Northern Mama's

ZAFrisbie

So DH and I moved to the Chicago area from Georgia last year and are now expecting our first, and to say I'm totally confused about caring for a child during another possible Chiberia, would be an understatement. It was a big enough stress trying to figure out how to dress myself.

So all of those Northern Mama's out there...

-How do you suggest dressing a baby for indoors and outdoors during the winter?

-Can the baby go outside during the winter? (I know that might sound like a dumb question) If so when (how many weeks old?), and how?

Any other winter baby facts would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!!

Maelara

Lol, sorry but this is slightly hilarious to me as I'm up in Canada and it gets super cold where I live. I'll answer your questions though!!

Dress baby in one more layer than you need for yourself when inside. When outside, if you have your baby in it's carseat, you can't put your baby in a thick winter coat or coats in general for that matter. I will be doing a fleece sleeper with a onsie underneath when it's cold, possibly with a not to thick sweater. Make sure they have a hat and mittens. The most important part is the blanket. Make sure they are draped in a nice, thick, warm blanket and start your car before you go out so it's nice and cozy.

Yes, you can take the baby outside in the winter unless your doctor tells you otherwise or you get extreme cold like we do here (-50*C which is -58*F). You can take them out right away and I would do it in a carseat.

lovingaddi

Agree with @Maelara‌ 100%

ZAFrisbie

Maelara said:

Lol, sorry but this is slightly hilarious to me as I'm up in Canada and it gets super cold where I live. I'll answer your questions though!!

Dress baby in one more layer than you need for yourself when inside. When outside, if you have your baby in it's carseat, you can't put your baby in a thick winter coat or coats in general for that matter. I will be doing a fleece sleeper with a onsie underneath when it's cold, possibly with a not to thick sweater. Make sure they have a hat and mittens. The most important part is the blanket. Make sure they are draped in a nice, thick, warm blanket and start your car before you go out so it's nice and cozy.

Yes, you can take the baby outside in the winter unless your doctor tells you otherwise or you get extreme cold like we do here (-50*C which is -58*F). You can take them out right away and I would do it in a carseat.

Thank you so much for your suggestions, and I know I sound like an idiot when asking such questions, but I'm a true southerner and I am so confused by cold weather. THANK YOU!

Maelara

ZAFrisbie said:

Maelara said:

Lol, sorry but this is slightly hilarious to me as I'm up in Canada and it gets super cold where I live. I'll answer your questions though!!

Dress baby in one more layer than you need for yourself when inside. When outside, if you have your baby in it's carseat, you can't put your baby in a thick winter coat or coats in general for that matter. I will be doing a fleece sleeper with a onsie underneath when it's cold, possibly with a not to thick sweater. Make sure they have a hat and mittens. The most important part is the blanket. Make sure they are draped in a nice, thick, warm blanket and start your car before you go out so it's nice and cozy.

Yes, you can take the baby outside in the winter unless your doctor tells you otherwise or you get extreme cold like we do here (-50*C which is -58*F). You can take them out right away and I would do it in a carseat.

Thank you so much for your suggestions, and I know I sound like an idiot when asking such questions, but I'm a true southerner and I am so confused by cold weather. THANK YOU!

Lol, no worries. From the sounds of it, you guys get what we call sweater weather here

ZAFrisbie

Also, I have a sister-in-law in Florida who was told by a doctor to pretty much quarantine her baby (or that's what she did, doctor approved or not), and we plan on taking ours outside as soon as possible. So trying to get some ammo to inform my Mom that it's ok to leave the apartment when baby arrives, so she doesn't have a panic attack.  

Maelara

ZAFrisbie said:

Also, I have a sister-in-law in Florida who was told by a doctor to pretty much quarantine her baby (or that's what she did, doctor approved or not), and we plan on taking ours outside as soon as possible. So trying to get some ammo to inform my Mom that it's ok to leave the apartment when baby arrives, so she doesn't have a panic attack.  

Lol! That makes sense from a doctor in Florida we still have to take our babies out to the doctors and get their shots and what not. Our weather is much, much colder here and we still do it ask YOUR doctor about YOUR climate. I'm sure if a baby went from Florida to here in the winter it would be a very nasty shock and probably shouldn't be done.

AnnieRoo13

Don't worry OP, I'm Canadian and used to cold winters (although not as cold as @Maelara‌ ) and I didn't know the answers to your questions until recently.

I'm just glad we didn't have our babies last year- that was a killer winter and I didn't even take my dog out as much as I normally would, so I can't imagine people took their newborns out much! Hopefully this winter is more average

Maelara

AnnieRoo13 said:

Don't worry OP, I'm Canadian and used to cold winters (although not as cold as @Maelara‌ ) and I didn't know the answers to your questions until recently. I'm just glad we didn't have our babies last year- that was a killer winter and I didn't even take my dog out as much as I normally would, so I can't imagine people took their newborns out much! Hopefully this winter is more average

This winter was killer here too! In Estevan (which is in Saskatchewan about 10 hours from here) they got to -100*C (-148*F). That was very extreme and not typical. We do get -50 here at least once every winter, it just happened more this winter than most

MrsG1019

Checking in from San Diego, California... And I can't even imagine being in -50 weather.... Much less what to do with a kid in that kinda weather. We get down into the 50s-60s here and people act like it's the ends of the world and are probably more bundled up than what you guys would wear on most winter days... you ladies are rockstars!

Maelara

MrsG1019 said:

Checking in from San Diego, California... And I can't even imagine being in -50 weather.... Much less what to do with a kid in that kinda weather. We get down into the 50s-60s here and people act like it's the ends of the world and are probably more bundled up than what you guys would wear on most winter days... you ladies are rockstars!

Nah! I wouldn't know what to do in your heat. I was I'm Vegas during a heat wave once and Im pretty sure this Canadian melted. I seriously ran from casino to casino so I didn't have to be outside for long, lol!! I wouldn't know how to dress my child in that heat. She's probably never be dressed.

MrsG1019

Maelara said:

MrsG1019 said:

Checking in from San Diego, California... And I can't even imagine being in -50 weather.... Much less what to do with a kid in that kinda weather. We get down into the 50s-60s here and people act like it's the ends of the world and are probably more bundled up than what you guys would wear on most winter days... you ladies are rockstars!

Nah! I wouldn't know what to do in your heat. I was I'm Vegas during a heat wave once and Im pretty sure this Canadian melted. I seriously ran from casino to casino so I didn't have to be outside for long, lol!! I wouldn't know how to dress my child in that heat. She's probably never be dressed.

*******************

Lol... true! I'm sure little man will be rocking a diaper and shorts most of our summers. Currently 103 degrees in my town and we don't have AC in our home... So it's 87 degrees in my house as I type this.. But I'm sitting 4 feet from the fan blowing straight in my face. Luckily we don't have weather like this all the time ... So you learn to cope & just take a few extra trips to the beach or cool off in the pool. Vegas on the other hand -- that's a whole different kind of hot. No Thank You!

Singingmama10

yes OP, to second what pp's said... it was a crazy winter. It is not usually that cold in and around Chicago.  It's usually 20's and up.  I've lived in the chicago-land area my whole life and I have never seen a winter (at least that I can remember) like last winter.  It will be mostly in the 20's, which is still cold but nothing like last winter. 

rox825

ZAFrisbie said:

Thank you so much for your suggestions, and I know I sound like an idiot when asking such questions, but I'm a true southerner and I am so confused by cold weather. THANK YOU!

OP I live in Maryland and have most of my life and I wasn't sure about how to dress the baby in the winter either, and ours are usually not even too bad! This post is really helpful, thanks for asking!

ETA quote fail, sorry.

Love4Science

My best friend lives in Minnesota and she said to get one of these for the carseat, so I did (it doesn't get quite as cold in the northeast where I am, but still cold enough!)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001LPNH2G?tag=blself-20

justjinny

Our DS#1 was born last October, so we dealt with the bad winter while I was on maternity leave. I had never felt so pent up in my house before!  I live in WI and usually get out in winter to go cross-country skiing but didn't go once last year. I took LO to the mall a lot just to have a warm place to walk around.

Like PP said, dress LO in one more layer than yourself and use a blanket or car seat cover when you go out. We usually ran our car for 5 min. before leaving so it could warm up before bringing baby out. We also got a little snow suit for DS to wear when we went on walks (it was too bulky to be safe for car rides) and I would go out with him for short walks  starting @ 2wks old if it was 20 degrees or so... which unfortunately wasn't that often last winter.

MmmPopcorn

Love4Science said:

My best friend lives in Minnesota and she said to get one of these for the carseat, so I did (it doesn't get quite as cold in the northeast where I am, but still cold enough!)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001LPNH2G?tag=blself-20

The carseat covers are nice, but if you use one while the carseat is in a moving vehicle, the warranty on your carseat will be voided. If it's used for just walking around town, go for it! It doesn't get very cold here, and I hate that we have no excuse to use cute, fuzzy things like this.