What this is about
Layering advice for babies often borrows from hiking gear: a base layer, a mid layer and a shell. For a baby, it means three jobs. Something soft goes on the skin, something warm goes over it, and something that keeps out wind and rain goes on top when the weather calls for it.
Several thin pieces work better than one thick one. The air caught between them holds warmth, so two thin layers keep your baby warmer than one layer twice as thick, and each one can come off on its own.
How to layer baby clothes
Each layer goes on over the one before, and you stop once the weather is covered. On many days, that is after the first or second.
How to layer baby clothes
Soft on the skin
A bodysuit, soft pants and socks. They stay on all day, and at home they are often the whole outfit.
Holds the warmth in
A fleece or cardigan keeps warm air around the body. On a calm, mild day, you can stop here.
Keeps out wind and rain
A jacket goes over the fleece when it is windy, wet or colder. In freezing weather, a pram suit takes this job.
Covers the bare parts
The layers leave the head and hands open. The hat goes on last, right at the door, and mittens on a cold or windy day.
The base layer: a bodysuit on the skin
For most babies, the layer on the skin is a cotton bodysuit. It snaps closed under the diaper, so it stays tucked in when you lift your baby or buckle a stroller harness, and the tummy and back stay covered.
Not good: A T-shirt alone rides up
Lift your baby, and the back is bare between the shirt and the pants.
Good: A bodysuit underneath stays put
The shirt still rides up, and the bodysuit keeps the whole back covered.
Cotton breathes well and absorbs moisture if your baby gets warm. Short sleeves suit warm days. In cooler weather, switch to long sleeves and add soft pants and socks.
A footed sleepsuit can be the base too, especially in the first few months, and it saves you from wrestling tiny socks onto kicking feet. Bodysuits with separate pants make diaper changes quicker. Once your baby crawls, separates also stay in place, while a sleepsuit gets dragged down at the knees.
The middle layer: the warmth you adjust
This is the layer you put on and take off as the day changes. A knit cardigan, a cotton sweater or a fleece jacket holds warm air close to the chest, and it's the easiest piece to take off when you walk into somewhere warm.
Think of an ordinary morning walk. You leave a breezy 12°C (54°F) sidewalk, walk into a heated grocery store, and then step onto a crowded bus. If your baby is wearing one thick, padded snowsuit, you are stuck. Either your baby roasts in the stroller, or you unbuckle the whole harness and undress your baby in the aisle.
With layers, you unbutton the cardigan or unzip the fleece while the bodysuit and pants stay on. So choose warm pieces that open down the front, with buttons or a zipper. A snug pullover has to come off over the face of a hot, fussy baby, in the middle of the bus.
The outer layer: for wind, rain and real cold
The outer layer keeps the weather off the warm one. It stops the wind, which blows straight through knit and fleece, and it keeps wet weather out. In cool air, that means a light jacket or windbreaker, and in freezing weather an insulated pram suit (a snowsuit, in US shops).
In a stroller, the canopy helps. When the wind picks up, pull it down, and your baby sits in still air behind it. A blanket tucked over the lap adds a layer too, but one draped over the opening stops the fresh air along with the wind.
In the car seat, the outer layer comes off before you buckle, because a puffy coat or pram suit squashes flat under the harness in a crash and leaves the straps loose. It goes back on over the buckled straps, or a blanket does. In a carrier, your body does the warm layer's job, and a carrier cover or your own coat does the outer one.
Not every outfit needs all three
All three layers are for cold or wet days. On a hot afternoon, a single cotton romper does the entire job, and indoors a soft bodysuit and light pants are usually enough. Three layers on a warm day only leave your baby sweaty in the stroller.
On a calm, mild day, one piece can do two jobs. A cardigan over the bodysuit keeps your baby warm, and with no wind to get through the knit, it is the outer piece as well. On a crisp, dry fall walk, a fleece jacket does the same.
When the air turns colder or the wind picks up, the two jobs split between two pieces.
In real winter cold, the pram suit takes over the outer job, because a jacket still leaves the legs and the waist out in the air. It closes around your baby from the shoulders to the feet, and the bodysuit and warm fleece stay on underneath.
Head, hands and feet: what to put on?
The three layers cover the body, but what most parents worry about is cold fingers and bare ankles. Cool hands while the chest is warm and dry are completely normal, and not a sign that your baby needs another sweater. Bare ankles and wrists are different, because that is where a kick or a stretch opens a gap between two pieces.
A hat for the weather
A knit hat for cool air and wind, a sun hat in strong sun. Take it off indoors and in a warm car, because babies lose heat through the head.
Socks over the pant cuffs
Pants ride up when your baby kicks or sits in the stroller. Socks pulled up over the cuffs keep the ankles covered.
Booties over the socks
Once it turns cold, booties go on over the socks. They fasten at the ankle, so they stay on feet that kick plain socks off.
Mittens with long cuffs
For cold or windy air. Long cuffs reach over the sleeve, so no bare wrist shows between them.
Out the door and back in
Put on your own boots and coat first, and your baby's jacket or pram suit and hat last, just before you open the door. Zip your baby into a pram suit, then spend ten minutes hunting for the car keys, and you'll have a sweaty, crying baby before you're even outside.
Back home, the hat and the jacket or pram suit come off as soon as you're through the door. In a warm shop or on the bus, take the hat off and open everything you can. If the back of the neck still feels hot or damp a few minutes later, the cardigan or fleece comes off too.
If your baby fell asleep on the walk, you'll want to leave everything as it is to save the nap. Open the pram suit, take off the hat and fold back the blanket anyway, even if it wakes your baby, because wrapped up like that in a heated room, a baby overheats fast.
Baby in the stroller: how warm to dress?
The table below shows what your baby wears at each feels-like temperature. In winter the row gets longer, but most of the extra pieces go on the feet, the hands and the head, not the chest.
4–7°C39–45°F
Questions parents ask
How many layers should a baby wear?
Usually one light layer more than you would want yourself, standing still in the same place. How many layers should a baby wear? shows what counts as a layer, and when the rule changes.
Do you put a onesie under everything?
In cool weather, yes. A bodysuit is the base under shirts, pants, sleepsuits and cardigans. On a hot day it is the whole outfit, with nothing over it. Under a warm fleece sleepsuit, or in a warm room, many parents leave it out, because the two together can make a baby sweaty.
Is a onesie a bodysuit or a sleepsuit?
How do I layer my baby for sleep?
At night the room temperature decides, and a sleep bag counts as a layer. Most nights that means a bodysuit or sleepsuit inside a sleep bag that suits the room. For a colder room, add warmth with clothes under the bag or a warmer bag, not a second bag, because the air caught between two bags makes them warmer than their two numbers add up to.
Does a newborn need more layers?
A little more. In the first 3 months a baby can't yet control body temperature well, so newborn outfits run a step warmer than an older baby's on the same day.
Does a stroller footmuff count as an outer layer?
Yes, from the waist down. A windproof footmuff does the outer layer's job for the legs, so ordinary pants and socks are enough under it, with no snowsuit. The top half still needs its warm layer and jacket, because the arms and chest stay out in the air.
Does a rain cover replace a jacket?
No. A rain cover keeps water off the stroller, but it adds no warmth, so your baby still wears the outfit for the feels-like temperature under it. Put it on while rain is falling and take it off when it stops, because it traps heat and damp air inside.
Can a Halloween costume count as a layer?
Yes. A plush costume, such as a pumpkin or a bear, is a warm layer, so it needs only a bodysuit underneath and comes off at an indoor party. A thin costume goes over the usual warm layer, and on a cold evening a jacket or a stroller blanket goes on top.
