How can I keep my son's room warm?

[okinawama]

My 8mo old son's room is [U][B]significantly [U][B] colder than the rest of the house and I feel that it may be contributing to his early wake up. We have the thermal curtains up and even a rolled blanket on the window ledge. I think that it's an insulation issue rather than just the window, but I'm not really sure. He sleeps in fleece footed pj's with socks and a fleece sleep sack, however when I pick him up in the morning his hands and ears are freezing and so are his little legs. I have the heat turned up to 74 degrees at night (which is way higher than we'd like) and his room is still at least 5-10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. Any safe ideas on what I can do.

P.S I'm headed out today to purchase the clear plastic stuf that you seal with a hair dryer, and I'm looking into flannel sheets. Anything else?

[KathyN115]

We have the same issue with cold rooms here, except at night I turn the heat way down low (60). I have a small heater in DD's room. We had one that was a heater fan, it blew the warm air into the room. Last year it broke and we got a radiant heater at costco. It doesn't really heat the whole room, but I point it toward her and it keeps her warm. I also bought the Chamois sheets at PBK (they have a crib sheet as well). They are very soft and warm, so hopefully they help some. She doesn't reliably stay under her blankets, so warm PJs and the heater seem to work for us. I wish her sleepsacks still fit!

[lchang25000]

How about putting a warm mist humidifier in there? That's what we do right now for DS.

[slworld]

We have a similar situation where our duct work is bad and the upstairs never gets heated/cooled like the downstairs. No matter what the temp is set at, it just does not show the results and ends up consuming/wasting power. So we use portable fans & heaters. We have 2 spare bedrooms upstairs and last year both were occupied in the peak winter. So we had to purchase 2 of the tower heaters (I don't mind adjusting to the temp in my house but I didn't want my guests to have to do that). It has been working out pretty well for us (especially with a 16 month old). We usually turn off the central heating at night & just use the heaters (we set them at 68F).

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11232263&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|103&N=4013436&Mo=37&No=1&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=30994&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&hierPath=103*30994*30996*&topnav=

[elektra]

We did a space heater for DD because we had the same situation in our old house. Our room would be all toasty and hers would be freezing still.
It wouldn't work now probably because she is no longer in her crib and she could knock it over in either her room or DS's but if you have just the one DC, I would try it. I was nervous about it but DH assured me it was safe and we never had a problem.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

We use a stand up heater with the thermostat feature.

[ThreeofUs]

We use both a heater with a thermostat and put up quilts on the walls. (No insulation possible in our old barn unless we rebuild the insides!)

Check to see if the problem is convection downdrafts. Sit by a wall and see if you feel a faint breeze coming down off the wall. If that's the problem, get him off an outside wall (if his bed is there) and hang something on the walls to create dead air space.

[g-mama]

We have a portable heater that we keep in DS3's room because of the same problem. He's in a bed but the heater is not in the path between his bed and his door so no danger of him accidentally bumping into it if he gets up in the night.

He knows it's hot and stays clear of it once I turn it on while getting dressed for bed, etc.

[LexyLou]

When we lived back East we used Vornados in the girls' rooms. That way we dudn't have to leave the heat on for the rest of the house.

The vornados cost a little more but they are totally cool to the touch. No chance of burning and they cycle continually so there is no on and off noise of the heater to disrupt your child's sleep.

[infomama]

We use a stand up heater with the thermostat feature.
:yeahthat:http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_0_8?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=delonghi+heater&x=0&y=0&sprefix=delonghi. We have a stand up radiator style heater made by Delonghi. Had it for years and does the job.

[okinawama]

well it sounds like the little room heaters are safe then. I was worried that they were a fire hazard. I need to take a look at some of the ones you guys recommended!

[BayGirl2]

If you think its an insulation issue check the outlet covers on exterior walls to make sure they are insulated. There should be a rectangle piece of foam behind them. If its missing that could cause a draft.

As a longer term solution, if you have a frame-build house you could get more insulation blown into the walls. May be more cost effective than the power for a space heater.