Are you still worried about how to dress your baby for the night? You’ve tried multiple ways to dress your baby the right way, but it just doesn’t seem to be working right. Sometimes, you end up dressing them to warm to light for the weather. And you just can’t seem to figure out how to dress your little one according to the weather.
You need to dress your baby up in a manner that isn’t too warm or too light so that they can get a good night’s sleep. Outside weather is a prominent factor in dressing your little one right. When it’s daylight, you are still able to figure out things, and it’s moderately warm. As night proceeds, it only becomes colder, so you need to be careful about many things.
We’ll cover many things related to how to dress up your baby for sleep, from dressing them up according to the weather to the ideal room temperature for them to sleep in. So worry not; you might be able to find all answers to your questions as you read on and relieve some of that stress of yours.
Dress Your Baby According to the Weather
As I mentioned before, weather plays a vital role in identifying the kind of clothing you need to dress up your baby in. It can become quite confusing as the weather changes, so you also have to adapt according to the weather and dress your little one just right.
As a general rule, you might be aware of dressing your little one in one extra layer than what you are wearing. For example, if you are wearing a t-shirt with a jacket on, you can dress up your baby may be in a footed onesie with a two piece cotton PJ set and a light blanket, or maybe just a footed onesie with a wrap so they would be covered at all times.
While this sounds like good advice, it won’t work for all weathers. To make things easier below, I have categorized how to dress your little one according to the changing climates. I hope this might make things easier for you.
Hot Weather
Summer is difficult, especially as parents always tend to wrap their newborns in as many layers as possible, fearing their baby will catch a cold. You are not aware that over-dressing your little one can lead to over-heating and cause issues like irritability, lack of sleep, sweating, discomfort, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
For summer, keep it as light as possible. Keep your little one’s clothes, airy and breezy. If you don’t need your air conditioner at night, dress your baby in one layer of cotton clothes of your choice and use a cotton sheet to cover up or cotton wrap. If you use an air conditioner at night, dress your baby in full sleeve cotton clothing, one layer would suffice, and use a cotton sheet to cover up or cotton wrap.
One way to know if your baby is too warm is to check their breathing; it should be normal. Their cheeks shouldn’t be flushed or red. They shouldn’t be sweating at the back of their neck.
Mild Weather
The in-between months of summer and winter tend to cause more trouble for parents. As an adult, even you are not sure what to wear, how many layers to put on, sometimes it’s too cold or too warm. So, for your baby, use this rule of dressing them up in one more layer than what you’re wearing.
While putting your little one to sleep, dress them up in a full sleeve clothing of your choice and wrap them up in a cotton wrap or swaddle. After some time, check to see if that’s cold for them. Placing your hand on their cheeks, their back of the neck, hold their hands. If any of these places seem sweaty or cold to touch, adjust the layering accordingly.
Cold Weather
Just bundling up your little one in layers is not going to work. It might suffocate your baby; they will be irritated and not sleep or let you sleep. Just because it’s winter weather doesn’t mean you have to dress up your baby in as many layers as possible. To give them a good night’s sleep, think layers.
Since it’s wintertime, you can go from cotton to fleece material onesie, PJ sets, wraps, and blankets. A lot depends on the room temperature you have maintained, which we will discuss below in the next section. Natural wool, fleece are good options to dress your baby too. Avoid anything synthetic.
Things to Remember When Dressing Your Baby for the Night
- Never dress up your baby in caps or any kind of headwear when you put them to sleep. While covering their heads might seem like a good idea to you, it isn’t for your baby. This will overheat their bodies and can prove to be a hazard too. While sleeping, your baby might toss and turn, making their caps unstable and can lead to cover their mouth.
- Always dress up your baby in slightly loose clothes. They shouldn’t be too snug or too loose, as this can cause them to feel too cold or too warm.
- You can wrap your baby if you like it or cover them with a blanket, making sure their mouth, ears, chin, and nose are out of it. If they sleep in a nursery, you can wrap them, so they remain covered up. If they sleep right next to you, you can go for a blanket and not choose to wrap them up. As heat is radiated from your body too when your baby sleeps right next to you.
- You can also place a woolen or fleece blanket below them when putting them to sleep so that warmth is radiated from below. This depends on the room temperature and weather conditions. But this is a bit of personal advice from personal experience.
- Swaddling is something I would recommend personally. It gives your baby a sense of closeness with you. Your baby feels comfortable, close, and shares your body heat while you swaddle them to sleep. This is also a good routine for a parent with their baby, building a more touching future with your child.
- While covering your little one with a blanket is a good idea. But if your baby tends to move around a lot in their sleep and throw their blankets off, then wrapping them is a better idea. This lets their body heat remain with them.
Room Temperature When Dressing Your Baby for the Night
Keeping the right temperature is essential, neither too cold nor too hot and just right. As your baby is quite delicate, the ideal room temperature for them is different than adults. As when the weather is appropriate, your little one will get their good night’s sleep.
Your baby must get a good enough sleep, as sleeping also helps them in many ways during this time of their growth. You should maintain the temperature as 21-22 degrees centigrade, an ideal temperature for babies to sleep in.
You shouldn’t stress yourself too much with a change in temperature from one degree to another. As a first time parent, you might want to know the exact temperature clothing guide to make your little one comfortable, but let’s not go overboard. All that matters is that your baby is comfortable while sleeping, and as a parent, you will know when to add or remove layers accordingly.
To Summarize
Considerations need to be put in when dressing your baby for the night; too much of anything can be harmful. Your baby might not be able to speak, but you can recognize the signs if they are too hot or too cold and change their clothing accordingly as a parent.
Remember, layering is always a good idea. When it’s too hot, you can remove some; you can add more when too cold. Dressing up your baby depends a lot on the weather condition you live in and the room temperature you maintain.
Also, things change a lot as your baby grows. What might work for them as a 3-month-old might not work as a 5-month-old, and so on. So, keep adapting and observing what isn’t working for your baby and change things accordingly. You can do this!
