Baby and Air Con/ Room temperature

L

LOJITT

Registered User
Hi there

Hoping for some advice from some more experienced HK mums. I'm having my first baby mid-September, so it's going to be pretty hot for the first few months. I'm about to buy some bedding but all the advice books I have are v UK focused and I'm getting confused about sleeping bags/ blankets/ sheets and room temperature.

My specific questions are

1. What temp should I set the air con to in the room in which the baby sleeps? How critical is this?

2. What bedding do I need in conjunction with this, and if I use sleeping bags, which tog should I get?

Any pointers gratefully received! Spent an hour in B&B today and came out confused and empty handed!
 
All babies are different. My little one loves to be on the warm side whereas her cousin in the same room will be sweating up a storm. But as a guide:
1. The true temperature tends to run about two degrees less than what I set it too. I have the baby's room ac on 24 but according to her monitor the temperature is usually 21 or 22. Her cot is directly in the airflow which is why I set it to 24. If it wasn't I would probably knock it down a degree or 2.

2. I use a 1 tog which is for rooms 20 - 24 degrees. My baby sleeps in a longsleeved onesie and has a blanket as well. But I only started using the sleeping bag around 5 months as until then she was swaddled with a blanket. A lot of people recommend not using blankets but my little one likes them for comfort and I would just make sure it was tucked in well.

I would highly recommend swaddling with arms down by their sides for the first few months. In my view it is the key to encouraging good sleeping as it makes them feel secure and prevents them startling themselves. Then buy the gro bags once you know how your baby likes to sleep.
 
both of my kids take after me... sleep best in a COLD room! anything over 19C and all three of us start sweating up a storm.

my preferred sleeping temp is about 15C, even colder is good.

my HUSBAND though is a cold person and often goes to sleep in long sleeved sweatshirts when i'm tearing off my thin camisol and using an ice pack on my head!

you don't mention how old your baby is.... THIS makes a difference. up until 3-4 months-ish, babies are still learning how to regulate body temperature... up until that point, babies need what YOU would wear PLUS ONE layer... so, if you would wear a single layer of PJs, then baby should wear that PLUS maybe an undershirt...

remember, cool hands are OK... they have NOTHING to do with body temperature. the BEST way to check to see if baby is warm is by testing at the back of the neck.

i also agree that every baby is different, what one finds comfortable, the next may not. you need to experiment with YOUR baby to see what s/he finds best.
 
It does depend on you and your baby but ignore the recommendations from the UK as they are unrealistic for here. Some good advice I got was that the gro-bag egg thermometers which are supposed to glow yellow in the right temperature for UK should glow orange (the next stage up) in Hong Kong - I think it's between 20 and 24 but you can check on the packet :-)

When The Boy was small, we had him in our room and had the aircon quite cool (that was for us), maybe around 20, so he had long sleeved pyjamas, a thin swaddle and a cotton cellular blanket.

Now he's 9 months old and in his own room I have the aircon set at 22 but I suspect the room is actually a bit warmer than that and he sleeps in a long sleeved onesie and no other coverings. In winter we used a 1 or 1.5 tog grobag depending on the weather.

Starebear is right and you'll get a feel for whether they are a hot or cold baby, for us it turned out that The Boy is not that fussed either way and sleeps well whatever you do with the aircon and whatever coverings he has. Agree about the swaddle as well - get a couple of those and leave the grobags for now.
 
our 2 year old son sleeps in 21/22 C and wears long pants/long t-shirt PJs with a light growbag. our a/c is on 24/7 in our house so it's never a shock to his system. my husband and i always sleep in about 20C.

Our son was born in London so he slept in much colder conditions with a heavier grobag, but we moved to HK when he was 6 months. Back then, he slept in about 21C w/onsies with footies and long sleeves plus a @ 1.5 grobag. We tried various temperatures, but our son did not prefer one over the other
 
I totally understand your worries - I spent hours before my little one was born agonising about the right temperature! Especialy that all the guidance you get from UK is useless here.
When our baby was 0-3 months we had the temp on 19C in our room (Iwould set the aircon on 20 as it is pretty strong) and she was wearing a long sleeve onsie and swaddle blanket ( it was August). Later we moved to grobags and we used 1 tog with the temp set on 20C. Now she wears PJs short sleeve and shorts if it's warm - like now. Winter time no aircon long sleeve bodysuit ( sometimes with a singlet under) and 2.5 tog if the weather got too cold.

Hope this helps.
 
i swaddled my baby until she out grew it and then changed to a gro bag with her wearing long sleeves. my baby likes it at 21-22 (air con set at 24) but that will change with different babies. my baby used to wake up when it was too hot, that's how i knew what temp. she liked. i always gave her a light blanket on top of the swaddle though...just in case to cover her feet (i am a firm believer that if your feet are warm, your whole body is warm! :)
 
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