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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think it is disgraceful that babies have bare feet in the freezing cold

125 replies

mummyloveslucy · 02/12/2007 21:10

I keep seeing on my travells babies and toddlers being pushed around the town with nothing on their little feet. It is freezing cold and the moms are dressed up worm. There is no excuse imo I know they kick off their socks/booties but you could at least put tights on them, even the boys can wear navy tights under their trousers! and they could use a cosy toes buggy snuggle thing. It makes me so . They wouldn't go barefoot in the winter if they were in a wheelchair so why do they do it too their kids?.

OP posts:
BarefootShirl · 03/12/2007 16:11

I went through the ritual of putting socks on and watching as DD immediately took them off in her early years but it was a case of double standards as I was usually barefoot when I did it so she was merely copying me! Soon gave in and accepted the inevitable - she's now 8 and still running around barefoot everywhere in all weathers just like her mother - I presume that makes me a bad influence and a bad mother?

Louise2004 · 03/12/2007 16:40

You should try living in Russia - they wrap up their children in full ski gear from October to May, regardless of how cold/warm it actually is at the time. You can tell the foreign children in the park from the Russians just by their clothing! The Russian children are so wrapped up they can hardly move and any parent of a child who isn't as well wrapped up will get told off by the Russian parents/grandmothers - there's no holding back!

Once one of the fathers we were with in the park actually got told off for not wearing a jacket (the 6ft+ father, not his child)! It was so funny! It was in April and the temperature was around +25'C (an unusually warm day with total sunshine as well), but the Russian children were still fully wrapped up in their ski gear...

LoveAngelGabriel · 03/12/2007 16:53

I don't usually notice these sort of things, or care much tbh, but I did have a shake-head-tut-tut moment the other day when I saw a young girl (don't know if she was the child's mum? looked about 16) with a baby in it's pram dressed in shorts, tee shirt and barefeet on a freezing day, when every other adult and child on the street was wearing gloves, coats, scarves etc.

BarefootShirl · 03/12/2007 17:01

Don't know what they would make of DD & me in Russia then Louise - neither of us feel the cold and dress accordingly regardless of the time of year. We both go barelegged all year round and barefoot wherever practical - DM still worries that we are going to get a chill or worse but DH just has that resigned look cos he knows it's a lost cause!

TheChickenLady · 03/12/2007 17:28

keeps socks on

dividedselfridgesxmaswindow · 03/12/2007 17:32

My dd used to go barefeet in ice and snow when being pushed about in her pram or pushchair as a baby and then toddler.

She uswed to take her socks off and then manouevre her feet ou of the buggy snuggle and then wave them at grannies in order that they felt compelled to look scornfully at me.

She is still alive.

Hulababy · 03/12/2007 17:34

Actually what does bother me if these little babies and children all bundled up in massive coats and snowsuits, whilst being put into their car seats. It is not as safe to do this! You need the car seat to fit to the child/baby's chest - a big coat prevents this, hence making the seat fastening less safe. If they must use such big thick clothing why can't they think to remove it before they put baby in the car.

benandalex · 03/12/2007 17:38

my ds wo is two refuses to wear sock and shoes when in the buggy no matter what i do within seconds he has they off and wingined into a corner somewere short of stopiing every 30 secs what else can i do?

needmorecoffee · 03/12/2007 17:38

I had some woman tutting at me cos dd(3) only had socks on but not shoes. She's quadraplegic, why would she want stupid expensive shoes?
Told her to tut off.

theUrbanDryad · 03/12/2007 17:52

mummyloveslucy - it wasn't me you saw was it? ds (11months) hangs his bare feet out of the cosy toes and throws a massive wobbly if i even approach him with a snowsuit.

thanks for judging me.

JodieG1 · 03/12/2007 18:00

My ds2 always pulls his socks off, 10 months old and his feet are warm still. He was in the pram at the weekend under the raincover and pulled one off and managed to drop it on the floor somewhere. We couldn't find it so he stayed like that. He was fine though and not old at all. Ds1 and dd still take their clothes off the minute they walk through the front door.

I agree with the posters saying over heating is worse. I wouldn't put my boys in tights either! They would be far too hot.

Ineedacleaner · 03/12/2007 18:03

I have a ds who HATES being clothed, if he can get it off it is coming off. I have tried everything, tights, cue hysterical tortured screaming cause he can't pull them off like socks, Sleepsuits the same. I feel his wee toes sometimes and put socks and shoes on and 2 minutes later they are off again, he can even fiddle with laces long enough to get them undone.

I live in the NOrth east of frozen Scotland so it is not exactly the weather for it. He won't keep on hats, always takes off 1 glove (no idea why he keeps the other on and will not wear a hood and hangs out the side of the rain cover so it is easier not to use it.

Yes there are ways sround bare feet but believe me some are just not worth the agro when you have a toddler that is much happier in bare feet than in their shoes

Divvy · 03/12/2007 18:03

My dd 9 months, has been in her babygro ALL day! Is that seen as bad too?

Divvy · 03/12/2007 18:06

Mind you, she is not well and I dont want a fight with a poorly baby just to get her dressed.

Before I added this bit, its easy to judge, without all the facts.

Split second later, maybe the mums cheered up and put socks back on the feet?

HeyThereNappiesGalore · 03/12/2007 18:11

good grief, do you go around slagging people you dont know off for crimes you know nothing about all the time? how the hell do you know if the child wants cold feet or not? do you stop and interview them?

sheesh

LilianGish · 03/12/2007 18:15

You should move to France, Mummyloveslucy. Well-meaning old ladies would cross four lanes of traffic to tell me my dd would catch a cold when she was refusing to wear shoes/socks/hat/scarf delete where applicable. I never subscribed to the French regulation 36-layers of clothing even in the middle of August - funnily enough dd was the only one in her class never to have a day off school - I used to tel people I was toughening her up for her return to Blighty!

BarefootShirl · 03/12/2007 18:20

There may well be ways around bare feet but in my book if the child is cold then he/she will not keep taking everything off at the first opportunity! In my case, DD has been running around in as little as possible since she was old enough to run around - she hardly ever feels cold and says she is far more comfortable undressed. I know she may be copying me to some extent but I can honestly say I have never put any pressure on her in this direction - but she does have my genes so it may not be a total coincidence!

Swedes2Turnips1 · 03/12/2007 18:30

My two sons (15 and 12) insist on wearing shorts and t-shirts in mid-winter. They are embracing their inner Geordie.
Keeping socks on a baby is impossible.

ScottishMummy · 03/12/2007 18:43

Har Har inner geordie is it true then that you all nip aboout wi no jackets on then

2mum · 03/12/2007 18:46

In a way you are being unreasonable. i have an Autistic son who hates wearing gloves and hats, he will scream the place down if you come near him with these. When he was a toddler he wouldnt keep socks or shoes on in his buggy. but now I just get nosey so and sos telling me he needs a hat and coat on. When I already blooming well know this. He wont keep them on. Dont be so judgemental about the littlest things.

2mum · 03/12/2007 18:50

i meant to say hat and gloves! he does thankfully keep his coat on!

TwinklyfLightAttendant · 03/12/2007 19:01

I once did an about-turn on a zebra crossing to chase an old bid who tutted at my son not having socks on. It was literally two seconds since he had whipped them off yet again, and I was very angry that she did that, especially in the middle of the road - did she expect me to do it on the crossing??
Anyway I followed her saying 'excuse me' for a minute but she was still muttering, wouldn't look round, kept walking fast and held her hand up as if to say 'I'm not listening'.
I realised she was a nutter and gave up. It really upset me to think someone thought I didn't care about my child.

chipmonkey · 03/12/2007 19:06

God, ds1 used to rub his feet together in the buggy till the socks came off. One or both would then usually fall out of the buggy. I had an army of odd socks! Oh well, at least he was breastfed and never given fruitshoots!

bozza · 04/12/2007 09:17

Ah this has reminded me about how DD only ever wore a snowsuit twice. She was born in May so never needed one as a little baby. But once winter came she would scream if I tried to put her in one. I was glad it was a handmedown and not something I had spent money on.

bozza · 04/12/2007 09:18

And I still find the odd baby sock in a coat pocket or handbag that I haven't used for ages and my youngest is 3.