Do Babies Sleep Better With Mittens?

Nocturnal Scratching

• A baby's fingernails are extremely sharp, and it can be difficult to trim them because they are so small. Some babies have a tendency to scratch their faces during the night, particularly during their first few weeks, and mittens can help prevent this. BabyCenter suggests trimming your baby's nails when he is asleep or right after his bath, when the nails are at their softest. In the first few weeks of his life, use an emery board instead of scissors.

Body Temperature

• Keeping a baby at the right temperature during the night is a major concern for most parents. Most young babies struggle to maintain the right body temperature and can quickly become too hot or too cold. Mittens may help to warm your baby's hands, but this will not raise her overall body temperature. BabyCentre, the award-winning pregnancy and parenting website, recommends keeping your baby's room temperature between approximately 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit and dressing her in a one-piece, footed sleep suit. To judge whether she is too hot or too cold, feel her neck or belly. If she is too hot, remove her blanket. If she is too cold, put another layer on her, for example a vest underneath her sleep suit.

Swaddling

• Swaddling babies -- wrapping them from the neck downwards in a lightweight, stretchy blanket -- is a way of relaxing them and keeping them warm and cosy. Because the baby's hands are swaddled within the blanket, mittens are not required. The theory behind swaddling is that the tight, wrapped sensation helps babies feel calm and therefore more likely to fall asleep. Some parenting experts do not recommend swaddling; some studies suggest that swaddling may lead to increased risk of health complications, such as weight loss, overheating, respiratory problems and even cot death. The NCT website suggests modifying the traditional swaddling technique to accommodate an infant's natural "frog style" hip position.

Sleeping Tips

• When it comes to bedtime, making sure your baby is warm, comfortable and relaxed should be more of a priority than whether he is wearing mittens. If he is a habitual scratcher, mittens may well help, but otherwise they are unlikely to make much difference. Many sleep suits come with integrated scratch mitts, which eliminates the need for separate mittens altogether.