Just wondering what other Mums have done in this instance:
We live in Brissy and whilst we have many hot days, we also have the occasional cool evening. We have just had an air conditioner installed in our Monster's room and whilst we use that when necessary, because it dries out the air so much, we would like to avoid it when we can.
Ever since he was a couple of days old, whenever we put him down between 5 and 6pm he would view that as bedtime (I know, we have been very lucky in that regard!) and have a very long sleep. Now that he is almost 4 months, he still seems to get cranky and want to go to bed at this time and will then sleep through until at least 4am (I know - VERY LUCKY!!). The issue we are having is how to dress him for bed.
At 5pm when he has his bath and last bottle for the day, it is still really warm outside. He will usually be in a summer onesie as I can't very well dress him in a long-sleeved one or pop him in a grobag when it is still 28 degrees outside! He then goes to bed dressed for summer and usually the nights stay pretty warm and he sleeps through. The past two nights it has been cooler and I have woken up at 2am and covered him with a blanket, only to have him kick it off soon afterwards. I have now resorted to setting my alarm every 3 hours to get up and check that he is covered! I don't want to wake him up to change him, obviously.
He never wakes up from the cold, but that is not the point. I don't think it is healthy for him to lie there cold whether he knows it or not. What have you ladies done so solve this problem? How do you dress your bubs for the night when you live in a warmish climate with cooler nights?
DD is still in our room so this may be different and we are in NSW so don't have the tropic type weather but on our hot hot days...
I dress DD in a summer onesie (just to make sure we are on the same page - one with short sleeves, no legs thingy) and then wrap her in a muslin wrap and she will stay like that until we go to bed... by that time it has usually cooled down somewhat and I will usually place a flannel wrap over her and tuck it under the bassinette mattress.
Sometimes she kicks both off over night but I tend to 'dress' myself with less than she has on so that if I wake cold I tend to cover her up to.
we are having the same trouble here too, the night starts off warm but by early morning it is quite cool. She has a grobag (the 1.0TOG one) so I usually put a long sleeve onesie on, but the ones I have are really light cotton, kinda like singlet material but a little lighter. If it is really warm I roll the sleeves up but when it gets cool I roll them down so her arms are covered as I think that's where she gets the coldest. Her little hands are freezing sometimes when she wakes up! The grobag keeps the rest of her body pretty warm, I think it's mainly her arms as they stick out.
I know you can get merino wool sleeping bags, maybe one of these would be suitable? Wool is a great insulator, so should keep bub fairly cool in hot weather, but warm in cool weather.
i sleep chels in a nappyn and a singlet most nights and she kicks off her blanket too. she doesnt seem to get super cold. but then again she is in with us from around 2am anyway.
what about a light cotton long sleeve singlet type suit, not a day wear type thing but the sort that is really thin and goes uder clothes in winter... and i wouldnt worry too much about the legs. its not getting that cold here atm. we are near redcliffe.
or dress him in long sleeves and bite the bullet, put the air con on until you go to bed or til it cools down. you can always moisturise his skin after bath time to add extra moisture.
definatley stop setting your alarm, you will drive yourself crazy! if he isnt unsettled chances are he is happy the way he is.
Last edited by 2CheekyMonkeys; December 4th, 2009 at 06:51 AM.
I'm doing pretty much the same thing as TK. Although on really warm days I dress him in a singlet and nappy only, he just gets too hot otherwise.
I'm in Western Sydney and some nights when he goes to bed at 6-7pm it is still 30 degrees in our bedroom but when he wakes overnight it's dropped to abut 20.
If he isn't waking up from being cold, I would think he's just fine. I'd stop setting my alarm and just cover him with a blanket when you go to bed, tucking it in firmly.
Seriously, he'll let you know if he's uncomfortable.
Your other option is to dress him for the coolest part of the night and have the air-con on in his room in the early part of the night. If you are worried about the dryness put a bowl of hot water somewhere in his room, it will raise the humidity.
We do nappy and singlet for the start of the night (around 7pm). I will put pants on her when she wakes up (usually around 11pm or 3am, depends how warm it still is). When she slept 9hrs she was just in a singlet and nappy, seemed completely fine in the morning so I don't know!
Thanks so much everyone. Unfortunately our Monster won the "wrapping fight" at 6 weeks. He just hated it and would go crazy everytime we did it.
As for tight linen or blankets, he manages to move around his cot so much that I, personally, think that having any linen, tucked or untucked in his bed would be a safety risk (he does full on 180 degree turns in seconds!!). So I just pop the loose cellular cotton blanket on him because I figure he can move out from under it and he won't get trapped under any tight linen. Having said that, he kicks it off - so no real solution there.
I have a 1.0 TOG Grobag that I may pop on him and see how that goes. Perhaps then he may stop migrating from one side of his cot to the other if he doesn't have any foot-grip on the mattress lol. I know that if he was uncomfortable he would wake me and I keep on telling myself that. I am a really hot person (in the temperature sense haha) and find myself needing to pull the doona up halfway through the night - so I just cannot imagine that he would be warm enough?!
I find the merino kids sleeping bags really good. Cos they're made from merino wool they don't have tog ratings, they're fine for anything between 18 and 30 degrees. On warmer days/night I just put DS in a tshirt, but if it is a cool night (we live in Melb) then I will put him a body suit. I love that they breathe really well and it stops me worrying about him overheating. They are a bit more expensive than the grow bags, but they are for newborn to 2 years and because you can use them all year round you definately get your moneys worth.
Sam we have a 1 Tog grobag and the warm nights Sophia has been just in shorts arms / legs and a singlet under it, but the last few nights she has worn a singlet and a bonds long arm / leg light stretchy - but with her looooooong legs the legs only go to her knees.
Babies will wake when they are cold so if he seems happy don't worry too much about it. Oh and I find the gro-bag helps stop the feet getting stuck between the bars of the cot too!
ive been told and from more than one source it doesnt matter how cold their hands or feet are u just feel around the neck area the part under clothes and if thats warm then theres nothing to be worried about DS goes to bed with a nappy and a tshirt most nights but never wakes up even when it is cold and he always wakes up in the morning with icy hands i think he loves touching me with them from my reaction
Thanks, Nelly. I have also been dressing Mikey in those stripy Bonds suits the past couple of nights (aren'tthey just the best?!) and they are also now sitting around his kneecaps! I am going to try the Grobag tonight and pop the AC on until it cools down a bit. I *think* I have a 0.5 TOG (that will teach me to so dilligently cut out all the tags on my boy's clothes!) which should, in theory, be fine. If that works I may pop out and get some more tomorrow. The Merino wool ones look great, but until I know that he will be happy in a sleeping bag, I don't want to invest in one quite so exxy.
JwithJ, our little man does have permantly cold hands and feet, so I never use them as a temperature guage. I do feel his neck and it usually feels warm at night. He is probably just fine and I am being neurotic haha.
What to sleep baby in?
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