Freezing in baby's bedroom

[Gussy]

This happened in our last house with my daughter but this time it's my little mans room. Down to 13 degrees last night and while its cold outside its hardly full on winter yet, so I'm concerned about heating his room. He's already in a 2.5 tog sleeping bag and I set the heating to come on several times in the night, but it obviously didn't do the job. Annoyingly he also wakes up everytime the heating comes on. It's partly because we are north facing and the back of the house gets no sunlight in the day....not much I can do about that. I can't have the heating on all night or his room will over heat as its very small, plus the rest of us are warm in our rooms. Its a tricky one and a bit annoying constantly having to tweak boiler settings and trying not to look at the monitor temperature constantly!

Anyone else in the same boat with some novel ideas?

[Pam50]

Hi Gussy

My house in the midlands is similar with cold and draughty sash windows.

I've found that attaching a simple layer of 'window seal' type double glazing in the winter months makes a huge difference, especially on windy nights! It's dead simple to apply, you just put a strip of double sided sellotape stuff (provided) up around the frame, stick the plastic sheet on, then use a hair dryer to shrink it to fit. It lasts through the cold months, them you simply whip it off in Spring. I get mine from Wilko

http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/Insulation/Seal-Window-Seal-Pack-6m2/invt/0097195?htxt=CGjMCwoVW44%2FYekNfjqJ31BldgV4FC4By%2FzFwl81XvqDYMKhU7UYr65IssL95aoNvA5ozMe5CMOy%0Aa3lqUaRALg%3D%3D

who also do internet orders, or I'm sure the DIY places here would sell it too.

Good luck! Pam

[The Nappy Lady]

Fussy, get an oil filled rad - Argos do them not expensive. Get one witha thermostat and set it so it comes on when temp in room drops too low. Mine is on a timer plug so only on at night & when cold enough to need it. No heating on in rest of house after about 10pm. Works brilliantly for us.

[Gussy]

Great thanks Pam and Molly will take a look at both options x

[Saffron]

http://www.merinokids.co.uk/

[The Nappy Lady]

Gussy - just saw that my iphone changed your forum name to 'Fussy' on my last reply - so sorry (how rude, though entirely accidental :-$ )

Another thing that may be of interest if your windows are letting a lot of cold air around them is some stuff I've just used with great success to stop draughts around a couple of windows - Fingertip Rope Caulk - it is good value as it doesn't dry out, so in Spring you just roll it back into a ball and then use again the following winter - here you go;

http://www.scottsofstow.co.uk/Reusable-Fingertip-Rope-Caulk-Draught-Excluder/Product1_22051_-1_39895_10551

It isn't very pretty, but to be honest mostly it is hidden behind curtains, and I don't even notice it now. The rooms I've used it in is noticeably warmer, which is more important than looks right now anyway!

Molly

[womanofdulwich]

My duvet is 13.5, I no longer have a baby but why is the sleeping bag 2.5? I have a 9 tog and 4.5 tog that i velcro together. Even my teenagers are sleeping in 9 tog duvets now- but if it stays this cold they wil go to 13.5 tog too ( which they have since they were 3 yrs old).

[veryseriousgirl]

We have also gone down the oil-filled radiator route - we have a model with a built in thermostat and timer, so at night when the central heating is off and the temperature in her room drops, the radiator kicks in to keep it higher.

[Saila]

ditto - oil filled radiator

and ...

i am going to use one of those 'timer adaptors' that fits into a plug socket. That means the radiator's definitely switched off between teh hours of 8am and 6pm so you never need to remember to turn it off in the morning rush hour before work....

[poppy]

womanofdulwich Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My duvet is 13.5, I no longer have a baby but why

> is the sleeping bag 2.5?

2.5 togs is the standard sleeping bag thickness for winter for babies - it is fine! I thought it was a bit weird when I first had a baby too, but it is warm enough. I guess its because it's wrapped right around them and also maybe because babies are smaller so perhaps the thickness sort of scales down!

Edited as I forgot my original point which was:

I'd second the oil-filled radiator (works really well) and I've also been using a really thick blackout blind which velcros to the window frame so that also keeps drafts out, and adds an extra toasty layer behind the curtains.

[oilworker]

"Down to 13 degrees" -?? So what ??- when I was growing up in Scotland in the 1960's (we'd never heard of central heating) we regularly had ice on our windows - on the inside!! We just used to go to bed with jumpers and pyjamas tucked into socks. Didn't do us any harm and I doubt it'll harm your little man either.

[Gussy]

Molly - don't worry about 'Fussy' I guessed it was a typo :)

Womanofdulwich - as poppy says 2.5 tog sleeping bags for babies is the winter rating and the highest tog you can get. As he's only 7 months we're a long way from using a duvet.

oilworker - I see your point but we're not in the 1960s anymore. I grew up without central heating and recall it wasn't very pleasant.

For those of you with oil-filled rads, which is the best one? Also oil-free rads seem to be an option. Is an 'oil' appliance safe in a baby's room? (don't start oilworker! ;-) )

[reren]

Another thought - is there a poorly insulated loft above your baby's room

? In our old flat we converted our loft and put in lot of insulation and I was amazed at what a difference it made to the rooms below which had always been freezing previously. In our new place our bedroom is freeZing and I'm going to get some roll out insulation and put it down in the loft in the hope that it will help!

[Gussy]

Hi just wanted to say I bought an oil filled radiator and it's brilliant (?50 Argos)! Baby's room is a nice 19 degrees and this is CONSTANT as it has a thermostat. No second guessing how cold the night will be and changing the boiler settings all the time. Thanks to all those who recommended and I would def. recommend to others. I'm so glad I've got one now its getting really cold.

PS reren, you are exactly right, its the lack of insulation, ie no roof space, just roof, above his room.

[sdel]

gussy - which one did you get?

[Gussy]

This one: De'Longhi radiator

[millsa]

we have got the same one from argos, have had it for over 2 years and it has worked brilliantly in our sons room during cold winter months.