by MrsOctober » Tue Feb 07, 2012 1:35 pm
We have a 3-storey victorian house, which we completely renovated and replumbed and insulated yet we had a similar ongoing problem in one of our bedrooms. Before turning it into a nursery, we'd never realised quite how cold it got in there. It has 3 outside walls and is in the eaves, so not much space for loft insulation either. We did what we could with loft insulation (only a few inches in which to work) we replaced the window with a new double-glazed sash, but at night once the central heating went off, the general lack of insulation meant that the temperature in that room dropped well below the temperature in the rest of the house. We weren't happy to leave an electric heater in there as we were even more worried about safety and the possibility of overheating our baby. After all, cold babies cry & as for hot babies, well, we've all read the warnings...... We resorted to moving our child out of there during the winter but then when another baby came along we needed the space. The bedroom in question is above the boiler cupboard so we simply got a plumber in to replumb the radiator in that room and give it its own wireless thermostat, placed near the cot. This means that whenever the temperature falls below 18degrees in that room, the boiler kicks in and warms it up, leaving the rest of the house controlled by the original thermostat.
As for gro-bags, I've only ever used gro-bags. They're the only way of ensuring that your child stays at a constant temperature all night. My sister never liked the idea of gro-bags and didn't get a proper night's sleep for about 8yrs as she was constantly tending to cold, miserable kids who'd kicked-off their bedding. My eldest son went into a bed at 2.5yrs & came out of a gro-bag a few months later. He was in a cotbed with the sides off and rather than use a cotbed duvet, we bought a single duvet turned sideways and wrapped around the mattress. After about a year we turned it round the right way, tucking it in using a large cotton blanket over the top. He's never kicked his covers off. My friend's daughter just loved her gro-bag and stayed in it until she was 5, at which time she could unzip it herself when she woke up. She then used a duvet with sheet over the top to tuck it in and never had a problem. It seems to me with your fluctuating temperatures you should really give the gro-bag thing a go. A 2.5tog sleeveless gro-bag with 2 long-sleeved tops & pyjama trousers underneath should cope with temperatures as low as 16degrees (which is cold) And the ones in JMB with sleeves cope with temps lower than that. The only problem is when your temperatures fluctuate, it's impossible to safely dress a child for bed if the min/max temperatures they will experience vary by more than a few degrees. Sorting out your heating is a costly solution but it sounds like your energy bills are going to be astrnomical anyway, so you'll get the money back in future savings. A good night's sleep for your household is also priceless as any parent will tell you. Best of luck.
We have a 3-storey victorian house, which we completely renovated and replumbed and insulated yet we had a similar ongoing problem in one of our bedrooms. Before turning it into a nursery, we'd never realised quite how cold it got in there. It has 3 outside walls and is in the eaves, so not much space for loft insulation either. We did what we could with loft insulation (only a few inches in which to work) we replaced the window with a new double-glazed sash, but at night once the central heating went off, the general lack of insulation meant that the temperature in that room dropped well below the temperature in the rest of the house. We weren't happy to leave an electric heater in there as we were even more worried about safety and the possibility of overheating our baby. After all, cold babies cry & as for hot babies, well, we've all read the warnings...... We resorted to moving our child out of there during the winter but then when another baby came along we needed the space. The bedroom in question is above the boiler cupboard so we simply got a plumber in to replumb the radiator in that room and give it its own wireless thermostat, placed near the cot. This means that whenever the temperature falls below 18degrees in that room, the boiler kicks in and warms it up, leaving the rest of the house controlled by the original thermostat.
As for gro-bags, I've only ever used gro-bags. They're the only way of ensuring that your child stays at a constant temperature all night. My sister never liked the idea of gro-bags and didn't get a proper night's sleep for about 8yrs as she was constantly tending to cold, miserable kids who'd kicked-off their bedding. My eldest son went into a bed at 2.5yrs & came out of a gro-bag a few months later. He was in a cotbed with the sides off and rather than use a cotbed duvet, we bought a single duvet turned sideways and wrapped around the mattress. After about a year we turned it round the right way, tucking it in using a large cotton blanket over the top. He's never kicked his covers off. My friend's daughter just loved her gro-bag and stayed in it until she was 5, at which time she could unzip it herself when she woke up. She then used a duvet with sheet over the top to tuck it in and never had a problem. It seems to me with your fluctuating temperatures you should really give the gro-bag thing a go. A 2.5tog sleeveless gro-bag with 2 long-sleeved tops & pyjama trousers underneath should cope with temperatures as low as 16degrees (which is cold) And the ones in JMB with sleeves cope with temps lower than that. The only problem is when your temperatures fluctuate, it's impossible to safely dress a child for bed if the min/max temperatures they will experience vary by more than a few degrees. Sorting out your heating is a costly solution but it sounds like your energy bills are going to be astrnomical anyway, so you'll get the money back in future savings. A good night's sleep for your household is also priceless as any parent will tell you. Best of luck.
