Nursery temp question

1,270 Views | 17 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by Aggietaco
htxag09
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AG
We live in a townhome with all 3 bedrooms on the second floor. The two secondary rooms are at the front of the house and our bedroom is at the back. We are expecting our first next week so set up the monitor. The monitor also has monitors temp. With this recent cold weather our house has gotten down to 67, not cold enough for us to use the heater generally, but the nursery is at 63. Or at least that's what the monitor is saying.

This isn't an issue with the heater balance, as it's not even kicking on. Not really wanting to purchase a new window for the nursery. So any ideas? Do we need to just suck it up and set the heater to kick on at a higher temp?
TexAg1987
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This article confirms what I was thinking.
68- 72

https://babygooroo.com/articles/what-is-the-ideal-temperature-for-my-babys-room#:~:text=Overheating%20may%20increase%20the%20risk,20%E2%80%9322.2%C2%B0C).
johnson2012
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AG
I'm in a similar situation. Back half of the house has new windows and front of the house (where daughter's room is) has original windows. The amount of cold coming off the original windows was crazy when compared to the new windows. Windows for the front are a bit down the road so I rigged up a cheap option that seems to work (Also added some additional attic insulation and foam sealed around outlets in there).

I got a sheet of XPS insulating board and cut it to the exact size of the window opening so it's tight. When cold spells happen I'll put it up in the window and tape the seam with painters tape just to stop any airflow. Keeps the temp within a couple of our bedroom. Curtains cover it so you can't see it and she's two so could not care less if she has a window or not.

I'm pretty sure this violates all sorts of codes and the xps makes some gnarly fumes if it's on fire and is technically supposed to be behind drywall, but it's effective and we have smoke detectors. If your wife plans to hang with the kid in there during the day or feed with some natural light this obviously won't work.


Here's what I bought:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-Corning-FOAMULAR-150-2-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-R-10-Scored-Squared-Edge-Rigid-Foam-Board-Insulation-Sheathing-45W/100320352


Eta: x2 what Texag said. We were told 67-71 is ideal
BrazosDog02
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AG
A cheaper and much better aesthetically pleasing option...well, not cheaper than XPS..


Check out Larson Storm Windows. They can be had for inside or outside your existing window and also in double paned variety. They install in minutes and can be removed if you wish. I'm going this route for my historic home so as not to permanently destroy the original single hung wood framed original glass DRAFTY windows....but the same benefit will apply here as well.

As an aside, having raised my own kids and been around families with up to 8 kids, I had never in my life until now known there was an "ideal temperature" for a room. So...don't get too worked up over it. Keep in mind that the human race did not evolve from a bedroom with temperatures ranging in a narrow ideal window as above.

But seriously, check out the windows. They sell them at your local Lowe's or HD.
johnson2012
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AG
Hey now, what's not aesthetically pleasing about a pinkish rectangle with a blue border? Sounds like kids room art to me..

Full disclosure, we've only used the xps like 4 nights. It was leftover from insulating a shop and I thought what the hell, let's try it out. Previously, on cold nights I just open her door when I go to bed and the house is quiet. That seemed to mostly do the trick and her room would be closer on temp to the rest of the house.
maroon10
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AG
Our monitor temp has always been wrong for both houses we've lived in, so don't take that screen monitor too seriously.
OnlyForNow
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AG
Also, you better start your kid off right.

And I'm not trying to GB this up, you think folks in the north keep their houses that warm in the winter at night? They certainly don't.

Wtf is a maximum temperature for babies anyways? We've had two and both were 100% fine with the heat kicking on at 62. Dress them appropriately and swaddle.
AggieOO
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maroon10 said:

Our monitor temp has always been wrong for both houses we've lived in, so don't take that screen monitor too seriously.


This. Our monitor is wildly inaccurate when it comes to temp.

We also just got back from a camping trip where it was in the 30s and 40s at night. Our 2 year old slept just fine. Dress them appropriately and they will be fine.

Obviously a newborn is a little different bc you can't use blankets, but that kid is most likely sleeping in a bassinet next to your bed for awhile anyway.
ABATTBQ11
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AG
OnlyForNow said:

Also, you better start your kid off right.

And I'm not trying to GB this up, you think folks in the north keep their houses that warm in the winter at night? They certainly don't.

Wtf is a maximum temperature for babies anyways? We've had two and both were 100% fine with the heat kicking on at 62. Dress them appropriately and swaddle.


The ideal temp is about minimizing the risk to newborns and infants and lowering infant mortality. Will the vast majority be fine? Yes, but why take the chance your child isn't in the vast majority when all you need to do is crank up the heater a little?

While swaddling and blankets will certainly keep them warm, they pose their own risks to breathing. Strangulation and suffocation while sleeping kills about 800 babies per year. That's a very low number, but we as a society have worked very hard to make it a low number. Over the last 30 years, research on how best to put infants to sleep and campaigns to communicate that to parents has lowered the SUID/live birth rate from 155 to 91 per 100,000.

It's like any other risk: Taking it doesn't guarantee an outcome at any given moment, but it does guarantee where you regress to. Stepping on the top step of the ladder doesn't guarantee you'll fall, but it's still a good idea not to do it because you don't know when taking that risk will catch up to you.
OnlyForNow
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AG
I'll see myself out.
BrazosDog02
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AG
johnson2012 said:

Hey now, what's not aesthetically pleasing about a pinkish rectangle with a blue border? Sounds like kids room art to me..

Full disclosure, we've only used the xps like 4 nights. It was leftover from insulating a shop and I thought what the hell, let's try it out. Previously, on cold nights I just open her door when I go to bed and the house is quiet. That seemed to mostly do the trick and her room would be closer on temp to the rest of the house.


You're preaching to the choir. I intentionally left out the part where my wife added heavy duty Reynolds foil in it west facing pella double lanes window to squeeze out as much R factor as possible. It was glorious from the outside.
TravelAg2004
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AG
Just to throw this out there, but we have two of these for our kids rooms. Our heater doesn't kick on at night until 65 and with the little heaters, their rooms stay around 70-72.

https://www.amazon.com/Vornadobaby-Tempa-Nursery-Heater-White/dp/B07G4W433W

I also put them on a smart plug so I can turn them on/off remotely if it gets too hot in there. We set them on the floor away opposite the room from the crib. Don't point them directly at the crib, but angle a little away so there's not direct heat blowing on them. Reverse the fan so it's blowing up and run it on low. Circulates the heat and keeps the room warm.

It's got a setting to turn on "thermostat mode" so it will cycle on and off if it gets hot.

My wife was super nervous using it the first night or two with all the horror stories about heaters and fires, but after using it for a couple of nights, she's much more comfortable with it. It's also rated super high on all the parent/mom blogs from other people using it.

And one more thing...we had our kids sleeping our room until about 3 months old, so you may not need this anyways if your room is comfortable.
htxag09
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AG
Thanks! This is along the lines of what I was looking for. We have other space heaters but they don't have the temp switch and I don't really feel comfortable about leaving it unattended.

For other comments, I'm currently validating the temp in the nursery, on the monitor. But it is noticeably cooler on that side of the house. It's also above the garage and not sure what insulating is between the garage and second floor.

Also, we do have a bassinet and are planning on him sleeping in our room for awhile. So I know I have time to figure it out, and it may be a moot point by the time he's in the nursery. But I was curious and wanted to start brainstorming
Aggietaco
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AG
We use an ecobee with the remote temp probes to help maintain the kids rooms while we sleep. We sleep with the kids' rooms' doors shut and ours cracked open and have the vents adjusted so theirs get most of the air and our room balances out with the rest of the house the quickest.

If you are seeing that much difference in room temps, ideally you would balance the HVAC system with some returns and transfer ducts. The easiest solution would be to keep all of the doors open so air can flow freely between the hot and cool spots.

And I wouldn't rely on the kid being in your room for long. Babies can be noisy. #1 made it 3 nights in our room before getting booted and #2 went straight to her room.
htxag09
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AG
We have a variable speed trane so ecobee isn't an option.

We did have the ac balanced with that side of the house being less insulated as a major consideration. Issue is the rest of the house isn't cool enough to kick on the heater. So we can raise the setting of the heater. But I'd rather not do that, so think the space heater above is a good option.

Edit to add: last night got cold enough to kick on the heater at a 65 set point. Nursery this morning was 65, so when it's kicking on it's compensating correctly. However, being that we're In houston, it's not typically cold enough for the heater. Our house generally hovers around 68 at night without the heater running.
dubi
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AG
I'd definitely install a new insulated window before I let a heater run in a baby's room. Just my 2 cents.
AggieOO
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Aggietaco said:

And I wouldn't rely on the kid being in your room for long. Babies can be noisy. #1 made it 3 nights in our room before getting booted and #2 went straight to her room.
our wives have very different mindsets. It took me forever to convince K to move the baby out of our room. But it was much easier on her to have the baby next to the bed for a while she was breast feeding.
ABATTBQ11
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AG
AggieOO said:

Aggietaco said:

And I wouldn't rely on the kid being in your room for long. Babies can be noisy. #1 made it 3 nights in our room before getting booted and #2 went straight to her room.
our wives have very different mindsets. It took me forever to convince K to move the baby out of our room. But it was much easier on her to have the baby next to the bed for a while she was breast feeding.


Ours was in our room for quite awhile. Helped to wake us up when she needed to be fed and made feeding a lot easier. Wife was breastfeeding, so I'd get up, change diaper, hand her over, and go back to sleep. My wife would feed, then I'd get back up to get her back to bed.
Aggietaco
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AG
AggieOO said:

Aggietaco said:

And I wouldn't rely on the kid being in your room for long. Babies can be noisy. #1 made it 3 nights in our room before getting booted and #2 went straight to her room.
our wives have very different mindsets. It took me forever to convince K to move the baby out of our room. But it was much easier on her to have the baby next to the bed for a while she was breast feeding.
There was some discussion, but my wife was so tired that she was looking for the best sleep she could get when she wasn't up. We sleep in dead silence with no light and having a grunting machine in the room with us just wasn't going to work. With a TV in the nursery, I'd get up and handle the diapers, hand the kiddos off to her, and she'd watch some late night TV land while feeding.
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