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Our baby’s room gets pretty warm in the summer — overnight temps pushing 80°F — and we don’t have AC in there. The internet says the room should be 68 to 72 degrees. Do I need to be worried about this? She seems fine, but I’m awake worrying about it at 3:20 in the morning, so clearly I’m not. And what about the other direction — is under 68 degrees too cold?
—Too Hot or Cold
“She seems fine, but I’m awake worrying about this at 3:20 in the morning, so clearly I’m not,” may be the best summary of parenting I have ever seen.
I want to start by pushing back on that 68–72°F range. Although it gets cited constantly, there is no specific data supporting it, and nothing in our understanding of biology that suggests moving from 72 to 73 degrees — or 68 to 67 — would make any meaningful difference.
That said, there are legitimate concerns at the extremes on both ends.
On the warm side: The worry is about elevated SIDS risk at very high temperatures. There is some evidence for this — one large U.S. study found a slightly elevated SIDS risk on hot days — but the data is mixed, and much of it comes from before the “back to sleep” campaign, which has significantly lowered overall SIDS risk. In the end, a room pushing 80°F in the summer is not something worth staying up over.
On the cold side: People generally sleep well in the cold, and babies are no different — as long as they’re dressed appropriately. I’ll refer you to the Nordic countries, where parents routinely leave babies to nap outside in the snow. If the room is on the cooler side, layer up: a long-sleeve romper under a sleep sack adds warmth safely. The AAP safe sleep guidelines don’t specify a temperature range, and say nothing about babies being too cold.
Bottom line: baby sleep temperatures are more flexible than the internet would have you believe. Dress them appropriately for the conditions and go back to sleep.
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Food for thought: I wonder how many homes worldwide actually have air conditioning.