I don't count sheep, I count togs. It ruins any chance of sleep.
Of all the aspects of looking after a baby, the temperature issue has mystified and worried me the most so far. There are dire warnings of overheating leading to cot death. However the 'ideal' temperature for a baby, apparently, is 18 degrees C. Nobody I know keeps their house at that temperature. Mine is usually about 21 and in the summer was easily 24. So right from the word go you're overheating the baby. There are guidelines about how many items of bedding to put on the baby depending on the temperature of the room, but these do not tell you how many clothes the baby should be wearing to start with.
I read somewhere that the ideal is 9 togs in total (clothes included). The list supplied showed the rating for nappies, vests, sleepsuits etc and I thought I'd found the holy grail. Add them all up, I thought, and I'll have got it right at last! Sadly the list went on to add that the 9 togs was, of course, for a room set at 18 C. It didn't explain how many togs one should subtract for every degree above 18.
Certain, from my pregnancy reading, that I should keep the baby cool, my first three nights in hospital after he was born I dutifully checked the thermometer of the room (24 degrees! TOO HOT! said my guide) and just put a light covering on him. A midwife, standing over me in the middle of the night, sternly warned me that he was too cold and made me add a blanket. The next night she made me add a hat (NEVER LET THEM WEAR A HAT INDOORS! said my guide). My first night at home I woke and touched him to find his face cool (I've since discovered this is normal) and wept, thinking I was a terrible mother, freezing my poor baby to death.
It's no good going on how I feel in the night. I have a duvet of 12 togs year-round, but then I'm big enough to put my feet out or arms out when it's too hot and retract them when it's too cold. The baby does not do this.
So when I wake in the night to feed him I try to go back to sleep quickly but often lie there counting togs. 2 for the nappy, 2 for the vest, 4 for the sleepsuit. Does the swaddle count as a sheet (0.5) or a double sheet (1)? Then the blanket which is a 2. And what was the temperature in the room again? Would one extra C = minus 1 tog?
Don't count togs. You won't get any sleep.
Of all the aspects of looking after a baby, the temperature issue has mystified and worried me the most so far. There are dire warnings of overheating leading to cot death. However the 'ideal' temperature for a baby, apparently, is 18 degrees C. Nobody I know keeps their house at that temperature. Mine is usually about 21 and in the summer was easily 24. So right from the word go you're overheating the baby. There are guidelines about how many items of bedding to put on the baby depending on the temperature of the room, but these do not tell you how many clothes the baby should be wearing to start with.
I read somewhere that the ideal is 9 togs in total (clothes included). The list supplied showed the rating for nappies, vests, sleepsuits etc and I thought I'd found the holy grail. Add them all up, I thought, and I'll have got it right at last! Sadly the list went on to add that the 9 togs was, of course, for a room set at 18 C. It didn't explain how many togs one should subtract for every degree above 18.
Certain, from my pregnancy reading, that I should keep the baby cool, my first three nights in hospital after he was born I dutifully checked the thermometer of the room (24 degrees! TOO HOT! said my guide) and just put a light covering on him. A midwife, standing over me in the middle of the night, sternly warned me that he was too cold and made me add a blanket. The next night she made me add a hat (NEVER LET THEM WEAR A HAT INDOORS! said my guide). My first night at home I woke and touched him to find his face cool (I've since discovered this is normal) and wept, thinking I was a terrible mother, freezing my poor baby to death.
It's no good going on how I feel in the night. I have a duvet of 12 togs year-round, but then I'm big enough to put my feet out or arms out when it's too hot and retract them when it's too cold. The baby does not do this.
So when I wake in the night to feed him I try to go back to sleep quickly but often lie there counting togs. 2 for the nappy, 2 for the vest, 4 for the sleepsuit. Does the swaddle count as a sheet (0.5) or a double sheet (1)? Then the blanket which is a 2. And what was the temperature in the room again? Would one extra C = minus 1 tog?
Don't count togs. You won't get any sleep.
I always thought it was 30mins/lb at 150C plus 30mins at 200C at the end??
ReplyDeleteAh, that's where I've been going wrong! Am sure that will do the trick. Should he be a nice golden brown at the end?
ReplyDelete