Overnight Temperature for Newborn

My wife and I are adopting a baby and we get to bring him home from
the hospital tomorrow. We just found out on Thursday, so we've been
running at full speed trying to get everything ready. I think we've
got all the basics covered.

I'm a little concerned because our thermostat goes down to 62 degrees
overnight. This is, of course, fine for me and my wife, but maybe not
so good for the baby. Should I up it a little bit so the baby doesn't
freeze overnight? Truth be told, we only have a few more cold days
(low of 24 tomorrow night).

Thanks in advance,
Bill

My wife and I are adopting a baby and we get to bring him home from
the hospital tomorrow. We just found out on Thursday, so we've been
running at full speed trying to get everything ready. I think we've
got all the basics covered.

I'm a little concerned because our thermostat goes down to 62 degrees
overnight. This is, of course, fine for me and my wife, but maybe not
so good for the baby. Should I up it a little bit so the baby doesn't
freeze overnight? Truth be told, we only have a few more cold days
(low of 24 tomorrow night).

I pretty sure that 18 deg Celcius was what was recommended when I had mine,
I tapped that in to get the fahrenheit and it's 64, so you should be fine,
getting over heated is much more of a risk than being too cold. Having said
that, shortly after my sun was born we had a major heat wave, even
overnight, the temp didn't fall below 70s, and in a climate where that is
unusual, we didn't have air conditioning, an increase in death rate was
reported in France at the time, but it wasn't babies, it was older people.
Parent's just stripped their babies down to their nappies and they did fine.
Because of the way the risk is, I prefer to have a baby get too cold, but
it's literally been twice that I've had a child wake in the night because
they were too cold.

Anne

wrote:
My wife and I are adopting a baby and we get to bring him home from
the hospital tomorrow. We just found out on Thursday, so we've been
running at full speed trying to get everything ready. I think we've
got all the basics covered.

I'm a little concerned because our thermostat goes down to 62 degrees
overnight. This is, of course, fine for me and my wife, but maybe not
so good for the baby. Should I up it a little bit so the baby doesn't
freeze overnight? Truth be told, we only have a few more cold days
(low of 24 tomorrow night).

Thanks in advance,
Bill



Congratulations!

I'd bump up the thermostat to 65 degrees at night. The baby will
probably be wrapped pretty well, but a baby doesn't have the metabolism
to keep itself warm that an adult has.

A hint: even in summer, keep something on the baby's feet like socks at
night. Cold feet wake babies up even when there's nothing else wrong.

Another tip: When I fed my babies at night, I would put a hot water
bottle or a heating pad in the baby's crib so they would have a warm
spot to return to after feeding. Laying a warm, well-fed baby down on
cold sheets tends to wake them up.

gloria p

On Apr 7, 3:28 pm, Puester wrote:
wrote:
My wife and I are adopting a baby and we get to bring him home from
the hospital tomorrow. We just found out on Thursday, so we've been
running at full speed trying to get everything ready. I think we've
got all the basics covered.

I'm a little concerned because our thermostat goes down to 62 degrees
overnight. This is, of course, fine for me and my wife, but maybe not
so good for the baby. Should I up it a little bit so the baby doesn't
freeze overnight? Truth be told, we only have a few more cold days
(low of 24 tomorrow night).

Dr Sears and a few others recommend 70F all year.

Our thermostat *says* 66 or 68F, however with our 12ft ceilings, open
pier-and-beam foundation and very thin layer of wood flooring, and
beds closer to the floor than to the ceiling, I *know* it's closer to
62F near our bed, if we're lucky. Since temp regulation is so wonky in
our house, I didn't feel comfortable with DD in a crib without me
there to check on temperature, so we kept her in bed with us. Now, we
co-sleep anyway, but were just starting to move her into the crib when
the cold snap hit, so we kept the co-sleeping longer.

I would up it, at least to 66F or so, use a sleep sack (altho her arms
were always cold), but leave off a hat and socks, esp. if you swaddle.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

Congratulations!

I'd bump up the thermostat to 65 degrees at night. The baby will
probably be wrapped pretty well, but a baby doesn't have the metabolism
to keep itself warm that an adult has.

A hint: even in summer, keep something on the baby's feet like socks at
night. Cold feet wake babies up even when there's nothing else wrong.

The author of Happiest Baby on the Block and Dr. Sears (I think) say
not to put socks on the baby if they're being swaddled, that over-
heating is a common problem parents make. Apparently babies are better
off waking up if too cold than at risk of SIDS if too warm.

That said, we usually have DD in footed pajamas in winter, but in the
warmer months left her feet free (and she hates having socks on).
Lately we've been using the footed pajamas but leave off the snap near
the feet, so she can kick her feet out - she doesn't even like having
a blanket over her feet. She's weird.

wrote:

I'm a little concerned because our thermostat goes down to 62 degrees
overnight. This is, of course, fine for me and my wife, but maybe not
so good for the baby. Should I up it a little bit so the baby doesn't
freeze overnight?

I'm really late to this thread... but I think
the proper overnight temperature is people temp,
i.e., 98 degress Fahrenheit... next to mommy or
daddy. But, that does not work for everybody.

-- Anita --

I'm really late to this thread... but I think
the proper overnight temperature is people temp,
i.e., 98 degress Fahrenheit... next to mommy or
daddy. But, that does not work for everybody.

the room temperature is still relevant, possibly even more so, I'd
definitely err on the low side of the range for cosleeping.

Anne