To think my baby is warm enough ?

[ILoveHumanity]

I get lots of comments From strangers that My 9 months baby isnt dressed warmly. Even from friends and family.

But baby is easy to sweat from his head, if I put on as many layers as most do.. always has warm and his hands and nose are warm.

I use hand and feet and nose to find out if he is cold. And head sweating to find out if he is too hot.

AIBU? Right now I’m out and it’s lightly raining and he wears a long sleeve vest, then hooded thick jumper with hood on his head , he is wearing socks and foot muff covers his body. I’m in London and it’s 12 degrees. His hands are boiling.

Someone random just told me, “you need to cover him up”.

I just find baby is very uncomfortable in too many layers.

I put both my babies in little gilets/bodywarmers rather than coats, they were about 6-9 months during their first winter. Kept them a bit warmer but not as stiffling and restrictive as a coat.

I used to get this.

Ds1 is now 13 but as a baby would only need a coat if it was very cold.

If I put one on him and it wasn’t cold enough he’d go red in the face and scream.

Each child is different. He was like this until he started primary school. Now he’s at secondary school he wears absolutely bugger all

You can quickly check the baby’s temp by touching their tummy with the back of your hand, not by touching their hands or feet.

If they are sweating or if their tummy is hot to touch take a layer of clothes off.

Babies generally need one extra layer to what you’re wearing, so if you’ve got a coat on the baby would need a cellular blanket or foot warmer on the push chair, they also need a hat on outside as you lose heat through your head.

Of course he is wearing trousers, sorry!

There is a raincover. And the foot muff covers his core all the way down. So didn’t see the news for a pramsuit.

No coat, this time. His back of neck is also warm.

We are in a shopping mall, just outdoors when going from underground station to the mall. So not going to be out in the wind or anything otherwise I would’ve put a jacket.

He is an extremely warm baby. Never had flu.

What harm does it cause for baby if he was unknowingly too cold that he should be? Other than a flu/cold (not had it yet).

Also why is he wearing no bottoms? He’d be better dressed in a long or short sleeved vest, baby grow (or a top and trousers) his thick cardigan with the hood upof it’s like a coat type thing, and the foot muff.

Also remember that he’s sat in his pushchair and not walking about with the wind and rain blowing in his face.

If you’re in and out of shops you can take the foot muff off and put his hood down and unbutton his cardigan and quickly check his temp at the back of his neck and chest and adjust his clothes accordingly.

Checking the back of the neck is a good guide.

I have a hot-blooded, sensitive sensory child. He's the one still emerging into the playground complaining about how hot he is in his t-shirt and shorts. He goes sledging in shorts! No wonder he was hell to dress right from being a toddler. He really doesn't feel the cold like most people do. I just see it as my duty to make sure he has access to extra layers as necessary (and as a Scouter, I do take weatherproof clothes seriously and have had too many children struggling in poor clothing). He's old enough to work out if he needs to wear them.

I've had him on thermal imaging cameras at museums a few times and he glows white hot compared to the rest of the family who glow red with small white patches.

A cold baby/ toddler is usually quite vocal about it before more worrying signs set in. I've ended up being quite thick skinned over peoples' reactions to DS's satorial choices although I wasn't impressed with the skin head swearing at me in the street on a slushy day (he either needed a nice thick mop of hair like DS or a good woolly hat, just because he was cold, it does not mean that an obviously content child is being neglected )

DD 11 still rarely wears a coat or jumper. Last winter school insisted on them wearing jumpers. I remember telling my aunt. She said "We [adults] know better." How the fuck do I know better than DD how hot or cold she is?

If he’s too cold he could get hypothermia

SoyDora that’s why I prefer to err on the side of cold . Because he overheard quickly and I know many nights he woke up crying from heat ( he had only one layer on and a sleep bag.

“Better be cold than dead” is how I see it, also I heard scabdebavian mums leave their babies out in the snow. My dad used to bath us in ice cold water to boost our immune system. I’m rarely ever ill.

If he’s too cold he could get hypothermia

I'd very much doubt that a baby in a long sleeved vest, hooded cardigan with hood pulled up plus a foot muff in 13degree London today will get hypothermia...

Happy to be corrected though

Your baby your decision. I have once commented. When i saw a new mum with her newborn and they were both crying their eyes. I asked if she needed help and she said baby wouldn't stop crying and she didn't know why, i told her he was too hot because it was a hot day and the poor thing had far too many clothes on. She said her midwife had told her to always use a hat, and vest etc. I helped her to undress him and explained you are allowed to dress your baby how you want. She was so grateful.

That’s what old ladies say to babies: ‘Where’s baby’s hat?’, ‘Babies feet must be cold... ‘ or if baby’s got hat and socks, ‘Is it a good baby?’

Why are they on the look out for evil babies?

Sounds like you’re careful to consider the comfort of your child, so just smile and ignore them.

The foot muff is quite thick and insulated. Almost like a sleeping bag. Goes up to his neck but when he is awake I put it under his armpits so he can move

@formerbabe op asked ‘What harm does it cause for baby if he was unknowingly too cold that he should be? Other than a flu/cold (not had it yet)‘.

If a baby gets too cold by not being adequately dressed they could get hypothermia, however from what op says he sounds warm enough.

Also a cold flu is from a virus not from being too cold.

I found this helpful.
superlovemerino.com/pages/layering-guide

Why are they on the look out for evil babies?

This made me laugh. Maybe we should be pleased that someone's being vigilant in the face of the evil baby threat?!

Also I think you forgot 'does he sleep?'

Also baby is extremely cheerful . When I dress him more than usual he is v distressed or sleeps too much. In the park he was smiling at the man. No discomfort.

I always see the over dressed kids screaming their heads off. Another woman from a baby group was walking with me, she put pram suit on and baby was screaming all the journey. Mine was extremely playful. She told me “he must b cold” but I was worried that her baby was just too hot.

the saying cold babies cry hot babies die.

You said that your baby cried cause he was too hot in bed. Would not be the case.

I have a similar issue and found this link reassuring:

www.fisher-price.com/en_US/parenting-articles/life-with-baby/how-to-dress-baby-for-any-weather
I found the following quotes helpful :

'Don’t overbundle. “Most of the time babies are overdressed,” says Dr. Alfano. “In many northern European countries, children are allowed to get cold more than our kids do, and these kids are just fine.”

Guiding principle:' In general, if your baby seems reasonably calm and happy, and is sleeping comfortably inside or out, then she’s probably dressed just fine.'

I think that sounds ok for what you're doing today. It's not that cold in London. Some people think babies should be permanently bundled up! Some people always have to give "advise" on things to do with babies.
DD is 8 now and the amount of clothing some of her classmates wear when it's not cold is unbelievable! It's pretty warm in school so I do wonder what they do when it's properly cold.

I get this too OP.
My 6 month old ds is a very warm baby naturally. He sweats buckets!
I've put a pramsuit on him once this year so far, when there was frost on the ground, and it was like he had been in the bath when I took it off him!

You know your baby far better than anyone else, people like to interfere and judge.
I'm sure your baby is fine with what you're doing.

I'm in London and this is exactly what my baby was wearing today. He wasn't at all cold.

OP you know your baby best, my mil constantly questions me on if my baby will be warm enough. She will blast her car with hot air so I then remove babies hat etc and she tells me off. I know my baby best

I think it’s fine. It’s not even cold in the SE today. DD is in short sleeve vest and baby grow (this is what she wears everyday) then a fleece lined cardigan with hood. We were only going to car, inside, back to car, then home again. If we had be outside longer there would’ve also been a blanket over her in the pram.

As PP have said I’d rather a little chilly than overheated.