FTM Question - How do you dress a winter baby?

[requiressnacks]

Ok, so in talking with MH yesterday, we realized we don't have a great idea on how to actually dress a baby.

Sleeping:
From what I hear babies wear sleepers at night:
Example:

Question - what do they wear underneath? Just a diaper? Diaper + onesie? Help me.

Daytime:

What do babies wear during the day? Long-sleeve onesie and pants?

Something like this?



When do babies need this?

[littlelion]

The first 2 outfits are what DS wore night or day. Plus a hat. Heat leaves thru the head so dr recommended he wear a hat when he was an infant (0-3). I tried swaddling for sleeping but that only lasted a couple weeks. He runs hot. My cousin-in-law would layer like crazy even to this day they err on the too much side. Like she'd have baby wearing thick socks under her pjs. Maybe you decide how much layering your baby needs depending if they have cold feet or hands.

That last outfit is something baby would wear going out in the stroller or something. I don't think it's recommended for the car seat. It wouldn't allow for seat belt to fit securely is my understanding. Going out to the car I'd use thicker pjs or flannel pjs plus a thicker hat. Then cover the car seat with a thick blanket. (Car was warmed up).

Plus I was super bad at putting the white onsie under his clothes. Remembered more when the clothes seemed scratchy.

[littlelion]

Pics, all within 2 mo so dec and jan. I'll have to log in to desktop to make smaller.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
In the hospital

First pedi appt, 2 wks old middle of Dec

End of Dec, at home...you can see I have a baby blanket over us...some of his pjs were more summer thickness (hand me downs)

this is in January so 2 months, if the pants were feetless, then he'd have socks or slippers on.

[\spoiler]

[requiressnacks]

Thanks, littlelion! So it sounds like the onesie under the sleeper is only if the fabric is rough.

And LOL to putting on socks under footed PJs. That seems like overkill.

[WineNChocolate]

So just like littlelion, with a winter baby...SLEEPERS are your best beat. To be honest DD wore them night and day with an undershirt. but we didn't go to the next outfits till I would say more like 1-2 months old. The sleepers are easier to change lil one. I might of put the number 2 outfit like if we really went somewhere and i was trying to "show" her off...you know cute lil outfit. But this time around yeah probably not. I got a ton of cute sleepers to put lil man in. The last one...only if you had them in a stroller outside or taking them for a walk. You really should be careful with the thicker suits in carseats...the straps don't hold them as snuggly. I would do felt sleepers with under shirts a hat and blanket for going out if there was a car ride involved. I had a cover for my carseat that would completely cover her from the wind. Those are truly helpful for keeping out the cold too.

Oh I would suggest the Kimono shirts for undershirts. I HATED putting the shirts over DDs head she was just so fragile to me and the kimono is just a wrap around with snaps. I can send pics if you need me too.

[mrsp121308]

From what I've been told (and based on how I dressed the older girls) dress them how you would dress. SO a hat when you go outside, take it off in the car. When they are a little bigger you could do a fleece sweatshirt on them in the carseat, but NEVER a coat. If you wouldn't wear 3 shirts, chances are your baby doesn't need 3 shirts.

So I've usually done a footed sleeper at night time and swaddled, if it's a cotton sleeper then I use a fleece swaddler, if it's a fleece sleeper I do a cotton swaddler. Nothing under it but a diaper and we keep our house set about 66-68 at night in the winter.

Option 2 is the clothes, that's pretty much the norm for daytime for us, unless we are just staying home and then I tend to just do a onesie, diaper, and BabyLegs.

The huge snowsuit, never. You can't use them in the car seat because they are too bulky and the baby would overheat in the car with that on, so unless you are walking around a city with a newborn in a stroller, I think they are an epic waste of money.

[hmr11913]

Nothing to add other than what everyone else has said, however G's ped ALWAYS recommends baby to be wearing a hat, even when she was born in June. I want to say she suggested them for the first 1-2 months at least. (Just not at night while sleeping)

And I will admit that I'm that mom that puts socks on sometimes under sleepers - but we're also in WI and it can get really cold here. I LOVE the footie sleepers and plan to use them even more so with a winter baby. It's nice if you're going somewhere that their little ankles aren't exposed and they can't kick off their socks.

[requiressnacks]

Interesting....I didn't even think hats were critical. I am such a newb. LOL

[hmr11913]

Sept 27, 2016 11:49:39 GMT -5 requiressnacks said:

Interesting....I didn't even think hats were critical. I am such a newb. LOL

I could see for winter .... however, G was born 6/1 and when I brought her to her appt without a hat on she was blown away..... it was like 70 out! And she had so much cute hair I wanted to show it off.... she also scolded me for not having a little onesie on underneath her sleeper. So just a fore-warning incase your ped is a stickler like ours... I always made sure she was dressed appropriately when I brought her there that way I didn't have to hear about it lol. 

[mrsp121308]

Sept 27, 2016 11:49:39 GMT -5 requiressnacks said:

Interesting....I didn't even think hats were critical. I am such a newb. LOL

I can really, honestly say I will basically never put a hat on the baby when we are inside the house. To go outside? Absolutely. But not at home.

[tbonequeen13]

It really depends on where you live...I live in the south and it's very rare for our winters to get cold (last year, it was 70+ degrees on Christmas)...we had 1 or 2 of the fleece footie jammies for DD1 but mostly we did the lightweight long sleeve onesies and pants, hats (for sleeping and outside- not just wearing around the house), and then a blanket. We had a JJ cole carseat cover for when we went out and it was hot. DD slept in a gown or footie jammies and a swaddle me wrap (not the fleece ones).

[Lucy]

I have nothing much to add that hasn't already been said. I had a January baby in Chicago, during one of the coldest winters in a loooong time. He wore a lot of fleece sleepers, day or night as well. In the car seat we used a lot of blankets, but no coat or snowsuits.

Baby socks are little cotton devil balls. They never stay on. One is always missing, and once it falls off, you'll have no clue where it went. The washing machine/dryer will eat 2-3 of them every single load of laundry, but never 2 from the same pair.