Ok our first baby is due in a few weeks. We got talking about temperatures for overnight.

At the moment the heating is set to 18deg when we are in through the day and its set at 12 overnight – any less and it kicks in.

Some friends of ours mentioned today they have theirs set at 22 during the day and 19 at night for their newborn.

I really couldn’t stand it at 22 and 18/19 overnight sounds excessive to me. They didn’t have central heating in caves is my opinion.

Opinions based on experience welcome.

We never have any heating on at night and didn’t when the girls were babies. we just adjusted the bedding to suit – and made sure they were in the cot with feet more or less touching the bottom end – i.e. couldn’t get further under the bedding. That’s supposed to be good practice to avoid overheating.
We did learn we needed to put more bedding on in colder weather (duh) as they wake up a bit chilly otherwise.

I have just gone and got a small oil filled rad for the little mans room. Turned his main rad off, and left the small rad on overnight, therefore we dont have to heat the whole house just to keep his bedroom a little warmer…

and +1 for what hamishthecat said, overheating is bad news.

I’ve got the idea about layering etc but 18 overnight which is what all the websites recommend seems OTT to me.

these are the best bet for bedding imho and then you can be sure the littlun will be warm but not overheat or kick off the covers..

http://www.bumpto3.com/category.aspx?DISPLAYCAT=sleep&CAT=Products&CATGRY=baby_sleeping_bags&gclid=CIu_ie-8zqUCFVAf4Qod2BGCjg

It’s worth remembering that you’re likely to be up and about in the night to some extent so you may want it warmer than you would otherwise.

turn the rad off in your own room at the valve, and set the temp on the stat for the baby

Don’t alter the temps at all. We are after all warm blooded creatures and used to give birth, as you say, in caves and huts! As long as they have enough clothing, which as it is your first you will be paranoid about doing anyway, they will be fine. Ours survived fine with no central heating on at night and they were camping from 3 months on in Feb so there is no logical reason. On the other hand you are dealing with a highly hormonal woman and you do so at your own risk. I found my wife crying at the bottom of the stairs because of a bit of wallpaper being off the wall, so turning the thermostat up may be a wise move as logic has long flown the nest.

If you have any serious questions you can use mumsnet (I did and they were a great help), but be prepared to be gunned down if you start to take the mick. Quite a savvy lot over there.

the baby will let you know if it’s too cold or too hot. i’d er on the cool side as i was a febrile (?) convulsion child like mini fits! like you say they didn’t have heating in caves and babie’s have always since the start of time been able to tell their parents somethings wrong. like with all good clothing systems layers are the key, make sure you have plenty as sh*t seeps through the layers at the most inconvenient time! you’ll be fine.

I agree with all of the above. my girl is 7 months and her room regularly drops below 13 degrees but it doesn’t wake her. I only know about it because the baby monitor kept beeping a warning at 3am which is why we now have a oil filled rad in there.

Heating is off at night here. You are far better having the baby too cold than too hot.

+1 for switching the radiator off in their room and sticking an oil filled radiator / heater with its own thermostat. Thats what we have done.

The insane layout of our (rented for another 8 months and we are moving) house sees the thermostat in the lounge which is a large single level, flat roofed iced cube with two arthritic radiators trying to heat the room. With the stat turned up to 30 there is no way that the room is going to reach that temp, or come to close to one which doesn’t require the wearing of down jackets and hats, given the current weather conditions.

Last year we had a nightly battle of trying to set the central heating at the right level to keep the Beamlet’s room at the right temp for what she was dressed in. Oh, and the central heating makes one hell of a noise as well so is night ideal to have coming on in the middle of the night.

So, get a heater for the room.

(our house sounds shocking and you may ask why were are living in it. Its an Army married quarter for which we are paying a pitance in rent for the reasons, and others, outlined above. At least the roof on our current one is water tight.)

Good luck with fatherhood – it rocks!

They didn’t have central heating in caves is my opinion.

Opinions based on experience welcome.

So have you lived in a cave or is that opinion NOT based on experience? 😉

19° at night would be stifling! I’d have thought that too hot is worse than too cold. My kids have always slept better when it’s a bit cooler in their rooms, though they slept next to their mum for quite a while.

Such things will become obvious in time. Try to tune into your intuition, it has worked for thousands of years before parenting magazines or the internet were around (though they can be handy).

the baby will let you know if it’s too cold or too hot

Given that babies can’t regulate their own temperatures, that is an interesting view. Just have the temperature up a bit at the start – you’ll spend far more of your nights up and about than you do now.

oil fired electric job in our nippers room. He pretty much always wriggles himself out his sleeping bag so we set the room at around 18 or 19C, any cooler and we are woken at 4am.

Our little man likes it cooler than his mom, so he’ll be sound asleep after kicking his blanket off while she’s burried under the duvet and her dressing gown in bed next to him.

You’ll soon get an idea what he/she likes, just use more or less blankets and edge on the warmer side to start with. A finger in the crook of their neck soon gives an idea if they’re too hot.

Fortunatly we changed our boiler earlier this year and had the house split into 6 zones for exactly the reasons beamers highlighted above.

Trust me when I say whoever is on baby duty will be more bothered about being too hot/cold than jnr ever will.

The best temp is inbetween you and the milk supply person. Perfect temperature with no radiators. It’s not science, it’s nature.

This is the sort of baby talk I’m interested in.

What baby monitor warns you of room temperatures?

BT150 baby monitor checks and warns you if the temp exceeds a scale that you set. (either with a tone or vibrate)

Our first is due any week now and plan is to have it sleep in a gro-bag with a minimum of bedding on top.

Having done a few dry runs with the baby monitor, I can never resist playing with a gadget, I’m surprised how much the temp varies in the rooms in our house.

I was surprised how cold the ‘experts’ recommend that children are kept when tiny; typically 16-18C. But overheating is far worse for them than cold.

Recommend baby sleeping bags as well.

The standard NHS advice is 18 degrees.
Also bear in mind that baby should sleep in your room for the first six months. So the advice from other posters about oil-filled rads in a child’s room presumably applies to older children, not newborns.

Having said that, our little one spent her first week in hospital on a heated mattress under six blankets with a hat on her head (she was emergency C section a few weeks early and couldn’t keep her temperature up).

After that she hated it our room at 18 degrees and we felt blimmin cold too. We consulted with the midwife who basically said “it’s fine. Increase the temperature to where you feel comfy”

Growbags/sleepods are great by the way. No chance of smothering and no issues with feet wriggling out during the night, getting cold and causing crying 🙂

After that she hated it our room at 18 degrees and we felt blimmin cold too. We consulted with the midwife who basically said “it’s fine. Increase the temperature to where you feel comfy”

Same here. Our daughter was in 2 babysuits and a sleepbag, yet she still felt freezing cold to the touch and didn’t sleep well in a room that was supposedly at 18-20C. Maybe our thermometer is calibrated incorrectly, but she seems just fine at 22C.

General advice is that little people need one more layer than us. Usually pretty straightforward to work out during the day, but at night we’ve been adding a layer or so to ensure the little fella is nice n toasty, e.g. babygrow + top + sleep-suit + blanket double-folded. Room temp remains 18-21deg, usually hanging around the 19deg mark.

It’s good that you’re asking the question and being cautious, but you’ll soon work out for yourself what works out best.

Sat holding the boy at the moment and have his room on an electric rad at 19. any cooler and he wont sleep aand the 3-4 hours we spend in here each night would also be cold.

i think last winter when he was born and finally let home we had our room at 21. He was premature and a bit puny though.

Lucky he likes it warm, in Italy for the whole summer and it was 26-28 at night.

To items that get plenty of use here are ‘in the ear’ temperature gauge, Braun Thermoscan. And also the monitor, an AngelCare AC401 which has the temp limits and also a mat under the mattress to detect breathing. The missus couldnt sleep until it was all plugged in and working. None of those is he breathing moment as the little symbol was ticktocking on the monitor.

My mate has always used the ‘women have been having babies for years’ arguement to moan about preg women moaning and laugh at all the equipment needed but the missus always points out how high infant mortality was even 40 years ago nevermind living in caves. Make the tech work for you, the hospitals do.

Everone here pretty conistent with our experience as well. Our flat here in Schwiez is bloomin warm all year, and our second never reall slept that well.

A quick trip back to ice station zero, otherwise known as my mum and dad’s house in glasgow, always sorts my kids, and me and the missus!, sleeping out. Cool better than hot.

Absolutely, massively, totally support comments for baby grow bags, bloody brilliant. Seem expensive (are expensive!), but you can buy second hand and if you have a few different togs you are are covered.

Kev

Agree with baby sleeping bags, oil filled rads in baby’s room and the one more layer than you’re wearing posts.

Just got to say this: “They didn’t have central heating in caves is my opinion”, which you hear trotted out all the time is crazy thinking. Infant mortality rate is lower than at any other point in history, so why would you go against current advice and go back to a time when more children died???

We’ve never had the central heating on overnight for either of our two girls – just made sure that they were in appropriate tog growbag / sleep suit / pyjamas etc. As mentioned ^^ – if your other half is breastfeeding you might find the little one ends up in bed with you where it’s less of a concern.

Our littlest still insists on sleeping on top of her duvet, regardless of temperature – she’s like a little hot water bottle all the time. The oldest is like her Mum and cold-blooded – she’s always needed wrapping up more…

Also bear in mind that baby should sleep in your room for the first six months.

6 months??? 6 weeks, more like! The sooner you can get baby out of your room the sooner all of you will start sleeping through the night…

And thank god someone finally pointed out the stupidity of the “no heating in caves” argument, I hate to think what the child mortality was like back then.

OP: I’d go for a slightly warmer than usual house during the first few weeks, as has been pointed out having to get out of bed at 3am is a lot more pleasant when the room’s warm.

Are oil filled radiators expensive to run?

Are oil filled radiators expensive to run?

Yes, but a lot less than heating the entire house for the sake of one room. And bear in mind that you’re not looking to have the room hot, just stopping it from dropping too low; set the thermostat for 16-17 degrees and it’ll not really be on that much.

I’d add that baby sleeping bags are great, but I can’t recommend swaddling highly enough for a young baby.

6 months??? 6 weeks, more like! The sooner you can get baby out of your room the sooner all of you will start sleeping through the night…

Well that’s what the official advice is because it lowers the SID risk.
It’s thought they learn to follow your breathing patterns.

But like temperature, co-sleeping and indeed most things parenting, you do what is best for you and yours.

Monitors: we recently replaced the crappy old radio ones that we inherited with a Tomy Digital Video Plus – which is basically a webcam and a portable screen. It’s great: does temperature, remote night light, active on noise, and lets you talk to her through it

“Won’t someone please think of the children”

18 degrees!

The Beamlet likes her room to be a balmy 21/22C. Any colder than and she wakes in the middle of the night with her skin cold to the touch despite being in a sleep suit and inside a baby sleeping bag.

When she’s warm she’ll push out a good 12- 14 hours straight.

We pretty much follow the grobag recommendations, but find them well on the conservative side. Our baby’s room drops from 17 to 11 over the course of the night and she mostly sleeps 7 till 7. She wakes with warm hands and feet (and everything else, of course!).

We like the Merino Kids grobags best (though they are on the samll side), but mostly use normal ones.

the only change we have made to the heating is have it on more in the day as I’m home more – just made sure baby is dressed appropriately and don’t use hand or feet as temp guages at first, use back if their neck or their chest. The sleeping bags ares good but swaddlibg excellent for keeping the startle reflex (flailing arms) at bay which often wakes them up.

6 months??? 6 weeks, more like! The sooner you can get baby out of your room the sooner all of you will start sleeping through the night…

I don’t understand this obsession with getting them to sleep through the night whewn they’re tiny, they need food in the night up till around 6 months because their stomachs are so small. If you happen to have one that does sllep through before that you’re just lucky I guess.

Absolutely, massively, totally support comments for baby grow bags, bloody brilliant. Seem expensive (are expensive!), but you can buy second hand and if you have a few different togs you are are covered.

I’ve got a bunch off ebay, never paid more than a fiver for them.

Bear in mind the tog ratings (as in the diagram in the post above) – you really do need the 0.5 tog ones in summer, and really do need the 2.5 tog ones in winter.

Joe

mrsflash – thank you for your comment regarding sleeping through the night. Little farmer goes to bed at 7pm and usually wakes at 11pm and 2.30am for feeds and he is 7 months old. Bad nights are wakes every 2 hours or less 😥
His bedroom temp varies between 22c and 17c but doesn’t seem to cause any suprise awakenings!
yes to oil fired rad and sleeping/gro bags.
he also seems calmer (and so do me and his mum) with a Jack Johnson cd playing softly in the background, too

I don’t understand this obsession with getting them to sleep through the night whewn they’re tiny, they need food in the night up till around 6 months

Yep +1. Breastfed newborns are supposed to need food 8-12 times in 24 hours so that means being woken up a few times at night if you are doing feed-on-demand.

Haven’t read all the above but my son’s room is the coldest in the house so we just got a plug in oil radiator for his room which we use during the coldest months to keep the room just warm enough. 15deg I think is the coldest it’s gone though usually more like 16-17 (hard to say for certain as the radiator isn’t that accurate and for the same setting it’s colder some nights than others – temp read by the monitor which we’re lazy and just leave on all the time).