Even if your baby is sleeping peacefully, as a parent you never let your guard down completely. Isn't he too hot? Won't she kick off her covers? Isn't that room too cold?
It's normal to think about those things because young babies are not yet able to regulate their own body temperature. So how can you rest easy as a parent? How can you set those worries aside? Because we've all heard about overheating or, worse still, cot death.
Let’s start with the basics: the perfect bedroom.
The perfect bedroom
We all know it's crucial to be able to properly darken and illuminate a bedroom but the room’s temperature and humidity also play a key role in the sleep quality of your baby. Keep the room at an average temperature of 18 to 20° and the humidity level between 40 and 60%.
Keeping these two elements more or less under control on most days is the perfect way to put most of those worries to bed. But how about those days when this is not self-evident? What about exceptionally hot days? Or exceptionally cold days? Well, in addition to the room’s temperature you can also help regulate your baby's temperature. A baby sleeping bag is perfect for this purpose as long as you know what TOG means!
Say what? TOG?
No, it's not a typo but a simple play on words, but more importantly: yes, TOG (Thermal Overall Grade) is actually quite simple. What the TOG rating of clothes or bedding does is indicate how well this clothing item or sleeping bag retains your baby's warmth. Just check the label on your baby's sleeping bag. It should clearly mention the TOG rating. But how do you read this value?
Simple: a product with a higher TOG value is suited for colder temperatures, whereas on warmer days it's best to use clothes or bedding with a lower TOG value.
So how does it work exactly? That's actually not that difficult. Add up the individual TOG values of every clothing item and the bedding used at the same time and compare the total against the table below:
Temperature TOG rating
higher than 24°C 0.5 TOG
max. 24°C 1.0 TOG
max. 22°C 1.5 TOG
max. 18°C 2.5 TOG
max. 16°C 3.0 TOG
For example, if the bedroom is 16° then you can combine a sleeping bag with a TOG value of 0.5 with blankets with a TOG value of 2.0. This adds up to 2.5 and you can rest assured your little one won't be cold at night.
So keeping your baby wonderfully cool or snuggly warm at night is not that difficult. Paying attention to bedding and clothing usually does the trick. You've done things by the book and you still think your baby is either too hot or too cold in spite of the right TOG sum? Then listen to your gut instinct. TOG is a guideline, it's not set in stone. Just place your fingertips on your baby's neck from time to time. Is it pleasant to the touch? Then everything is fine. Is your baby's neck clammy? Then your little one is too hot and it is safe to remove a layer of clothing. Is your baby’s neck cold? Then don't be afraid to wrap up your baby more tightly. After all, it's not rocket science.
If you’re reassured and you really want to be set for years then check out our Bag 4 Seasons with its zip-out teddy. This gives it a variable TOG rating, making it the perfect sleep companion for your baby, both in summer and in winter!
To make it easy to determine which Puckababy model best suits the specific temperature we've added a convenient overview below.
