Dressing your baby for sleep can be confusing. With Winter here, I wanted to help parents figure this out!

If your baby’s head is sweaty, it means he is too warm. If his fingers and hands are chilled, it probably means he is too chilly.

How to find a happy medium? The general rule is as follows. Dress yourself in a t-shirt and walk into his room. If you feel cold, it is probably too cool. If you feel too warm, it is probably too warm. Babies usually need one extra layer than you do. So for example, if you feel perfectly comfortable in your t-shirt, you would put baby in a sleeper, with a cotton sleep sack over the top. This also eliminates the need for loose bedding (not safe). His sleep sack will move with him as he moves in the crib.

Babies that are either too warm or too cold, usually don’t sleep well at all. There are many factors that can affect a baby’s sleep but temperature is definitely one of them.

It has also been suggested that toddlers and young children who are overdressed or too warm, have more nightmares or night terrors. As you will know from past posts, TRUE night terrors are very very rare, but it can happen.
One of the fabrics that you should use caution with, is fleece. There is no need to put layers and layers of fleece on a baby. In fact, the baby will most likely overheat which is not helpful.

Remember – the perfect temperature for your child’s bedroom is between 19 and 22 degrees Celsius. Your house may dictate things too. For example, if your child’s bedroom has 2 outside walls (eg, corner bedroom), chances are it will be much cooler than the bedroom that only has one outside wall so it’s important to judge the bedrooms individually. I had this happen in one of our houses. My son always wore an extra layer to bed because his bedroom had 2 outside walls and was quite chilly no matter what I did with the thermostat!

Also, remember some children just “run hot” or “run cool”. My daughter was always a warm child but my son was definitely a cool baby. This does need to be taken into consideration too!

Enjoy the rest of your Winter and remember that if your little one is not sleeping independently and you need assistance, Winter is a great time to do sleep training!