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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed my husband doesn’t want to buy gloves for our baby?

263 replies

Peridotty · 22/02/2021 05:26

My husband is doesn’t want to buy new winter gloves for our baby. He doesn’t think that they’re worth it as she won’t get much wear out of them before winter is over. He wants her to wear a few pairs of socks on her hands instead or buy a used pair. AIBU to think he is being too stingy?

OP posts:
namechangetheworld · 22/02/2021 15:35

Sometimes I feel like Mumsnetters live in a parallel universe to me. I've never, ever encountered a baby with socks on it's hands. What a weird thing to scrimp on. We had a pair of mittens on a string from Jojo for about a fiver and they stayed on fine. Mine never kept their hands tucked under the blankets in the pram, no matter how hard we tried!

Original poster
Peridotty · 22/02/2021 15:43

Yes I live in Boston, US where it’s still very snowy outside and we went for a walk yesterday and when we came back our babies hands and feet were freezing. She didn’t cry and still fell asleep though in the carrier. Attached a photo of the weather here. Sorry I didn’t mention in my first post. I used pounds as this is a U.K. based website and I’m British.
So now I’m confused. Should I buy gloves for next year and then have a string to tie them into her sleeves?
To the poster who said think of the books like a few coffees, I don’t buy coffees because I’m generally quite frugal, especially on myself. I don’t spend much on myself at all. But for some reason when I’m buying for baby, all reason goes out the window!

To be annoyed my husband doesn’t want to buy gloves for our baby?
OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 22/02/2021 15:48

[quote Peridotty]@Same4Walls we try not to let baby bite them to keep them new as possible![/quote]
But that's part of a baby's development!

That's why it's madness to buy loads or spend loads.

Maybe treat yourself to a book on development - it will help you...

Nanny0gg · 22/02/2021 15:49

@Peridotty

Yes I live in Boston, US where it’s still very snowy outside and we went for a walk yesterday and when we came back our babies hands and feet were freezing. She didn’t cry and still fell asleep though in the carrier. Attached a photo of the weather here. Sorry I didn’t mention in my first post. I used pounds as this is a U.K. based website and I’m British. So now I’m confused. Should I buy gloves for next year and then have a string to tie them into her sleeves? To the poster who said think of the books like a few coffees, I don’t buy coffees because I’m generally quite frugal, especially on myself. I don’t spend much on myself at all. But for some reason when I’m buying for baby, all reason goes out the window!
Yep, That makes a difference. Definitely need mittens.

But not all those books...

Original poster
Peridotty · 22/02/2021 15:51

@Nanny0gg
But surely she doesn’t HAVE to bite the books right? She can bite on other stuff! Biting on the books isn’t going to make her learn anything. There’s tons of stuff she can bite if she wants to bite.

OP posts:
Ilovemaisie · 22/02/2021 15:57

Babies don't really have a logic about what they bite on. If they are in the mood for a bite and a chew whatever is nearest will get chewed on - whether that's a book, toy, the cat's tail or your leg.
As you are in the US just go to your nearest Walmart or Target for baby mittens.

MRex · 22/02/2021 15:58

Kids bite the cardboard books, you can offer all the teething chew stuff you like but they still bite books. Unless you keep books out of her way so she can only be fully supervised with them, but then that isn't teaching her that books are part of her world. I'd put all the cardboard ones away except one set for now OP, one with a nice range of pictures that she can chew on and then keep the story books out for her to choose from. My toddler DS liked flashcard-style single word books for letters and learning words and he also loves his Picturepedia for similar, but that's all pretty limited, better to buy some nice stories to read to her so she knows WHY she wants to read.

Porcupineintherough · 22/02/2021 16:11

Ok well if you are somewhere that's still cold and likely to be cold for a while then yes I would buy her gloves. Ideally ones that will fit next winter and absolutely yes I'd attach them to a cord through her coat sleeves.

Shrivelled · 22/02/2021 16:15

Just seen the snowy pick, of course you need good quality gloves!!

Oooohbehave · 22/02/2021 16:23

I might be missing the point here but why on earth would you consult your husband before buying a pair of gloves?

SleepingStandingUp · 22/02/2021 16:34

[quote Peridotty]@Nanny0gg
But surely she doesn’t HAVE to bite the books right? She can bite on other stuff! Biting on the books isn’t going to make her learn anything. There’s tons of stuff she can bite if she wants to bite.[/quote]
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Your baby is basically a two legged puppy. They mouth everything because that's how they learn. She's learning it's not edible, it's hard, it comes away when it's wet, mommy takes it away when I bite it and gives me a stupid wooden chew toy.

Mine can devour an entire baby sponge into 46 million pieces in the time it takes me to get shampoo out the bottle and onto their head.

LDParty · 22/02/2021 16:49

If you live in Boston you absolutely need gloves on the baby. Socks are not going to cut it!

LDParty · 22/02/2021 16:55

Children's place, TJ Maxx, Marshall's, eastern mountain sports etc or I'd just get one of the foot muff things and tuck the whole baby inside it hands and all. Ultimately that was the best solution we found. You can't have a baby with wet cold hands at 0 and below.

SleepingStandingUp · 22/02/2021 16:59

And yes sorry if I'd realised you meant somewhere as cold as Texas, of course kids need gloves. Just not necessarily £15 ones. And Def on a string

MrsTerryPratchett · 22/02/2021 17:23

Is she in a strap on carrier or a sling? Can you put her in a way her hands are protected by your coat?

ancientgran · 22/02/2021 17:27

Next year is a bit different, your little one will be running about, you stand a chance of persuading them to keep gloves on.

HandforthParishCouncilClerk · 22/02/2021 17:34

Just get a piece of elastic for the mittens you already have Confused

ZZTopGuitarSolo · 22/02/2021 18:09

She needs the baby equivalent of ski gloves if you're in Boston. I'd look secondhand, but if you can't find any then just buy new.

You'll find that as she gets older, she'll lose her winter gloves repeatedly. I used to buy them in Walmart or Target - they're reasonably cheap there so you don't lose your mind quite so much when they lose them.

My lot are now 15, 17 and 19 and I still don't splash out on North Face or Patagonia on them. Lands End does great money off deals - I got a lot of stuff from there from age 3 up. LLBean is also excellent for quality, but you'll pay for it.

Original poster
Peridotty · 22/02/2021 19:46

Okay so maybe I am not being entirely unreasonable to buy baby some gloves!! I thought that the U.K. was the same as here with the snow. I didn’t realise you were already in the tens!

I guess I will buy some for next year 1-2 years old and then stick baby’s hands in them and tie them on a strap for now.

To the PP about why I need to ask my husbands permission. I don’t, but he was curious what I was browsing online for. That’s when he gave me the opinion that gloves were a waste and if she needs them she could put socks on her hands instead.
@MrsTerryPratchett yes I tried to shield her hands with my coat and have her hands inside her sleeve but it wasn’t enough yesterday and her hands were all red when we got back.
@SleepingStandingUp hahaha love it. A two legged puppy! She is crawling now so actually on all 4s like a puppy. She does whine and cry when I don’t give her the book to bite on which makes me feel like a bad mum. I have one book which was her first book that’s been chewed to bits around the edges.

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 22/02/2021 19:51

[quote Peridotty]@Nanny0gg
But surely she doesn’t HAVE to bite the books right? She can bite on other stuff! Biting on the books isn’t going to make her learn anything. There’s tons of stuff she can bite if she wants to bite.[/quote]
Only if she's holding it at the same time as looking at the book?

Give some of them to a shelter or something and just concentrate on her favourite ones. And don't buy so much in future

Wiredforsound · 22/02/2021 19:57

I guarantee that if you buy her £15 mittens you’ll have £7.50 worth of mittens within 24 hours.

micc · 22/02/2021 20:02

Sorry but I agree with your husband! I put socks on my babies hands!!

XelaM · 22/02/2021 20:07

Do people not sew gloves onto their babies' sleeves so they keep them on? That's what I used to do with mittens to stop my daughter from scratching her face. If it's for a coat, sew them to a long elastic band and put the elastic through the coat sleeves so they don't get lost

XelaM · 22/02/2021 20:08

And £15 sounds excessive for baby gloves

ExcusesAndAccusations · 22/02/2021 20:09

Clearly the OP has a bit of a shopping issue, but I want to defend her on the books front.

There’s no such thing as too many books for a baby/toddler. Yes they will end up having a handful of favourites that they want to hear over and over again but you don’t know what those will be, and you don’t know which ones you will love without trying them out. If you have a library and second hand shops and NCT nearly new sales then obviously that’s the most efficient way to get them, but if those aren’t available in the current situation and you’ve got the money then sod it, buy the lot. I used to read my DC three stories a night, plus extras during the day. Eighty books is a lot, but they’d have all got used. But please do give up the idea of them staying box fresh. That’s not how it works at all.