The short answer: 16 to 20°C for children, and around 20°C for babies. Below is why it matters, how to tell if you've got it wrong, and what to do about it.
Body temperature has to drop slightly for sleep to begin. That drop is one of the signals the brain uses to start the process, which is why a room that's too warm makes falling asleep hard and staying asleep harder. Children feel it more than adults because they regulate temperature less efficiently.
The right temperature by age
| Age | Recommended room temperature |
|---|---|
| Babies under 12 months | 16 to 20°C, ideally around 18°C |
| Toddlers | 18 to 20°C |
| Older children and teenagers | 16 to 20°C |
Most people find 18°C about right across the board. It feels slightly cool when you walk in, which is the point.
For babies under 12 months, please follow the safer sleep guidance directly. Room temperature is one part of a wider set of recommendations, and the Lullaby Trust and the NHS are the right sources for it. We sell beds, not medical advice, and infant sleep safety is not something to take from a furniture retailer's blog.
How to tell if the room is wrong
Forget hands and feet. Children's extremities run cool even when they're perfectly comfortable, and it's the most common false alarm there is.
Put your hand on the back of their neck or their chest.
- Damp or hot — too warm. Remove a layer or lower the tog.
- Cool to the touch — too cold. Add a layer.
- Warm and dry — about right.
Other signs the room is too warm: waking repeatedly in the early hours, kicking the duvet off every night, damp hair at the hairline, flushed cheeks. Too cold usually shows as difficulty settling rather than waking, and as curling up tightly under the covers.
A cheap room thermometer removes the guesswork entirely. Many baby monitors have one built in.
Something specific to bunk beds and high sleepers
Worth knowing if your child sleeps on a raised bed, because it catches a lot of parents out.
Heat rises, and a top bunk can be two to three degrees warmer than the floor of the same room. If one child is waking hot and the other in the same room is fine, the bed height is very likely the reason rather than anything else.
What helps:
- Different togs for different bunks. The child on top genuinely needs less duvet than the one underneath. It feels odd but it works.
- Air can't circulate under a solid base. Slatted or perforated mattress bases let heat escape downward. All our bed frames use them for exactly this reason.
- Check the ceiling gap. A top bunk close to the ceiling sits in the warmest air in the room, and near a light fitting it's warmer still.
- Fans pointed at the ceiling, not the child. Circulating the air is what you want, not a draught blowing on them all night.
Bedding does more than the thermostat
Most people adjust the heating when the answer is the duvet. Bedding is easier to change, cheaper, and works room by room rather than house-wide.
Get the tog right for the season
| Season | Tog |
|---|---|
| Summer | 4.0 to 4.5 |
| Spring and autumn | 7.0 to 10.5 |
| Winter | 10.5 to 13.5 |
For children, err lower. A 13.5 tog duvet in a centrally heated bedroom is too much for most kids, and it's a very common cause of night waking that gets blamed on everything else.
Our Cloud Bamboo 10.5 Tog Duvet suits most of the year in a typical UK bedroom.
Breathable materials matter more than thickness
Bamboo fabric moves moisture away from the skin and lets air through, so it stays comfortable across a wider temperature range than polyester. That matters most for children who run hot, and it means one set of bedding works across more of the year.
Pillows and protectors trap heat too
A standard waterproof protector is effectively a sheet of plastic between your child and the mattress, and it holds heat. A breathable one does the same job without the sweating.
- Bamboo Mattress Protector — protection without the heat
- Memory Foam Bamboo Kids Pillow
- All pillows
Note on memory foam generally: it holds more heat than sprung. If your child sleeps hot, a pocket sprung mattress allows more airflow through the mattress itself.
Practical fixes for a room that runs hot or cold
Too warm
- Close curtains or blinds during the day to keep afternoon sun out
- Turn the radiator valve down in that room specifically rather than adjusting the whole house
- Open the window an hour before bedtime, then close it
- Fan positioned to circulate air, not blowing directly at the bed
- Cotton or bamboo pyjamas, single layer
Too cold
- Add a layer of clothing rather than a heavier duvet, since layers are easier to adjust mid-night
- Check for draughts around the window and under the door
- Move the bed away from an external wall or directly under a window if you can
- A rug helps more than people expect in a room with a hard floor
Both, on the same night
Common in older houses. Layered bedding is the answer: a lower tog duvet plus a blanket the child can push off or pull up themselves. Gives them control without you going in.
Common questions
What is the ideal room temperature for a child?
16 to 20°C, with 18°C a good default. Babies under 12 months sit at the lower end of that, around 18°C.
How do I know if my child is too hot in bed?
Feel the back of their neck or their chest. Damp or hot means too warm. Hands and feet are unreliable and often feel cool even when a child is perfectly comfortable.
Should I use a fan in my child's room?
A fan circulating air is fine and helps in hot weather. Position it to move air around the room rather than blowing directly at your child all night.
What tog duvet should a child have?
4.0 to 4.5 in summer, 7.0 to 10.5 for most of the year, up to 13.5 in a cold room in winter. For children, choose lower rather than higher if you're unsure.
Why does my child wake at 3am every night?
Room temperature is one of the most common causes and one of the easiest to rule out. Core body temperature is at its lowest in the early hours, so a room that's slightly too cold shows up then. Bedding is usually the fix rather than the heating.
Is the top bunk hotter than the bottom?
Yes, usually by two to three degrees, because heat rises. If one child is consistently too warm and their sibling in the same room isn't, that's very often why. A lower tog duvet on the top bunk is the simplest fix.
Does the mattress affect how hot my child sleeps?
It can. Memory foam retains more heat than pocket sprung, and a solid bed base restricts airflow underneath where a slatted one doesn't.
