you check their chest rather than hands. My baby’s hands are always cold but the general advice is that this is OK and it’s their bodies regulating their temp. Best thing to do is to make sure they’re on the chillier side as they’ll let you know about it, whereas when they’re too warm, they don’t and that’s where the trouble is - not that I think anything would happen with a 3.5!!
It really is a minefield. Blankets are condemned it seems but I used them loads in the early days because I didn’t like the idea of sleep sacks being around my sons neck - funny what you learn over the months of early parenthood.

We live in a drafty cold Victorian terrace. Similar to you with our Oodies on etc doesn’t bother me too much but had baby DS last December so was panicking about the cold.

When heating on house is fine but will be back to freezing cold as soon as it’s off. We bought a small heater to keep in our room so that we didn’t have to heat the whole house at night, we set it so that the room remained 18 degrees throughout the night. He was in a 2.5 tog sleeping bag with short sleeved vest and sleepsuit and this was fine.

Now he is in his own room and we have moved the heater in there with him, it’s just easier to control the temperature I find. He does also have a 3.5 tog sleeping bag that has arms that you can detach which is very cosy but we haven’t used it yet, we might when it gets very cold! It was from Vertbaudet.

our bedroom would get as cold as yours at night, we put an oil filled radiator in there a meter from the baby's crib and would set it to come on2 or 3 times a night for 30 minutes. if you have a hive and a smart plug you can set it so it will turn the electric heater on when the room hits a certain temperature without turning the rest of the central heating on

oh and in this cold spell we've put baby in a merino wool onesie, it's super breathable but also nice and warm, he has his best night sleep yet in it last night!

We did the same, it was super efficient and we were in a room with five(!) surfaces that faced somewhere external or unheated, plus massive Victorian single glazing.

Also much better if you're not worried about them getting cold when changing, dressing/undressing, feeding etc.

Ours came with a thermostat so super easy to keep the room at a good temp. Aforementioned baby is now in high school and the radiator is still going strong in the study on WFH days....