I have a 5 month old little girl who has been sleeping in her own crib and room since 2 months. Now that the weather has changed and it looks as though the cold warm will be here for awhile, my husband and I are having a hard time keeping her room warm through the night. She does not sleep with any blankets, nor do I plan on her sleeping with blankets for a long time. We have access to the attic in her room, and have put thick insulation on the attic entry, but that does not seem to help all that much. Though I am very hesitant about this approach, would anyone recommend any SAFE space heaters that run on temperature controls and do not run constantly? Or any other suggestions to keeping her warmer at night? Thank you!
Baby's rooms can actually be colder than you'd think...a good blanket footed sleeper and the fleece Halo Sleepsack would be perfect...blankets get kicked off when they move around and I've always kept any loose bedding out of the crib until at least age 2...my kids love their sleepsacks!
Don't worry too much too if her hands feel cold...little ones hands will be colder but unless she is crying and shivering she will fine.
B.
Fleece blanket sleepers are great. Unless you have a lot of drafts in the room, I think that may be all you need (I live in an 80 year old house so I have experience in this area!) For drafty windows, the plastic stuff, and/or insulated curtains or shades are good.
I'm nervous about space heaters, although one of the oil-filled radiators with thermostat would probably be fine. But by next winter you'll have to come up with something else because she'll be walking and able to burn herself/knock it over if she gets out of her crib or bed.
Fleece sleepers with feet. A space heater will only help this year-next year when she is walking, you'll have a much larger problem.
If you really feel her room is too cold and warmer pajamas will not suffice perhaps you could let her sleep in a bassinet in your room or move the crib into your room for the winter. It keeps in her in her own bed (not in bed with you), but in a warm room.
Our kids rooms are cold(our house is very old and not insulated) and we have used the space heaters that do not run constantly. They have helped. Also, the HALO blanket sleeper is a good thing. I have also used thermal pjs with socks under blanket sleepers with the little babies. That seems to keep them warm. I don't use blankets either until they get older.
i have a 100 year + house so I understand. My son sleeps in a fleece sleeper with a fleece sleep sak and a onesie. When he was first born and in my room I put baby legs on him too. My room is about 60 degrees at the coldest part of the winter! A friend of mine has a heater that is a ceramic square that you can hang on the wall and even paint it to match your wall. She loves it. it's hot but not dangerous and I guess a 5 month old isn't crawling/walking around yet anyway. We insulate our windows really well with this clay stuff that comes in strips and keep the shades pulled to keep the heat in. You can buy insulated shades that also keep out light. If new windows are an option, that is supposed to really help, I'm assuming your house is old with old windows. or maybe just a new storm window. they make long sleeved onesies too.
I have the same problem, except in my bedroom instead of my sons. I went to home depot the other day and bought a kenwood electric oil filled radiator with digital controls. it is permanently sealed and never needs to be refilled with anything. it has a timer so you can set it to come on at a certain time and shut off so you never have to worry about forgetting about it. the temp is adjustable. it heats up slow to the temp you set it at then keeps it a steady temp after it gets there, shuts off by itself when it is already at the temp you set it at. it has worked really well since i bought it 3 weeks ago. and it even comes with a remote! lol, technology, huh? i set it to come on at 930pm at 75 degrees so when i get to bed it is warm in my room and it is timed to shut off at 8am so if i ever get to sleep in a few min it keeps warm for a while. it was on sale when i got it for $48 and was $73. fan heaters usually wont do too well. that is why i chose a radiator particularly the oil filled one. and the box is great for my son, who is 4, to craw and play in and he started putting some of his toys in this box instead of his toy box. just a few thoughts
We used a blanket for our baby since day one. It kept him warm and he was fine. Now he kicks himself out of it so we just use those polyester pjs with feet with a onsie underneath so he's nice and warm as well-A.
I have been using a space heater in my son's room since he was about 6 months old and started moving around too much to keep a sleep sack on.
There a quite a few varities with temperature controls, many of them even digital. I was just looking at new ones at Target the other day. They also make them very stable so they won't tip, and many have internal controls that are designed to shut them off if they start to overheat.
They still make me a bit nervous, but it's been great for helping my son to sleep. He wakes up if it's too cold.
Hi J.,
I have one of these space heaters in each of my children's bedrooms. I still do not use blankets in my 18 month old's crib, so he is still wearing a fleece-like, footie, blanket sleeper with a long-sleeved onesie underneath. This heater takes the edge off of the coldness in his room.
I actually love the fact that if you even slightly bump the heater, it turns itself off! You set the temperature by degree, and it self-regulates within 2 degrees of itself.
I bought the first one (at Walmart) almost 3 years ago, so I don't know if Honeywell is producing updated units with more features, bells and whistles. But this has been an incredibly safe appliance for us. Best of luck!
http://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-HZ-370GP-Electronic-Ceram...
BTW, this is a tabletop model! My son and daughter are both walking. We place the heaters on top of their dressers -- and they cannot reach.
Hi J.!
We have the same issue with my daughter's room being atleast 2-6 degrees cooler at all times than the rest of the house. We have woken up where her temperature rectally is 91 degrees and she had to go to the hospital because of hypothermia to be re-warmed. (not sure if the hypothermia is due to anaphylactic reactions though, which is what we actually believe but the cold room prob does not help)
Anyhow, we just purchased from Farm and Fleet in Woodstock the Holmes radiator looking one that is filled with water. It is not the oil filled one since I was too leery about it. It has 3 different wattage settings (to help save electricity)and also a temperature setting so you can set it and it will turn itself off when the room reaches a certain warmth, not temperature. It also has more safety features than I have seen on any other one, including the tip over shut off feature. My daughters room is now warmer than the rest of the house!!!!! I have been able to turn my heater back down to 68 and her room is 74 now with her heater- we put a thermometer in there to check. Now, I am hoping we can finally save some gas money :)
The only bad thing I have found with this is that it is hot to the touch, although it does not seem to heat up the carpet it is on or anything near it. We have it about 2 feet away from everything to keep it even more safe (I am a worry wart). When my daughter wakes up in the morning we shut it off and turn it on about 30 minutes before nap time to get her room back up to the temp. we want it at. She already knows HOT and will not go near it but even if she did it will not blister her it is just like touching the front of the oven when baking- make you pull away your hand and you will feel it for a few minutes.
Good luck keeping your baby warm! I know how frustrating it can be! No matter which one you choose please do get an extra smoke/fire detector for that room- just to be on the safe side!
Blessings to you and yours!
nice warm blanket sleepers! I don't understand the no blanket thing however.
