How cold is too Cold?

Our apartment has HORRIBLE windows that have the worst draft. The boys room has a huge window, that I have yet to find curtains for. So i am sure it isn't helping much. Our gas bill was so high this month that we can't continue to have it that high.

Normally, the boys are in a onesie and a sleep sack for bedtime. I started putting socks on them this week and tonight I put some pj pants on michael along with the sleep sack. I am nervous about them being too hot b/c of SIDS - but I also don't want them to be cold.

How cold is too cold? Sometimes their cheeks and hands are cold in the night.

How hot is too hot? What do you dress your babies up for bedtime in the winter. I heard that SIDS is higher in the winter b/c parents dress them too warm..

any suggestions?

 

Well I don't know what temp you try to keep your house, but when I first bring my babies home my house is around 66 degrees. After a few weeks or a month I turn it down to the regular temp of 62 at night. So I keep it fairly cool.

With my singletons I put a footed sleeper, swaddled and then laid another blanket over top and tucked it around them to keep them warm. I also used their hats when they were really little to keep their head warm.

My kids cheeks always stayed cool but if I stuck my hand under the blanket it was comfortably warm.

As for the window, buy some fleece from a fabric store or walmart, big enough to fold double, and one of the spring loaded curtain rods to fit your window. Fold the fleece in half, put the curtain rod into the fold and hang it in the window. You'd be surprised how much cool air that keeps out, we do that in our living room year round, and plan to do that in the window by the crib in our room when the babies get here

 

QUOTE(Danibell @ Jan 15 2009, 12:15 AM) [snapback]1147866[/snapback]
As for the window, buy some fleece from a fabric store or walmart, big enough to fold double, and one of the spring loaded curtain rods to fit your window. Fold the fleece in half, put the curtain rod into the fold and hang it in the window. You'd be surprised how much cool air that keeps out, we do that in our living room year round, and plan to do that in the window by the crib in our room when the babies get here


Good idea! thanks!

 

It was just starting to get cooler at night when my two were the age of your two, but I think that's when they started sleeping in the fleece footed pajamas. They also each have a blanket in their crib.
Sometimes their cheeks and hands are cold, but the rest of them is warm.

 

Looking at your ticker I dont think you should worry alot about SIDS. Most SIDS deaths happen between 2 and 4 months of age. The number of babies dying of SIDS dramatically drops after 6 months of age. Your babies are able to turn over, probably pull up etc.

What do you sleep in when you go to bed? Their room should be comfortable for you. I personally sleep in a tshirt and my underwear but I have blankets on. SO I dress my two in one more layer than I wear because they dont have blankets on. They wear diapers, onesies, footed fleece sleepers.
When my two did wear sleep sacks I also thought their feet/legs things got much colder- not sure why... Are you ready to give up the sleep sacks?

 

We keep the heat set at 72 upstairs where they sleep which keeps their room 70+ depending on how much the downstairs heat kicks on. They sleep in footed pjs and a sleep sack. In the morning when I pick them up their hands and cheeks sometimes feel cool, but when I open up their sleep sacks to change their diapers they usually nice and warm.

 

I think 67-69 is ideal, but yeah I'd try to cover the sides of the window to prevent drafts.

 

When I tried to put mine in just onesies in the sleep sacs, their little legs and feet were always so cold (with the little purple blotches) so we go for footed pjs. If I use heavy fleece pjs, I put them in really thin sleeveless sleep sacs. If I use thin footed pjs, they get their heavier sleep sacs with sleeves. Their cheeks and hands still get chilly, but they are teething and constantly chewing on fingers so if I try to pull a sleeve out to cover their hands, all I end up with are soaking wet sleeves so we just figure at least the rest of their bodies are warm. Things with feet are the way to go around here...socks get kicked off and nightgowns (even inside sleep sacs) still leave them with cold legs.

 

If their hands get cold I turn on the heat.. We just moved to this apt and the heating is messed up. You set it to 65 and it will never turn on. You just barely turn it on and it stays on and it feels like it's friggin 80 degrees!!

What I do about their room: During awake time I close the door and turn the heat on a little to warm it up. During naps I have it off - barely. Sucks at night-time here, but sometimes I just keep their door open 1/2 way.

 

Our girls' bedroom is the coldest room in the house also. When they were tiny babies, we actually draped lightweight blankets over the ends of their cribs nearest the windows (and pinned them down securely so the babies couldn't accidentally pull them down) to keep the draft out of their beds. We also nailed flannel sheets over the windows (just at the top, hanging down) -- that was originally intended to make it darker, but wound up keeping it warmer as well. (They're actually still up.)

They wore blanket sleepers and a fleece sleepsack. Just a onesie and sleep sack, or even with PJ pants, seems rather light if their room is really that cold. I don't think they're going to overheat if you put a warmer layer on them -- plus as PP said, they are past the age for the highest SIDS risk anyway.

We keep our house at about 60 at night, though when the girls were tiny, it was more like 66. (Our gas bill was outrageous also.)

 

It's okay for their hands and feet to feel cool. As long as their bodies feel warm...that's a good gauge.

I believe ideal temp is around 68 degrees. Mine at that age, and now, sleep in a fleece footie sleeper. No blankets at that age for mine (I just started letting them have a blanket in the bed at 19 months old) and mine hated sleep sacks from birth. My boys are very warm natured though.