How to dress your child at night?

With the cold seasons approaching, children moving around in their bed kicking their blankets off becomes a bigger and bigger problem. When nights are already cold, but there isn’t any heating yet in most flats, then the Toddiebag sleeping bags prove to be very handy, because even those children wear them happily, who would never wear any other piece of warm clothing at night. However, the sleeping bag in itself is not enough to offer full protection from the cold. The temperature of the room, the clothing under the sleeping bag and the quilt covering the little one, all have an influence on the child’s well-being.

“Okay, but what should I do then? How should I dress my child? How warm does it have to be in the room? What else can I do?” These questions occur to mothers, after reading this introduction. To be honest, even we are not sure about  the best answer. Probably, there is no perfect answer to these questions, because the first and foremost things to take into account are the needs of the child, and these we don’t know. But still, we try to help as much as we can. We asked an expert in child-dressing and a paediatrician, both of whom are mothers themselves as well, to try out the sleeping bags with their children and then give us advice on how to dress the children under the sleeping bags and what conditions to have in the room at night, in order to protect them from catching a cold. Let’s see their recommendations.​

dr. Orsolya Birta

The pediatrician mommy of the blog called Mommy Heals

Sleeping tight at autumn nights and waking up without a cold. What can we do to make sure that with the sudden arrival of autumn, our child sleeps under the best conditions possible? Many moms and dads are thinking about this question now, because the days might be summer-like, but the nights are getting colder and colder. The house cools down by dawn, and we can wake up to runny noses and sneezing if we don’t prepare in time beforehand. As opposed to general beliefs the common cold is not caused by the cold temperature, but by viruses. However, it’s true that cooler temperatures are more ideal for these viruses to spread. On the other hand, paradoxically, in rooms with high temperatures the viruses spread as fast as in the cold, because our mucous membranes become dry, making us more vulnerable against viruses.

In other words, neither the too warm, neither the too cold temperatures are suitable for a child at night time. The ideal temperature can vary according to the child, but a 22℃ is generally suitable for sleeping. Of course, this can be 21-23 ℃, or around this.

In real life, the problem is that toddlers always kick off their blankets, and it’s impossible to go and check on them every five minutes, isn’t it? Because at night, we, the parents, want to rest too. Some children wake up even to the slightest noise, it’s enough to open the door and they are already jumping out of bed, asking you to play with them. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

But what can we do to protect ourselves and our children from the cold?

1. If it’s possible, turn on the heating in the house for a few hours during the night. With adjustable heating systems, this can be done easily. At our place, the heating turns on automatically for 1-2 hours, when the temperature drops below 20℃, and it also turns on at 6 in the morning, so we never wake up to a house cooled down to 18℃, shivering from the cold.
2. The use of electric heaters is argued, because these devices can cause fire, and that’s why we don’t recommend their use at night in the nursery. Nevertheless, it would be a great solution to leave it on for the night, far away from the bed of the child, of course, to prevent any accidents. A safer solution would be to have a radiator or heater that is not a fire hazard. 
3. In autumn the windows should not be kept open during the night, because no matter how much we are heating inside, the air from outside will cool the room.
4. On the other hand, our child should not feel too hot either, because then they start to sweat and that can also cause problems in a colder room.
5. Put our children to sleep in sleeping bags. I know, it’s easier said than done. My son, like all the other children his age, could only tolerate the sleeping bag until he was 6 month old. After that, every time I tried to put the classic sleeping bag on him, he started to fidget, and the process ended up in crying. But there is a solution. The Toddiebag sleeping bags are made especially for children who already move around while sleeping. We use this product too, and from the very start we have been extremely happy to hear about it, as it is really a one-of-a-kind product on the market. However, the sleeping bag does not replace heating. We cannot put our children to sleep in a cold room if they are wearing a sleeping bag, because their heads, legs and arms can cool down just like when they don’t have a blanket covering them.
6. Accept that the main causes of the common cold are viruses, but there still are some things we can do against them. Viruses spread where you can’t see them: when you are travelling on the bus, walking on the street or shopping – someone coughs a little, and there they are, the viruses in the air, which you then inhale and catch an illness. This applies to when your child goes among people, too. In nursery schools, kindergartens and even in primary schools, during the first few weeks a runny nose and coughing are guaranteed…

However, if you accept our advice, then you can lower the risk of your child catching a cold and all the pain and problems it causes.