Keeping your babe warm on a cold winter night
Warmth without the pile of blankets.
It's the middle of winter, the room's cold, and the instinct is to pile on another blanket. There's a better way to do it. Here's how to keep your babe cosy on a cold night.
The short answer: a warmer bag and layers, not more bedding
Warmth in winter comes from the right TOG sleep bag and the layers underneath it, not loose blankets piled on top. Red Nose Australia's guidance favours a sleep bag, since loose bedding is one of the things safe sleep practices steer away from. So winter warmth is a dressing question, not a bedding one.
How to layer up for a cold night
Reach for your warmer bag, a 2.5 or 3.5 TOG, and build the layers underneath to match how cold it is. A long-sleeve onesie, and a bodysuit under that on the coldest nights, does more than another blanket ever could, and it stays put. Our TOG guide and degree-by-degree guide lay out exactly which bag and layers suit each temperature.
Warm, not too warm
The flip side of winter is easy to overshoot. Red Nose reminds us a babe can get too warm as easily as too cold, so the aim is comfortable, not hot. Feel your babe to check: Red Nose suggests the chest or back of the neck, not hands and feet, which are cool on everyone. If you want to go deeper on the signs, we cover them in baby overheating at night.
The thing that makes it easy: knowing the temperature
A "winter setup" isn't one thing, because the room isn't one temperature all night. It might be 18 degrees at bedtime and 14 by 4am, and that shift changes what your babe should be wearing. Orbie reads the live temperature right by your babe and turns it into the TOG and layers that suit right now, so cosy doesn't tip into too warm without you noticing. The same logic holds right across the year, not just winter, which we cover in our winter vs summer guide. View the Stellar Baby TOG guide.
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you're ever worried about your little babe, trust your gut and reach out to your GP, child health nurse, or Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436.
Sources
Warmth in winter comes from a warmer TOG bag and the layers underneath, not loose blankets.
Zero guesswork, every night
Orbie reads your babe's environment and the app tells you exactly what to dress them in.