# How can i keep toddler cool in heatwave?



## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

Do i sit him in his buggy all day so i can keep the doors open on the off chance it keeps the house cooler, or shut the doors so he can run around but sit melting in the heat? If i don't try and keep the house cool upstairs becomes unusable. The NHS website's advice on keeping them cool is all about sunblock and paddling pools but doesn't explain how to get the place cold. What is the point of them saying baby will sleep best if the room is 18-20 degrees when it's at least that outside even at night and the rooms indoors won't drop below 24? 

Should i just give up hand him in to social services the council buildings probably have air conditioning then he wouldn't melt.

Sigh i really don't want to do that! But am at wits end!


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

Last night his room was 26 degrees it's supposed to be hotter tomorrow. DH won't believe me it's a problem. It scares me. But is there any point trying to get him to sleep in the travel cot downstairs, if it's only two degrees cooler than upstairs and will probably end up with him crying for two hours like he did in the travel inn? I need to get the house Cold! But i don't know how.


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

Last year at least he would lie still so i could keep the doors open. How do you tell a 14 month old he will get hot if he runs around?


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## nichub (Sep 2, 2010)

Goldbunny, don't panic. My house is exactly the same, the best thing for you to do is open the windows to his room for a bit of air flow and just put him in a vest to bed, offer lots of fluid throughout the day and have a drink available in the night as he may wake up thirsty. 

I've just given my baby a cool bath then put him to bed in a vest, his room is 25 degrees at the minute and I expect he will wake for breastfeeds in the night

Nic
Xx


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

i tried putting the travel cot downstairs and tried him in it but he fussed, so i tried him in the playpen and he howled. DH came in to complain i was making baby cry. I said it was too hot upstairs. I kept baby up for a half hour after bedtime reading to him downstairs hoping it would cool off. DH was getting grumpier and grumpier because he wanted to go in the bath and insisted we put baby to bed. I had to go along with it so now baby is upstairs in his cot it is 29 degrees up there he is crying i can hear him. DH is going in the bath which will only make the place hotter. I am going up to see if DH is in with baby or ignoring him. Don't know what else to do i can't bring baby down unless he will go in the travel cot or playpen without screaming since the alternative is closing all the doors. it's way too hot to do that. at this rate baby will melt. DH doesn't care he just wants his own routine to not be disturbed he insists i am overreacting and i am the one with the problem. gtg


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

baby was settling down by the time i got upstairs grizzling a bit but stopped in a couple of minutes. DH filling bath with mad hot water. All rooms like furnace despite all windows open and fan on in main bedroom. nursery monitor still reading 29 degrees. what will happen if baby gets too hot? i read that it is bad but they never say what happens... will he get brain damaged? will i be able to tell if he has been too hot? will he just die? i dont want to go and try and bring him down in case i wake him up, but it is scary leaving him up there.


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

ps he's in pj's but no bodysuit or sleeping bag.


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

9pm just went up to check on baby. baby is asleep. DH in bath. DH had closed the window (except for a tiny crack) in the baby's room!!!!!!!!!! thank god i went up.. it's still reading 27++ on the two thermometers in there and showing 29 degrees on the monitor. can't believe he shut the window... mind you i will have to close them up a bit once it gets dark. wish it would cool down. so sad. just feel like i am not looking after baby and i don't know how to make everything right.


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## nichub (Sep 2, 2010)

Goldbunny stop panicking!! Lots of babies live in hot countries don't forget, he will be absolutely fine, if he wakes later and is hot and sweaty just take pjs off and put a vest on and leave him to sleep in a vest and Give him a drink

Nic
Xx


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## Cherry Tree (Apr 8, 2007)

Goldbunny as niche said - stop panicking. If you want to keep the doors open can you put stair gates on them so that bubs can still walk around and you can still get air flow around the house?


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## karenanna (Dec 27, 2008)

Goldbunny

As the others have said try not to panic - we have regularly been taking our boys to Spain in the Summer where temperatures are often 35+

Some simple tricks I learnt from the Spanish to help cool a room are as follows:

1 If you have a fan - try placing a bowl of ice in front of it - it creates a DIY air conditioner
2 Hang a damp sheet in front of the window

Do you have any way you can secure an area of the house with either baby gates or a playpen so you can have the windows and doors open?

KA xxx


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## goldbunny (Mar 26, 2012)

it got so hot today i had to close the windows etc because it was hotter outside. baby is downstairs in travel cot crying. evrything is hot, have opened doors etc now as the evening cools but its still mad hot, no way will any of us be sleeping upstairs.

thanks for all the advice. it just gets frustrating when its so hot and all you read is stuff saying the elderly and babies are vulnerable etc etc but nobody actually says what could happen or what you should do. there should be some definite thing, like 'if your baby is in a place hotter than x degrees call this number... ' surely either the heat is dangerous or it isnt? if it isnt, why all the warnings?


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## nichub (Sep 2, 2010)

It's just so you are aware that's all, and it's guidance, as long as your lb is hydrated and you are doing what you can to keep him at a comfortable temperature then that's all you can do 

Nic
Xx


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