Help Baby Sleep Better in Winter [Cold Weather Sleep Tips]

Winter is upon us, which means two things to moms: 1] it’s cold and 2] the dreaded Daylight Saving Time. Hold on. Am I the only one who didn’t realize it is actually “Saving” and not “Savings”? I’ve been saying it wrong my entire life. Thanks for setting me straight, Google. Alright, moving on… today I’m sharing some of my best tips to help Baby sleep better in winter and help mom keep her sanity during these long, dark months.

First of all, I’m not a medical professional. Please consult a qualified professional with any concerns about your baby. I’m just a mom sharing what has worked for my own little fam. OK, now that that’s out of the way…

Dress Baby for Nighttime Comfort

Blair was born in July, so these past couple weeks were her only brush with cold weather. Let’s just say she is not a fan. I try to limit her exposure outdoors [and I’m getting a lot of use out of her Covered Goods carseat cover!], but sometimes leaving the house is unavoidable. It’s not as easy to hibernate with the second baby!

At 3 months old, she still spends a large portion of her time sleeping. In fact, she’s snoozing next to me as I write. So, keeping her comfortable during her sleep is my top priority.

Although I [obviously] want her to stay cozy throughout the night, I’ve never been comfortable giving my babies a blanket when I’m not awake to watch over them. I’m very paranoid about SIDS! For that reason, I’ve been a big fan of sleep sacks for both my babies. They help keep little ones at a comfortable temperature while avoiding some of the problems of having an unsupervised baby with a blanket.

Since the temperature has dropped, we’ve been using the Nested Bean Zen Sack Winter with Blair. It’s made of 100% cotton with a 2.5 tog rating to keep Baby warm during the cold nights. Plus, Nested Bean products are designed according to the AAP’s guidelines for safe sleep, which helps this mama sleep a little better, too.

Nested Bean Zen Sack Winter 3a — [Blair is wearing the Nested Bean Zen Sack Winter in Pearl White + lounging on her DockATot Deluxe in Pristine White.]

We chose the Nested Bean sack for her because of the lightly weighted pad on the chest, which mimics mom’s touch. I also love the soft, luxurious fabric and the zipper design that allows for easy nighttime diaper changes.

By the way, the Zen Sacks are designed for babies who have graduated from swaddling. If you’re still swaddling, try the Zen Swaddle, which has many of the same features.

If you liked this Nested Bean review and want to try one for your own baby, I have a special Nested Bean coupon code for my readers to save 15% off! Use code PR-TRICIA15 to save 15% off at nestedbean.com.

Find Baby’s Ideal Sleep Temperature

Another important part of the winter sleep puzzle is finding the ideal sleep temperature for your baby. According to Parents Magazine, the optimal temperature for infant sleep is between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s a good starting point, but it will probably take some experimenting to find what works best for your little one.

Prepare Baby for Daylight Saving Time

Once you think you have everything worked out, along comes Daylight Saving Time. This year, we’ll be turning our clocks back in the early morning of Sunday, November 5th. We’ve been lucky that Blair usually does’t wake up for the day until around 7:00 a.m. Of course, she still wakes some throughout the evening, but she’ll go back to sleep after a feed. But that 7:00 a.m. wakeup is about to become 6:00 a.m., which doesn’t sound nearly as good.

I am not a morning person. At all. I always thought I’d have to be a morning person as an adult, but I’ve managed to avoid that so far. Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, I was a lawyer. Turns out, basically no lawyers are morning people. The firm I worked for “officially” started work around 9:00 a.m., but it wasn’t at all uncommon to see people trickling in much later. Of course, the trade-off was that we worked late into the night. Without kids, though, I didn’t really care how late I stayed at the office. Now that I stay home, I try to have my littles sleep in as much as possible. I’d much rather have them be up a little later at night than in the wee hours of the morning. Maybe I’m raising them to be future lawyers [ha, nope].

All that to say, a 6:00 a.m. wakeup is not something I’m interested in. Colton’s been through the DST drill enough times that it doesn’t phase him much. But since this is Blair’s first experience, we’ve been trying to ease her into a slightly later bedtime. By having her go to bed an hour later, in theory, she’ll wake up an hour later… or, basically at the same time on the clock as before. Daylight Savings is weird. And there I go calling it Savings again.

That’s what I’ve been doing to help Baby sleep better in winter. And so far, it’s been pretty successful. Now we just have to see how the time change goes…