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Can My Baby Get Overheated In Pajamas? Here's The Answer Every Parent Should Know

by Emily Westbrooks

When you bring your newborn home from the hospital, all you want to do is keep them as cozy and warm as they were when they were in your belly. But how far is too far when it comes to keeping your baby warm? After all, and especially when your baby is looking so sweet in all those cute outfits, it's normal to ask yourself, "Can my baby get overheated in pajamas?" The answer, it turns out, might surprise you.

According to Jennifer Schindele, a Certified Child Sleep Consultant and founder of Gift Of Sleep Consulting, babies can definitely get overheated in pajamas, which is something you'll want to keep in mind when you're swaddling and/or adding layers to cover your precious bundle. According to BabyCenter, one of the ways to tell if your baby is too warm is to look at what you are wearing. If you're wearing a tank top and shorts in the house, but your baby has a onesie and footie pajamas in addition to a swaddle blanket — and looks and feels warm — you might want to remove a few layers.

Another thing to keep in mind when you're wondering about your baby overheating is that the recommended temperature for a baby's nursery, which, according to The Baby Sleep Site, is between 68-72 degrees. If your home is warmer than the aforementioned recommended temperature, like during a summer heat wave in places that don't have air conditioning, you might want to make sure your baby isn't wearing too many layers. According to Fit Pregnancy, a baby who is too hot will likely be sweaty, with damp hair and rapid breathing, causing your baby to struggle to get into deep sleep.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reminds us parents that one of the reasons we want to make sure our babies aren't overheating is because overheating is one of the factors that increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is a mysterious cause of death that the medical community has yet to completely understand, so eliminating any of the possible risk factors — like overheating, loose blankets that might cause suffocation, or putting a baby to sleep on his or her stomach — is the best way to avoid SIDS.

Parenting highlights the fact that overheating is a little difficult to gauge because babies do sweat naturally, especially when they are sleeping. Babies spend most of their sleeping time when they are very young in deep sleep, which is when any human can get the sweatiest. Additionally, Parents tells readers that babies' regulatory systems are undeveloped when they are young, meaning babies aren't able to regulate their own temperature as well as adults can.

So if you see your baby sweating while they're sleeping, you don't automatically have to assume they're overheating unless you happen to have covered them with eight blankets and your nursery temperature is cranked way up. The best thing to do is keep your baby's room at the recommended temperature, and remember: if you're too hot, your baby is too hot, too.