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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want to cry when i see cold children

102 replies

countless · 17/12/2010 11:32

don't people understand or care that small children sitting inert in pushchairs need to be wrapped up appropriately
i see so many everyday. little red hands. no snuggle. no hat. bare legs between sock and trouser leg. frozen rigid

even worse when person pushing is warmly wrapped

OP posts:
NinkyNonker · 17/12/2010 12:11

Oh, but i have her inside my coat too.

sethstarofbethlehemsmum · 17/12/2010 12:11

I have a 4yo who is incredibly resistant to cold and seems to get overheated very easily. In today's weather (around freezing here) he is most comfortable running around OUTSIDE in shorts and a fleece.

we think it must be some weird actually very useful Scottish gene that came with his ginger hair.

When we go to pick dd up from school I always stuff all the outdoor clothes a normal child would need into the bottom of the buggy just in case but despite frequent monitoring he never seems to need them. We also have the usual war of attrition re hoods being up, zips done up, mittens on etc.

I bet when people see us with dd all wrapped and the baby all wrapped up and me all wrapped up there is some kind of weird selective neglect thing going on. Grin

goingroundthebend4 · 17/12/2010 12:11

think i could have cried when ds2 came back from bus stop this morning .Ok hes no baby and had gone out wrapped up but after 3 buses not coming and a 90 minute wait eh came home even with gloves his hands were blue and he was shivering with the cold.So in end no sc hool for him .Though teacher asked why did he not get the next bus

sethstarofbethlehemsmum · 17/12/2010 12:12

they think there is some kind of .....

daimbardiva · 17/12/2010 12:14

I've managed to cure my 18 mo old's glove-hatred by literally sewing his gloves onto the end of his coat so he had no choice but to wear them. After a week or so, I snipped round half of the stitches so they can be flipped on or off and he's now quite happy to wear them, and even puts his hand out to get them on.

So glad about this as before he refused point-blank to wear them but would be screaming a few hundred yards from the house due to freezing hands (this was a couple of weeks ago when it was consistently below -5)

QueenofDreams · 17/12/2010 12:16

I have a moby wrap sling. Whe DS was tiny he would wear vest, socks babygrow, jumper hat, and then I would wear a stretchy cardi over him. He would have sweltered if he'd worn a snowsuit!

MilliONaire · 17/12/2010 12:16

I totally agree - it make me feel really sad for the little ones and really pissed off at the adults when you see kids in buggys, sometimes asleep with their legs dangling down, hands bare, sometimes no hat etc, and it's FREEZING! And yes, you will generally find that the adult pushing the damn thing is well wrapped up...GRRRRRRRR!!!

And I def think babies in Babybjorns need a snowsuit in this weather! It drives me potty when you see the little bare leg exposed where the trousers bunched up as they were being put in and noone bothered to check or fix it. And usually no shoes either, just socks - I mean what adult would sit for hours outside without moving in just socks in this weather????

Definitely selfish, thoughtless people out there! They should have their hats, scarves, gloves, boots etc taken off them & see how they like it!!!

evolucy7 · 17/12/2010 12:21

As someone else said, surely a baby or young child would complain if they were as freezing cold as you seem to think they must be?

JenaiMarrsTartanFoxCube · 17/12/2010 12:25

I hated using a sling in this weather - poor ds either overheated or froze. I think thermal arm and leg warmers might have done the trick though. I wasn't a big sling user though, so didn't have a coat that I could wrap around him.

I didn't really like the snowsuit/pram combo, either, Unless it was really, really cold and we were only going from one place to another (rather than in an out of shops). Blankets and cardis that are easily removed/replaced as required were far, far easier.

I wouldn't judge too harsly though - older babies/toddlers can be stubbor sods. If ds refused to wear the right clothing I'd take it anyway and - when he complained of being frozen - put them on him. Some of the parents you see might be doing the same.

FortunateHamster · 17/12/2010 12:45

A snowsuit in a sling seems bizarre to me, but then I carry DS on my front and usually wear a coat that just about does up around him, and a poncho over that, so he's right next to my body, wearing his own clothes (plus his coat/hat), and then has one or two layers over that too. He'd melt in a snowsuit. If I had him on my back or if I couldn't fit layers over the sling I would do it differently. In fact I've just ordered a sling cover so that it'll be even easier to keep him warm.

In his pram I use either his snowsuit or he has leggings and trousers, vest, top, cardigan, hat, gloves and thick blanket. Though at five months he already seems to hate hats and gloves!

Bramshott · 17/12/2010 12:47

I feel sorry for cold adults too!

TinselinaBumSquash · 17/12/2010 12:49

I hate this to.

A lady dropped her DD off in a t-shirt and skirt yesterday at school, her excuse was that she was late and forgot a jumper and coat. The little girl looked frozen.
There is also a few boys being brought to school in tiny shorts.

I hate, hate, hate being cold so i always wrap up and so do my kids.

CommanderDrool · 17/12/2010 13:00

I would add though that last winter DD3 (6 months) would be outdoors practically all day while I did nursery/school drop off - this takes an hour there and back in the cold.

Have never experienced the snow suit sweating thing but kids seem to have different levels of endurance of cold. Dd1 can happily run about in a t shirt in freezing temps.

coppertop · 17/12/2010 13:06

My ds is just like Sethstar's ds. Short sleeves all year round and takes his coat off as soon as he's far enough away from me. My other ds insists on a big coat with his hood up even in a heatwave so we're a useful family for year-round judgers.

DingALongCow · 17/12/2010 13:07

Both my children seem quite unbothered by the cold, it takes temperatures of below zero before they want anything more than a coat and DD (5) won't have hers done up for the five minute school run. Ds will only happily wear a hat if he feels cold. Otherwise he will remove it within seconds. I tried one that ties under the chin and he virtually tried to remove his ears to get it pulled off. With his hands I buy his coats a size bigger so that his hands don't stick out the end when I put them on and roll abck the sleeves if we are in shops. Both of them are rarely sick and seem very happy with this.

Mind you I am not the wrapped up warmly type either, DS has pulled the buttons off my coat so I can't do it up and it doesn't bother me.

When DS was in a Moby wrap sling this time last year I would zip him inside my hoodies which I bought a size bigger than usual. He wore his normal indoor clothes and a hat and he was toasty warm against me. When it snowed I put an extra jumper and pair of trousers on him and he was fine. A snowsuit would have completely overheated him.

norfolkBRONZEturkey · 17/12/2010 13:11

Leg warmers are fab for sling users.
I still carry my 19 month old and if hes wearing shoes he has legwarmers on to cover that ap. Or thick long fluffy socks over his trousers if hes wearing wellies.

I've alwasy found that snowsuits are too much with a sling.

My children are nuts though and would much prefer to be cold. At this time of year we regularly have the argument about being told to put on trousers instead of shorts

KERALA1 · 17/12/2010 13:13

YANBU with regards to tiny ones. There was s a mother at school recently in the bitter weather with a large baby probably about one sitting in a buggy wearing nothing but a babygro Shock. Sorry but I really did judge. I felt cold looking at him and I dont feel the cold that badly. The mother was snuggly wrapped up in big coat and scarf.

Lively toddlers/small children that run about and shed clothes is totally different. But a younger child sitting inert in a buggy - getting them dressed warmly is the parents responsibility and getting it this wrong marks you out as abit of a twit.

newpup · 17/12/2010 13:13

A little girl in DD2's class came in today in summer dress, ankle socks and a thin fleece!! Her mum was clad in full length coat, hat, gloves, fur boots etc! Confused

Funnily enough the same little girl wore a winter coat all summer even on the really hot days but no sign of it now when she actually needs it. Bizarre!

MrsMooo · 17/12/2010 13:50

Snow suits are a bit much for babies in slings - my DS would be drenched in sweat if he had a snowsuit on... But we did aways make sure his legs were covered

I seem to remember that the padded type of snowsuit weren't safe in car seats for some reason but I may have completely misunderstood

I do think some parents just don't care, but some children and adults run hot, I only started doing my coat up on the nursery run when it got to 0 outside and DS takes after me as her prefers it cool and will definately let us know the second he's too cold or hot

More disturbing to me are the people who have their very young babies in too much in the heat. I had a row with a mum on the bus this summer as she had her very young DD in a snowsuit with two blankets over the pram, plus a woolen hat, in July FFS!

OP, yanbu but sadly there's little you can do

FunkySnowSkeleton · 17/12/2010 13:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

jessiealbright · 17/12/2010 14:00

I know- always use baby leg-warmers to protect the inevitable gap when trousers hitch up in the sling or pushchair.

On the other hand, I made a lovely little old lady very concerned the other day because the back of my son's neck was unprotected in the carrier. I've now bought some new shirts with necks. Polo-necks?

JenaiMarrsTartanFoxCube · 17/12/2010 14:00

Funky - blankets do the job just as well - better maybe because it's easier to regulate their temperature.

I never had a buggy snuggle (although my pram - and later pushchair - had aprons).

JenaiMarrsTartanFoxCube · 17/12/2010 14:03

jessiealbright I think that's the first time I have ever read on MN of someone welcoming advice from an old lady!

Some types here would have rushed to AIBU to rant about "interferring old biddies", and been responded to with dozens of YANBUs and various umpleasant remarks about elderly women Xmas Grin

belgo · 17/12/2010 14:10

Funky - you don't need to spend ridiculous amounts to keep your child warm. Blankets do the job fine - I got mine second hand.

cumbria81 · 17/12/2010 14:13

My friend used to work in the Alps.

One day they had a tragic case of a family that had gone out walking for the day carrying the baby in a backpack.

The baby had got so cold it had died, and they hadn't realised for ages Sad