What this is about
Most babies spend the day at home in a bodysuit and one soft piece with it: a sleepsuit over the top in the first months, soft pants once crawling starts. In a comfortable house, nothing more is needed.
Whether your baby needs more or less than that depends on how warm the room is, and on what your baby is doing in it.
Baby at home: how warm to dress?
The weather app on your phone only knows what is happening out on the street. Indoors, a simple room thermometer is the only number that counts. Keep it on a shelf near where your baby plays, away from direct sunlight, drafty windows, and radiators.
Use that room reading to find your starting outfit below. These combinations are designed for awake time: playing on the rug, tummy time, or being held.
28°C and warmer82°F
24–27°C75–81°F
22–23°C72–73°F
20–21°C68–70°F
18–19°C64–66°F
Below 18°C64°F
In a warm room, a bodysuit on its own is the complete outfit, even though it looks like underwear. Pants, socks and a sweater added out of habit are how babies end up hot and fussy.
Where the table shows pants and socks, a sleepsuit with feet does the same job in one piece. That is why so many young babies live in one, and why it is the easiest outfit in a cold house.
Two babies in the same room can need different outfits. A baby kicking on a play mat makes warmth, while a newborn lying still does not, which is one reason a newborn wears a little more.
What temperature should the house be for a baby?
The 16–20°C (61–68°F) you'll find everywhere is for the room your baby sleeps in. For the house by day, there is no set number. Keep it where you're comfortable, and let the clothes do the adjusting: anywhere from 18°C (64°F) to 27°C (81°F), they can manage on their own. In a colder or hotter house, change the room as well.
What catches parents out is that a house is not one temperature. The thermostat in the hall can say 20°C (68°F) while the living room with the big old windows sits at 17°C (63°F), and the kitchen is warmer again once the oven is on. Heating that runs in the morning and the evening makes the same room warmer after dinner than in the early afternoon. So go by the thermometer in the room your baby is in, and look at it again when the heating changes.
A cardigan with buttons or snaps down the front makes those changes easy, because nothing has to go over a tired baby's head.
A cold house in winter
Below 18°C (64°F), it's easier to warm one room than to keep adding clothes. Close the door of the room you spend the day in, put a rug or a thick play mat between your baby and the floor, and keep any heater well away from where your baby plays.
A hot house in summer
When a hot day pushes the house to 28°C (82°F) or more, a diaper alone is all your baby needs, and the rest is up to the room. Close the blinds before the sun reaches the windows, point a fan across the room rather than at your baby, and spend the afternoon in the coolest room, usually the one lowest down.
In an air-conditioned room it goes the other way. At 22°C (72°F), your baby needs short sleeves and light pants, even in July, and a diaper alone is too little.
Holding a baby close turns you into a gentle radiator, so a long contact nap in a warm room can leave your baby hot and damp.
Crawling knees and cool floors
Warm air rises, so the floor is the coolest part of a room, and wood or tile feels colder to bare skin than the air does. A thermometer on a shelf reads the room at your height, while your baby spends the day down on the floor.
Once crawling starts, light cotton pants earn their place even in a warm room, because bare knees get sore on carpet and cold on wooden boards.
Feet are a choice between warmth and grip. Once your baby crawls and pulls up to stand, grip usually wins.
Crawling and pulling upBare feet
Toes grip the floor and feel it, which is how a baby learns to balance. The best choice on any floor that is not cold.
A cold floorThin socks
When the floor is cold, thin socks take the chill off. Once your baby pulls up to stand, choose a pair with rubber grips on the sole.
Before crawling, and on carpetFooted sleepsuit
Warm and easy, and fine all day for a baby who is not yet moving. The same sleepsuit that was perfect on the carpet slides like a skate once your baby pulls up on wood or tile.
Coming home from a walk
After a cold walk, your baby's cheeks and fingers still feel cool, and it's tempting to leave everything on, especially if your baby fell asleep on the way home. The cool cheeks are left over from the walk. In a heated house, a snowsuit, a footmuff or a blanket soon gets too warm.
So the outdoor layers come off in the hallway, asleep or not, and a few minutes later the back of the neck tells you whether the clothes underneath suit the room.
Questions parents ask
Should my baby wear a hat indoors?
No, not even a newborn, and not in a cold house either. Babies let extra heat out through the head, so a hat indoors can make your baby too warm. The thin newborn hat from the hospital stays off at home too, unless your midwife or nurse says otherwise.
Should my baby wear socks indoors?
Only when the floor or the room is cool, from about 19°C (66°F) down. In a warm house they can stay in the drawer, even when a grandparent reaches for them.
My baby's hands and feet feel cold at home. Do I add a layer?
Not for the hands and feet alone. A baby's body keeps the middle warm first, so cool hands and feet are normal in a comfortable room. A layer goes on only when the chest or the neck feels cool as well.
Can my baby wear a sleepsuit all day?
Yes. For the first months, a sleepsuit is the day outfit, the night outfit and the easiest change at the changing table, so there is no need to change into day clothes in the morning. Separate pants make more sense once your baby crawls and bare feet help on the floor.
Is air conditioning safe for a newborn?
Yes. A cooled room is safer for a baby than a hot one. Keep the cold air from blowing straight at your baby, the same as with a fan.
Should my baby wear shoes when crawling?
No. Shoes come once your baby walks alone, and at first only for walking outside.
