Feb 8, 2008

How to keep your baby warm at night

Having just posted about not putting anything in your child's crib except for your child, I thought I would share how I keep our 14-month-old warm at night. Even here in Southern California, the temperature does get chilly. It's often in the 30's when we wake up, which I realize is warm compared to some parts of the country but if you live there, you probably have your heater on at night while I don't.

The secret to keeping our toddler warm is simple: layers. He usually sleeps in three layers. A footless Gerber-brand thermal sleeper goes on first. This is pretty fitted so it really hugs his body. Second is a footed fleece Gerber-brand sleeper in size 12 months. Third is the same fleece sleeper but in size 18 months.

If it's warmer than usual, we stop at the second layer. If it's colder than usual, I add a fleece Halo sleepsackover the third layer. If your child has outgrown a sleepsack but isn't ready for a blanket, you might try out a Big Kids sleepsack.I haven't needed it, but I would put my son in a onesie before putting him in the thermal if it were extra cold.

Finally, flannel sheets are another way of making things warmer in the crib without extraneous items. Unfortunately, I tried flannel sheets last winter but the only ones I could find were elasticized at the corners only instead of all the way around and made me nervous. If you're looking for fully elasticized flannel sheets, reader Carol M recommends the ones at Land's End. If I'd known about them last year, I definitely would have bought a pair, but since I'm not sure if our son will be sleeping in a crib next winter, I'm going to hold off for now.

Question for readers: What are your tips for keeping your baby warm at night?

8 comments:

Kacie said...

I was wondering: What's the temp in your house?

Chief Family Officer said...

Kacie - I honestly don't know, maybe somewhere between 55 to 65 degrees?

Clean ClutterFree Simple said...

We've co-slept with both kids when they were infants, so we had to be careful with the comforters. We used gowns when they were tiny and needed frequent diaper changes and footed sleepers as they got bigger. Our older one was a cover-kicker-offer as she got bigger, so she needed extra warm jammies to stay cosy.

Anonymous said...

Good morning:

Thanks for contributing this post to this week's Carnival of Family life, hosted at Health Plans Plus!

Here's how you keep your kids warm: Snuggle 'em! My kids slept with us part of the time. The rest of the time they were either in their crib or toddler bed until they were big enough for a conventional bed. They wore onesies when they were little -- would never tolerate one of those sacks!

But 55 to 65 degrees is simply too cold in my house. My furnace was on 74 degrees when I hit the sack last night.

Be sure to stop by the Carnival tomorrow and check out the other wonderful entries!

JHS
Colloquium

Anonymous said...

I am in Texas. Our temps are much like yours. Not cold enough to really need the heater, but still too cold to sleep comfortable...I did not want to buy the flannel sheets for my grandson's cribs. I had several pieces of flannel I brought on clearance sale to make some pajamas etc for the kids. In stead I made 'sheets' from them. I made them like a pillow case..the crib mattress slips in like a pillow...I closed the ends with velcro. When I no longer need these 'sheets' I will take them apart for the pajamas..

Chief Family Officer said...

@JHS - Unfortunately, we're just not comfortable with co-sleeping. But I can see how that could be a great option.

@anon - That's brilliant! I'm terrible at sewing but I think even I could manage something like that!

Anonymous said...

Here in PA, we have regular cold winters (last night was really cold - 5 degrees F!). My toddler sleeps in cotton sleeper with long sleeves and feet, then a polyester "blanket sleeper" on top. I cover her up with a comforter which she has learned to keep on this winter. Our house temp is 64 downstairs, but in her nursery upstairs, it's probably closer to 67 or 68.
I found flannel crib sheets at my Babies R Us with elastic the whole way round - I didn't realize they were hard to find!

Chief Family Officer said...

Margo - Wow, I'm impressed that your daughter keeps her comforter on! Half the time, Alex will throw his off.

Funny note to all: It figures that right after I posted this, the weather here got incredibly warm. It was close to 90 degrees today, and is supposed to be in the 80s all week before cooling back down.