# co-sleeping in a very cold room - what do you do?



## ~pi (May 4, 2005)

Winter is approaching and I'm starting to wonder how we're going to handle DS sleeping at night. We live in Canada, can't really afford to heat our home any warmer than we already do, and our bedroom is freezing at night.

Normally, we get through the winter with five heavy blankets, including one very heavy duvet, but I'm unsure about doing that with a babe in bed.

We weren't originally planning to co-sleep and we have an Amby that we use some of the time, but we really like having DS in bed with us at night and it's a lot easier for me with nighttime nursing, so I'd like to figure out how to do this.

DS still can't roll over, so right now we just place him in the middle third of the bed, keep our pillows far away from him, and pull our one blanket up to our shoulders/his feet. Pretty soon he's going to be moving around more and by the time he's about four months old, we're going to start needing a lot more warmth at night.

Suggestions? BTDT advice?

edited for clarity


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## sweedma (Jul 6, 2006)

Might be worth a space heater in the room, since comforters and blankets do seem to pose some risk to cosleeping babies -- especially if they're pulled up as high as they'd need to be to keep the little one warm. Or, put the baby in a couple of layers of warm sleepers and a hat?


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## sarahmck (Feb 11, 2005)

I'd just put him in a nice warm sleep sack. If you don't want the blankets to go over him, you and DH could just sleep lower in the bed and then put DS up more towards the headboard. Then your covers could easily be kept from going higher than his knees.

I personally wouldn't worry much about it. It's healthy to sleep in a cold room, and babies are good at keeping the blankets away from their faces. Also, he'll get a lot of warmth from you. He doesn't need to be dressed anywhere near as warmly in the family bed as he would need to be on his own.


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## hby (May 6, 2002)

I would be planning on how to keep yourself warm also. I always kept my newborns in a nightgown and then wrap them in a blanket. We did the pillows away from DS face and covers up. My boys always snuggled me. I have two episodes where I think it would apply. Once the power was out for 4 days it was snowing and freezing. I just had extra sleepers on DS and blankets. The other time was in Montana while camping in the fall stupid







: But we didn't realize it until it was too cold. The other thing I did was put a hat on baby or toddler they had no hair barely. So, anyway back to me my sons were always fine but there I was with my shirt up to nurse and freezing my boobies off. I was told after the fact to get like a snug fitting under shirt and cut holes in the breast area. I thought what a dork not to figure that out. Anyway, if I ever have to be cold again I will definetely do that because while the rest of the family was nice and warm I was freezing. Good Luck!!!


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## sarahmck (Feb 11, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hby*
I was told after the fact to get like a snug fitting under shirt and cut holes in the breast area.

Good idea, but man, that must look silly!


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## Cujobunny (Aug 16, 2006)

Sleep sacks are good, we also just used fuzzy warm blanket sleepers for ds and had blankets to pull up over his legs. A hat would be good if it's very cold and they don't have much hair







Bodies create a lot of warmth though and he'll likely snuggle into you if he's cold. For me, I wore flannel jammies that buttoned up the front and then only had to undo one or two buttons to peek my boob out.


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## bauchtanz (Nov 15, 2005)

We live in an old house in Iowa, and the temp in the bedroom is usually about 64 - even with the heat on. I do put blankets over the windows and all of that BUT.........

I started wearing pj bottoms and tights or whatever, more layers on ME. I also wear an undershirt that I can easily pull up nurse, and then my PJ top unbuttoned, and a fleece jacket over that (that zips up the front). DD wears warm jammies, undershirts (long sleeve, depending) socks, hat, socks over hands on very cold nights, plus one of those sleep blankets. I had blankets only from the waist up, tucked short at the bottom.

You will be surpised, if you snuggle with her, how warm your bodies get.

Now that she is older I am not sure what I will do. She is too large at 10 months for a sleep sack, so we are trying to put her under the covers. Last night it got down to 60 in the house and she managed to get her head covered, but they were non-fluffy quilts so she was okay. I just freaked for a minute.

I am against the space heater idea, those can be dangerous unattended (sleeping). There are also bags of rice in coth you can microwave and put near your feet.


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## roadfamily6now (Sep 14, 2006)

warm polar fleece jammies for baby. NO space heater they are very expensive and dangerous


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## Jade2561 (Jun 12, 2005)

I second the sleep sack and long johns and sweats for everyone else. You can cut out the Ljs too for easy access to the boobs. That with your regular blacket/comforter and lots of snuggling and body heat and you should be fine.


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## ~pi (May 4, 2005)

Thanks for all the suggestions! Yes, we need to figure out how to keep both DS and us (mainly me -- my DH is a furnace at night) warm.

A space heater would be great in theory, but because of the fire hazard and the fact that the electricity company seems to want money for the power we use (go figure







) I don't know that it would work well in practice. Thanks for the idea, though.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hby*
my sons were always fine but there I was with my shirt up to nurse and freezing my boobies off. I was told after the fact to get like a snug fitting under shirt and cut holes in the breast area.









That's a great idea, thanks!


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## zmom (Jun 29, 2005)

We don't have heat at all in the bedrooms in our house - we live in Texas so it's not a problem except for a couple of months. What we did when DD was a baby (she's 2 now and can use blankets), was we'd turn a small space heater on before bedtime and then turn it off when we went to bed. It got the room nice and warm for the initial bedtime. Then we put DD in flannel pjs and socks and in one of the Back To Sleep sleepsacks. They kept her nice and cozy (I think the sack aspect of it actually made it warmer by trapping the heat inside). She seemed to mostly stay warm this way and then I didn't have to worry about blankets. We co-slept for parts of the nights (we have a TINY bed) when it was the coldest.


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## zeldabee (Aug 23, 2004)

I dressed my son warmly in footy jammies, a hat and sleep sack, and dressed myself in a warm pull-over and an oversized zip up fleece jacket, so I wouldn't get too cold when I nursed (pull up the shirt under the fleece jacket and minimize exposure). I kept my blanket up to my waist. I got so used to sleeping like that that I even continued the following winter when my son was old enough for blankets. The fleece jacket was key, for me--I do not like being cold, and don't sleep well, and the fleece kept me warm enough that I didn't need blankets up over my head like I normally would in a cold room.


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