A couple of random and possibly silly questions from a first timer

[missmargot]

I have a few things weighing on my mind that are possibly completely ridiculous and/or common sense and I'm hoping someone can help me.

Firstly, what clothing do I need to buy for a winter baby? All I have bought so far are simple sleep suits as I don't want to be wrestling a newborn into 'proper' clothes, but given it is going to be cold what should I be putting over them? Are lots of layers best? Any particular fabrics?

Secondly, when I'm in hospital having had the baby, is it ok to leave the baby whilst I go and shower, use the toilet etc? I know it's a very random concern but I read on a previous thread elsewhere about 'things women wish they knew before labour' and a woman said she didn't know whether she should or not but didn't actually the answer the question and it's been playing on my mind.

I think that's the end of my silly questions for now but I'm sure there will be more

I will keep an eye on this thread for answers!

Re clothing I'm planning to dress my new baby (expected any day) in a best, a babygro, and a cardigan, plus a hat. Then for outside trips baby with either be snuggled up to me in a sling, or else in carrycot part of buggy with as many blankets on top as look necessary by the weather. For really cold weather I'm planning to buy a snow suit, but this is mostly because they look super cute, I can't imagine they're necessary as the baby will always be well wrapped outside. I'd be grateful for any thoughts from experienced mums on whether this looks ok or if I'm going to be a negligent mum!

The thing I'm most unsure about is how to keep baby warm at night in a cold house. I have grobags ready, but how do you make sure their arms and faces are ok?

I always popped a cardy or jumper on DD when she was in a growbag as her arms did get cold.
You will need a vest under the sleepsuit for warmth. You will want 'proper' clothes fairly soon though as they are soo cute
Snowsuits are great as they usually have feet and optional gloves. They also allow straps for buggies/car seats etc to be done up easily without having to undress the baby. I always used a blanket as well if in a buggy. I also always found the hoods too big, so popped a hat on underneath.

Congratulations OP.

Four months ago I had DD and actually rang the bell for a midwife cos I really didn't know if I was allowed to go for a wee, what if she cried, etc. You go for a wee. You have to. Showering, I used to leave that until my DH was in with us. Once I got home I would have DD in the bathroom with me.

Never dressed a baby for winter so also watching with interest although to the lady who asked about sleeping bags and keeping face/hands warm, providing you have dressed your baby in a vest, sleepsuit and a bag of the right tog (so if the room is 15 degrees, a 2.5 tog sleeping bag) you will find they are toasty all over. I found this Dream Bag tog guide invaluable. I always worry about my baby overheating as well as being too cold.
There is also a similar guide by Grobag out there somewhere but I don't have that one in my bookmarks and am on phone.

I had my dd in sleep suits for months! No 'real clothes' here - it's harder to pick them up and I think it looks so uncomfortable to see babies all dressed up. We had short and long sleeved body suits with a full sleep suit on top, with a few velour sleep suits for when it was really cold.

purr thanks for that link, it's very useful. Especially the bit about not putting blankets over a grobag, I didn't know that. Now I must look through my big bag off second hand clothes and see if there are any 3.5 tog bags.

margot apologies for hijacking your thread x

Thank you so much for the helpful answers and for not laughing at me, sometimes it seems as if every other pregnant woman just knows what to do whilst I'm still trying to figure out the difference between a body suit and a sleep suit.

I will pick up a couple of cardigans if I can find some nice unisex ones (the gender is a surprise) and look int Grobags. I thought I had read that they weren't suitable for newborns, is that not true? I also have some swaddle blankets so the baby should be plenty cosy at night either way.

For out and about I have bought a gorgeous fleecey bundler from Gap which does up at the bottom so I won't have to faff about trying to get tiny legs into the right places.

Our local maternity unit has alarmed cots so you can leave your baby in them for toilet / cups of tea trips. The weight of the baby sets the alarm (it's on a pressure sensitive mat IIRC), when you need to nip off you activate the alarm by turning the key and taking it with you. Anyone who tries to lift the baby will trigger the alarm and probably end up with a perforated ear drum, as well as every midwife on them within moments.

Or you can wheel them along to the toilets in their little fish tank cot.

You can get winter gro bags with arms in them now. I'll have a look and try to link.
As long as their head doesn't slip through the neck hole they can sleep in them.

with sleeves

Yours are not silly questions at all!

Re: hospital showering etc, at my hospital they have cots on wheels which have an alarm you switch on when you go to the loo or shower. It will then go off if someone lifts your baby out of their cot while you are gone. It will also do it if you forget to turn it off and lift your baby out in the middle of the night waking all the other poor, exhausted mums as you struggle,to find the off switch in the semi dark (course this didn't happen to me, ha ha!). By DC3 I found it easier to wheel them along with me into the loo and shower as I was a repeat offender when it came to accidentally setting the alarm off.

Clothing - vest, baby gro, gro bag when asleep (although we used cellular blankets as swaddling for the first few weeks instead of gro bag). When going out, vest, baby gro and snow suit / vest, baby gro, cardigan and blanket tucked in snug. Word of warning though-snow suits are the ultimate krypton factor test - either very hard to get baby's limbs into or so massive you have to check they are still in there.

Congratulations on your pregnancy, enjoy being a mum!

Oooh, am going to check out the gap show suits which fasten at the bottom, thanks for the tip!

You need to check, but I think grobags are fine for babies over 7lbs. DD is 5 weeks and she uses one.

Oh another tip for really cold nights. A pair of socks under the sleep suit. My DD would get icy toes even with all the right layers. Socks really made a difference

Not silly questions at all.

As well as babygrows etc, H&M do leggings with feet. I found them invaluable when DD was itty bitty.

And avoid buttons. Buttons are shite. Poppers or zips all the way.

Some good advice here.

Two things that haven't been mentioned yet...

1. Baby vests can be taken off upwards over the head, or downwards, by slipping the wide neck over the shoulders. The latter is what you do when there is a poo leak. I said "when", not "if". You don't need to undo the crotch poppers to take a vest off downwards.

1. Babygros must do up at the front and between the legs or you will never use them. Babygros that only do up at the back (like a wetsuit) should be illegal.

Re: suitability of sleeping bags for babies: every single sleeping bag I have for her (about six - I went a bit overboard) states on the label the minimum weight the baby needs to be for the bag. Most of them were 8lb 8oz minimum. I know because my DD was 8lb 4oz born and I was all 'aww, no bag!' Although my SIL Queen Of Mums put her 6lb baby in a sleeping bag. Hmm. I have heard it's more about the baby's head circumference. You have to be happy your baby won't slip into the bag. So if it is 6lb with a head the size of a bowling ball then crack on :D

It might have been said - if you use a snow suit, be really careful in the car. They get hot in carseats anyway, and you will probably have heating on in the car, they can quickly overheat.

I used one of these whcih was fab as baby could be wrapped and unwrapped as necessary in car seat [http://www.morrck.co.uk/shop/all-season-baby-hoodie-size-1.html HERE]]

the car seat straps feed through some holes. It can be used in a buggy too. I was sad when it got too warm to use mine!

Good luck xx

LINK THAT WORKS

horry I had never thought of pulling the vest downwards. That's a great tip. Will use it for baby number 2.
I've only used the sleepsuits that do up in the back for toddler DS recently as he likes to undress himself at night and take off his nappy. Apart from that, for younger babies - useless!

I had a winter baby that used to overheat wildly so I only ever used his adorable snowsuit when we went for long walks. If I went in the car with him or into shopping centres I would just layer his clothes - vest, sleepsuit, cardigan and then a blanket so I could undress him. All the other babies would be in snowsuits, hats and blankets and my poor overheated little guy would be down to a vest and a cardigan.

Hats and knitted shoes for inside if your house is not as warm as others

Good point about overheating in snowsuits in car seats.

Also crucially important, car seats can't be done up properly over a coat or snowsuit. Unlike tensioned adult seat belts, the harnesses in baby car seats are designed not to give. In the event of a sudden stop, a snowsuit will squash between baby and the harness and let's just say that can be a really bad thing.

You should only be able to slip two fingers inside the strap of a car seat harness. Any more than that and it isn't tight enough. A cosy suit will always squash by more than two fingers so is horribly unsafe.

Blankets on top of the straps are the way to go. Then if you do have to take baby out of the car in its seat * you can rearrange the layers for the new environment.

• There are plenty of reasons why it isn't a great idea to have babies in car seats other than in cars, but that's another thread really

I can highly recommend these to wear over socks
sock ons
I was constantly buying socks till I was given these

Some really great advice here, thanks everyone. Lots to think about and research.

This is the Gap bundler, they keep having 30% discount codes too which is nice: Bundler

Apart from the first few days when they have no internal thermostat it's MUCH safer to have babies on the cold side. Recommended nursery temperatures are 20-22 degrees which is actually pretty cold.

Babe's face and hands will be fine, they're tough little buggers. In Sweden babies are put outside for a couple of hours every day in - degree weather for their own good.

I live in Maine where it gets to -25 and I'll be putting 3-4 cotton or wool layers on him in the dead cold. If I was still in the UK I'd do about the same, just thinner items of clothing. :)

I'm in the same boat as you, expecting my first, so I'm reading and absorbing and not much to add! Only what the midwife said to me - 1) hats should only ever be worn in the house for photos, then whipped straight off, to prevent overheating, and 2) it's better for baby to be too cold than too hot. Too cold, they will let you know about it; too hot is a contributory factor to SIDS. I can see our baby living in a vest and nappy, our house is always roasting.....