Why Our Babies Need to Be Warm and Cozy
Keeping our babies warm and cozy is essential to their well-being and comfort, but this seems to be lost knowledge. There are incredible benefits to warm babies – they tend to be more comfortable and relax, digest better, have less constipation, and are champions at weight gain!
Here’s the radical truth - Newborns and infants both need to be wearing the same numbers of clothing layers as their adults, plus 1-2 more! We’re talking hats and blankets all the time with the young ones, and the benefits are visible immediately. This means if mom and dad are in jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts and socks…..baby needs to be in a t-shirt (onesie/undershirt), gown/outfit, long johns or tights, socks, and their hat and blanket!
Let me explain.
Brown adipose tissue is a kind of fat that is activated when the body needs to produce extra heat. In newborn infants, their brown fat helps to protect them from hypothermia, since a drop in core body temperature is a serious problem for them. Older humans can also manage their thermal regulation through their ability to shiver, with their good deal of muscle and surface area, and their ability to move away from cold. Newborns, though, only have their brown fat to regulate heat; they have small surface area and small muscles, and they cannot move themselves away from the cold. Most significantly, their head represents about a third of their body - it's much larger proportionally to their bodies than for adults, and it’s a major source of heat loss. A warm round baby head is often found on an infant with cold feet, it’s like the heat going up the chimney in a cold room!
Young babies are born somewhat immature compared to other mammal babies, and at minimum, need about 4-6 weeks of extended womb time, just on the outside. With each feed, they are working hard to
Keep warm.
Digest and fuel the functioning of their physical body.
Have enough calories to do the work of eating again in two hours.
Hopefully grow just a bit.
Be alert, learn and interact.
So if they are cold, they are using up all their calories before they even get to digestion. In fact, the first thing I suggest if parents are worried about their baby’s constipation, is literally to put a hat on their head!
At 6 weeks old, little brother is getting layered up for going outside with the big kids. Even sheltered in a baby-wrap under his mother’s sweatshirt, he has his own cozy layers that help keep him warm and content.
How do you know if your baby is too cool? Babies are too cool if
Their hands or feet are cool.
Their skin is mottled or blotchy.
They have the hiccups (Really!)
We’ve seen some beautiful examples of the benefits of warm babies.
I once mentioned these benefits in passing during a cool Autumn doula class. At lunchtime, one of the students had her 6-month-old daughter brought to her to nurse; the infant was dressed in an adorable but thin, frilly, sleeveless sundress, barefoot, and had a big head with little hair. Her skin was cool, pale and mottled, and her head warm and sweaty. The next week the doula student shared, “Little Susie has always pooped only once a week, it’s been a big worry. After our class last week, I thought I’d do an experiment. I dressed her more warmly, and put a little hat on her head. She pooped that afternoon, and has gone every day since!! WOW, why don’t the pediatricians know about this?!”
The benefits of warm cozy babies without exposed skin like cold ankles or calves
include much better weight gain, calmer alert states, being more interactive, having a more relaxed body, less crying, longer naps, and having enough inner warmth to move their stools regularly.
Back when Indigo’s brick and mortar store was open, a young family brought in their 4-month-old daughter, asking for ideas as they shared that she was severely underweight. Her weight gain had slowed down from just a few ounces a month, to none in the last month. They’d been in a few times, but we’d only seen the baby asleep, though later I wondered if it was listlessness? The parents shared that they had tried ‘everything’, and the pediatricians were getting increasingly concerned even though they could find nothing wrong. The parents were feeling very open to new ideas. We explained the value of warmth for infants, and why our store sold soft wool-silk underclothes. They immediately went into my office and redressed her in a super soft wool bonnet and a silk-wool under-layer underneath the thin outfit she was wearing in January. Shortly afterward, within just a few minutes, the baby opened her eyes and smiled! The parents literally began to cry, saying they hadn’t seen her do that before!?! A week later they came back to weigh her – and she had gained 12 OUNCES in SEVEN days! This beautiful baby, and their relieved faces, will be forever burned into my memory. This couple became one of our best woolens customers, gifting a set to every one of their friends when they had a baby!
And of course, as always, let common sense prevail!
My own babies wore hats for their first 4 months, even though they were born in the summer months, and they always drew comments about how calm and alert they were. However, a baby that is red, sweating, and/or panting is indeed too warm! NEVER leave your baby in their car seat, still bundled and layered in outdoor wear, brought into the house from the cold car, and set down near the register to overheat. Look for a balance, with a few comfortable layers in the house, and warmer layers for the outdoors. You’ll soon develop a real sense of your child’s comfort level. Cozy babies are happier babies.
