keeping bubba warm at night

hi there, ladies

would love your advice! how warmly do you tuck your LOs in at night?

in hospital, we swaddled him in polarfleece, and then had the woven cotton blanket over him, and he was fine.

But at home (particularly now that he invariably pulls his arms out, leaving his chest uncovered by the blanket) it doesn't feel like enough, and I wonder whether he's getting too cold ...?

His hands are always freezing (we mitten them, but they get pulled off most of the time) and we put him down in a long arm and leg romper.

We keep the thermostat at 17-18 overnight.

Bubba is almost 12 weeks old if that makes a difference :)

How many layers do you use?

I used a grobag for my DD from 3 months on. her arms were still exposed (but in a bonds long sleeve romper suit, with the fold over sleeves so her hands were covered and kept warm), but the rest of her was all nice an warm and she loved it :)

I keep his room at 18 - 20deg, he sleeps in a bonds suit plus a sleeping bag then we wrap him in a double wrap then he has a blanket over the top. I good sign to look out for is if he is wriggling around in his cot at night it may mean he is cold.
When we first brought Nath home from the hospital the first week or so I would go in in the morning and he would be sideways in his cot, midwife told me he could be cold so we turned the heater up a deg or 2 and put him in a sleeping bag and from then one he doesn't move at all of a night he is still in the exact same position at 7am as he was at 7pm.

I was told to look at how I'm dressed then add a layer for bub and when your feeling them to see how warm they are touch thier chest. :) hth.

Eta- still check thier hands and feet if you think they might be cold. They always seem to be colder than the rest of the body and might need socks on or something.
Ooh and socks... I used socks on DS's hands because they stayed on better than mittens did and they're thicker. ;)

thanks so much for your opinions!

Terry onesie under a polar fleece onesie sometimes under a polar fleece sleep sack with a hood, with or without a hat. And sometimes a blanket over that!

It gets cold here ... he was born on a subzero night. We keep our airconditioner set to 16 to keep the house warm ...

You can get a polar fleece sleeping bag - with sleeves - from best and less quite cheaply - I always found them great. They also have plenty of room for layers underneath.

Don't ever use a hat or hood though - a big SIDS risk

I use Grobags. They're foolproof in that they are rated and tell you what clothes to put on bub with which particular weighted bag (there are 3) for what temp the room is. With Oskar I found I had to have one extra layer than they said but Elijah is a hotter kid and usually has what they say or a little less. Took so much guesswork out of it. Polar fleece can be quite sweaty and hot as it doesn't breathe so well. If you find grobags too exy you can find them also on eBay and there are online ones which are selling out. I've always just bought them from the baby shop and on my second bub with them and they're still in fabulous condition. So, I think worth the money.

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Don't ever use a hat or hood though - a big SIDS risk

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Why? I would have thought leaving a baby with nothing on their head when its barely 5 degrees is riskier ... really little babies are mostly head and that's a lot to leave uncovered. The day we had a stupidly long power failure he was in 3 layers, hood, hat, AND a regular adult quilt on the couch and we were barely warm enough.

Probably not so much of an issue where its warmer though ... we get Canberra weather here, without the snow.

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Why? I would have thought leaving a baby with nothing on their head when its barely 5 degrees is riskier ... really little babies are mostly head and that's a lot to leave uncovered. The day we had a stupidly long power failure he was in 3 layers, hood, hat, AND a regular adult quilt on the couch and we were barely warm enough.

Probably not so much of an issue where its warmer though ... we get Canberra weather here, without the snow.

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We were told not to leave a hat on bub unless we were watching him because we use our heads to regulate temperature... with a hat on they can't let excess heat escape...

OP - my bub's hands and feet aare always cold, but I know when we were in hospital they said bub's can reduce blood flow to these areas to help maintain body heat. But as others have said, if you are comfortable then bub will be. I have bub in a Bonds wondersuit, cotton wrap, then a sheet and cot blanket... he doesn't move all night and is quite content

Bubs can wear a hat etc when out and about to keep them warm, but you shouldn't sleep them in one overnight. Babies actually regulate their tempurature through their head....so they are at large risk of overheating.....that's why its a SIDS risk.

:o oops! DS slept in a hat every night during winter/ for the first 4 months.

wow! there's such a variety for all of you ...

we're in melbourne and winters are pretty cold (not subzero, though!) but praise God we've got ducted heating, so that shouldn't make a difference inside ...

we have moved boy wonder's cot away from the window though, as I was wondering whether the chill has been creeping through, past the blinds...

I think we might try a polar fleece blanket between the sheet and the cotton weave quilt and see how that goes... we can always check on him every hour for a while to make sure he's not overheating!

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We were told not to leave a hat on bub unless we were watching him because we use our heads to regulate temperature... with a hat on they can't let excess heat escape...

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But babies can't regulate their temperature - which is why we rug them up so much. I agree with the hoodies (they can wrap around thier faces/necks), or any bonnets with ribbons/cords.

I use socks (even with footed onesies) and hats. And I have taken to having Jack in a singlet, a long sleeve/leg onesie, AND a long sleeve tshirt too. always with socks, and sometimes with a snug fitting hat if it's especially cold. I was guilty of keeping him a little too cold so his sleeps were shorter than they should have been. As soon as I put more clothes on him (and his hands & feet are warm), he sleeps better. The way I like to think about it is: it's easier to sleep when you're warm & cosy than if you're a bit chilly. obviously, if you see your baby sweating, take a layer or a blanket off.

As for wraps, I use any of the following (not all at once!!): muslin wrap, flanelette wrap, polar fleece wrap, minky wrap, with a blanket that is either cotton, minky, or polar fleece. It depends if he's in bis basinette or cot, and what's in the wash that day.

(as a side note, we aren't very good at following SIDS recommendations... Jack wont sleep on his back very often, and sleeps best on his tummy. We usually sleep him on his side with a rolled up polar fleece preventing him from rolling onto his face. We also have a lamb skin, and occasionally cosleep in bed and on the couch)

I second Grobags or the cheaper Australian version, Dream Bags. DD has a good selection of both in all three sizes - .5 tog, 1 tog and 2.5.

At the moment the nights are pretty cold here in Perth (around 6 degrees) so we have an oil heater in her room so the temp in there is roughly 20 degrees. She sleeps in a 2.5 tog sleeping bag (no arms) and wears a spencer and Bonds Wondersuit. When she's not suffering from teething pains, she sleeps through no worries. The little guides (for clothing and room temperature) that come with Grobags and Dream Bags really do take away all the guess work - give or take a degree or possibly an extra layer.

You should never use hoods or hats on a sleeping baby as like others have said, they are a SIDS risk. Be careful not to overheat your baby too - another SIDS risk. That's why I'm personally not a fan of the polar fleece style sleeping bags as they don't breathe well. Just my opinion though.

They also say not to use sheets or blankets with sleeping bags. It defeats the purpose of using sleeping bags and once again, it's a SIDS risk. Although a lot of babies can cruise around quite well in a sleeping bag, they could easily get stuck under blankets given their legs aren't free IYKWIM.

I hope that helps!

Overheating or not warm enough has probably been one of the biggest worries for me since having DD, the best thing that relaxed me was buying a little temp gauge thing (the blue avent flower one that's for the bath too) so I always knew what the temp was in the room she was sleeping in. That would determine how I dressed her at night and I felt much more confident in my choices. Naturally I still kept an eye on her, but it helped me not worry too much. Now she's in her cot in her own room our monitor has a temp reading so I check that regularly.

We've just moved from swaddling to sleep bags and I also go by their guidelines with tog ratings and clothes, with the help of an oil heater on cold cold nights.