Toddler refusing to wear hats

[deeadee]

Basically this.
My 17 month old toddler refuses to wear anything that covers his head. In the summer, it was sun hats which he took off immediately. Now, he will pull off any kind of beanie or hoodie and scream his head off if I try to make him wear one. The problem is he has been sick with otitis already twice in the past month. The doctor said he absolutely needs to wear a hat now that the temperatures dropped. And of course I agree. I just don’t know what to try anymore to make him accept it.
Has anyone else been through this phase? Any advice would be great!

Headband, like a runner's headband? Make it fun, attach different ears to it (cardboard and colouring in together) so it's like dressing up?

Treat it how you should treat riding a bike. No hat, no access. Might take a week, but with consistency he'll learn that to go to the park/playgroup/whatever he needs to wear his hat.

That's very typical for toddlers.

Hoodie work?

Make a game of it indoors, with you wearing one to and gradually get him used to it, might take 20 hours of playing though

Yep been through the hat phase... The coat phase..... The socks phase...

Peer pressure worked for us. Everyone had to be wearing a hat. We'd get to the door and be like right mummy's wearing a hat, daddy's wearing a hat, DS is wearing a hat is DS2 wearing a hat? Where's your hat??
Also buy a fun hat (🤣) like with his favourite things on or a dress up hat.
Once it's on distract distract distract until he forgets it's on.
It's now gone the other way for us and he's now the blooming hat police and I get told off if I dare try and leave the house without a hat but it's one less battle to fight.

Thank you everyone.
No, hoodies don’t work. Anything that touches his head is gone within one second.
I have tried leading by example or making games out if it but he won’t have it. I will just need to try some more I guess

A bit puzzled that the doctor insists on a hat-surely otitis is a bacterial infection?

I hate hats. I can just about tolerate over the head ear phones

Ear warmers?

Yes, this. I'm not sure that not wearing a hat equals getting an ear infection. Loads of kids hate the feeling of hats.

I'm not sure that "must wear a hat" is sound medical advice. What's the medical reason for it?

If a doctor is saying a child has to wear a hat i would ask to see their medical qualifications

Also not convinced that hats will make much difference to a tendency to ear infections. If it was a GP rather than a paediatrician or speciallist I’d probably ignore. I’d definitely ignore if you asked yourself whether he should wear a hat rather than the GP volunteering it spontaneously as I think it’s easier for them to agree with things like this if they won’t cause any harm.
If you want to keep trying, you could get the head part of a spiderman constume.

Mine was like this and I tried absolutely everything to get him wearing a hat. Nothing worked. He still wouldn't wear a sun hat this summer but has finally allowed me to put a beanie on him. He's 3 btw. I don't know what made him change his mind but I was so bloody happy he finally did😂 hopefully perseverance pays off for you🤞

keep trying different fits + designs,

• try and find one with something he likes on it. Sometimes it is amazing how quickly a boy who loves cars will put on clothes if they have cars on them etc.

Try 'costume' type hats with a choice. Black hat and brown hat. Want to be a pirate, offer black hat, or a bear, offer brown hat.

I think see another doctor for a second opinion because that sounds really weird that he must wear a hat because he has an ear infection. Where do you live and how cold is it?? I’ve had babies/toddlers in Chicago where it does get really properly arctic and never heard of that being a thing. Personally I just used to stick the hood of their coat up if they were refusing the hat unless it was below freezing, then and only then would I consider the battle worth fighting and tbh then they wouldn’t fight it very much because they could feel it was cold. And it’s 15 degrees today in London so I’d honestly be worried about overheating an active toddler by forcing a winter hat on…

Like many other things, the battle is probably going to do more harm than not wearing a hat…

I was coming on to say just don't make them wear a hat then, but then I saw the bit about the doctor. Was there reasoning given as to why the hat must be worn? Will it stop the recurrent infections? If not, I would stick with my same advice to just sack off a hat.

Mine won't wear one either and in the summer he gets suncream slathered everywhere, even on his scalp/hair if it's a real scorcher, and in winter he gets cold. There is always one available if he wants it, but I'm done fighting him on it. We have bought all the characters, themes, fun ones he wants. I'm done buying hats that don't get worn!

Have you tried a balaclava? So it's a full head vibe and harder to pull off?

My boy is 19 months now and we have been through MONTHS of fighting over hats. First sun hats and then winter hats. To be quite frank, we just had to stick to our guns and parent. We tell him "If you want to go out, get your shoes, get your coat and get your hat". If he tries to take it off we repeat "If you want to be out, you have to leave the hat on". Again, he takes it off and we said "No hat on, so we must go inside. Put your hat in if you want to stay out". We have often lifted him up crying and brought him back inside until he agreed to keep the hat on. Now he gets his hat as soon as we mention leaving the house and never takes it off (unless someone draws attention to it).

Like everything Toddlers will push the boundaries. We have very few 'strict rules' but a hat is one of them!

I don't wear hats.

Hate, hate hate the feeling and restrictivity of having them on.

How essential is a hat?

I was also wondering about that. It was the GP and he insisted that it’s one of the reasons why my baby getd recurring otitis…

My baby agrees with you..

Yes, apparently the cold contributes to the recurring otitis..or at least that’s what he said. And the poor baby is down with otitis for the second time in a few weeks, he’s really suffering. I’ll do just about anything to prevent a new infection

I have suffered from otitis on and off all my life. In winter I have ear mufflers for very windy days as they trigger a painful earache, no idea why, it just happens.

Sun hats when it’s very sunny and you can’t keep in the shade I understand. I just can’t see why you would have a battle over a hat in any other circumstances in the UK.