What should my baby wear by room temperature?

How to use it

1. Read the room, not the forecast. Dress your baby in clothes suitable for the temperature of the room they are in ¹. A room thermometer in the nursery makes the table easier to use.
2. Feel the chest or the back of the neck. Signs your baby may be too hot include sweating or a chest that feels hot ². Then take off a layer: too many layers of clothes and bedding for the room temperature can overheat a baby, and overheated babies are at higher risk of SIDS ¹.
3. For sleep, keep the crib bare. To keep your baby warm, use a wearable blanket or an extra layer of clothing instead of adding items to the sleep area ¹. The crib holds only a fitted sheet ³.

The full table

How we made this table

• No government number. The safe sleep pages of NICHD Safe to Sleep ¹ and of the CDC ² ask you to dress your baby for the room and to watch for overheating, and neither gives a room temperature in degrees or a TOG rating. So the bands and the clothes in each one are a Cotokim proposal: one more light layer each time the room gets cooler.
• The cut points come from one maker's chart. The sleep sack chart of HALO, a U.S. maker, lists 2.0 TOG for 64 to 68 °F (18 to 20 °C), 1.5 for 68 to 72 °F (20 to 22 °C), 1.0 for 72 to 75 °F (22 to 24 °C) and 0.5 from 75 to 77 °F ⁴. On that chart, the 2.0 TOG sack is the toddler one; for a newborn, we use its temperature band. Below 64 °F the chart has no TOG ⁴, so the table adds a layer of clothing under the sleep sack, never a blanket.
• The °C next to the °F is converted from the exact value and rounded, only to help if your thermometer shows Celsius.

Safe sleep, whatever the temperature

• For sleep, keep your baby's head uncovered and do not let your baby get too hot ².
• A hat indoors can make your baby too hot, so take the hat off when you are inside ¹.
• No weighted blankets or weighted swaddles ³, and keep other weighted objects out of your baby's sleep too ¹.
• Stop swaddling at the first sign that your baby is trying to roll over, at any age. NICHD Safe to Sleep says to stop swaddling when babies start rolling over ¹; Cotokim follows the earlier sign.

Frequently asked questions

Is 68 °F too cold for a baby?

We found no official number to compare with. At 68 °F, our table, a Cotokim proposal, uses the 68 to 72 °F (20 to 22 °C) band: Bodysuit and a light sleeper inside a 1.5 TOG sleep sack. Feel the chest and adjust: sweating or a hot chest are signs that your baby is too hot ¹.

What should my baby sleep in at 72 °F?

At 72 °F, the table uses the 72 to 75 °F (22 to 24 °C) band: Short-sleeve bodysuit or a light sleeper inside a 1.0 TOG sleep sack. The TOG comes from one maker's chart ⁴, and the clothes are a Cotokim proposal.

Can my baby sleep with a blanket?

No. For warmth, use a wearable blanket or an extra layer of clothing ¹, and keep only a fitted sheet in the crib ³.

What does TOG mean?

TOG is the warmth rating that sleep sack makers print on the label. U.S. government safe sleep pages do not use it, so we use the chart of one maker ⁴. Each brand has its own chart: check the one on your sleep sack.

Source credits

Material from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is available at no charge on cdc.gov. Our use of it, including links to CDC pages, does not mean that the CDC, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or the U.S. Government endorses Cotokim. Reference to specific commercial products, manufacturers, companies, or trademarks does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation by the U.S. Government, Department of Health and Human Services, or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Courtesy: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Safe to Sleep® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

We link to pages of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in our own words; this does not mean that the CPSC endorses Cotokim.

Brands appear only for the charts of their own products (sizes, packs, TOG). Cotokim has no deal with any brand.