What sort of temperature is best for my baby?

G

GTI

Registered User
Our newborn arrived to our world less than 14 days ago. As you can relate, we care a whole lot about him. This is our first child so we're learning as we go. We have a nanny who's been super helpful in helping us learn the ropes plus help with the baby and my wife in recovery.

Its all good. I'm just wondering what the best temperature is for a newborn. Most websites say room temperature with an extra layer of clothing compared to what you're wearing in the room. Plus one factor.

I'm Chinese and so are my parents, in-laws and nanny. So they tend to dress the baby in many layers. Two layers plus a blanket wrapped tightly around him. If I were to go to a Chinese forum ,this would be standard practice. My in-laws tell me that newborns are weaker and that we can't use ourselves as measuring sticks and its always better to over-dress them rather than under-dress them in catching a cold. From what a read, SID's often come from over-heating since babies aren't able to regulate their own temperature. If true, does this mean that newborns aren't able to sweat? I'm asking this cause I literally don't detect any sweat from my boy. If true, how can you tell if a baby feels too warm/hot?

Sorry for all the newbie questions. Just curious what Westerner's view on this would be!

P.S- I'm asking cause I feel real bad for my toddler. I'm at home now in my boxers and I feel a tad too warm already. I use to have memories of my mom forcing me to wear layer after layer of clothing in HK's winters (yes, HK's winters) cause she was so obsessed with me in not catching a cold. The last thing I want is for my son to experience what I experienced!
 
My pediatrician says 25celcius, but have found it difficult as my baby sweats (the area behind his head is wet And not from saliva)....so I have it at 24 celcius which works fine, The room is about 100sq ft so it is fine...kind of cool but not cold.

When checking fir body temp remember not to use the Hand or feet (toes) as an indicator as those will give you false results....ie. They might feel cold, but the body isn't really cold. Use the back of the neck or the body Asa better indicator of temperature.
 
If the baby is sweating, he or she is obviously too hot - just like us.

Our doctor is Chinese, and more "local" as well. When I took my first daughter to her around 6 months, she was physically advanced and my doctor told me "It's probably because you don't over dress her. So many parents here overdress their kids and bundle them up in too many blankets and it delays their physical development."

Overheating is a cause of SIDS and from my (Western) perspective, this is not just an issue of "personal preference" - overdressing a baby can have negative health consequences, so I would just ignore what people here would say to me and dress my children so that they are warm enough but not sweating. (my kids are mixed, so my husband and in-laws are Chinese, but they weren't too vocal on this issue. I mainly had comments from random strangers in the street. I imagine it may have been harder if it was from family...)
 
please, please, please do not overdress your baby. can you imagine going out in this heat with 4 or 5 layers on? neither can i. being too hot is just as bad as being too cold.

if you go out in a short sleeve shirt, then put your baby in a short sleeve shirt. but take along another layer for when you are in an overly air conditioned shopping centre.

i have had kids come to class with so many clothes the kids were sweating profusely and could barely move!

it is absolutely ridiculous.
 
Thanks for the reply. Just as I thought.

Its not going to be easy because you're constantly being judged in HK when you're a local. If you're foreign, they chalk it up as cultural difference. Under-dressing their babies they believe is a sign of over-looking details or not caring enough for them.

And of course once in while when you catch that unavoidable cold from the kid sitting next to you on the school bus like I did as a kid, parents are going to chalk it up to not dressing enough.

well, luckily my wife is quite open to not sticking to local traditions so I guess we can discreetly dress the baby as we like when the elders are not here.

Once again, thanks for the replies!
 
Bump... How to keep the room 25 degrees or below in HK summer? AC would work but it's constantly blowing cold air which is probably not good. So far we try to keep the window open a bit to keep the air circulating, but can't imagine what we are going to do in the summer. Wife's parents would rather wrap the kid in 3 layers of blankets in 80 degree weather. Hard to talk them out of it. They still make comments when I turn the fan or AC on for a short amount of time. Sigh... Right now, it's about 26 degrees in the bedroom... Not exactly sweating but the hair seems a bit damp. Wonder how people survived before the days of AC.
 
Our midwife back home said one more layer than yourself. Best place to check if baby is too hot is the back of their neck. Our first feels the heat much more than our second.
 
my kids and i all sleep MUCH better when the room is cold... in mid-summer, the ac is on full blast at night, usually along with a fan. if not, my kids wake 2-3 times (and they are now 7 &9 years old!)....

i grew up in canada and would have my window open when it was -40C outside! granted, it wasn't wide open, but open enough to get cold in the bedroom. i find now, that if i get too hot when i sleep, i wake with a migraine headache that can take days to disappear.

when my kids were babies, we experimented with different temps/methods of cooling to find what worked best for our kids.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top