Dressing my 4 month old for colder weather

[MeadowHay]

Hi, looking for some guidance on how to dress my baby in the colder weather if I'm going to be outside but also inside a lot, e.g today it's not going to top 9 degrees so I'm geting my wool coat out, and thought I'd likewise put a coat on DD but we are going to be walking about outside a bit but also spending time in museums as I'm taking some visiting friends out to touristy areas. I dob't want her to overheat when we are inside but she usually sleeps in the car and pram so I don't want to wake her by taking her coat off inside...what do other people do? Sorry I know I'm quite an anxious first time mum!

It's all about layers, so you could swap the coat for a blanket, and a hat if it's really cold. Then you can remove the blanket and/or hat when inside - less likely to wake her.

Baby should wear one more layer than you outside which is easily achieved with blankets. Then you can take one or more off as you feel appropriate as the temp changes.

Forgot to say in this weather my baby will have on a sleeveless vest, a long sleeve bodysuit, trousers & socks inside the house. Out in the pram he has 2 cellular blankets. I periodically touch his chest just to make sure he is warm but not too hot. He has never felt cold outside.

You do need to be careful if you are in and out of the car. Babies shouldn't wear bulky items in a car seat as you can't get the seatbelt done up as tight. Coats etc then compress in an accident.

Blankets are good in that situation. If you have a sling then a big enough coat to do up around the baby. I just kept my maternity coat.

Blankets are your best bet, then you can remove them easily when you go inside.

In a car baby shouldn’t have a coat on. So use blankets.

In a pushchair I used blankets and footmuffs which I could remove or unzip inside

DD was a winter baby. I’d put her in a short sleeve vest, a babygro and then a cardigan. If really cold I’d put socks over the baby grow and she wore a fat pretty much all the time. Then just a couple of blankets that I could remove when inside. If going in the car seat I’d take her cardigan off and put a blanket over her.

Don’t put anything bulky on her in a car seat.

We had a sort of foot muff for the car seat which was a brilliant bit of kit as I could unzip it and fold it back when we were in the car/inside and then put it back over and zip it up again when we were outside. You can also get special wrap blankets with gaps in for car seats.
Some parents at nursery were appalled but my DC always kept their coats at nursery (had another one at home) and I just ran from the front door to the car on the drive holding them and then moved quickly across the car park at nursery when we arrived as I just couldn't be bothered with faffing around getting them in & out of coats for a few minutes at a time.
Other things to think of - floors can get quite cold and play mats are only thin fabric. I used to put a thick towel down under ours. The pram cover which comes with a bassinet and poppers over the side doesn't keep a baby warm really as there is so much air between the baby and the cover. Tuck a blanket down there too.

My rule of thumb was if I was going to be mostly inside (shop, restaurant etc) then baby would wear normal inside clothes plus a blanket and hat. Then you can easily take them off without waking them up. So either short sleeved vest and sleepsuit, or a long sleeved vest and leggings. Cardigan or jumper weather dependent.

If we were going outside for a walk with the pram for example then they’d wear a pram suit or a coat as well as blankets.

Thanks everyone. I put her in a short-sleeved vest, leggings, socks, woolly cardigan, woolly hat, and woolly mittens with a woolly blanket over her and in the pram she had the fleecey footmuff over her too. When we went indoors I took the blanket, hat and mittens off her and I kept checking her temperature and seemed fine. Although on the walk back from the museum to the car her nose went pink with the cold which is a first! Does that mean she was too cold or is it ok?

If she was too cold you’d know about it, she’d cry!