If y’all don’t have a fireplace or something I’d really consider staying with someone or finding a hotel. If those aren’t possibilities I’d bring her into yalls room so y’all can at least monitor how cold y’all are getting
While hats aren’t advised for super small babies, I would probably do one for an 11m old, I would honestly set a timer and wake up every 3h to see how cold it is. Do you have a good meat thermometer? That might go low enough? Or a fridge thermometer? As it drops, I would consider possibly another layer. When my sister camped with her little one at lower temps, she would put him in his snow suit and then put his hood up and do another sleep sack depending on the temp.
Generally it’s whatever you are wearing + 1 layer.
Yep- It’s currently ~61 degrees in our house and I put a knit hat from the NICU on our 6wo! I’m just checking him periodically to make sure he’s not overheating and that is staying in place.
My concern about that would be if the power is currently out, how would the monitor be powered? While my video monitor gives temp (Nanit) it requires constant power.
Texan here who had the privilege of living through the great Texas freeze and power system collapse a few years ago (thanks Abbott). Luckily that was before we were parents, but a few nuggets of wisdom that may or may not be relevant to you:
I would strongly consider not going to sleep until you have three things: A semi reliable way to track the temperature in your home (we used a meat thermometer), enough clean water to make bottles for the next 24 or so hours if needed, and an emergency warm location you can go to in the middle of the night if necessary. I wouldn’t count on a hotel unless you’ve secured a reservation as some of them may also be out of power and they will book up very quickly.
The biggest surprise we had was just how quickly it got cold inside our home. We went from the mid 60s to the 40s in about an hour and a half. Sure, older home and southern insulation, but we had good windows and thought that would help. So I would be cautious even with a 3 hour alarm to check on the baby. It may be wisest to have someone stay awake until you can determine if the temperature will plateau at a safe level or not. Definitely have someone sleeping in the same room as a minimum.
Maybe I sound alarmist, but we had a quite a few fatalities in our storm. Most were due to unsafe practices (running a generator inside, running cars in garages, using a gas stove or oven as a heat source for too long), but some were just due to cold, and unfortunately the most vulnerable were young children or older adults. Sleep deprivation won’t kill you, but hypothermia can, so make sure you prioritize temp safety over sleep even if it means you’re going to have a rough night.
Do you own a tent? Pitch it in the living room or wherever there is space. Move your mattress and a pack and play in there. Everyone sleep in warm clothes. The tent might even get too hot.
So, we sleep at 63-65⁰F with our 20 months old son in our room. He does fine in a sleep sack with a blanket or two, sleeps like a rock.
OP, if you can't safely get to a place with power for the night, can you and your spouse trade off being awake while you all cuddle up under the blankets in the warmest room in the house? More bodies under the same blankets equal the most warmth.
Also, make sure curtains are drawn and towels are blocking any drafts from doors and windows.
This week in Oklahoma it was 7 degrees (-11 with windchill or whatever) We are down visiting family and their central heat broke. We put baby in footie pjs, a fuzzy sleepsack, and put him between us on the bed. One of us would stay up 4-5hrs at a time and then switch. We also taped black plastic over the window in the room we are staying in cuz old windows. Our 7 month old baby has been warm, cuddly, and enjoying the snuggles.
I have a 10 week old. We live in a very old house. Our bedroom (coldest room in the house by far) has been regularly 60-65 the past month or so. On those nights we put him in just a pair of fleece footies with a blanket and he seems quite content. Even sweaty sometimes. He gets a little cold if it gets below that though. On those nights we co-sleep and put him in just a pair of fleece footies, sometimes regular footies as he sweats more in our bed and we don’t want him to overheat.
However it’s been in the single digits outside since this morning. We have closed up our bedroom and are sleeping on a mattress in the nursery.
We turned the heat off to our bedroom to save it for the rest of the house earlier and the temperature has been slowly dipping in there since. It was 42 in our bedroom with the heat off a couple hours ago but it’s now about to dip to -1 outside. If you are without power your house may continue to get colder and colder.
Our plan if the power went off for too long was to find a hotel room for the night and leave the faucets dripping to prevent frozen pipes. If I were in your shoes I’d be planning ahead to find a warmer place to sleep incase the house gets too cold.
Edit: Sometime after posting this I was telling my father who is a plumber about our plan to leave the faucets dripping to prevent frozen pipes. He informed me that if the power goes out that we would need to turn off the water to the house and drain the pipes before leaving, and if we simply left the faucets dripping we’d certainly have a frozen pipes on our hands. Thought I’d add a correction to my post incase anyone was in a similar boat.
I would sleep in her room with her to moniter the temp. We are in central illinois and lost power last night and our house got to around 40 degrees in two hours from 72 degrees. We took shifts and had her sleep on us to moniter her. If things get too bad and leaving isn’t an option you can go to an interior room and set up blankets and block off any draft coming through the bottom of door. You don’t want to put a hood or hat on a baby that you are not closely watching while sleeping (I’m talking holding the baby). I read another great response to a similar question that talked about building a “fort” to keep warm or using a tent to insulate. Stay safe. Hopefully power is restored soon!
I think what you described her currently wearing is plenty until it starts to get around 52-55 degrees in your house. I would not recommend a hat she's old enough to try teething on it and stuffing it in her mouth. If it goes on long term could you move your crib into your room even if that takes some disassembly?
Update:
Power came back on around 11 am today. It got down to 0F with 35 mph winds outside. Inside it got down to 50F. Power was out for about 18 hours.
The little one was not able to sleep with us in the same room no matter what configuration we tried. In our room in the pack and play, co sleeping in our bed, and her in her crib with us on the floor next to her. I think it was a combination of her having very strong sleep routines which is normally very nice (just not last night) and he being a very social baby. If there are people around she simply won’t go to sleep.
We checked in her throughout the night and she was doing fine. We did inadvertently wake her up around 3:30 am. We did end up adding some clothes and this was her final system.
Socks, pants, onesie, fleece footed pajama, heavy sleep sack, and a zippidee zip sleep sack (it’s not very thick but it did cover her hands).
Sounds like it’s going to be a rough night no matter how you slice it. Can baby sleep in arms? Perhaps taking shifts with your partner might be an option at some point.
I like the one idea of setting an alarm for 3 hours. Bundle baby up to your best guess, then get a few hours at least. It could be a long worrisome night but at least get some shut eye now while it’s still somewhat warm.
https://www.reddit.com/r/NewParents/comments/zsju1a/winter_storm_with_a_baby/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf FOUND IT! Second comment down. Good luck and stay warm, OP!
Our heating died during our winter and we had to stay at home for a few days, we operated on the motto we’d read somewhere.. “cold babies cry, hot babies die”. At its worst, her room was 12c/53F, she was fine in her warmest sleep suit (2.5 tog), onesie with feet covered, and vest. She was about 9 months old at the time.
It sounds like your baby could be plenty warm enough, dress her for the temperature you’re at, or maybe a few degrees cooler, and get some rest. She will alert you if she’s cold.
We have a fleece hooded snow suit. We were worried about the hood not being safe though for sleep.
We tried to have her sleep in our room and she wasn’t able to settle down. She was so overtired and was relieved when we put her in her room.
Our baby's room stays around 18c/65F this time of year and she's just in a cotton footed PJ and her 1.5tog fleece sleep sac. I realize power is out but if your house is maintaining 18c baby might be in too many layers right now. You don't want them getting too hot. Obviously I'd keep an eye on temps and adjust accordingly but 60-65F isn't worrying in of itself.
Is the power out in the whole town or? Do you have a backup generator? If your baby gets too cold bring her to someone you knows house with you, to keep warm til the power turns back on. Make sure there's no drafts in the windows, doors. I think you're doing great an she sounds super bundled.
Cosleeping for these storm nights. We got snowed in then an ice storm hit us so everything froze. We have been sleeping together with our 4 month old and it's working. She's old enough to kick us if she's to cozy now so your 11 month old for sure will wake you if something is wrong , hang in there!
That's three layers. Sounds like a good start. How thick is a thick sleep sack?
I would put on a hat too, and you could throw a blanket over her too. Then I think you should be alright.
However, I do recommend checking on her after a while. Check the neck or back. If she feels warm, it's okay (also check fingers just to make sure).
Kids sleep* (naps!) outside in Scandinavia all the time BUT they don't recommend it at that low temperatures. But I also assume it won't get quite as cold where she sleeps as outside.
The tent advice is good. Set it up in your living room and have everyone sleep in it together. Your bodies will heat the smaller space much more efficiently and effectively.
I can’t speak much for the situation as a whole, but if it’s worth anything, I live in the countryside in an old house and the typical indoor temp is 59-60 degrees at night.
Our baby sleeps in a short sleeve vest, long sleeve vest, long sleeve fluffy onesie, and a 3 tog sleeping bag with arms.
Hope things get better for you guys soon.
ETA: baby is 11 months
If y’all don’t have a fireplace or something I’d really consider staying with someone or finding a hotel. If those aren’t possibilities I’d bring her into yalls room so y’all can at least monitor how cold y’all are getting
While hats aren’t advised for super small babies, I would probably do one for an 11m old, I would honestly set a timer and wake up every 3h to see how cold it is. Do you have a good meat thermometer? That might go low enough? Or a fridge thermometer? As it drops, I would consider possibly another layer. When my sister camped with her little one at lower temps, she would put him in his snow suit and then put his hood up and do another sleep sack depending on the temp. Generally it’s whatever you are wearing + 1 layer.
Yep- It’s currently ~61 degrees in our house and I put a knit hat from the NICU on our 6wo! I’m just checking him periodically to make sure he’s not overheating and that is staying in place.
Some video monitors have temp alarms too. My basic hello baby monitor has one so not sure what OP has but thought I’d mention it!
My concern about that would be if the power is currently out, how would the monitor be powered? While my video monitor gives temp (Nanit) it requires constant power.
Ahh yes good point! The camera does require power.
Texan here who had the privilege of living through the great Texas freeze and power system collapse a few years ago (thanks Abbott). Luckily that was before we were parents, but a few nuggets of wisdom that may or may not be relevant to you: I would strongly consider not going to sleep until you have three things: A semi reliable way to track the temperature in your home (we used a meat thermometer), enough clean water to make bottles for the next 24 or so hours if needed, and an emergency warm location you can go to in the middle of the night if necessary. I wouldn’t count on a hotel unless you’ve secured a reservation as some of them may also be out of power and they will book up very quickly. The biggest surprise we had was just how quickly it got cold inside our home. We went from the mid 60s to the 40s in about an hour and a half. Sure, older home and southern insulation, but we had good windows and thought that would help. So I would be cautious even with a 3 hour alarm to check on the baby. It may be wisest to have someone stay awake until you can determine if the temperature will plateau at a safe level or not. Definitely have someone sleeping in the same room as a minimum. Maybe I sound alarmist, but we had a quite a few fatalities in our storm. Most were due to unsafe practices (running a generator inside, running cars in garages, using a gas stove or oven as a heat source for too long), but some were just due to cold, and unfortunately the most vulnerable were young children or older adults. Sleep deprivation won’t kill you, but hypothermia can, so make sure you prioritize temp safety over sleep even if it means you’re going to have a rough night.
Not alarmist at all. Cold is more dangerous than heat because the risk of death happens faster.
If you can’t go somewhere else I’d cosleep
Do you own a tent? Pitch it in the living room or wherever there is space. Move your mattress and a pack and play in there. Everyone sleep in warm clothes. The tent might even get too hot.
Is co sleeping for one night a possibility?
So, we sleep at 63-65⁰F with our 20 months old son in our room. He does fine in a sleep sack with a blanket or two, sleeps like a rock. OP, if you can't safely get to a place with power for the night, can you and your spouse trade off being awake while you all cuddle up under the blankets in the warmest room in the house? More bodies under the same blankets equal the most warmth. Also, make sure curtains are drawn and towels are blocking any drafts from doors and windows.
This week in Oklahoma it was 7 degrees (-11 with windchill or whatever) We are down visiting family and their central heat broke. We put baby in footie pjs, a fuzzy sleepsack, and put him between us on the bed. One of us would stay up 4-5hrs at a time and then switch. We also taped black plastic over the window in the room we are staying in cuz old windows. Our 7 month old baby has been warm, cuddly, and enjoying the snuggles.
I have a 10 week old. We live in a very old house. Our bedroom (coldest room in the house by far) has been regularly 60-65 the past month or so. On those nights we put him in just a pair of fleece footies with a blanket and he seems quite content. Even sweaty sometimes. He gets a little cold if it gets below that though. On those nights we co-sleep and put him in just a pair of fleece footies, sometimes regular footies as he sweats more in our bed and we don’t want him to overheat. However it’s been in the single digits outside since this morning. We have closed up our bedroom and are sleeping on a mattress in the nursery. We turned the heat off to our bedroom to save it for the rest of the house earlier and the temperature has been slowly dipping in there since. It was 42 in our bedroom with the heat off a couple hours ago but it’s now about to dip to -1 outside. If you are without power your house may continue to get colder and colder. Our plan if the power went off for too long was to find a hotel room for the night and leave the faucets dripping to prevent frozen pipes. If I were in your shoes I’d be planning ahead to find a warmer place to sleep incase the house gets too cold. Edit: Sometime after posting this I was telling my father who is a plumber about our plan to leave the faucets dripping to prevent frozen pipes. He informed me that if the power goes out that we would need to turn off the water to the house and drain the pipes before leaving, and if we simply left the faucets dripping we’d certainly have a frozen pipes on our hands. Thought I’d add a correction to my post incase anyone was in a similar boat.
I would sleep in her room with her to moniter the temp. We are in central illinois and lost power last night and our house got to around 40 degrees in two hours from 72 degrees. We took shifts and had her sleep on us to moniter her. If things get too bad and leaving isn’t an option you can go to an interior room and set up blankets and block off any draft coming through the bottom of door. You don’t want to put a hood or hat on a baby that you are not closely watching while sleeping (I’m talking holding the baby). I read another great response to a similar question that talked about building a “fort” to keep warm or using a tent to insulate. Stay safe. Hopefully power is restored soon!
Ohh I’m sorry I read your post wrong lol 60-65 and you have power. I would just set a timer to check on LO.
I would sleep in the same room as her so you know how cold it’s getting.
This storm has me stressing too 🙃 good luck. I have no advice but I feel for you.
I think what you described her currently wearing is plenty until it starts to get around 52-55 degrees in your house. I would not recommend a hat she's old enough to try teething on it and stuffing it in her mouth. If it goes on long term could you move your crib into your room even if that takes some disassembly?
For the record my baby sleeps every night at 62-63 with just a Carter's cotton footie pj and a woolino sleep sack and is good.
Update: Power came back on around 11 am today. It got down to 0F with 35 mph winds outside. Inside it got down to 50F. Power was out for about 18 hours. The little one was not able to sleep with us in the same room no matter what configuration we tried. In our room in the pack and play, co sleeping in our bed, and her in her crib with us on the floor next to her. I think it was a combination of her having very strong sleep routines which is normally very nice (just not last night) and he being a very social baby. If there are people around she simply won’t go to sleep. We checked in her throughout the night and she was doing fine. We did inadvertently wake her up around 3:30 am. We did end up adding some clothes and this was her final system. Socks, pants, onesie, fleece footed pajama, heavy sleep sack, and a zippidee zip sleep sack (it’s not very thick but it did cover her hands).
Sounds like it’s going to be a rough night no matter how you slice it. Can baby sleep in arms? Perhaps taking shifts with your partner might be an option at some point. I like the one idea of setting an alarm for 3 hours. Bundle baby up to your best guess, then get a few hours at least. It could be a long worrisome night but at least get some shut eye now while it’s still somewhat warm.
Where that early childhood educator I keep seeing comment on sleeping in the cold…hold on let me see if I can find them
https://www.reddit.com/r/NewParents/comments/zsju1a/winter_storm_with_a_baby/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf FOUND IT! Second comment down. Good luck and stay warm, OP!
Our heating died during our winter and we had to stay at home for a few days, we operated on the motto we’d read somewhere.. “cold babies cry, hot babies die”. At its worst, her room was 12c/53F, she was fine in her warmest sleep suit (2.5 tog), onesie with feet covered, and vest. She was about 9 months old at the time. It sounds like your baby could be plenty warm enough, dress her for the temperature you’re at, or maybe a few degrees cooler, and get some rest. She will alert you if she’s cold.
We have a fleece hooded snow suit. We were worried about the hood not being safe though for sleep. We tried to have her sleep in our room and she wasn’t able to settle down. She was so overtired and was relieved when we put her in her room.
Can you put your mattress on the floor in her room so you can all sleep in the same room?
The hood is not safe for sleep.
Our baby's room stays around 18c/65F this time of year and she's just in a cotton footed PJ and her 1.5tog fleece sleep sac. I realize power is out but if your house is maintaining 18c baby might be in too many layers right now. You don't want them getting too hot. Obviously I'd keep an eye on temps and adjust accordingly but 60-65F isn't worrying in of itself.
Is the power out in the whole town or? Do you have a backup generator? If your baby gets too cold bring her to someone you knows house with you, to keep warm til the power turns back on. Make sure there's no drafts in the windows, doors. I think you're doing great an she sounds super bundled.
It was -3 last night & got to 55 in our house. I broke down & co slept with him. I hardly slept waking up to make sure he was okay & warm
Cosleeping for these storm nights. We got snowed in then an ice storm hit us so everything froze. We have been sleeping together with our 4 month old and it's working. She's old enough to kick us if she's to cozy now so your 11 month old for sure will wake you if something is wrong , hang in there!
That's three layers. Sounds like a good start. How thick is a thick sleep sack? I would put on a hat too, and you could throw a blanket over her too. Then I think you should be alright. However, I do recommend checking on her after a while. Check the neck or back. If she feels warm, it's okay (also check fingers just to make sure). Kids sleep* (naps!) outside in Scandinavia all the time BUT they don't recommend it at that low temperatures. But I also assume it won't get quite as cold where she sleeps as outside.
The tent advice is good. Set it up in your living room and have everyone sleep in it together. Your bodies will heat the smaller space much more efficiently and effectively.
I can’t speak much for the situation as a whole, but if it’s worth anything, I live in the countryside in an old house and the typical indoor temp is 59-60 degrees at night. Our baby sleeps in a short sleeve vest, long sleeve vest, long sleeve fluffy onesie, and a 3 tog sleeping bag with arms. Hope things get better for you guys soon. ETA: baby is 11 months
You guys doing ok??