What this is about
On the changing pad, a hot-weather outfit can look almost unfinished. With a young baby, a single thin layer of cotton feels suspiciously slight. Bare legs and arms seem exposed, yet bundling them up against the sun only traps body heat.
So keep it to one light, loose layer, and put your effort into shade, the cooler hours of the day, extra feeds and a cool place to go when it all gets too much.
Baby outside on a hot day: what to wear?
These outfits are for the shade, where a baby belongs on a hot day. Go by the feels-like temperature, add a sun hat in the sun, and keep a baby under 6 months out of direct sun altogether.
28°C and warmer82°F
24–27°C75–81°F
A newborn keeps long sleeves and thin socks on a warm day, and wears the same short romper as an older baby once it gets really hot (summer newborn clothes).
Choose thin cotton or linen, cut loose, in light colors. Thin cotton soaks up sweat and lets it dry, and a loose cut lets the air reach the skin. Tight clothes hold the sweat against the skin, and that is how heat rash starts.
Hands and feet can feel cool even on a hot afternoon, so they are no reason to add anything. The back of the neck tells you more.
Pack a dry spare. A sweaty bodysuit clings, and in an air-conditioned shop it turns cold fast. For a long stop in a chilly café, a thin cardigan helps too.
How hot is too hot for a baby outside?
When it feels like 32°C (90°F) or more, it is too hot for a long walk with a baby. Your baby is already down to one thin layer, so there is nothing left to take off. Babies also sweat less than adults, and they can't walk into the shade or tell you they are too hot.
It is hotter still down at stroller height. Pavement gives back the heat it soaked up all day, so a park or a leafy side street is cooler than a main road in full sun.
If the outing can wait, go in the morning or the early evening. Missing the afternoon heat does more for your baby than any change of clothes. For an errand that can't wait, plan a stop somewhere air-conditioned on the way.
And if even the shady side of the street feels stifling to you, it is a day to stay in.
Keeping your baby cool in the stroller
Pull the canopy all the way out, or clip on a stroller sunshade or a parasol, and keep the sides open so air can move through. Don't drape a muslin or a blanket over the front, however thin: it shuts out the breeze, and the air inside heats up (why a muslin is not a sunshade).
A moving stroller has a breeze through it. Parked in the sun outside a café or by the sandbox, it heats up quickly, so park it in deep shade and move it when the shadow moves.
A clip-on stroller fan keeps the air moving under the canopy. Choose one with enclosed blades that little fingers can't reach, and aim it past your baby rather than into the face.
A stroller that has stood in the sun or in a hot car trunk can have a scorching seat and metal buckles. Press your palm on them before you put your baby in.
Where the back lies against the padding, sweat has nowhere to go. After a nap in the stroller, the back is often soaked while the tummy feels fine, so lift your baby out in the shade now and then, and change into the dry spare.
A carrier is warmer than a stroller, because your own body heat comes too. One thin layer is plenty, and on the hottest days keep the time in it short (dressing a baby for the carrier).
Offer more feeds on hot days
Offer the breast or the bottle more often than usual. In the heat, many babies want shorter, more frequent feeds, and until 6 months milk is all they need to drink, even in a heat wave.
Feeds get sweaty where your baby's head rests on your arm. A muslin or a thin towel between you helps, and so does a damp washcloth in the crook of your arm.
From 6 months, offer sips of water from an open cup or a straw cup with meals, and a little more between meals on hot days.
Keep an eye on the wet diapers. About as many as usual means your baby is drinking enough. Fewer, or darker pee, means it is time for more feeds.
How to cool a baby down
Red cheeks, damp hair and a hot, sweaty neck mean your baby is too hot. Start with the first step straight away, and do as many of the others as you can.
How to cool a baby down
Get out of the heat.
Move into deep shade, or indoors to the coolest room you have.
Take the clothes off.
Undress your baby down to the diaper, so the air reaches the skin and the sweat can dry.
Cool the skin with lukewarm water.
Give a lukewarm bath, or wipe the arms, legs and neck with a damp washcloth and let the skin dry in the air. Use lukewarm water, never cold.
Offer a feed.
Give the breast or a bottle, even if the next feed isn't due yet. A hot baby loses water in sweat, and milk puts it back.
Keep the air moving.
Point a fan across the room, not straight at your baby, and keep it out of reach. A bowl of ice in front of it cools the air it blows. In a room above 32°C (90°F), find somewhere cooler instead.
Without air conditioning at home, close the blinds and curtains on the sunny side in the morning, and open the windows once it is cooler outside than in. Lower floors stay cooler, and on the worst afternoons a library or a mall is a good place to be.
Questions parents ask
Can my baby wear just a diaper in hot weather?
Yes, at home. On a hot day, a diaper alone is plenty indoors (baby clothes indoors). Outside, a light romper or bodysuit is better: it soaks up the sweat and keeps a hot stroller seat off the skin.
What should my baby wear to sleep on a hot night?
Dress for the bedroom, not the forecast, because a room can stay hot long after the evening cools. In a warm room, a short-sleeve bodysuit, in a thin sleep bag if you use one. From 28°C (82°F) in the room, just a diaper, with no sleep bag or blanket. How to dress a baby for sleep has the outfit for each room temperature.
Can I take my newborn out in hot weather?
Yes, for a short walk in the cooler part of the day, in full shade, with somewhere cool close by. A newborn's skin has almost no protection from the sun, so the shade matters even more than the clothes (summer newborn clothes).
Do babies sleep more in hot weather?
Often, yes. Heat makes babies tired, just as it does adults, so a longer nap is common. Floppy or hard to wake is different: that is heat illness, not tiredness.
Does a baby need socks in hot weather?
Not usually. With the romper, bare feet are fine. Once your baby walks, light breathable shoes or sandals protect the soles from hot pavement.
What does heat rash look like, and what helps?
Tiny red bumps, sometimes tiny blisters, in the neck folds, on the chest and back, along the hairline and under the diaper. On brown or black skin they can look gray or white. Sweat trapped under the skin causes it, and it itches. It is harmless and usually fades within a few days; if it doesn't, or it oozes, show it to a doctor. Cool your baby down, pat the skin dry, folds too, and leave it bare or under loose cotton. Greasy creams make it worse.
How hot is too hot for a baby in the car?
A parked car is too hot on any warm day, even with the windows open, so never leave your baby in it, not even for a minute. Most children left in a hot car were forgotten there, so put your bag or phone on the back seat and look there every time you get out. Before a drive, cool the car and touch the buckles (dressing a baby for the car seat).
Signs of heat illness
- Unusual tiredness or floppiness.
- Irritability that will not settle.
- A high temperature, or hot skin that is not sweating.
- Pale, clammy skin or heavy sweating.
- Fast breathing.
- Vomiting.
- No wet diaper for many hours.
- A seizure.
If your baby is limp, hard to wake, has a seizure or is struggling to breathe, call emergency services now. If your baby stays unusually hot or unwell after moving somewhere cool, contact your pediatrician promptly.
