How warm is too warm for your baby?

How warm is too warm for your baby?

As the weather gets colder, you may be thinking about how to keep your baby warm, particularly at night. It goes without saying that you’ll add extra blankets and layers during any daytime walks, but what about when it’s bed time?

The right temperature

It can be easy to just assume that your baby will need to be kept considerably warmer at night but that is not always the case. The safest bet is to ensure that there is a consistent temperature in the room, somewhere in the region of between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius. You need to be aware that your baby can get too hot and may be at a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), also known as cot death.

Of course, it’s important to make sure that your baby is warm enough as well, so ensure that they have enough blankets and there isn’t a draught coming into the room. You might want to invest in an air conditioning unit for the summer months to ensure that you can keep a constant temperature for your baby all year round.

Added extras

To increase the comfort levels of your baby, it will be worthwhile investing in some blankets and even a memory foam mattress. Sprung mattresses are not recommended for babies due to the danger of the springs breaking through the fabric and harming the child. A memory foam one may give your baby that little bit of extra comfort.

Another item to consider is a grobag. These are especially designed to keep your babies warm but also give them an extra element of safety. They are very similar to a dress but the bottom is stitched up. This can go towards preventing cot death because your baby will not be able to move their covers around in their sleep and pull them over their face.

These grobags remove the need for top sheets and blankets, giving your baby all the extra warmth he or she will need, with a much lower risk. This can put your mind at rest, particularly if your baby will be sleeping in a room alone for the first time.

Checks

It may be worthwhile to check on your baby throughout the night or when they are napping to ensure that the temperature is right and comfortable for them. A thermometer is a useful tool to have for all manner of reasons and can be particularly beneficial to have in the nursery. This will let you quickly see the temperature of the room, allowing you to make any adjustments as necessary.

A baby monitor is obviously something you should invest in, ensuring that you can hear any unusual sounds in the room. It will allow you to keep one ear on everything, even if you are busy doing other things in other rooms of the house.

If you find that your baby is too hot, you may want to remove some layers from them. Of course, if they have a grobag, it might be more beneficial and easier to simply open a window to let some fresh air in. Keeping the door open can also help by increasing the air flow in the room.

By Lauren Sutton