If your child is waking up between the hours of 3-4am, chances are, they are waking up because they are cold. There are two things that work against young children when it comes to the cold: They have difficulty regulating their own body temperature, which means they can get hot very quickly, or cold very quickly.
A baby who is not able to stay warm and is losing the battle to stay warm and is in danger of being chilled will become very quiet and still. Babies are not able to shiver like adults to generate heat. Babies that are too cold will not exert the energy it takes to cry, and may be uninterested in feeding.
Although your baby's hands and face may feel cold, this may differ from their core body temperature. To give you a better idea if they are warm or cold, feel the skin on their tummy and back. Their skin should feel warm and not too hot or cold.
So whenever your little one develops a cold, that can lead to nasal congestion and trouble breathing – which then leads to them spending the night tossing, turning, screaming, and crying just trying to get comfortable enough to sleep.
If the room is too warm, babies struggle to regulate their core body temperatures, and sometimes even their breathing, during sleep. The result is poor quality sleep and elevated risk for SIDS. The sleep hormone, melatonin, elevates in our system when core body temperatures drop.
When it comes down to the ideal temperature for your baby's room regardless of winter or summer months, experts recommend maintaining a temperature within the range of 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit, or 20 to 22 degrees Celsius.
What outside temperature is too cold for baby. Above freezing: Extreme cold starts to become a factor when the temperature drops below freezing (32º F). You can still go outside, but it should not be for very long. Well-below freezing: Once temperatures start to drop below 20º F, it's best to stay inside if you can.
You don't want your baby's room to be either too hot or too cold. It's recommended that the best temperature for babies is between 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit or 20 to 22 degrees Celsius. Babies are more sensitive to changes in room temperature because they're so small and their bodies are still growing.
Luckily, there's a range, so you don't have to keep your home at one exact temperature. According to Cleveland Clinic, babies should sleep in rooms between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which is equivalent to 18-21 degrees Celsius.
By the time a baby turns 12 months old, the risk of sudden death is negligible. Here are recommendations for reducing the risk of SIDS: a) Avoid exposing your baby to cigarette smoke before or after birth. b) Avoid falling asleep with your baby in dangerous environment (bed, chair, or sofa).
Set the Ideal Room Temperature for a Newborn
To help decrease the chance of SIDS, strive to keep the nursery at 68 to 72 degrees F in all seasons. Temperatures of up to 75 degrees are acceptable in very hot climates.
First is the developmental window of vulnerability. SIDS is most common at 2-4 months of age when the cardiorespiratory system of all infants is in rapid transition and therefore unstable.
“If the room temperature is comfortable for an adult it's comfortable for a baby,” said Dr. Julia Kyle, a Marshfield Clinic pediatrician. Healthy, full-term babies can regulate their body temperatures and are comfortable indoors between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit when dressed in light layers, she said.
Babies are not as adaptable as adults to temperature change. A baby's body surface is about three times greater than an adult's, compared to the weight of his/her body. Babies can lose heat rapidly, as much as four times more quickly than adults.
Generally speaking, if you feel as though the room is too cold, your baby will too, and if you think the room is too hot, so will your baby. That said, keeping the temperature between 68 and 72 degrees F is a good range in the summer and winter.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends 60-67 degrees for adults and children and 68-72 degrees for babies and toddlers. Whether this is cool air or heat, not EVERY room in the house may retain what the thermostat reads.
White noise may also block out excess stimulation and thus, reduce stress levels in babies. But older claims that white noise can reduce the risk of SIDS need more current research.
While the cause of SIDS is unknown, many clinicians and researchers believe that SIDS is associated with problems in the ability of the baby to arouse from sleep, to detect low levels of oxygen, or a buildup of carbon dioxide in the blood. When babies sleep face down, they may re-breathe exhaled carbon dioxide.
SIDS occurs between the first month and before the first year of an infant's life. Infants aged 2-4 months endanger greater risk of SIDS, while most deaths occur in infants during the sixth month of their life6.
75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit: Use a swaddle that's less than or equal to 1.0 TOG and dress your baby in a short-sleeve cotton bodysuit. 69 to 74 degrees Fahrenheit: Use a swaddle that's less than or equal to 2.0 TOG and dress your baby in long- or short-sleeve cotton pajamas.
Using a fan instead of an AC in an infant's room is a better option. However, you should take these precautions to keep a safe and secure environment for your child. For your kids' nursery, you may want to hang some decorative items or visually appealing objects on the base of the ceiling fan to entertain the child.
Goodstein said, when babies sleep in the same room as their parents, the background sounds or stirrings prevent very deep sleep and that helps keeps the babies safe. Room sharing also makes breast-feeding easier, which is protective against SIDS.
Put your baby to sleep alone in a crib, bassinet or playpen
However, don't have your baby sleep with you in your bed. “Placing a baby in bed with a parent (as opposed to within a safe sleep environment, like a crib or bassinet) increases their risk of SIDS tenfold,” Dr. Felman said.