Nordic napping

[suedehead]

So, I spotted this one this morning:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21537988

Whilst at first you may think 'blimey', I can actually see the logic! Anyone tried this? Do you reckon it leads to healthier children?

Are we all just paranoid about someone nicking our babies...!?

[surroundedbyblondes]

Agree, it's about fresh air. It just happens that in Sweden the air is bloody cold!!

[TheBigJessie]

In the last couple of years, there have been two incidents of hungry urban foxes attacking babies inside houses. Anyone who tries to pressure me into Nordic Napping can fuck right off.

[mrsbunnylove]

as someone who remembers sleeping outside, whilst being warmly wrapped, it is very,very pleasant and refreshing.

[tangledupinpoo]

Arf at OutsideOverThere!

We did it with DS2. He was born that cold winter of 2009/2010. We are in Scotland. I can't quite believe we did do it now. He was toasty in many layers and used to go dozy as soon as we put his fleecy suit on before putting him in pram with blankets etc. I'm sure they're not cold but in retrospect I worry that neither did we know how hot he got. (I did obviously check the back of his neck regularly!) Temps outside would have been -2 to -5ish. He definitely slept for long times and was very content. He was just outside the back door so safe. (No foxes in this area either.)

First two DCs were summer babies and napping in their cots by 6 months.

Agree health benefits must be about fresh air in general though, and many places I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving a baby outside.

[Espoo]

Both my two girls were born in Finland, both were Autumn, Winter babies and they both slept outside for their naps down to about -10. They slept beautifully outside. Sleeping outside is positively encouraged in Finland. New mothers are given information on clothing layers for their babies so that they can sleep outside. The only trouble we ever had was actually getting them to sleep inside!

[OutsideOverThere]

To me sleeping in cold temperatures even with warm clothing is hideous - like when you go camping and can't sleep all night because your nose is cold

I am a big wuss though

[SchroSawMargeryDaw]

We weren't in a position to leave DS outside when he was born, if we had a private back garden I would have though.

We're in Scotland though and he was born just before winter so he slept a lot outside anyway because I needed out so I would just sit out on benches.

You need to have a proper buggy/pram to do it though. I have a swiss one that was apparently built to survive an avalanche and he's lovely and cosy and covered in it, I wouldn't do it with a british pram.

[BeCool]

When I lived with a garden I used to put DD in her pushchair (Maclaren), covered with a sarong under a tree for daytime naps if at all possible.

If I had the opportunity I would have done Nordic napping yes.

[specialknickers]

This is pretty much standard all over Europe and used to be here too ( mum put us out in the pram in the 70s and I'm sure we weren't the only ones). I used to do it with ds sometimes, but only if the temperature was more than about 8 c. Used to calm him right down somehow and he'd sleep like a baby! I wasn't a fan though - although he was on a totally secure balcony, I couldn't really see or hear him and it made me a it anxious... But to each his own and all that.

[honeytea]

I leave my baby to nap in his pram if we are out at friend's houses or I am out for coffee. I don't put him outside to nap at the moment because the balcony is full of snow and i like sleepy baby cuddles

We live in Sweden and it is normal here. Ds recently had RS virus and I asked the children's lung Dr what we should avoid, she said we should avoid smokers, crowds and toddlers, I asked her if we should keep him out of the cold and she said oh no, it is good for him to sleep outside!

I'm not sure if this link will work, but this is my DS asleep on a frozen lake. The only worry I have when I am out with him is that he gets too hot!

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151291460811728&set=pcb.10151291462626728&type=1&theater

[weegiemum]

Another Scottish mum. I don't think I was allowed indoors at all as a child.

All 3 of my dc were outside loads as toddlers, and often napped in the garden. We lived in the middle of nowhere. The main thing that stopped us going out was the midgies!

[soupmaker]

Another Scot here who was left to nap outside in a pram in the 70s. At the time Concorde was being tested up and down the loch and I was able to sleep through sonic booms! Even when I could sit up and as a toddler I was left out to watch the world go by - was on a farm - and mum remembers hearing me squealing and finding me hanging be the reins trying to escape!

I often left DD asleep in her pram or pushchair at the backdoor even on cold days as she was always well wrapped up. I think fresh air is good for babies and kids.

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

Did anyone see the picture in the article? The baby monitor shows three temperature 10C, 20C and 22C. It probably means inside all the layers it's at 20/22C. I don't think the clothes I buy from the supermarkets here keep my LO this warm outdoors. They must have very good cold weather gear in sweden.

[thereistheball]

I do this with my twins. Our bedroom gives on to a balcony, so I can rest in bed with the window open and my head only inches away from them, though if you were looking at the balcony you'd think they'd been abandoned there. If it's very cold or rainy I leave them in the hall with the front door open. They were born 3 months early so I've had to be careful about taking them into crowded (germy) places, but I think the fresh air has done them a lot of good. We're at the stage now where often just putting on their padded pram suits is enough to send them to sleep.

[babyboomersrock]

I put all four of mine out for naps in the 70s/80s, and they slept soundly for a couple of hours every day. I didn't put them out in fog but they were out in snow and frost.

In winter their clothes, shawls and blankets were wool; I swaddled them when they were tiny. My pram was a big Silver Cross, with high sides and a huge hood, so it was more like sleeping in a little room with the window open. They slept just outside the kitchen window and the moment they woke and moved, the pram would rock and I'd be out to pick them up. I kept the pram in the kitchen when they weren't sleeping so it was always well-aired and warmed through.

In general, babies had more fresh air in days gone by. We had no central heating - we had coal fires and a coal-fired Rayburn - and children were expected to be outdoors to avoid sharing germs.

Oh, and in summer, babies could still sleep outside, as long as there was shade. My pram had a large old-fashioned canopy, so the hood was laid almost flat - the canopy kept the sun off but allowed air to circulate. We lived in a rural village, surrounded by cats and wildlife, but I never heard of a baby being attacked.

[babyboomersrock]

Oh, and I'm Scottish too!

[SamraLee]

I don't see a problem with being outdoors or it being cold, the thing I have a problem with is leaving the baby alone. Aren't you "suppose" to keep your baby in the same room with you when they are sleeping until at least 6 months? If you want to let your baby nap outside and have her/him bundled and safe, more power to you, but I think you should be outside with her/him! I couldn't leave my baby alone...

[babyboomersrock]

But when you keep your baby in the same room, do you mean you never move from their side? You never attend to the other children, or do housework? Go to the loo?

As I said, mine were outside my kitchen window; I positioned the pram so I could see them at all times. Since we had vast washings to do every day, I did spend a lot of time outside, hanging it out/taking it in, supervising the older children and doing a bit of gardening. It's not as if babies were abandoned alone and unheard for hours (though my mother did that with us...a sore point with me!).

[ppeatfruit]

Exactly SamraLee Nor could I.

[somewherewest]

DS was a winter baby who would only nap in a moving pram for the first six months, so we did a variation of Nordic napping by default. I don't know what effect it had on DS but DH and I lost about a stone each .

[honeytea]

When my Ds sleeps outside I sit outside with him. This is very un swedish and the swedes think I am mad.

Once he is over 6 months I would leave him alone.

[diddl]

Well I didn´t do it deliberately, but if they fell asleep in the pram I would leave them in it & put it in the garden rather than have to take layers off inside.

Maybe that's why they are sometimes also left outside shops?

[magentastardust]

Another Scot here! My mum used to do this with all of us and I used to do it with Ds (now 9). Our Garden was enclosed and we had patio doors from the kitchen -I would be in the kitchen and DS would be the on the patio snuggled up after a walk so I could see and hear if he woke.
They always slept for much longer in the fresh air.

I did once have a panic about what if A cat got in the pram and slept on top of the baby so I stopped doing it and with my two daughters I only let them sleep in the pram outside on nice days when I was out in the Garden with the other children and right beside the pram.

[surroundedbyblondes]

I felt certain you'd be on this thread honeytea!

When DD2 was tiny she wasn't taking naps at scheduled times, so sometimes she fell asleep when out and about but that wasn't by design. I started letting her nap outside when she was older to be honest. That co-incided with us being in a house where I could see her from the window.

But as someone said earlier, the Swedes/Nordics do have better cold and wet-weather protection for both children and adults. It does cost a fortune. But it's worth it. Staying in because it's raining or cold just doesn't happen.

[AmberSocks]

mine always sleep on me-or dh or someone-til they are about 2,i wouldnt put them down to nap on their own inside let alone outside.(not saying everyone should do it that way-i just like it and my babies always have too.

i do think a bit of fresh air is good for you but i dont see why you cat just go out for a walk.