What this is about
Newborns look fragile, so the natural instinct is almost always to overdress them. A bodysuit, sleeper, cardigan, hat, and blanket all feel protective at the front door. Packed together, they turn into an oven.
A newborn needs only a little more than you do: one light layer more than you are wearing yourself, indoors and out, except in real heat.
Why do babies get cold so fast?
A newborn can get cold in a room where you feel just fine, and much faster than most parents expect. Three simple things are behind it: a small body, very little padding, and lying still while you move around.
Why do babies get cold so fast?
A little cup cools faster.
Pour hot cocoa into a big mug and a little cup at the same time. The little cup goes cold first: it holds less warmth, and all of that warmth sits close to the outside. A newborn's small body works the same way, so it loses heat much faster than yours.
Less built-in padding.
The yellow layer is the fat under the skin. In an adult it is thick, and it holds the body's heat in like a warm blanket. In the first weeks a newborn has only a thin layer, so heat gets out easily.
You're walking. Your baby isn't.
Working muscles make heat. That is why you feel warm after a few minutes of pushing the stroller. Your baby lies still the whole time and gets none of that extra warmth.
One more layer means one light piece
Midwives and doctors recommend one light layer more than you would wear comfortably sitting still in the same spot.
Light is the key word. If you are comfortable in a T-shirt, your baby wears a bodysuit under a sleepsuit. If you are in a sweater, add a cardigan. A fleece pram suit, a padded blanket, and a wool hat are not one extra layer. That is three heavy pieces doing the same job at once.
Keep that extra light piece handy during the first 3 months. After that, keep it for whenever your baby sits still outside. Treat this as a rough guide, not a switch that flips on a specific day.
How your baby feels counts for more than any rule. Feel the back of the neck: warm and dry means the outfit is right, whatever a worried grandparent says. The comfort check shows the signs of too warm and too cold.
What a newborn wears at home, day and night
In the first weeks, most newborns live in sleepsuits, which US shops often call footed sleepers: one piece with long sleeves and feet, with snaps or a zipper down the front. In a cool home, a bodysuit goes underneath. Pants and separate tops look sweet in the shop, but on a baby who lies down all day they ride up and slip down, and the diaper changes never stop.
There is no need to change into day clothes every morning: a clean sleepsuit is fine from morning to bedtime. Look for ones with feet, so socks stop going missing, and with fold-over mitten cuffs, which keep sharp newborn nails off the face.
What you bought
What your baby wears
At night, dress for the room your baby sleeps in. That is often a sleepsuit alone or under a sleep bag, with no loose blanket. How to dress a newborn for sleep has the outfit for every room temperature.
How to dress a newborn for outside
Use this table as a starting point for going outside. Find the row for today's feels-like temperature. A sleepsuit counts as the bodysuit, pants and socks together, so your baby can go out in the one already on.
28°C and warmer82°F
24–27°C75–81°F
20–23°C68–73°F
16–19°C61–66°F
8–11°C46–52°F
These outfits already have the newborn's extra light piece in them, so nothing more goes on top. Older babies wear one step less, as in the stroller table. From 28°C (82°F), a newborn wears one loose layer like everyone else, because a newborn can't yet sweat well enough to shed extra heat.
For a summer birth, summer newborn clothes has the short list of loose cotton pieces. For a winter one, winter newborn clothes has thin layers that come off fast in warm shops and cars.
When can a newborn go outside?
Whenever you feel up to it. A healthy baby born at term can go for a walk in the first days at home, and there is no set number of weeks to wait. Crowded indoor places are another matter: some doctors suggest waiting a few months for malls, movie theaters and planes, while your baby's immune system develops.
Make the first walk short, a loop around the block, so you can turn back if your baby fusses, the weather changes or your own body, still recovering from the birth, has had enough. Dress your baby from the table above for today's feels-like temperature. On very cold days, below 0°C (32°F), keep walks short and close to home. On hot days, from about 32°C (90°F), walk in the cool of the early morning.
Babies under 6 months stay out of direct sun, so walk in the shade with the canopy up, and cover arms and legs with light clothes. Never drape a muslin over the stroller opening, because it traps the heat inside.
In a carrier, your body counts as a layer, so your baby wears indoor clothes under your coat or a carrier cover.
What your newborn wears home from the hospital
The going-home outfit is the first one you choose, and it's easy to overthink. The outfit that works is the one your baby will wear for weeks anyway: a bodysuit and a sleepsuit with feet, plus a knit hat if it is cold outside. Pack it in two sizes, newborn and 0–3 months, because nobody knows which one fits until your baby arrives. Pack a spare set too, because newborn diapers leak.
Then dress for the weather that day, as for any car ride. The clothes under the straps stay thin, so a padded going-home suit or snowsuit waits at home for the stroller. On a cold day, a blanket goes on top of the buckled straps. Ask whoever picks you up to warm the car and bring it to the door, so your baby goes from the warm lobby to a warm car in a few steps. The hat is for those few steps, so take it off once you are in the warm car. In summer, one thin layer is enough, with no hat.
Fit the car seat a few weeks before the due date, facing the back, and set its straps on the empty seat so they already sit low enough for a newborn.
Does a newborn need a hat?
Many hospitals put a thin cotton cap on a baby right after the birth, and for a good reason. A newborn arrives wet, with a head that is big for the body, and the cap keeps that head covered while your baby dries and warms up on your chest. It is thin because its job is a warm room, not cold air outside.
Hat on or off?
The first day: the cap stays on
Your baby is dried, head included, then lies skin to skin in only a diaper and the cap, with a blanket over the back. Some hospitals keep the cap on for the whole first day.
At home and asleep: hat off
Your baby cools down through the head and face, so the hat comes off at home, in a warm car, bus or shop, even if that wakes your baby, and for every sleep indoors.
Outside in the cold: a warm hat
A newborn's head can stay bare from about 16°C (61°F) feels-like. Below that, a knit hat does the job, and below 12°C (54°F) a warm winter hat that covers the ears.
How to put clothes on a newborn
The first few changes can be a struggle. Newborns dislike cool air on the skin and being pulled through fabric, and many cry through the whole change. It helps to dress the top half with your baby on your lap and the bottom half lying down.
Don't push an arm into a sleeve. Bunch the sleeve up, reach in from the cuff, take your baby's hand and ease the sleeve over it. For anything that goes over the head, stretch the neck opening wide and take it over the back of the head first, then forward past the face. A sleepsuit goes on legs first, then the arms.
1. Lay it open
Undo every snap and lay your baby on top, with the shoulders at the neckline.
2. Legs first
Ease each foot down into a foot of the sleepsuit, then snap the legs closed up to the tummy.
3. Arms last
Bring each sleeve over the hand as above, then close the rest of the snaps up to the neck.
A wrap bodysuit skips most of this: it opens flat, so you lay your baby on it and close it at the front. Until the cord stump falls off, fold the top of the diaper down below it, so it stays dry.
Questions parents ask
My newborn's hands are cold. Is that OK?
Yes, as long as the chest is warm and the lips stay pink. In the first weeks, the blood vessels to the hands and feet narrow quickly in the cool, so they often feel cold and can look a little bluish. Baby's cold hands and feet explains when cold skin is about something other than clothes.
Do newborns need socks?
Not in a sleepsuit with feet. With a bodysuit and pants, thin socks keep the feet covered on all but hot days.
Can a newborn wear 0–3 months?
Yes. A baby born big fits it from day one, and on most others it is loose for the first weeks, which is fine with the cuffs rolled back. How baby sizes work has the weights and lengths for each size, and what to buy for the first year the months your baby will wear each one.
Does a blanket count as a layer?
Yes. A blanket is a full layer of warmth, even if it is easy to peel back, and so is a padded footmuff. In a stroller or car seat, tuck it over the harness rather than under it. In a crib, avoid loose blankets entirely and use a fitted sleep bag instead.
What if my newborn falls asleep in the stroller?
In a flat stroller bassinet approved for sleep, let your baby sleep on, with the face clear. From a stroller seat, move your baby to a crib or bassinet as soon as you can, and take the outdoor layers off once you are inside. The stroller guide has the rest.
My baby was born early. Does this still apply?
Follow the plan your baby's medical team gives you. Babies born early or small have less body fat and lose heat faster, so they may need one more layer until they reach the weight of a full-term baby.
Get urgent medical help
- Your baby is difficult to wake.
- Your baby is not feeding.
- Your baby has trouble breathing.
- The skin looks blue, gray, pale or blotchy.
- The cry is weak, high-pitched or continuous.
If your newborn seems seriously unwell, get urgent medical help.
