ideas for keeping warm at night?

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My 4 yr old has started to say that long pants, pajamas, and even blankets "hurt" his legs. Now that the weather is colder, he is waking up constantly at night, I think because he is cold.

Does anyone have any tips on what I can have him wear to sleep to keep him warm? He only likes to wear loose cotton Old Navy pull up shorts. We have tried sweats and cotton pjs from Old Navy and Nordstroms.

How about one of those over-the-bed tents? It will trap some of the warmth. He sounds like me as a kid, and I loved my bed tent. Made me feel safe and kept me warm. They've become popular again too

I swear by the under the mattress pad bed warmer. It's like the electric blanket but for going under, gentle heat radiating under the mattress pad i makes the bed itself the center of warmth. No blankets or pajama legs or for warmth, but even a nice wire blanket cage over the bed with light blankets tossed over the top make a nice warm 'cave' and a wonderful relief to that sensitivity.

I can't speak for using an electric blanket for it, I use the ones especially to go under the pad.

Merle

and yes, I devised this over the years to be able to stay warm. as a child I could not stand to have anything over my legs and got so cold in the winter nights. I love my warm bed cave to this day.

I wonder if the little fellow will wear socks? If your feet are warm, it helps a lot. If he doesn't like wool, he might tolerate thick cotton socks?

Hot Water Bottle?

Maybe a snuggly soft fleece blanket under his comforter. He might like his comforter tucked in tightly around him. T-shirt sheets might feel good too.
kat

Global warming.

Thanks for all the ideas. He does wear socks, pretty much will not go without them, which does help. Maybe I should get him some really long ones.

Question about bed tent/wire blanket cage- what are those, and where do you get them? Do you mean that thing that looks like a mosquito net over a princess bed?

Looks like I will be shopping for different kinds of bedding, too. Will definitely take him along so he can feel them first, although he did pick out his own pajamas and didn't realize he didn't like them until after he had slept in them for a few hours.

Disposable hand warmers work great all night long.
They come in a couple of sizes and in my area usually cost up to $2 each for the disposable ones.
You can find some that will 're-charge' after being boiled. These have the little metal disk in them.

When I was teaching wilderness survival, I used to get the disposable ones at a good price due to my affiliation with the local university.
I handed them out to my students if our weekend survival trip was especially cold.
I didn't want them to be too comfy... but then again, if they were so cold they never slept and couldn't perform the next day, it wasn't worth doing the trip.

This football season I bought cases of the disposable ones for my daughter's marching band, to keep their hands warm.

The dog-mushers use them up in Alaska too.

Any of these will generally last at least 8 hrs if not a few more.

My son had the same problem.

Try an under the sheet warmer, with flannel sheets

Insist on wearing a cotton tee-shirt tucked into his undies.

Socks if possible.

Consider a real nightcap.

Just wondering does he say they hurt because he doesn't like the weight of them on him or because he doesn't like the coarseness/feel of the fabric?

I let my son pick his own blankets & sheets by feel...I do the same...soft flannels, micro fleece, chenille etc. We have fabric issues here.

Good luck.

Before you invest any money in this, have you considered that pants/blankets hurt his legs because they make him too hot and thats why he's waking up? The reason it is occuring now and not earlier in the year being that you are keeping your house warmer now that its colder? Thats what makes using blankets/wearing pants at night uncomfortable for me. My body temperature is a bit higher than most peoples and it only takes a few minutes of my lying under covers that are tucked into the mattress before my feet feel like they are fire and the blanket feels like its keeping me from escaping

The easiest way to check this would probably just be to feel him when he wakes up - does he feel warm or does he feel cold.

My bed is right next to the radiator under the windowsill. I made a kind of frame that on one side sits on the bed, and on the other the windowsill, and by putting the duvet over it it captures all the heat from the radiator (my room is so big it never gets warm enough in winter).

I sleep very underdressed under (sorry for the repetition) a goose comforter, whatever they call it. With a very good (thick) cotton duvet. I never felt cold sleeping like that. It is different if someone is trying to get under the same cover with me. But anyway, buying a good comforter and duvet and taking a good hot bath at night is my solution and sleeping naked...lol...

OOPS...I didn't read that the thread was about a 4 yearsold and the thread is old too. How autistic of me...
I don'yt think the child is waking up because of the cold. It is completely something else. My solution for my daughter waking up and staying awake all night was to cuddle with her and kiss her untill she fell asleep...and that in turn means that she sleeps in my bed ever since. Bad idea for me but if it's good for her, who cares? She "thinks" that she will sleep in my bed untill she will be 18...ouch...