Can you take a newborn for a walk in this weather?

[Sunshine1996]

Spent a lot of my pregnancy in lockdown and the one thing that kept me sane was going for daily walks. Just before Christmas our beautiful daughter arrived. It is cold at the moment where we live, not really going above 3 degrees. My partner says it’s too cold to be taking her for walks. I do have a snowsuit for her and would put blankets in the pram too. But is it too cold really to take a very young baby out? I normally walk for at least an hour.

My 5 month old sleeps outside during the day. She has a sheepskin pram liner, and a couple of blankets. One knitted and one fleece. Natural fibres such as wool or alpaca are warmer.
She wears a her vest, dress, leggings, a cardigan, a velour pram suit. A hat and bootees under the pram suit.
I wear in this weather, a vest, long sleeved top, shirt, cardigan, gillet, coat, hat and extra pair of socks.
Sometimes I put an extra blanket on. I only leave her asleep outside if the temperature is above freezing.

@MaskingForIt eh? You’re reaching, he’s a new dad of a tiny baby who is nervous. Don’t be ridiculous.

An hour is not too long

What do you think parents with older children do? Lock them up in the house all winter? !

[quote MusicalTrifleMonkey]@MaskingForIt eh? You’re reaching, he’s a new dad of a tiny baby who is nervous. Don’t be ridiculous.[/quote]
I hope I am being ridiculous. There’s just something about a man trying to undermine a new mother’s confidence that isn’t sitting quite right with me.

Be careful not too many blankets! I did a snowsuit and hat and blankets with DS in the snow last year and he was sweating buckets in no time. Overheating is much more dangerous, please avoid hot water bottle with baby.
Modern prams are very cosy with hood up, DS was never cold in his bassinet, sometimes we'd be out for hours. Remember to remove a layer or check temperature more with raincover on as there's no air flow so they get hotter quicker.
I did love a stretchy sling when he was tiny, they are 3 layers of fabric over them, plus your body heat so no need for snowsuit then.

No unsuitable weather, just unsuitable clothing. Will do you both good. Just make sure you remove the extra layers when you get home.

I hope I am being ridiculous. There’s just something about a man trying to undermine a new mother’s confidence that isn’t sitting quite right with me.

I know what you mean but honestly I think it's probably new dad nerves. I remember my dh asking the midwife if it was ok for him to take our first ds for a walk in the pram as he knew he shouldn't be away from me

Of course you can :) Just use lots of layers, and check on her temperature regularly. I used to do something like this, my DD was born last December weighing 4lb 11oz, so similar in size :)

Lay blanket down in pram
Bodysuit
Sleepsuit
Snowsuit (with built-in gloves and 'shoes')
Blanket
Perhaps another blanket
Hat!

Both parents are allowed to have fears, concerns and opinions on their new baby. Dad being nervous about the weather is perfectly acceptable despite it being different to mums opinion. Especially as baby was small and they are new to this.

Dd was born when we had an unusually cold winter and it was snowing in March. It went down to -4, which is abnormal for where we live. I have to take the dogs out daily so would put her in the sling unless it was raining or really windy, in which case I’d put her in her pram with the rain cover on. My ds’s were born in November, at 29 weeks. They didn’t come home until until the beginning of January and it was cold. Still took them out, with the dogs, every single day.

Also, an hour is definitely not too long. We could easily be out for a couple of hours. I even breast fed them outdoors most of the time. They’re all fine.

Absolutely! It's good for you, fresh air and natural light is good for baby and helps them learn the difference between night and day.

Get a good pramsuit (have a look on eBay, they grow out of them so quickly so you can get one pretty much as new for good prices), up to about 12-18m they have integrated mittens and then pop a hat on baby. Most prams are fairly sheltered from the wind anyway with the hood up and the cover thing over the bassinet.

I've always got my now 2 year old outside every day regardless of the weather (also winter born) and he loves it, particularly going out in the rain!

@mynameiscalypso

To be honest, I'd be more worried about overheating than getting too cold! There is a definite tendency in this country to overdress babies for cold weather - I've been guilty of this too and ended up with a baby dripping with sweat!

This is so true. I think people forget that babies are actually human and don’t need to be hotter than the sun! It’s so hard though, especially when it’s your first. When my son was newborn I was practically giving him ice baths as I was so worried about the water being too hot!

I live in Sweden and it’s -7 today. My 4-week old will be outside for huge chunks of the day today. The nursery run for the big one takes 30 min each way and we’ll probably pop out to the shops by foot too. Your baby will be absolutely fine dressed warmly. Don’t worry if her face feels cool to touch, it’s not an indicator of her core temperature (try the back of her neck if you want to feel how she’s doing). Remember mittens for her hands, and a big blanket for if you need to sit and feed her while you’re out. Often I’m the one that’s cold and my kids are too warm!

@MaskingForIt Also, I could be way off the mark here, but this “man wants woman with baby to stay at home” is raising a tiny little red flag with me. OP, stay alert to what else he might not want you doing. I hope I’m wrong, but this feels like the start of a slippery slope.

This is his first baby, he's just concerned about his child. At no point did the OP suggest it was said in a controlling manner. Not everything is a 'red flag'.

My baby naps best outside. It tires him out, there’s lots to see and hear and fresh air does everyone good.

@BobbidyBob

I live in Sweden and it’s -7 today. My 4-week old will be outside for huge chunks of the day today. The nursery run for the big one takes 30 min each way and we’ll probably pop out to the shops by foot too. Your baby will be absolutely fine dressed warmly. Don’t worry if her face feels cool to touch, it’s not an indicator of her core temperature (try the back of her neck if you want to feel how she’s doing). Remember mittens for her hands, and a big blanket for if you need to sit and feed her while you’re out. Often I’m the one that’s cold and my kids are too warm!

Oh yes this! The amounts of times I’m sat without a coat or scarf as they’re too restrictive to feed in and my jumper hiked up in the freezing cold whilst baby is all warm on my chest because I’ve forgotten the blanket AGAIN!

I took my dd4 out on school run every day since birth which was over an hour and she was born early Jan.

Of course it’s fine

Ds was born earlier in the year but we always went out in the day for a few hours and I feel it helped him sleep It was good for both of us to get out in the fresh air

Far healthier than a baby going from home to a car to another building then back again with just a few minutes of fresh air

I lived in Norway for a while. It’s common practice to put babies in Prams in the garden for their nap even in winter. Certainly they are not kept in doors during winter. Norwegians are very outside loving people. Babies are wrapped up warm and life continues outside in freezing temperatures. I must say that I never had the guts to send my baby to nap in the garden but I certainly took her outside from day 1 and she’s a January baby.

When I lived in Poland babies were taken out for their afternoon nap for a couple of hours even in minus 20 and plus 30 in the summer. Wrap up and go!

Of course you can bring your baby outside.
In Scandinavia babies routinely are put outside for naps, wrapped up well with a hot water bottle.

Of course it's not too cold. I always slung my newborns and they were toasty and happy tucked inside my coat with a hat on. I used my maternity coat to begin with which worked fine.

Absolutely!

I had a December baby and took him out everyday. Long sleeved vest, baby grow, velour leggings with feet, wool jumper, hat and blankets. He did just fine (& now runs round outside in Winter wearing next to nothing 🥶)

Lay blanket down in pram
Bodysuit
Sleepsuit
Snowsuit (with built-in gloves and 'shoes')
Blanket
Perhaps another blanket
Hat!

That’s way too many layers for winter in the vast majority of the UK. Overheating is dangerous. Please remember that a baby who is a bit cold will cry and let you know. An overheated baby will be drowsy and can’t tell you.