How to Ensure Your Baby’s Sleep Temperature is Healthy

Sleep and babies are synonymous. Those early days, months, and years are pivotal in their early development and put them on the right track as they continue to grow.

While many aspects of your baby’s sleep are essential to monitor,  baby sleep temperature is one of the most crucial. This is because not only does it ensure that they will sleep soundly through the night, but it equally ensure that their health and safety are well kept after.

Bedtime routines are what helps you and your baby get into that critical rhythm of consistent sleep. So checking your baby’s temperature before and while they sleep should become a habit as well.

This is because when you can help your baby develop consistent sleep patterns, their body clock will help ensure they sleep through the night. The main goal should be first to ensure that the thermostat in your baby’s bedroom is set to no lower than 68 degrees Fahrenheit and no more than 72 degrees Fahrenheit. This range is best for ensuring that your baby does not become too cold or too warm—and thus forcing their little body into overdrive to try and compensate for the room’s temperature.

But adjusting the actual thermostat is just the start of various ways in which you can help ensure your baby’s sleep temperature is healthy. Here are some other parenting hacks to try with future bedtime routines.

1. Give your baby space

While as parents we want to be close to our baby, sharing sleeping space with them can cause bad habits and even cause them to get stressed and overheated on the nights you are not there. So try and get your baby in the habit of being confident enough to sleep in their room from an early age. You can make them feel extra secure on their own by dimming the lights, putting soft rugs in the room to muffle your footsteps when you leave, and turning a fan or soft music on such other noises get muffled out.

2. Layer them, but not too much

While you want to ensure your baby goes to sleep feeling nice and cozy, you do not want to over bundle them and cause them to get overheated. So while wrapping one blanket around them can help, two or three layers wrapped too tightly can make them uncomfortable, overheated, and not in the mood to sleep. If you aren’t sure how many layers they need during the various seasons, follow the age-old rule of giving your baby one additional layer that you are currently wearing.

3. Clear out the crib

The number of items in your baby’s crib can also impact your baby’s sleep temperature, let alone cause additional harm to them too. We recommend clearing out the crib before they go to sleep, where you just add the essentials like a fitted sheet and your baby itself. Save the stuffed animals and cuddly pillows for the daytime.

4. Try out sleeping fragrances

Formulated in both pillow spray and baby lotion, sleeping fragrances made with natural ingredients like lavender are a great way to calmy help your baby go to sleep. In addition, studies are showing that sleeping fragrances can calm your baby’s neurological system so they can feel relaxed and calm—helping prevent any bedtime freakouts that can instantly overheat their body temperature. So why not incorporate a baby sleeping fragrance into the bedtime routine as well?

5. Manually check their temperature

If you are not sure whether your baby is sleeping at a healthy and safe body temperature, try manually checking it yourself. All you need to do is take your baby’s temperature on the forehead with an artery thermometer. Not only will it prevent any distress from the baby, but it is the newest method that provides one of the most accurate readings. Of course, you will ideally want your baby’s temperature to be under 100 degrees Fahrenheit. And if it is close to or has reached triple digits, make sure to seek medical assistance as quickly as possible.

So the next time you are getting ready to put your baby to bed, keep these five parenting hacks in mind and try incorporating them into the bedtime routine. From keeping their crib clean and cozy to being conscious of how many layers they are wearing, you can keep your baby comfortable to that they have a  full night’s sleep too.