bringing under dressed baby outside

[denaverbena]

As the weather has gotten colder I've notice DH sometimes brings our babe in from a walk outside and some part of her is ice cold. I showed him and asked if He would make sure she's dressed warm when they go out. I've had to remind him, but at other times he remembers. The problem though is now He wants to bring her out on the back porch for a couple minutes just to check out the morning. Sometimes its with no hat or socks. Today though he brought her out with only thin cotton pants on a 40 degree morning. I told him it was too cold for that and he should come outside. After a minute or two he angrily brought her back in feeling like I was undermining his decisions, saying its good to get fresh morning air and he wasn't dressed warm either. I pointed out he had wool long johns and long sleeve and asked if he would go outside dressed as she was. That didn't get the point across so I said I was willing to proven there was a better way and maybe he should do some research or talk to some responsible parents and see what they thought. He said he didn't have time and asked if I would look it up. So here I am. What would you do in this situation. Is there a way I could explain it better? Even if its just for a minute or two and the baby isn't crying I still think a baby needs to be warm outside. What do you think?

[MeepyCat]

It's a few minutes. She's in his arms, and gets some from his body heat. She will cry if she's not comfortable, and I assume your DH would respond appropriately to that.

I don't think that she'll come to any harm by this, and I'd let it go.

[YayJennie]

How about just wrapping her in a warm blanket while she's out with him? That way he doesn't have to get her all dressed and undressed, but she'll stay warm and cozy.

[dosergirl]

my dh doesn't do this, but similarly doesn't quite know how to dress her appropriately. i love that he goes in and gets her dressed and i can't get mad if it isn't how i would do it. so i just bring a blanket out and mention that gee it is colder then i thought in here, maybe wrap her. he always wraps her right up. maybe if that is their routine to go outside, the blankie will be part of it.

also a good trick is to say . "oh i figured out she really likes such and such" as a way to get him to do things haha.

[kathymuggle]

I think it is really sweet he brings her outside to greet the morning!

If he has to get her dressed to the nines to do so he probably isn't going to bother. Who wants to spend 10 minutes dressing a squirming baby for a 2 minute outing?

As per whether or not I think a baby needs to be warm outside...the answer is it depends on the age of the baby. A newborn - yes, they should be warm all the time. A robust 11 month old? A few minutes in cool (not cold - but
"40" is not cold in my world) weather is not that big a deal.

I do think different people react to temperature differently. I love feeling cool - I tend to underdress, particualrly if it is only for a few minutes. My DH, OTOH, will get dressed to the nines to put the garbage out.

While your child is preverbal, and cannot let you know if she is affected by the cold or not, a blanket sounds like a great compromise!

[springbride]

What about keeping one of those fleece blanket sleeper-sacks by the door so all he has to do is zip her into it? For us DH seems to respond well to the easier, more direct things where he doesn't have to guess.

[lifeguard]

You don't mention how old she is. I agree with pp that a newborn is different than an older baby in this regard.

Imo 40 is not very cold & I wouldn't blink an eye at ds being dressed as you mention - especially for just a few minutes.

It is VERY cold here right now & ds takes his mittens off every. single. time I go out with him in the ergo so that when we get where we are going his hands are ICE. Not once has he fussed or cried - I don't think it particularly bothers him.

I like the idea of keeping a blanket by the door - dressing a baby is a pain & expecting him to do so for a 2 minute step outside would certainly discourage me from continuing that sweet morning ritual.

[GoestoShow]

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Edited by GoestoShow - 1/4/11 at 8:51am

[denaverbena]

The blanket idea is wonderful! That's what we'll do. What really bothered me is I know neither he nor I would go outside with no shirt or socks in this weather. I had just brought her shirt down stairs because she already seemed cold. Anyways... Thanks for your responses. They helped a lot.

[luv-my-boys]

another thing we used to do along with the blanket was we bought one of those hooded towels for children. It was a nice heavier terry and we would put that on the baby while we went from house to car. As I ddidnt want to get them all bundled up in a coat for a 10 second walk and then take the jacket off to get the car seat buckles on. It worked pretty good and "reminded" DH to cover their heads and we could quickly get it on and off. Now we use them as bath towels

[Vancouver Mommy]

My husband used to do this all the time. I used to joke that if I took her out without a hat in the late spring old ladies on the street would admonish me for not dressing her properly. But dh could take her out naked in a snowstorm and the same old ladies would say "isn't it nice that the father is babysitting". All I can say is that after four and a half years neither of my kids have lost body parts to frostbite, nor suffered a disproportionate number of cold viruses.

[Auraji]

I somtimes take my dd out for a bit on our backyard when she's under dressed. She never seems to be uncomfortable, so I dont worry and at the minor fuzz I go back inside. She seems to always be warm and happy though.

[boringscreenname]

My DP is the same way. Last night it was in the low 30s outside, and we were going to Christmas shopping at nightime. DP thought I was crazy for making DS wear a jacket and hat.

He saw other kids that were dressed the same as DS while we were out, and heard DS fuss because he was cold even with the hat and coat on so I think he understands where I'm coming from now.

[JMJ]

Do most babies fuss when they're cold? DD hasn't complained once. She must have her father's genes.