To leave baby sleeping outside in -3C ?

[Anothercuppatea]

he's in a few layers of normal clothes. A cost suit which I think has down in it. A fleece buggy cosytoes. And I just went out and put extra blanket on.

He seems to sleep better outdoors. But it is starting to get really cold. It's very frosty this morning.
I could take him into house, but he's likely to be woken by his big brother. And he's likely to get hot with so many layers on.

Oh I love the Scottish smiley! What are they celebrating?

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Yes, of course people do this in Nordic countries, but they are also really careful to have the right equipment (fleece/sleepsuit/lining thing for proper pram/buggy, not some flimsy pushchair). Then, after a couple of hours sleep all snuggled up outside, they then take the babies into their properly heated, triple-glazed warm houses!

Whoever said it's only on MN that anyone would think having babies sleep in the cold is a bad thing is wrong, fine if they are healthy and have all the right equipment, not fine if they are sleeping in damp cold surroundings all night, especially if they have respiratory or allergy problems.

It's a bit more complex than : sleeping in cold = good for babies

It's St. Andrew's Day EnjoyResponsibly.

yes damp houses in UK pretty ubiquitious - scandinavian houses have much better ventilated/heated houses. IMO why we have lots of asthma [amongst others things]

Thank you Dexter [bsmile]

I think it's a very good point that in cold countries, equipment is designed for that purpose.Something bought in a high street shop might look similar but not be.

Haven't read the whole thread so this might have been mentioned. Once baby is sleeping, put your hand into the hood area above his head and if it's warm there, then your baby is fine. Mine got put out in a coachbuilt Silver Cross in all weathers. Never came to any harm whatsoever. Oh, apart from fog of course.

YANBU. If he were cold he would wake up and cry. DD2 always slept better outside. If she fell asleep while out in the buggy I left her in the garden by the back door. If I brought her in she would get too hot, wake up and cry.

My 10 month old twins are outside sleeping right now & have been since 12 pm. They are both terrible sleepers inside but sleep for hours out in the chilly Scottish fresh air. I am inside with the house heated to Bahamas level [bad mother emoticon] yannnnnnbu enjoy the peace & quiet

Love love LOVE quint's papoose thingy. I'd happily sleep outside in one of those!

YANBU. If he were cold he would wake up and cry

not necessarily , if very cold babies are quiet and drowsy to conserve energy

Someone was saying to me just recently that hospital wards no longer open windows when it's cold outside as they realised that's how so many patients were catching pneumonia. Now I realise we were talking about people in hospital, presumable poorly already, but how do you know a baby isn't just a bit suseptible?

Sorry to rain on your parade.

My guess is that patients are catching pneumonia because the hospital staff forget that the windows are open, or dont notice patients asleep with their blankets off, in the draft.

That is how my father got pneumonia. A nurse wheeled him out to sit in the sun on the balcony a bit. She forgot him there, sun went around the corner of the building, and what was lovely Arctic afternoon sun of a lovely April day, soon became Arctic frost and sub zero temperatures....

Quint that's terrible. I hope he was ok. :(

realcoalfire, the high infant mortality rate before 'recent times' was largely due to infectious diseases which couldn't be cured by antibiotics - as antibiotics hadn't been discovered.
And a higher incidence of atrocious living conditions.

The English do seem to have an aversion to being outside. It is the norm in European countries. And in Russia, I have experienced minus degrees that would frighten you senseless , but as Nullius expalins, its the difference between the vile damp cold of UK and the pleasant dry cold of other places, that makes it so very different.

Ob I think so too, and probably not quite cold enough to kill airbourne bugs.

Just saying.

My mum used to leave us outside in prams every day of the year. If it was raining we might get put in the garage. My mum was an old school nurse, windows were left open in the morning to air the house , because the cure for every thing was fresh air. She had grown up in an era of childhood illnesses being killers in the way they no longer are thanks to vaccinations. It was mostly freezing! But, whilst I didn't leave mine outside, I did take them to the park every day, come rain or shine, work days mostly too, and I think, probably they are a bit more resistant now, as young adults. Can't prove it, but it seems logical!

YANBU
We lived in Canada and would take the DCs out in prams in all temperatures.
Minus 3 would be considered positively warm. I would think nothing of a baby being out for an hour at minus 15 or even colder. I would check them and make sure they were wrapped up warm and snugly.

Sheepskin is the way to go [bgrin]

I don't get the benefit of fresh air when the rain cover is on.

If you look at the image of the baby sleeping outside in Scandinavia that someone linked to earlier (here it is again), you'll notice the baby monitor says that its 22degrees C in the pram, and -10degrees C outside the pram - so the baby is obviously nice and snuggly.

When we went to see relatives in Denmark recently, we were told off for having DS napping inside, rather than outside in the good healthy fresh air. Someone lent us a baby monitor (with thermometer) so we could put him outside in the pram we'd been lent, which came with sheepskin liner, down cover, and him in a snow-suit. You obviously need to make sure the extremities are covered up, hands, feet, etc. We kept an eye on him as well, it was fine - in fact he was more at risk of over-heating, as it was still quite mild.

In quebec, where is gets a damn sight colder than -3, the nurseries have to by law take the children outside for at least half and hour per day. (till it gets to about -20 i think). The older ones are running about but the babies are wrapped up in their buggies in down snow suits and hats glove etc and look snug as a bug.

Its all about having the right gear and I know my dd sleeps much better if shes had her nap in the pram or even had a blast of cold/fresh air for a wee while.

YANBU if your baby is properly wrapped up and protected. It's not just the clothing- its the pram too. A lot of people these days seem to have very flimsy open type buggies which I wouldn't be happy to leave a child in, but If you have a proper sturdy pram then fine

Just a question: why is my local hospital so hot for the preemies if babies are "better" in the cold? I don't buy it...

Anyway I hope nobody gets the idea from this thread that it's OK to leave a newborn out in below-freezing weather. Maybe it's OK for much older babies.