How cold is too cold in the house?

dpdw

Our furnace is considered a "fire hazard" & emitting low levels of carbon monoxide.  Nice.  Sooo, no heat until it is replaced, which will be a few days.  It's in the 40's here for the next few days.  We have thermometers in the kids's rooms & it's 65 degrees now.  I have them in 2 layers of PJs, including a fleece layer, and 2 pairs of socks. DS (3.5) has a blanket (which he kicks off), but DD (20 months) doesn't use a blanket yet.  They'll be OK, right?  Even if the temp drops to 50 degrees in the house, that's not too cold, right?  What would be too cold?

Mominator

50 is pretty chilly for me. Can you guys all set up camp in one bedroom and use a space heater? Personally, I wouldn't want my kids to sleep in less than 60 degrees.

sooosie

I think anything under 70 in the house is brrr ...but that's just me.  50 would be downright freezing IMO.  Hopefully you can find some other method of heat til the furnace gets fixed (yikes!)

hikerbeth

Anything below 60 is too cold for me in the house, but we have camped with DD in the snow before, so I know that with enough layers and blankets we/she can stay warm.  If it's temporary, I'd just layer them up.

amanda&rob

Anything under 70.  We are set at 73 right now and I'm in sweats and under 2 blankets and a hot lap top.  I am generally cold though. 

jorie

Ugh, that sucks!  I don't know if there's a magic number, but if the kids aren't complaining then I'd say you're okay. Wait, are they old enough to talk?  I didn't see your sig.  I would be cuddling as one big happy family tonight:)

j-w

62 is the cutoff point for me.  50 would be FREEZING!

oparcm

If it is 65 now, they should be ok for tonight. See how it goes.  I keep  my heat at 65 and dd is always saying she's hot.  My ac kicks on at 74.  The other night though we didn't switch over our heat yet and still had it set at 59 from the summer.  I woke up cold but not freezing, I was under blankets.  I did put it on when I got up though.  I think they'll be ok .

LestaMarie

They should be okay, if it's just for tonight.  Believe me, they'll let you know if they get cold, and if they do, you can just bring them in your bed for a snuggle.  Our power went out in the middle of winter one year, and the kids woke up at about 4am complaining they were cold, so we just brought them in with us.

I like the idea of the space heater, though, if you have one for their room.

penguingrrl

I think it depends on what you're used to.  My mom always kept our heat at 60-64 and  that's what I find comfortable.  My ILs keep their heat at 70 and I'm roasting in their house in winter.  That said NYC law requires a minimum of 55 overnight and 68 during the day, so I'd say 55 is safe for sleeping.

CleoKitty

They'll be fine. We need to service our furnace this weekend so I still haven't turned ours on. During the day it's been hovering around 62-63 inside the house and I have no idea how low it dips at night, but it certainly gets cooler (into the 50s I assume). The kids haven't complained one bit- they just wear regular pajamas to bed and I make sure they're covered with a warm quilt.

During the day they've seemed totally content in regular clothes and a light sweater. Ds has complained of being cold when running around barefoot so I just have to keep reminding him to put his socks and/or slippers back on. As long as he's got something on his feet he's fine. 

Oh, and the outside temps have been getting down into the upper 30s the past few days, daytime highs have been around low 50s. Our house is old, poorly insulated and quite drafty and still hasn't been too horrible inside. Assuming that your house is a little better insulated than ours then you'll fare just fine.

hopefulmom

I read many years ago that below 65 is way too cold for a child under the age of 5.  It had something to do with how they (the baby/toddler/child) regulates their body temperature.  Any chance you could all sleep together?  How about if you borrow, rent or buy either a space heater?  I'd put it in one room and all sleep together.  We've camped before and it's gotten pretty chilly (frost on the tent) but we were all in a huge sleeping bags with wrapped hot stones at the end of it...seriously it was that cold.  We ketp warm enough but I think it was our body heat that kept the kids warm and they were older than your kids (liike 6-7).

LanaM

all day today it was 59 degrees in my house. We did not spend too much time at home, otherwise I would've turned on the heat probably. DH came home at 7pm and turned on the heater first time since last season....  

I did not think it was that bad actually, but I had a couple of oil filled space heaters turned on around the house.

we're in a process of getting quotes/replacing the heater so I did not really want to have to turn it on. It was 45 degrees outside today. 

jen5-03

A British study says the ideal room temp for a sleeping baby is "between 16c (61f) and 20c (68f)."

Though at 65 degrees I'd worry that you have them TOO bundled up. 

Personally I'd be comfy at 65 degrees and just be wearing normal pajamas and one quilt.