Advice please...what does your baby wear at nightime?

[prm]

This is probably going to sound silly but out of all the things I could be worrying about weeks before having my first baby, I am currently trying to work out how I am going to keep her warm at night.

The advice I have seen around is to put them just in the babygrow / pjs and in a sleeping bag, with nothing else on top to avoid risk of suffocation. The problem is the warmest baby sleeping bag I have found is 2.5 tog... but our bedroom gets really cold at night (below 10 degrees in the winter I am sure) this is fine for us with our 13.5 super warm duvet but what should I do with the baby?

Can I put anything else on top of the sleeping bag e.g. a blanket or a mini duvet (which comes with her mini crib but ironically they don?t advise you to use it until age 1, when she will be too big for the crib anyway!) Is it really that dangerous?

Or should I just keep the heating on all night on low?

What did you do with your winter babies?

[new mother]

Heating on as they cannot have many blankets.

THe bag thing is only for after a certain age in our case around 6 m I think....

[Belle]

think we didn't use sleeping bag till he was 8-10 weeks, from memory, maybe later - there is a minium weight I think. So we used sheet/blanket combos at the start(look on the back of any John Lewis sleeping kit, eg blanket, and there's usually a guide for what's safe at what temperature) and think we had him in vest and long sleeved/legged sleepsuit.

[Pickle]

I used to worry about the exact same thing before I had my son, so don't worry, you're normal!

My son was born in winter (January), the night we came home from hospital it was snowing. For the first few weeks while he was tiny we had him in a babygrow with a vest underneath, and swaddled in cellular blankets - we also kept the heating on thermostat 24 hours a day so that the temperature didn't go below 18 degrees.

When he got slightly bigger we moved him into 2.5 tog sleeping bags, once again with two layers underneath.

There are guidelines that come with Grobags (and can probably be found on their website) with regards to room temperature and the corresponding layers you should have on your baby. We bought a baby monitor (BT one) with a room temperature gauge which we still use now, it helps to give you peace of mind.

My second baby was born in the height of summer which came with a whole different set of challenges!

P x

[esme]

On cold nights I used blankets in the moses basket and warm PJs (you can also put socks and hat on if you think it's very cold - invest in a thermometer, you can get good ones from john lewis and places like that that you can use as a thermometer for baby and for the room temp OR baby monitors often have room temp thermometers too). As long as you ensure baby is swaddled well the blankets etc. shouldn't come loose. The advice I was given was take care baby doesn't overheat as that is far more dangerous than the baby getting a bit cold (tho obviously only a bit chilly, not seriously cold). If you're worried then heating is probably the best option. Good luck :)

[Sanne Panne]

During this type of weather our 6 week old wears a long sleeved vest (nothing over the legs) and a 2.5 tog grobag. Our toddler was also a summer baby and when it was winter she slept in a sleeveless vest with a plain cotton footed sleepsuit on top but it was easy to keep the flat we were living in warm. The following winter when it was colder in our home she was over a year old and we were comfortable letting her wear a fleece sleepsuit from the baby sleep company. When winter comes for our 6 week old we'll probably just put her in a higher tog sleeping bag (and let her wear a cotton sleepsuit under it rather than just a vest). We'll reuse our toddler's fleece suits once she's a bit bigger.

[Vanessa3]

We did exactly the same as Pickle - dressed the little guy in a babygrow with a vest underneath, kept him wrapped in cellular blankets & kept heating on all through winter. You can also add mits & a beanie if it's really cold, but our little one hated them, so it wasn't worth the trauma! I'd keep the little one swaddled (arms in or out) rather than piling blankets on top.

[Belle]

ooh - yes forgot, a lot of the time my son (born just before the jan 09 snowstorm) was swaddled in a shawl. But as Esme says - better to err towards too cool than too hot.

Something else i forgot to say - don't worry too much about the toggage seeming so little compared to our duvets when you do get to grobags. I remember thinking ONLY 2.5 togs?? but of course they're much smaller and the sleeping bag design in itself is an insulator.

[littlebelka]

Belle Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

in vest and long

> sleeved/legged sleepsuit.

we did the same.

i know there are bags 0-6mths. So if you think it is cold, use it.

[crystal7]

E is 18 months and i still never know what to dress her in at night! She was born in feb and she wore a sleepsuit with feet and vest then we swaddled her in a cellular blanket then added another on top. Our room's pretty cold in the winter but don't like the idea of cen heating on all night. She was always fine although under the sleepsuit her little feet always felt cold but think that's normal?! Tbh she used to end up in with us most nights on top of our duvet obviously.

[ClareC]

My daughter was born Jan, during the snow! We kept the heating on constant ensuring the room didnt fall below 18 degrees and dressed her in a short sleeve vest, long sleeve babygro and 2.5 tog grobag.

My daughter was over 7 lb and therefore big enough for a grobag - you need to check the weight on each individual one but it all comes down to the size of the head hole - ie small enough their head's cannot slip into the Grobag.

[civilservant]

Ours was a November baby and I worried about the exact same things. Our flat was draughty (single-pane sash windows that rattled!).

We ended up making her a nest between our pillows with some cellular blankets in a cardboard box - reasoning that we'd have an early alert if she got too hot/too cold/stopped breathing etc.

She wore a babygro with long sleeves and feet and a cardigan and was wrapped up in a cellular blanket. Further heating was provided by two massive sleeping parents!

The bonus for me was that I didn't need to get out of bed for night-time feeds, nappy changing etc, and she then moved into a gro-bag for the following autumn and winter.

[candj]

Our December born daughter wore a nappy, long sleeved sleep suit, swaddling blanket and then was pinned down by a double folded cellular blanket tucked under the sides and end of the mattress. Our heat never dipped below 18 degrees during the winter months. When she wasn't swaddled anymore we used a 2.5 tog grow bag without the cellular blanket.

We found the cellular blankets useful as they are quite airy and you can fold them according to the thickness/warmth that you want. I'm sure you know this, but make sure your baby is feet first in their cot with the blanket tucked into the end so that can't wriggle below it. Hope this helps.

[KatsuQueen]

Hi, minikatsu was born during the snow in January 2009 when it was freezing. In the beginning we had the central heating on all the time, then (when we got ourselves organised) we bought an oil (?) heater that you plug into the electric socket. It has a temperature sensor so switches itself on and off as required. YOu can get them from Argos or similar shops.

It kept the room temp about 20 degrees and meant that he could just sleep in a vest + babygro + cellular blanket. Hope this helps.

[prm]

Thanks ladies, all the advice is much appreciated! I have googled "cellular blanket" and "swaddling" and I am a lot cleared about what I need to do! Plus have instructed husband to look into best heating options.

[Ruth_Baldock]

He wears slinky camis, lacey negligees...the usual.

No, but seriously. When he first came home from the hospital it was snowing. We put him to 'bed' (HA HA HA) in a babygro/sleepsuit, with a cellular blanket. We also kept the heating on- without it, the house goes down to about 9 degrees in the winter.

We put him in a babygro or short sleeved vest type thing now, with a cellular blanket but he gets rea;;y hot at night, like me, and usually ends up in just his nappy anyway.

[Billy]

This was my big obsession before my son was born.

I was sure I would get it wrong, but don't worry you will know what is right for your baby.

I found swaddling great for the first few months when he was too small for a gro bag (just vest, sleepsuit and sheet swaddle and when really cold a cellular blanket). Now he wears a 0.5/1 tog bag and a long sleeved vest, but when winter comes we will up the toggage and get the pjs back on.

[The Nappy Lady]

Just to say I too went down the route of buying an oil filled electric radiator with a temperature gauge on it too, which has had good use in both childrens rooms over the winter months. It seems sensible to only heat the 1 room during the night rather than the entire house. It was quite easy to work out what setting to have it on in order to keep the room around the correct temperature, and then I had it plugged into a timer so it would only operature during the hours our central heating wasn't on.

Did anyone else follow Gina Ford's 'Contented Baby' guidance on how many sheets and blankets to buy? I did and ended up with way too many - eventually sold some on still in their packets! I guess it depends a bit on how prone your baby is to leaks and possetting, but even so......

Molly

[born&brED]

I did the same as many above, e.g. Billy, with my winter-born son - vest, babygro, cotton swaddle, layer or 2 of blanket on top, plus house never below 17C.

What I found really confusing was Kings - talk about tropical heat! Must have been at least 25C in there, and the midwives in postnatal were saying to wrap the baby up in thick blankets and a hat as well as vest and babygro! Must say I did go against their advice, sticking to the grobag cotton swaddle. Found it very confusing as a first time mum after reading all about heat-related cot deaths.

Good thing is that baby will probably let you know loud and clear if it's too cold! :)

[VeLenz]

My daughetr was born in December and I remember the most important thing for me was having a thermometer in the room, monitoring temp. at a constant 18 degrees C. She slept in a vest and a sleep suit and into a think sleeping bag almost from day one. HOWEVER- she did not like being swaddled. I would try swaddleing your new born first, as it makes falling asleep a lot easier.

[Moos]

On the thermometer question, we bought the Egg one (because we thought it looked sweet) and hated it. It used to flicker from one colour to the next and flashed "too hot" all summer - ie meaning over 24 degrees. Which is a useful alert of course if you happen to be in the room at the time but disturbed the baby. The day it couldn't decide whether it was 23 or 24 and flickered back and forth between amber and red for an hour (like a mini light display in the dim bedroom) was the day I boxed it up and put it away. After that we relied on the thermometer on our baby monitor instead. That also flashed annoyingly but at least it did it at the business (ie parent) end, and left the sleeping child alone.