Now that the temperature is dropping, we are running into an interesting problem. For some reason, our son's room is very cold, even when the heat is pumping out into the rest of the house. His heater is working (warm air is blowing out strongly), so I'm not sure why this is, but it is interfering with his sleep. We heat the room up at night, but by about 3 or 4 in the morning, it is very cold, and he is awake. I have been heavily layering his clothing, but still he is cold to the touch when he wakes up. He is very tall, and the sleep-sacks don't fit him anymore, but he's only 7 months old, and using blankets is very complicated (risk of SIDS, when I tuck them into the mattress, he kicks them off, etc.) This morning, I brought him into bed with us, but he is very reliant on routine, and couldn't sleep in our room. I am nervous about using space heaters because I don't want him to overheat or a risk of a fire. Does anyone have any advice???
Thanks everyone for the suggestions! Last night, we bundled the baby into a long-sleeved onesie, socks, footed jammies, and a sleep-sack, and he slept very well (and was very snuggly!). I have also purchased a couple of "baby-in-a-bag"s that are quilted sleep-sacks for bigger babies, and am going to purchase the plastic for the windows as soon as we can find it (would that be a Home-Depot sort of product?) We're also going to be buying a space-heater with a thermostat (and tip-shut-off) for the really cold nights, although whether I'll feel comfortable using it overnight will depend on the heater, I suppose. Thanks again!
Have him wear a hoodie and footed pj bottoms to bed--if his head is covered he'll stay warmer.
K. Z.
Have you tried footed fleece pajamas? I found some super cute moose pjs (all the way up to size 5) at Cosco for $7. I know Carter has some as well.
I wouldn't use a space heater either. Too scary! If he has a window in his room, have you tried using that plastic seal stuff that helps keep out drafts? We use a heavy duty shade that keeps the hot/cold out as well as the sun.
Good luck.
My younger 2 kids won't stay under the blankets. We've always doubled-layered the PJs at night and it seems to work. First is a 2 piece long sleeve/long pants PJs with socks then over that is a the footed zippered blanket sleeper. Also, we had sleepsacks for bigger babies that were up to 22 lbs so they do exist.
Is his door open or shut? Try doing the other. Maybe shutting the door will trap the heat that enters. Maybe opening it will let heat from the rest of the house enter. How are the windows? You may want to try putting that clear plastic stuff over his window to help trap in heat.
We used a radiator heater in the boys' room the first two winters, and they seemed to work really well. I just adjusted the thermostat up little by little until we found a comfortable temp for them and kept it set at that all winter. Now they are in "big boy" beds and will have to come up with a new plan. I will have to read your responses to find a safe-from-two-year-old-hands solution for this year. They are pretty crafty, climby and smart, so they can get into pretty much anything and everything now. I never really know what is going on behind that closed door! They do know what they are not supposed to get into, but when they are too tired, or when they wake up too early, all bets are off. Too bad I can't suspend a heater from the ceiling! LOL!
Have you checked to see where air might be coming in? or if there is sufficient insulation in the walls?
Heavy "blanket" sleepers with feet (one-piece pajamas) worked for my children....we live in a drafty old house.
Put thin Pj's and socks underneath.
Sam's has a small and sturdy space heater with a thermostat which might help.
Just make sure that it is not near or against anything that could catch fire.
Is your furnace on a programmable thermostat?
I don't know why the heat should be off in there at 3 or 4 A.m.
It's like that in our house because we have it set that way now.(no infants now)
We have one of these:
http://perfectlysafe.stores.yahoo.net/81202-bedwarm.html
Our 9 month old has the same problem. We had the problem when we brought her home on Christmas last year. we use a radiator heater. They are not hot to touch. The settings go up to 6. we have ours set at like 1.5 and is perfect for her little room.
If you are still worried, have you thought about opening his door before you go to bed and that way the air in his room is not trapped and the warm air from the hallway can get in??
If not I would definately do something with the windows, close off the other vents upstairs so more air will go into his room.
Good luck.
i would definatley recommend makings sure you put plastic on the windows - that helps a lot (we have a very old, very drafty house, and this not only helps keep the heat in, it saves us a ton of money every year), and we also use space heaters for our boys as well. they do make very safe ones now, where you can set the temperature you want the room to be at, and it will shut off once it reaches that temperature. they will also automatically turn off if they are tipped over, etc. we use one in each boys' room, one in our room, and i keep one in our den, which is where we spend most of our time (and is the coldest room in the house).
good luck!
HUGS!
~T.
Amanda,
We had a room like that, and we called a heat and air company who found that the vent was shut off with a valve. It is worth a service call to find out if they can flick a switch and cure your problem.
M.
We had a similar problem...some thermally insulating curtains helped cut down on the heat loss through the windows. We also closed vents in other rooms that were always too warm to force more air into his bedroom.
We have a similar problem with the air flow in our house, too. We considered a space heater (and actually used one for a short time), but got rid of it because we were too nervous. My son has a tendency to throw stuffed toys out of his crib from time to time, and the fire risk (of something landing too close) made me too nervous.
I know a lot of the blanket sleepers don't have feet in them, but Halo does make a "big kid" sleep sac in sizes up to 4/5T: https://www.halosleep.com/products/detail/90/micro-fleece.... They're not cheap, but definitely worth it. Good luck!
J.
I would suggest a good heater for his room. We have one room in our house that is just always cold and my daughter had trouble sleeping, too.(even though she's a teenager!) But, when we put the heater in her room, it made it much better. Just be sure to keep it away from draperies, etc. and turn it down a little when you put him down.
1. The TYPE of fabric i.e. flannel vs cotton p.j.'s will help. Flannel sheets.....THE BOMB!!! If you've never had them.......you don't know what you're missing!!
2. Check the windows. Any air coming thru at the base or around the edges? Might want to "wrap" it/them if need be. I put a rolled up hand towel in the window sills in my bedroom in the winter. IT DOES HELP.
3. Space heaters these days are SSSSSOOOO much safer! Most all of them have some sort of shut off mechanisism when/if it gets too hot. I have a small one and have used it for four -five years. I HAS shut off on it's own a couple of times when I'd run it hours & hours & hours when it was really cold. Technology has come a LONG way. You can get oscillating ones, too.
4. If you have hardwood floors or something other than carpet, might think about getting an area rug. You'd be surprised how much this helps. I know when I'm in the kitchen in the winter; having a small rug to stand on makes more difference than you can imagine.
Hi,
My daughter's room also does not heat well and she wouldn't keep blankets on through the night. We did end up getting a little space heater that has a digital thermostat present. We would set it to a comfortable temperature and it kicked on and off all night. We made sure it was by itself away from all cloth and she started to sleep through the night. We did find out that she slept better when she was warm.
I would also consider looking at Toys R' Us. I think they had sleep sacks that might fit toddlers too, but I am not certain.
Good luck,
A.
Have you checked the windows. Ours are double paned and if they are not closed exactly the right way, all the warm air leaks out and the room freezes. Also you might consider putting some plastic over the window, all the way around and below the ledge, and taping it completely on the edges to avoid a draft. You could also cover it with heavy curtains or a fleece blanket.
Hope this helps,
L.
Remember that as you sleep your body temperature drops slightly. So while he may feel cool to the touch to you, he may not be cold. At 7 months, as long as he can roll over he should be fine with a light blanket. Put him in a blanket sleeper with feet and cover him with a light blanket. He'll wake up and cry if he gets cold. I find it more comfortable to sleep in a cool room than a warm one, he may also. We installed ceiling fans in all of our rooms and keep them on low all winter. That helps to keep the air circulating through the house and keeps the temperature more consistent in each room. You may want to put plastic over the windows for the winter.
Like someone suggested there are safer space heaters available now. Make sure they turn off if tipped over. We have one that you can set the temperature too, and it comes on if needed.
Also consider "plastic-izing" the window. There are things at Home Depot that you get double stick tape, tape plastic over the window and heat the plastic so it's like "saran-wrapping" the window to prevent the cold air from coming in. Works very well.
Our oldest daughter, we couldn't PAY her to wear the sleepers with the feet - she always got too hot. However, my youngest daughter LOVES the sleepers with the feet. They usually do a good job of keeping her warm, and she really likes it if they're a little big on her. She's almost 3, and the 3T's are none too big on her, so we went to 4T. She calls them her "comfy's".
For what it's worth, and good luck!
We use a space heater that has a feature where it turns off when the room gets to a certain temp. It turns back on when it gets cold again. So it is not constantly running. We just don't put blankets or anything in the crib that can be thrown out.
We have the same problem, but my son would stay asleep if he were freezing! First, get your son either fleece or flannel footed sleepers. Check your ductwork to make sure the ones leading to his room are all wide open. Try closing the vents in other rooms to compensate. We ended up closing all the registers in our kitchen, and half the registers in our living room to "trick" the thermostat. Also consider getting thick insulated curtains, since you can lose heat through old windows. Hope this helps!
We have the same problem with our nursery and sons rooms. We figured out their rooms overhang the first floor by about two feet and we don't think the overhand is insulated (this is after having new windows installed, checking the ductwork, and shutting off other vents to try to increase the warm air to their rooms). We have space heaters that we have been using in their rooms at night. The new models have a LOT of saftey features including auto shut offs if they start to overheat or tip over, we also have ones that you can set to a specific temperature and they will kick on only when they need to. We figured out that due to them being on the floor if we set the temp to 64 it will keep the room right around 69 degrees at the bed heigth. I was a little paranoid about using them at first, but I feel better now. I am very careful about not having anything within about 3 feet of them. I also crack the door when my husband and I go to bed as an extra precaution instead of keeping the door all the way shut. I think the one that we have that I like the most you can set the actual temp (not just a temp range) and we bought at Meijers for about $35-$40. Also nice because when we travel to my inlaws house we can take it with us...their house is always freezing!
Since using these we have not had any "being cold" related sleep problems. Hope this helps.
Good luck!
Try closing some of the other vents half way which will put more force of vented air into his room.
They sell ceramic space heaters that stay cool to the touch, have safety shut offs in case they get tipped over, and that have a thermostat to maintain a consistent temperature. We actually do not have heat in the upstairs of our house and we have a space heater in each bedroom. This way my husband can have our bedroom at 80, which is comfortable for him, and our daughter can keep hers at 68, which she prefers. They even swing like a fan to circulate the air through the whole room. As far as the fact that his room is blowing heat but then getting cold, it could be that wherever your thermostat is at is too far from his room or is better insulated. Since your furnace is set to keep the temp at a certain level, if the sensor is in the living room, once the living room is up to temp the furnace will shut down until the living room temp drops. Your son's room obviously doesn't hold the heat as well and is getting cold while the rest of the house is comfortable. You could try drilling a few holes and blowing extra insulation into his walls, adding carpeting in his room, bumping up the temp for the whole house, or finding out where your sensor is and moving it to a part of the house that is colder.
I live in a drafty old farmhouse with no insulation or heat upstairs (problems are fixing with in the month..hallujah!), so I'm very familiar with the cold bedroom! Is his room on the side of the house where the wind comes from? I know our West rooms are the coldest because of the wind. The space heaters on the market now work really well, especially since he's in a crib, so he's probably not going to be knocking it over. They do make ones that don't get hot to the touch and will turn off if tipped over. We found that the best space heaters are the radiant ones, although they're not as safe, they work the best. Make sure if you have to use and extension cord that you use one that's rated for appliances, or use a power strip. If all else fails, you may have to move his crib in to your room. That's what we wound up doing last winter.
Amanda,
I had the same problem last year with my son when he was around the same age. I got this space heater from amazon http://www.amazon.com/DeLonghi-DFH132-SafeHeat-Fan-Heater.... It really works well and it does not get hot, has shut-off if tipped over, and other features that I felt safe with. I did put it up during the day if my son was playing in his room but it's a year later and he doesn't even pay attention to it anymore. It also has a fan on it that can be used in warmer weather to get air circulating. Hope that helps!
We somehow in 3 houses now have given our son the coldest room in the house. When he was an infant, we used blanket sleepers - the fleece sleepers. It never seemed to really bother him though. Now that he's older, with covers, it doesn't worry me as much.
We have an older house that is very drafty. The outermost areas of the house and the upstairs get very cold. Newer space heaters are not the fire hazard that the old ones were. Also some of them can be set to a very specific temperature and work very well and are very energy efficient. A heavy blanket sleep will keep him warm as well. My kids are three and four and large for their ages one really cold nights I still put them in a heavy blanket sleeper as they kick off their covers.
They have blanket sleepers that zip up. They go up in sizes, so you wouldn't have trouble finding one to fit. Walmart and Kmart etc. has them.
They do make blanket sleepers all the way through big kids sizes...
They also make those ceramic heaters with temperature gauges...when the room reaches a certain temperature it will cut off...not run all night..you can adjust it. The ceramic heaters have not hot coil, etc., and are not the fire hazard old-time electrical heaters were.
We had the same problem with our son's room. I ended up getting him a HALO sleepsack. It's like a sleepping bag with arm holes. They sell them at Babiesrus but we shopped around online and found them cheeper. I had him sleep in one until he was two. They are great!!!!
Our nursery is like that. I layer the baby up too, but we turn a space heater on and close the door about an hour before he goes to bed. Then we leave it on until we go to bed when I turn it off and unplug it (I worry about fires too). It's pretty toasty in his room when we go to sleep, so that helps get us through the night.
You could also do plastic over his window to help insulate it. Our nursery has 2 outside walls, so we're guessing that is what causes ours. We even had our ducts cleaned to try to get more warm air to that room, but it didn't help. We have a damper on our duct though that closes off parts of the house - make sure you don't have that on yours.
Amanda,
I know you've received alot of responses. We use a Kenwood Electric ...it is great. You can leave them on all the time and keep the room at a comfortable temperature. Believe me, my sister had a house fire years ago...so she is always afraid of things that might cause fires. She is the one who found these and has about 4 of them throughout her house and leaves them on continuous...she has a big house. We then got one for our daughter's room and now I have one in my office too!
If you want to know the model number, just email me.
Take care!
A.
www.HopeShared.com
We have the same problem in our house, and my daughter hated sleep sacks. We put her in the really thick footed pajamas. I like the ones from Children's Place. They seem to be bigger and thicker than the other brands. Since they weren't restricting she didn't mind them and she was just as warm as if she had a sleep sack or blanket on.
We have the same problem in our son's room. We have been using sleep sacks for him this fall which seem to be helping. They do make x-large sleep sacks for kids up to 26-35 pounds. Try looking online for a larger size for your son since he is only 7 months I would think he would fit into one of these large or x-large sizes even if he is tall.
We also use a space heater in the cold winter months and have had no problems. We just leave his door slightly ajar at night. Once he out of his crib I don't know what we will do, but until then it is sleep sacks and space heater. The heater we have is actually more like a radiator and not a ceramic heater and does not get super hot to the touch. It is also programable so it will turn itself off and on each night and keeps on what ever temp you set it at. I am not sure of the brand but I know that my husband got it at home depot last winter.
Hope this helps you! Good luck keeping your son warm!
I would definitely look into putting plastic on the windows. After you put the tape around and start to put the plastic up, it is amazing how much cold air tries to escape as you close it up. Once you seal it with the blow dryer you can barely notice that it is there.
As for sleep sacks, I know the Halo brands makes them up to a size XL. My son has always been around the 90% in length and he was able to wear them until he was 2. When he was in his crib, he wore a footed sleeper and a sleep sack (no arms).
