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Home › Articles › Toddler Safety › Bundle Up, Baby

Bundle Up, Baby

Getting Little Ones Prepped for Winter

By Katherine Bontrager

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With winter's arrival, many new moms are wondering just how to protect their little ones from nasty whipping winds and frigid frosts. How can you tell if your baby is warm enough – and not too hot?

Jessica Yager from Drexel, Mo., was faced with such worries when her son, Garrett, was born in February. With such a little man in such a brutal winter, how could she properly protect him?

"Remember this general rule of thumb when dressing babies regardless of the weather: Infants need about the same amount of clothes as an adult, plus one more light layer," says Dr. Lewis Krata at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan.

Bring on the Layers
The key is layers. "Be sure the innermost layer is moisture absorbent (to absorb perspiration)," Dr. Krata says. "Also take care to make the layers accessible; in other words, make it easy for children to remove layers when they feel too warm. And of course, don't overdo layers: Babies are most comfortable warm, not hot. A hot baby is red-faced, sweaty and fussy."

Yager says she would gauge Garrett's comfort be feeling his fingers and cheeks. "If his fingers and cheeks were cool, then I'd turn up the heat or add another layer to whatever he was wearing," she says. "And when he was too warm, he'd get sweaty and cranky and we'd adjust."

All Bundled Up
Gale Steffy, a nurse educator who leads infant care classes at the Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, says that infants are best served to be put in a bunting with an opening for the seatbelt, or a snowsuit.

"The snowsuit should have hand and feet covers," Steffy says. "Older children, toddlers would have a snowsuit. Again, layers are the best for cold weather dress. Make sure there are no gaps at the wrists or ankles so skin is exposed. When bringing a baby outside, make sure you protect them from the wind. They can easily get a wind burn, and the wind takes their breath away."


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