May 2013 Moms

Keeping baby warm at night

DD was in special care for the first 10 days of life. While she was there the nurses swaddled her (arms out) and tucked 2 blankets tightly under her armpits.

Being that DD was on a breathing monitor and the fact the DH and I had gone through a lot we were afraid to change anything about her routine. I never ever planned on letting her sleep with a blanket but being that I was recovering from extremely painful internal bleeding and had a newborn on a breathing monitor I just couldn't deal with any more change.

DD has been off the monitor for a month and has started to get really squirmy in her crib so it's definitely time for the blanket to go. We have a Halo sleep sack but I was thinking about buying a magic sleep suit. Input would be appreciated! We live in MN and our winters are cold so just a sleeper definitely won't cut it. Thanks (and feel free to flame about the blanket, I was hardcore against it before DD but I ended up eating my words).

Re: Keeping baby warm at night

  • Shoegal36Shoegal36 member
    edited September 2013
    Happy to hear that your DD has been off the monitor for a month, that's great!

    When it starts to get colder I plan to use fleece sleep sacks that have long sleeves, over a sleeper. I didn't know you could get them with long sleeves but my SIL gave me some that belonged to my niece. 

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  • So it might just be our pedi, but he thinks babies are at a lower risk for SIDS when they're kept on the cooler side. He suggests keeping the room around 68 degrees or so, lower if you're going to have your kiddo in anything other than a onesie, and always having a fan or something going to keep the air circulated. He told us that at this age it's perfectly okay if their hands, feet, legs, etc are cool to the touch because they're better able to regulate their own body temperature. He really dislikes sleep sacks so we tried having S sleep without anything other than a onesie, but she really doesn't sleep well unless her legs are covered up by something. So we just stick her in a sleeper and she's good to go. 

    OP, glad to hear your LO is off the monitor!
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  • @beaubecca - yeah neither did we. We just figured since they always bundled up S when she was at the hospital to keep her warm, we were supposed to keep doing the same thing as she got older. It makes sense though I suppose since at this age a fever is now anything above 102 which would suggest their body temperature is more stable and at the "normal" temperature for a person.
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  • So it might just be our pedi, but he thinks babies are at a lower risk for SIDS when they're kept on the cooler side. He suggests keeping the room around 68 degrees or so, lower if you're going to have your kiddo in anything other than a onesie, and always having a fan or something going to keep the air circulated. He told us that at this age it's perfectly okay if their hands, feet, legs, etc are cool to the touch because they're better able to regulate their own body temperature. He really dislikes sleep sacks so we tried having S sleep without anything other than a onesie, but she really doesn't sleep well unless her legs are covered up by something. So we just stick her in a sleeper and she's good to go. 


    OP, glad to hear your LO is off the monitor!
    This! But I struggle with it. 68 is just too darn cold! I think that is my thyroid talking though. Our pedi is the same - cool is good for sleeping. His feet get super cold though, so we do lightweight cotton sleepers or onesies and socks. I usually have the air on 71, and our room gets colder than the rest if the house, so I think we're closer to 69.
  • We live in a house that is almost 100 years old and our bedrooms are on the north side of the house. DH likes it super cold when he is sleeping and our room used to be about 55 degrees in the winter.

    Obviously with a baby we will keep the thermostat higher this year but we don't want to keep the heat set at 72 all winter because we will go broke! Currently when I come into DD's room in the morning it's about 67. With a half swaddle and blanket her hands are like ice and her face is quite cool.

    Maybe we will have to invest in a space heater...
  • So it might just be our pedi, but he thinks babies are at a lower risk for SIDS when they're kept on the cooler side. He suggests keeping the room around 68 degrees or so, lower if you're going to have your kiddo in anything other than a onesie, and always having a fan or something going to keep the air circulated. He told us that at this age it's perfectly okay if their hands, feet, legs, etc are cool to the touch because they're better able to regulate their own body temperature. He really dislikes sleep sacks so we tried having S sleep without anything other than a onesie, but she really doesn't sleep well unless her legs are covered up by something. So we just stick her in a sleeper and she's good to go. 

    OP, glad to hear your LO is off the monitor!
    This! But I struggle with it. 68 is just too darn cold! I think that is my thyroid talking though. Our pedi is the same - cool is good for sleeping. His feet get super cold though, so we do lightweight cotton sleepers or onesies and socks. I usually have the air on 71, and our room gets colder than the rest if the house, so I think we're closer to 69.
    yeah, when we were running the air we had it set to 72. We have the gro-egg in her room that tells us the temperature and with the ceiling fan on it usually dropped to 69 or so. We were just fine with that. Now that the temps have dropped outside, we just open her window at night so it's around 72 when she goes to bed and 67 by the time she gets up in the morning. She seems perfectly fine with it even though I'm freezing whenever I have to go in her room!
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  • I got a leaflet from my health visitor to reduce the risk of SIDS so I follow that. We still use blankets here in the UK. I'm sure at some point the guidelines will change to be the same as the US soon. We're always a tad behind.

    The guidelines for a baby wearing a nappy, best and sleepsuit covered by a sheet are:
    24 degrees = sheet only
    18-20 degrees = one blanket
    14-16 degrees = two blankets
    12 degrees = three blankets
    10 degrees = four blankets.

    My house is usually around about the 21 degree mark so I use a low tog sleep sack. The blanket riding up over her face scares me. You can't buy sleepsuits here.



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  • @crazycoffeegirl I've also heard that cool is best for sleeping, but out of curiosity, why is your pedi against sleep sacks? I put my LO in one every night now that it's colder where we live. She just has a cotton or terry cloth sleeper underneath, no onesie. Her hands and cheeks are usually cool all night.
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  • @jayro10 - he likes to call it the baby sleep oven and I think it's because of the layers of clothes that parents put their babies in when they use the sleep sacks. I'd imagine if you used only the sleep sack (only diaper no other clothes) he'd be perfectly okay with it because at that point it'd be like they're wearing the same amount of clothes as a sleeper or onesie. But it's when the baby is wearing a sleeper and the sleep sack that they're getting too warm. We did notice that when we would put S in a sleeper inside her sleep sack even though her hands were cooler because they were exposed to the cooler air, her legs and body were really warm and sometimes she'd be slightly sweaty. I think that's what he's trying to avoid happen by nixing the sleep sacks altogether.
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  • We're using cotton footie sleepers in a sleep sack. I switched to our heavier sleep sack, and when it gets really cold, i'll do fleece jammies in the sleep sack. You won't be able to keep their hands warm no matter what you do, and I don't mind if her toes are on the cold side, but to me, everything else should feel warm. 
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