Good Idea or bad idea??

[elyshacharles]

I have worked within the bedding industry for over ten years and we do not recommend doonas for children younger than one - this is because of the risk of cot death and the fact that children cannot regulate their temperatures. I currently sell duvets online and so am advising people every day.

Children must be much older( 5+) before they should be allowed a tog higher than a summer weight doona which is 2.5 - 6 tog.(UK Rating)

I have three children under five and think that the sleeping bags are excellent - we have never worried about our children and they have always been warm enough - in the winter I have just added two cellular blankets if need be.

I know that your room is cold but do remember that the ideal temperature for a baby is 18 anyway and that is for just a sleeping bag so the extra blankets would be sufficient.

Once your little one is old enough for a doona then please do buy a goose down one as this will help to keep your little one at the correct temperature - again do not go for a high tog duvet - you can always add blankets if need be.

I do have a very useful tip for once your toddler is in their toddler bed.

My little boy was waking up every night cold because his doona (cot bed sized) was coming off and he was obviously waking me every night too.

I bought him a single doona but put it length ways across the bed - it doesn't look great as the doona touches the floor at the front and is bunched up against the wall at the back.

It just allows a lot more doona for toddlers to move around - I don't know about you but we find him in allsort of positions throughout the night - the cot bed sized doona was just slipping off.

He is sleeping through though as the doona is harder for him to kick off and there is much more of it to keep him covered and so he is warm enough.

I only bought this new doona a few weeks ago and I can't believe the difference that it has made.

[deletedit]

It would get down to below 10 inside our old house sometimes (and ten or more below outside), and we had a wriggler that needed wrapping or she'd whack herself in the face and scream the house down. If we ever got her to sleep at all. And if she came unwrapped she'd get cold, wake up and scream. And I know it was cold in that house because we'd have an electric blanket, heavy wool doona, flanellette sheets AND sometimes a blanket or two on top of that to stay warm.

I got my mother to hem up (you don't *need* to hem them though) a long piece of polar fleece - about 60cm x 1.5m and we wrapped her up in that. Worked a treat.

Now its winter again and she's older and prone to throwing out all her blankets and taking off all her clothes at night she sleeps in a full arms-and-legs polar fleece onesie with the zip safety pinned shut, although she got out of a cheaper onesie simply by ripping the zip apart.

Maybe by the time she's 3 we'll convince her to actually sleep UNDER blankets *eyeroll*