Keeping kids bedrooms warm

[BrightSparkles]

I think Miss J is coming into our bed during the night because she is cold. She has 2 layers of Pj's on, 2 blankets and a doona on her bed. We do the 2 layers of clothes because she constantly kicks of blankets. Before she was in a bed we could put a oil heater in the room to leave it to to keep it warm, but of course now she can get out of bed and i don't want her burning herself.

Do anyone have other suggestions for keeping the room warm? We have a rev. cycle air con in there but i don't want that running all night cause the elec bill will be through the roof. I put it on until we go to bed, then turn it off.
I'm not coping with 3 to 4 hours sleep a night. All suggestions welcome

[ss_storm]

does the air con have a timer function? If it does you could set it to turn on for half an hour every couple of hours, it won't keep the room warm but it will keep the chill off the air. I don't think there's much more you can do without running up your electricity bill though...lol. Winter will be over soon!

We have ducted air con and I notice that when it's on DD's room is so much colder because the vent thing for it is right outside her bedroom in the hallway, so its sucking all the warm air out of her room at the same time it's pushing warm air into it..kind of defeats the purpose! I did have an oil heater running, but the nights aren't quite so cold now so haven't had it on for a while. our wood fire backs onto her bedroom wall where her cot is so at least the wall is warm!

[krisp]

Just an idea...I find that the vaporizer I use from time to time in my kidlets room if they have a cold keeps the room warm. It runs for about 6 hours so you could get one and sneak in a turn it on when you go to bed. I don't like to leave the central heating on as it drys out the air too much and the vaporiser keeps the room warm and the air moist. You do need to open the curtains and open the window in the morning just to get some air circulating through.

[deletedit]

We have an oil heater in both rooms with little people - they are warm to touch but not so hot they burn you.

Are we talking the same kind of oil heater here?

Other child seems to be immune to cold but we think she's completely insane so we have an electric blanket on her bed on a timer, it goes from 7:30-9:30pm. She absolutely loves getting into a warm bed.

I find the big problem with the oil heater is certain small people adjust the settings. We have it on very low and she keeps either turning it up or off. We have duct taped over the controls.

[black_rose]

We have an oil heater in dd1's room and a panel heater in dd2's. They both have a temperature control and are only set to 17 so not hot enough to burn, the top setting is 35 on both. We teach the girls not to play with them, they have toys the can play with instead and so far so good, even with dd2 at 16 months she plays when she wakes up but isn't interested in touching it.

[Olive]

have you got a sleeper suit?

[Cherished]

I'm thinking an oil heater would also be ok. Ours has a timer on it so you could set it go be on while she is usually fast asleep so the room is warm when she wakes and then have it switch off when she usually wakes up. I imagine it is hard to know when she will wake up though. With ours you can also make it not as hot so it would be ok if she did touch it. The timer is also good because it can go on and off as much as you want keeping the power bill down.

[BrightSparkles]

have you got a sleeper suit?

yep...with a second layer

I'll try the oil one then...see how we go.

[Ozziehoffy]

Yep, another one for the oil heater here! Seriously if you have them on low, just to take the chill out of the air they aren't hot to touch. Well, if you keep your hand on them they kind of are, but they're not going to burn. We unplug them during the day and then check the settings at night before switching on. Oskar has a singlet, long pj's and a doona and we try to keep his room around 18-20 degrees. We do an early morning check on him too... if I'm up going to the toilet I'll check otherwise DH does it when he's going to spare room cos he gets restless around 3am lol.... sometimes we just need to pop him back under the covers but at least hes not freezing if he's on top of them. Elijah is still in a grobag and in our room so we only put it on when it's really chilly as we have 3 people in there anyway lol.

[Taurean]

Oil heater here too! We have DD's set so it's about 20 in her room. Our house is freezing so she wears a spencer, Wondersuit and a 2.5 tog GroBag (it's sleeveless).

She sleeps beautifully when we get it right (so as per above) excpet for when she's teething, LOL

[LimeSlice]

Sorry haven't read all the replies...

You need to put as many layers on the bottom as there are on top - so grab some balnkets, or a big one, and fold it up and make it under her sheets into her bed. Then whatever you put on top will keep her sooo much warmer.
We had the same prob with Charlotte and this has solved it.

Also, if you have a high shelf, away from anything flammable, put a single tea light candle there, light it when you go to bed and it will take the chill off the air - you will be amazed how much warmth one tea light can create. Put it on a saucer or something and it will be fine over night.
(ETA: We have built in wardrobes, but with no doors on them, so we put it no the top shelf of the wardrobe (there is nothing else up there))

HTH

[BrightSparkles]

Thanks girls. We put the oil heater on and that was ok. I'll try all the other suggestions too. I'm beginning to think that it might just be a phase now. The tantrum we had at 2am was just ridiculous. The screaming/crying and kicking went on for 40mins! This is NOT what I want to be listening to at that time of morning - all because I wanted her in her bed. DH and I need to sleep. I'm happy for her to come into our bed anytime from 5am onwards but the rest of the time I want her in her bed because she just doesn't stay still in our bed.

**off to make her bed with more blankets underneath....

[bubno.3]

Sunshine it is so much fun isnt NOT at those early hours for the tantrums....
I have a 2 and a bit year old and he can chuck the biggest wobblies .. not that often but when he does he lets rip!
The cold rooms business: obviously your child is in a bed? (mine still in cot) Could it be a bit of a habit as well? One night she did it and got away with it so she started a pattern? or does she come in obviously cold and teeth shattering etc etc. Im dreading giving my dss 2yr a big bed when this new bub comes as it will be fun and games NOT. And im not a pretty mum when im sleep deprived! So i hear your frustration but all i could suggest is the blanket oil heater and maybe a low gate to keep her in her room ... or use your split system and put it on a timer .... i know it is expensive but more sleep with out weigh the bigger bill
good luck

[krysalyss]

I was going to say the blanket underneath. We currently live in a caravan and this has really helped DS keep warm.