The issue of baby clothes is a very sensitive issue for quite obvious reasons that our mothers and grandmothers do not quite understand. Remember your childhood, in that floor where you lived with your parents without heating, the cold that you were going to pass and what the blankets weighed, managing to warm you rather little (besides preventing you from moving too much).
We have a habit of sheltering children as if they were about to enter a freezer and really no need to shelter them so much. Let's try to explain how should we shelter babies and children.
How to shelter newborn babies
Newborns have hardly any fat and their thermoregulation system does not work too well. To this we must add that they do not walk, they do not move, and therefore, when they are on the street, they don't generate heat with the movement as we do.
After saying all this it may seem that a baby has to wear, in winter, an eskimo suit. However, although we must shelter it, we should not go over, because we run the risk of harboring it too much and that your body even make fever (Surely you know some mother or father whose son was set at 37.3ºC simply by going too warm, lowering the temperature just by taking off his clothes).
In Babies and more Why do parents leave their babies in the strollers at the door of stores in the Nordic countries?It is often said that it is recommended that they wear a layer more than us, so that's what we should do. A body or a t-shirt, a sweater and a chubby jacket is enough to shelter a baby in winter. If it is so cold that we appreciate wearing a scarf and even a hat that also covers our ears, we also put it on the baby.
We have said that they do not walk, so that is a point to consider. As they do not generate heat with the safe movement they will be colder than us. However, we must also bear in mind that many go inside a stroller and, therefore, do not suffer from the effect of air and wind, which is a real thief of heat to which babies are not subjected.
If you add that there is still a blanket inside the stroller, all this only confirms that the rule of "one layer more than us" is perfectly valid.
If the sun rises, if we see that the weather is good, the blanket can even be left over. In this case, the ideal is touch the forehead or neck of babies to see if they are too hot or even wet (you are sweating).
This also makes me think of the plastic bubble that many fathers put in the stroller to create a greenhouse inside. Many parents realize that when they put it in the stroller the child sleeps beautifully. It's really dangerous because it's hot, he is running out of oxygen and that's why he is numb, not wanting to move. It is better to use it only when it rains, until shelter is found.
In Babies and more, why do children get more cold in winter?How to shelter children
Once the baby passes after three months, many already have some body fat and keep the temperature better. This means that they need less clothing than newborn babies, although not much less.
Let's say that at that moment the recommendation runs between "wearing the same thing you wear" and "one layer more than you." The choice will surely depend on how cold the parents are. If you are parents who tend to be warm, you will surely opt for the second option. If you are rather cool, you will surely think that the baby is also as hot as you.
With respect to the stroller, well the same. Imagine as you are dressed, getting into a car and covering yourself with a blanket. If simply thinking about it already makes you sweat, it is likely that your child will also sweat with it. Sweat wets clothes and makes them wet. As you know, when the body cools a little, because the temperature has varied a little, the sweat becomes another of the heat thieves and the child can get very cold to wear wet clothes.
In Babies and more How to protect babies and children from the cold: seven keys to coping with winter Once the children no longer go in a stroller, when they walk, they must wear the same clothes that we wear. Obviously, we will ask the child if it is cold or hot, because not everyone has the same cold or the same heat, but what I come to say is that once a child is walking he can be dressed like an adult. If you hurry me, then you put on an inner cotton t-shirt and you already have one more layer than you.
If the children do not go in a stroller
We are very used to the image of a child in the stroller and that is why we usually talk about it as the norm. However, it is very common, and increasingly, that children go in backpacks or fourlard, near the body of mom or dad and eliminating the anti-air effect and the blanket of the stroller.
In this case we must take this into account to safeguard the distal parts of the body (hands, feet, ears and nose) from the cold and assess the amount of clothing that we are going to put on the basis of how close it will be to our body. If we hang the baby with the jacket closed we will spend less heat than if we carry it in front with the jacket (our) open.
Let's say that everything is to test and check how your temperature is as we have said before: looking at the forehead and neck, which are better indicators than the hands and feet, which can be somewhat cold without the need for the child or baby to be really cold.
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