As parents, without any doubt that swaddling is the best tool when we want to better soothe our newborns. Wrapping your baby tightly in a blanket can make your baby feel more secure and sleep better in the swaddling blanket. But in the summer heat, how should we swaddle babies to make them more comfortable and safe?
Let’s discuss exactly how you should swaddle your baby in summer and provide a few practical tips.
What is the best temperature for a baby in summer?
Of course, the first and most important thing is to understand the baby’s body temperature. Newborns cannot regulate their own body temperature like adults, they do not shiver when it is cold, and they do not take off their clothes when it is hot.
This requires us as parents to pay more attention to our baby’s body temperature to ensure that the temperature is the most comfortable for them. So we need to pay attention to the following factors.
– The natural temperature range for a baby is about 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit/36.4 degrees celsius
– How about the temperature of your baby’s environment
– How many clothing layers your baby is wearing
– What’s the material of the baby’s clothing
If you’re looking out for these factors, we’ll be able to better swaddle your baby in the summer.
What is the ideal temperature for a baby in the summer?
Regardless of the outdoor environment, the optimal indoor temperature for babies should ideally be maintained between 20 and 22 degrees Celsius, equivalent to 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
If the room temperature is too hot, babies will feel uncomfortable and it may also cause them to overheat. As parents, we need to be on the lookout for signs of overheating, the most common of which are as follows
– The body is hot to the touch (especially the neck or behind the ears)
– Sleepiness
– Red or hot skin and elevated body temperature
– Rapid heartbeat
– Unfocused vision and inability to focus
– Vomiting
Trust your instincts! When in doubt, don’t hesitate to unswaddle your baby and check on them.
How to keep your baby cool in the summer?
In the heat of summer, it’s important to be aware of the things we can do to keep our babies cool.
– Keep the ideal room temperature, you can lower the temperature of the room through air conditioning, or fans.
– Use the right summer swaddle for your baby. In summer, muslin is an especially popular choice of fabric for babies. 100% cotton, 70% bamboo, and 30% cotton are good for babies. Both are light and breathable.
– On summer nights, we should choose to use the right TOG sleeping bag. No matter the season, taking the TOG, or Thermal Overall Grade, into consideration is important. In the warm season, 0.5~1.5TOG is more suitable.
What should be worn under a swaddle?
– Choose breathable fabric. Not only do swaddling blankets need to be light and breathable, but the clothes babies wear in the summer should also be light and breathable. Never wear too heavy clothes.
– Babies are more afraid of heat than adults, so in the hot summer months, babies can not wear clothes, just wrap them in diapers.
– Don’t wear a hat, baby’s head is the heat sink, so we want to keep baby’s head uncovered so they can stay fresh and avoid overheating.
How should wrap your baby in summer?
Here let us discuss how to swaddle babies in summer, there are several tips.
- Use the right wraps
There are so many different swaddles. We can’t use the same swaddle in different seasons. In summer, we should use light, soft and breathable swaddling blankets. The cotton muslin swaddles blanket is a good choice in the summer.
Be sure to avoid synthetic fabrics and any lined wraps, which can make babies feel very uncomfortable and even cause allergies in some babies.
- Clothes in swaddling should be appropriate
In the heat of summer, make sure you dress your baby appropriately. They should not need more layers of clothing, or you can only diaper your baby and swaddle them in a thin muslin swaddle blanket.
When swaddling in the summer, you must pay attention to exposing the baby’s head to facilitate heat dissipation, helping to keep the baby cool.
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- Monitoring the baby’s room temperature
In summer, everywhere can become swelteringly hot. Be sure to monitor your baby’s room temperature when he or she is sleeping and keep the room as cool as possible. You can use a fan or draw the curtains during the day
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- Use the simple wrap method
In the summer, you can use a simpler way of wrapping. swaddling only the baby’s chest and tummy to avoid catching a cold. And the limbs can be exposed to better dissipation of heat to keep cool.