It’s crucial to keep your infant warm enough for a sound sleep as the seasons change. It’s important not to overheat your home because doing so can increase the risk of SIDS. Additionally, people who aren’t overly hot find it easier to sleep.
Ever removed a layer when you woke up too hot or turned your pillow over to the cool side? Early on, when a baby is immobile, it is our responsibility to ensure that they are comfortable enough to sleep through the night.
How hot, though, is it too hot? How cold is too cold, exactly? In this article, we’ll go through how to clothe your baby for sleep in various temperatures so they get the rest they need and you all wake up feeling rested.
Simple Baby Sleep Temperature Recommendations
The phrase “TOG,” which refers to how to dress a child at night, may be familiar to you. Thermal overall grade, or TOG, refers to how many blankets a sleep sack is equivalent to.
A sleep sack is exactly what it sounds like—a wearable sleeping bag designed for infants. Very clever, no? These guard against the risk that arises when our toddlers become entangled in a loose blanket.
Babies can put their arms through wearable blankets and yet feel mobile, but they cannot wriggle out of the bottom sack-like shape, keeping them warm throughout the night. Bags with grades of 1.2 and below are for the spring and summer when temperatures are higher, and bags with grades 2 to 2.5 are for the winter and fall when temperatures are lower.
Monitoring infants while they sleep
It never hurts to go and check your sleepyhead’s temperature if you’re worried about it during the night. You can gauge your child’s degree of comfort because you are the one who knows them best.
You can gently touch their belly to check their temperature during the night. Their extremities will run somewhat colder if they are comfortable, and their gut should feel warm.
By putting on a pair of socks, mittens, or a hat to preserve warmth, you can warm them up if they’re cold without awakening your child. Furthermore, covering the extremities will assist keep them warm because they frequently go colder than their internal temperature yet lose heat more quickly.
Best Fabrics for Breathability on Warm Nights
Your infant will likely appreciate lightweight, natural fabrics that let their skin breathe when the weather is warmer. Cotton, linen, silk, hemp, cashmere, and wool are a few good examples. These work well for layering because they tend to reduce static cling while still offering insulation.
Putting on a Baby’s Sleeping Clothes in a 70° Room
When dressing your baby, a good rule of thumb is to put them in one more layer on top of whatever you are comfortable wearing. You might use a thin swaddling blanket or one sleep sack equivalent to one tog in a room 70 degrees.
Let’s start by discussing how to clothe a baby for bed based on the room’s temperature.
- Your kid should only wear a diaper if the temperature is 80°F or higher (27°C or more).
- Your child should only wear a short sleeve bodysuit and a diaper when the temperature is 78°F (26°C).
- Your child will be cozy with a short-sleeve bodysuit and a thin (0,5 tog) sleeping bag at 75–77°F (24–25°C).
- 71-74°F (22-23°C) is a typical room temperature. Only clothes and another thin (0,5 tog) sleeping bag is required for your baby.
- 69-70°F (20-21°C) – Your child will need to be dressed in three layers at these room temperatures: a short-sleeve onesie, pajamas, and then a one-tog sleeping bag.
- 64-68°F (18-19°C) – Your infant has to be outfitted with pajamas, a long-sleeve bodysuit, and a one-tog sleeping bag at this room temperature.
- 61-63°F (16-17°C) – Because this is a cool room temperature, you’ll need to outfit your baby a little cozier. A long-sleeved bodysuit should be the initial layer, followed by pajamas and socks. A sleeping bag rated at two togs should be the final layer.
- Below 60°F (Under 16°C): This is a freezing room temperature for a newborn, so you’ll need to dress your young one in pajamas, a long-sleeve onesie, mittens, and a hat. You’ll also need to place them in a two-tog sleeping bag.
Because the baby’s clothing and the room’s temperature directly impact your baby’s body temperature, it’s crucial to understand how to outfit a baby for sleep in a 70-degree room. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a healthy baby’s typical body temperature should range from 97 to 100.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
According to child sleep specialists, overdressing a baby will prevent their temperature from dropping, which is necessary for them to fall asleep. Even if you successfully get them to sleep, they will probably wake up multiple times throughout the night. Their sleep will almost probably be disturbed if you overdress them.
Since my first child, I have lived by one unbreakable rule: Always clothe your baby for sleep by dressing yourself plus one additional layer. Another advice that I’m sure every pediatrician will give is to avoid overdressing your infant because they tend to heat up more quickly than adults while simultaneously being more challenging to cool down.
This means that some heat-related disorders, such as heat rash, cramps, dehydration, heat exhaustion, or heatstroke, are more likely to affect babies. Sadly, most parents are unaware that overdressing, overbuilding, and overheating their infant can cause dehydration, one of the leading causes of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
