Keeping My Toddlers Warm at Night???

Updated on November 05, 2009
A.P. asks from San Marcos, CA
50 answers

It's finally starting to get chilly, & I don't know how to keep my little ones warm enough at night! Last year we used sleep sacks, which was perfect. This year, they are two big for those but still won't keep covers on. One of my girls pulls her socks off too...Is there a sleep sack equivalent for toddlers? What do you brilliant moms do?

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K.L.

answers from Los Angeles on

Yes there is a toddler sleep sack, up to a 4-5T. JC Penney carries them.

http://www3.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=42249&Cat...

My 4yr old finally sleeps under a blanket so we won't be using them this year.

1 mom found this helpful
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L.B.

answers from Los Angeles on

Last winter I bought flannel sheets for my son's crib and they're great. They're soft, warm and cozy. I also do the thermal pj's, footsie pj's or a t-shirt underneath his pj's when it's real cold.

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S.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

I always dress them in light p.j.s with a sleeper on top. It has feet in it and zipps up. They don't need a blanket when in a zipp up sleeper.

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S.N.

answers from Los Angeles on

They definitely do make sleep sacks big enough for toddlers. One Step Ahead, JC Penney, etc. carry them. However, I have the same problem and I actually just put a child safe portable heater in my son's room. It has an auto setting so it detects the room temp and doesn't get overly warm in there. They sell these type of heaters everywhere - just make sure you get one that is child safe (the type that is not hot when you touch it).

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C.Q.

answers from Las Vegas on

My two year old son sleeps warm and is sweating all the time so I have the opposite problem since I want to bundle him up. I did notice that at the toddler stage they will cover themselves or cuddle up to the blankets. I always make sure there are at least two blankets, the room temp is never below 74 degrees, and that they are wearing pj's that can keep them warm without a blanket. The cotton thermal type style are great. They come in short and long sleeve for when it is really cold. If you are worried about their feet the one piece zip up blanket sleepers with the feet are the way to go, but I think the babies are too hot with them unless it is freezing temps.

I am a stay at home mom of a two year old son and an eighteen year old daughter. Trust me they will not freeze unless your house is freezing. Good Luck!

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T.L.

answers from Los Angeles on

I still have to do this for my 3 year old.....2 piece jammies, with socks pulled up over the legs of the bottoms, then a nice warm fleece sleeper. Should do the trick.

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D.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

There are blanket sleepers that should do the trick. They are pj's with feet. Put socks on and a shirt underneath if you feel they won't be thick enough. I should work well though.

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T.T.

answers from Visalia on

I had the same problem with my daughter. She still wont sleep with covers. I just put her in the footsie pajamas, the one piece fleece pj's that are top and bottom in one and zip in the front. as she got older, she eventually learned to take those off too and when I discussed with my pediatrician, he said that kids have a wonderful internal mechanism to keep their little bodies even when we think they are cold and not to worry. Which was hard cuz we live where it gets to temps below freezing at night. she never shivered at night and now that she is older we can talk to her about it and she says she is not cold. Maybe yours just have a their internal heaters kicked up a notch so as to keep warm.

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J.L.

answers from Los Angeles on

what about the all in one jamies with the feet on them? You can put socks on underneath.

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V.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

I loved those sleep sacks for my kids when they were babies. However, it's a hazard when they are walking. If there's an emergency, they can't walk in them!
I agree with the other posts. I layer mine until they are old enough to sleep under the blanket at night. I also put the socks on under the PJs. For my toddlers, I really like the one-piece feetie ones. I put long-sleeve onsies on underneath and socks.

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N.N.

answers from San Diego on

Don't worry, those blanket slpeers come in sizes all the way to adulthood. Look for them at Walmart or Target, I also think that Carter's carries them to larger sizes(10-12), They are great for everyone to keep them warm at night and for weekends in winter!!.

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J.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

They make fuzzy jammies with feet in them. I found mine at target and the come all the way up to pre-teen sizes! (of course not in the same section as toddler clothes)

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B.E.

answers from Los Angeles on

footed pajamas! They are the best! I've found them at Carters, Target, Costco... different fabrics for different varieties of COLD!!! :)

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C.U.

answers from Los Angeles on

Blanket sleepers with socks on underneath work great! Lots of cute one out there....from Costco to Target.

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L.M.

answers from Reno on

Try the zip up footy pajamas. My son's 17 mos. old and all I need to do is put some socks on my little one and then the pj's. When it gets really cold, you can add a onesie or thermals underneath the footy pj's and your little one will be toasty all through the night, blankets or not. (Not to mention they are extremely cuddly in the pj's!)

Good luck!

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M.B.

answers from Los Angeles on

We use fleece blanket sleepers. Basically, it's a union suit out of fleece. Some have feet, some don't.

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J.E.

answers from Los Angeles on

I have 18 month twins boys that never keep their blankets on. So last week I bought them new pajamas. I got sleepers that zip up and footsie pajamas. They have 2 packs at Target. Good Luck!

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S.B.

answers from San Diego on

Hi A.-

Out house gets quite cold in the winter so I used to get the fuzzy sleeper with the feel, and under that I would put them in the thermals from Target, and socks. My kid's were roasty toasty, and never complained about being cold, or too hot.

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S.R.

answers from Boca Raton on

Hve you tried the fleece PJ's with feet? I've seen them recently at Target. If it's really cold, you could even layer them over a t-shirt & leggings.

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C.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

Footsie PJ's are great if your little ones will wear them :) My daughter is a little eskimo just like her dad and it has to be freezing for her to want them on (she's also an expert at taking them off in the middle of the night!). She does however love to cuddle up in blankets and stays covered most of the night so when the temp drops I just swap out her lighter weight blanket for a cozier one and make sure there's a warmer sheet on her crib mattress. Also, if it gets too chilly we put a little oil radiator space heater in her room. It's inexpensive to run and we can set it on any temp so it keeps the chill out of her room. Good luck keeping all those little toes warm!

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A.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

Hi A.,

Target has blanket sleepers that work great. They come in a package of two and go in sizes from 6 months to 5T. They are zip up pjs that are nice and warm.

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M.R.

answers from Los Angeles on

Just double jammy them. That's what I did with my son. There was no way he'd keep blankets on. I put regular long sleeved jammies on first, and then the fuzzy footed ones over them. Kept him nice and cozy, and no matter how much he kicked or turned at night, he stayed warm in his jammies. Worked like a charm.

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D.W.

answers from San Diego on

layers. For my 17 month old I do cotton leggings and shirt pj's and I top with a footed fleece sleeper (carter's). When I change his diaper in the morning his body is always warm...just a cool nose and finger tips, not much you can do about that.

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K.F.

answers from Los Angeles on

Footed PJs. They are sold at most retailers like Target, Walmart, Kmart, Sears, JCPenney. Also, my daughter wouldn't keep socks on either so the footed PJ's are great....plus you can put socks on with the PJs (for those extra cold nights) and they can't get the socks off ;) You can also put on and extra t-shirt of pj pants under the footed Pj's for extra warmth.

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R.P.

answers from Los Angeles on

they do make the sleep sacks in larger sizes, i have one for my 2 year old that has enough room for him to wear next year too. it's a large, but it's bigger than the regular larges, it's called the back to sleep sleep sack, in the white deluxe velour material (i forget what it's called, not deluex velour but it's supposed to be the top of the line in back to sleep sleep sacks; for some reason that large is bigger than the rest).

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V.V.

answers from Los Angeles on

Blanket sleepers. And to keep them from taking them off, use a REAL DIAPER PIN, and fasten it through the sleeper, then the hole in the zipper, then back through the sleeper. Works great! ;D

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E.T.

answers from Los Angeles on

They make sleep sacks for bigger kids too. They have leg holes. You can also put a thin pair of pajamas under the fleece footed pajamas.

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C.B.

answers from San Diego on

Hi There,
My daughter was also born in March 08 and I still use the sleep sacks. She is very tall / big for her age too- they are available, at BR us in XL and are quite big. However, that said, I know she will be growing out of them sometime this winter as XL is as big as they go. At that point, I plan to put her in warm footsie pjs. Good luck!

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A.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

I have the same problem. I have seen a sack for toddlers but I think they'd feel tangled up. All you can really do is put them in fleece onesie pajamas with the footies. Some of them are quite thick and will keep them warm. Plus I give them a blankie that, while maybe not on the body, does provide some warmth when even next to the body. You can good fleece footie pajamas at the resale shops for like $5.

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E.F.

answers from Los Angeles on

I agree with the other posts, carters footed pajamas and I just saw that One Step Ahead has a sleep sac for older kids, with legs.

Good luck, mine never seemed to mind the cold as much as I seemed to worry about it :)

E.

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C.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

If your children are toddlers they should be able to sleep with blankets at this point with no danger of SIDS.

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R.M.

answers from San Diego on

We just use heavy pajamas (the ones with the footies). My son won't keep a blanket on, either, so this is the only thing I have found to keep him warm :)

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C.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

I bought zip of sleepers at Target that had footies. SO cute and my son loves them!-www.weelicious.com

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L.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

Fleece footie pjs-Carters has nice and soft ones and you can get them at Walmart and Target as well. L. :)

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J.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

I agree with the others. Footie pajamas!

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T.F.

answers from San Diego on

Its all about layering at my house. My son hates to be covered up. So I put him in 2 pairs of pjs 1st layer is the thin cotton longsleeve and pants used like thermal underwear then I add fleece footed pjs. If it is really cold I will keep his socks on under footed pjs. He will also wear a hat to bed sometimes he loves hats so he wears is beanie to bed and the strangest part it stays on all night unlike the blanket. I am actually going to try a new idea this year and take him to pick out his own special blanket to see if that helps with him using it. Hope this helps.
Tina

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S.H.

answers from Los Angeles on

Costco just got in these really inexpensive, plush, blanket type foot-in PJs for $6. Also, for whatever reason, my daughter's room is usually colder than the rest of the house. So we bought a Honeywell radiant air heater that has auto shut off when it hits a certain temp or is tipped over & auto turn on, if it gets below a certain temp. It's worked very well for us.

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D.M.

answers from San Diego on

Those fuzzy footed one piece PJ's, and if you need more than that, a onesie or long johns underneath it.

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L.H.

answers from San Diego on

Land's End and L.L. Bean make some really good pajamas that are warm enough for those who won't keep covers on, yet they don't feel like they are wearing heavy blanket sleepers like infants. Check out their catalogs. Also Old Navy make the fleece bottoms with like thermal tops which are excellent too. There is always the standards Carters pajamas too which can be found at regular stores and their outlet stores.

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M.A.

answers from Los Angeles on

We have a problem with this too. Since my daughter's room is on the north side of the house, it's significantly colder in there than in the rest of the house.

On really cold nights, I put on some cotton GAP PJs, long sleeve shirt, long pants, and then over that, I put a Carter's fleece footed PJ. This seems to help.

Good luck!

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S.B.

answers from San Diego on

All you need are footed blanket sleepers which are the same material as the sleep sacks. I add a onesie underneath for added warmth. You can get them everywhere.

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K.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

I do think they make large sleep sacks for toddlers, but haven't tried them myself. We layer to keep my son warm. He wears a long sleeved onesie (available at Carter's in bigger sizes) underneath long pajamas. Some of his pjs are two pieces and same are the fleece one piece footies. Carter's is a really great place for those types of pjs.

I also put a warm blanket in his crib, though he usually kicks it off.

K.
http://oc.citymommy.com

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C.C.

answers from Los Angeles on

Fuzzy footed jammies. They come in all sizes, up to big people sizes. They zip up and are like wearing a fuzzy blanket all night. Darn near impossible to shuck in your sleep. :)

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

footsie pajamas. Either one piece or a top/bottom style.
Or, fleece pajamas.

Try Gap, Old Navy, Gymboree, Carter's etc.

Good luck,
Susan

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K.K.

answers from San Diego on

Hello, Haven't you seen the blanket sleepers? Costco carries the Carter's ones. They are pretty inexpensive (under $10.00) When it gets really cold, we put them on our grandkids over their pajamas. Of course, you have to buy them a little bigger to fit over the pajamas. They even have some with no feet in them.
Good luck with your precious little girls.
K. K.

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C.S.

answers from Los Angeles on

They make sleep sacks in big sizes, that's what we do.

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R.U.

answers from Las Vegas on

Put on a flannel crib sheet or take a warm fleece blanket and use it as a crib sheet. I did that with my daughter (who also pulled her socks off too), and it worked great.

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D.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

Those one piece feetie pjs do great! My daughter used to kick off covers, too but this way she was warm enough to survive without covers.

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