Annette Faamausili, January 17 2019

Keeping Your Baby Cool In The Warm Weather

Summer is an amazing time of year. There is lots of time to get out with the family and enjoy some sunshine filled adventures.

But there are many reasons it is not so good for getting your little ones to sleep.

The longer days can impact their melatonin levels and their ability to sleep, Check out my blog here for further details, but the real issue is the heat.

Just like us adults, babies do not tend to sleep as well when they are hot.

So what can you do to cool their little bodies down on those stiflingly hot nights?

Try some of these tips...

Keeping Your Baby Cool In The Warm Weather

The key to helping your little one sleep better on those hot summer nights to keeping their room cool. This will really optimise their sleeping potential.

How can you do it?

Try a couple of these ideas for keeping their room at a bearable temperature to sleep… 

The Ideal Temperature

Ideally for a comfortable sleep, the temperature in your baby’s room should be between 18 and 20 degrees. In the cooler months, this is easy to achieve. But when it is sweltering hot outside until 9pm, it is harder to hit that ideal temperature range.

It’s not like cracking a window will help the situation! In fact, it could end up being worse as it may attract bugs inside. So, you need to pull out a few tricks to lower the temperature and make it more comfortable for your baby to sleep.

Freezing Water Bottles

Need to cool the air in your baby’s bedroom in a hurry? Then try this neat trick. Place a bottle of frozen water (the bigger the better) in front of a fan to instantly cool the air. You may need to stand the bottle on a towel or tray to soak up the water as it slowly melts.

By using a bigger bottle it will take longer for the contents to defrost, meaning you get the cooling benefits to last the distance. However, if you only have a small bottle at hand, it will still do the trick for a shorter time. Try to remember to freeze a bottle or two before you go to bed each night. That way, they will be frozen by the morning and ready to use at nap and bedtime.

Check out this image if you need a visual picture of the set up…

A Cooling Bath

You can use bath time to cool your baby’s body down. Giving them a cooler bath before bed will mean that they don’t hit the sheets with a raised temperature. You can start by giving them their nighttime bath at a normal temperature, then gradually add in cold water towards the end to cool them down.

Shade The Room

Sunshades are not simply for the car windscreen. You can pop them up in the windows of your baby’s room too. The silver surface will reflect the sun away and lets less heat into the room. They great thing is that you can pick them up for a few dollars at places like The Warehouse or Repco. Use a couple of shades if you have big windows.

You can also try to keep the sun off the room during the day by pulling the blinds down or the curtains across. Make sure you leave a gap for ventilation and open the window to get some fresh air in.

Open Up Top

Warm air rises, so if you have a way to let it escape then you should! If you have a home with a loft space, open up the loft hatch to let the warm air out. Just remember to close it at night so that pesky mosquitos don’t invite themselves in.

Appropriate Sleepwear

It won’t matter what the temperature of the room is if you overdress your baby for bed or if you use the wrong kind of bedding.

When you are choosing pyjamas and bedding, select natural fibres like cotton and muslin. Avoid synthetic fabrics like polyester and polar fleece as they will cause your baby to sweat. Synthetic fabrics also make it hard for your baby to regulate their own temperature, so if they get hot, they won’t be able to cool themselves down again.

And on those super hot nights, just put bubs to bed in their nappy. Layer it with a lightweight muslin sleepsack if they need something to take the edge off in the middle of the night.

The hot summer nights can make it difficult for anyone to sleep, but hopefully these few tips will help your little one get some quality rest.

Sometimes it is not just the heat that is impacting your baby’s sleep. If you feel there is something else going on with their sleep pattern, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with me here at Serene Sleep. I have a range of packages available to deal with any sleep issues.

Written by

Annette Faamausili

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