Parenting

Things just keep getting colder. The next few days will be the coldest we have seen since we lived in Kansas. I have been working for weeks to get ready for the extremely cold winter I felt was coming. A good choice because had I, not I'm not sure how we would get through the next couple of nights. Keeping kids warm on cold nights is vital to help protect their health and comfort. Dress your kids to keep them warm at night. As the temperatures drop the need to keep your little one warm goes up. Every night dressing the children for the cold helps keep them warm even if the temperatures drop drastically overnight. Babies and toddlers can be kept warmest with fleece blanket sleepers and a pair of cotton socks under to keep feet dry if they sweat. In this house, I refer to this as the baby to preschool, uniform. Anyone that fits 5t and under, go around the house wearing them unless leaving the house I have a collection in each size. Really young babies can benefit from a sleep sack when they are too small for a blanket. Babies without hair can benefit from a lightweight knit cap once the temperature drops very low. Older children are best in long pants, shirts, and cotton socks. We scored a few pairs of flannel PJs for the big kids on clearance for only $1 this time last year in a couple sizes up to save money on the kid's clothes. If you do not have long pajamas for your kids you can have them wear soft pants and long sleeve shirts to bed. Keep your kids warm at night by preparing your home for winter. As the weather gets really cold we move everyone's beds into the warmest room of the house sealing it off really well and padding any cold walls. This helps us all stay warm and makes checking on all of the children easy on me. If you haven't started really winterizing it is never too late to dive in and prepare your home for winter to help keep your kids warmer at night. Kick up the furnace or put a space heater or free-standing fireplaces in with your child to help keep them warmer. This is a great way to set up a back up in case the room temperature dips too low and the furnace does not kick on. Pick one with a thermostat that turns on and off on it's own and a tip switch that turns it off it if falls over. Keeping kids warm at night without heat If you are unlucky enough to lose power during all of this cold you can help keep your kids warm at night with a few simple tricks. Sleep children close together. Cover each child with one blanket then cover them all together with another blanket. This will trap body heat that escapes one blanket under the 2nd to keep everyone warm. We have a King Size fleece blanket just of this use and it works well. If you need a way to keep them warm before bed too why not pop up a tent in the house or build a blanket fort to give the kids a cozy place to play with a flashlight and a warm place where body heat will be trapped all night long. Use hand warmers or hot water bottles at the foot of the bed under blankets to add additional heat for keeping everyone warm during the night if you do not have heat to keep your kids warm at night in winter even if you have no heat. Other simple tricks for keeping warm without turning on your furnace will help keep your whole family comfortable without heat.