babies - does the house really need to be 5,000 degrees?

[petemurphy]

So we have a new baby and now the other half insists on keeping the house at sub sahara temperatures. do they really need to be that warm surely they will adapt and toughen up if cold?

[grumbledoak]

Young babies don't toughen up. They die.

But 15 - 20 degrees should be fine if it's covered. Too hot is normally worse.

[bluto]

Doesnt need to be hotter than 20 degrees or it can increase the risk of cot death etc. Sounds scary i know but thats been the advice given for the last few years.

[rossw46]

petemurphy said:

So we have a new baby and now the other half insists on keeping the house at sub sahara temperatures. do they really need to be that warm surely they will adapt and toughen up if cold?

Cant answer on that,sorry,but made me chuckle because my girlfriends aunts house is the same...i reckon they must put the thermostat up as high as it can go...shudder to think of the bill!Good luck.

[okgo]

Change the title from babies to women.

[Lois]

Babies don't have the body fat or indeed other mechanisms to maintain their temperate. As a rough guide they need 1 extra layer than us. The house should be warm but certainly not hot. Do not check their temp by feeling hands and feet, always down their front or back. Babies can overheat and still have cold hands/feet because of their circulation.

[Tiggsy]

4 kids and never adjusted the house temp to suit them! I pay the mortgage!

Don't wrap them in cotton wool - unless they are shivering, then it may help.

[4Q]

okgo said:

Change the title from babies to women.

[BlackVanDyke]

grumbledoak said:

Young babies don't toughen up. They die.

But 15 - 20 degrees should be fine if it's covered. Too hot is normally worse.

This. But consider if you can just have a thermometer and heater in the room where baby sleeps, maybe?

[doodles19]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gro-126-Gro-Egg-Room-Therm...


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-AVENT-SCH550-20-Th...

[Munter]

Look at it this way. The Inuit have been having children in subzero air temperatures for 100s if not 1000s of years. (Although I'm not suggesting it as a fun thing to do!)

So no. The house does not need to be hot enough that you can fry eggs on the coffee table. You just need to dress and check on the the baby appropriately for the conditions in the house.

[KrazyIvan]

Look at it this way.

incresing your thermostat by 1 dagree will increase your bill by roughly 8%, work out how much a few extra dagrees will cost you a month and then work out if your child is worth it.

Also this will be the cheapest your child will ever be so enjoy it

[RichB]

Of course all of us born in the 50s/early 60s who grew up in houses just with coal fires which went out at night should have died when we were babies. But miraculously with an eider down or a blanket we didn't Anyone on Pistonheads remember waking up to find ice on the inside of their bedroom windows? I do and that was the house I was born in

[y2blade]

ffs no wonder children of today have ZERO immune system

[oldcynic]

We've had 2 babies in the last 4 years and the thermostat has been set at 18 degrees throughout. The only change I've made is to run the heating 24/7 during the coldest weather and turn the thermostat down to about 14 when I go to bed, back up to 18 in the morning.

Personally I think that too hot is probably bad for babies

[Mr Gearchange]

y2blade said:

ffs no wonder children of today have ZERO immune system

I think you are confusing "having the heating up" with "having AIDS"

HTH

[Tiggsy]

y2blade said:

ffs no wonder children of today have ZERO immune system

I like how zero is in capitals.....we are not talking warm rooms = poor immune systems, damm it we are talking ZERO. Like, no immune system at all......because of the warmness.

[john_p]

KrazyIvan said:

Also this will be the cheapest your child will ever be so enjoy it