What this is about
A newborn's winter is mostly spent indoors. It is ten minutes on a cold sidewalk, twenty minutes in a warm car, an hour in a heated shop, and sixteen hours in the bedroom. One thick suit worn through all of that means undressing a sleeping baby at every door.
So a winter newborn wears ordinary indoor clothes all day, usually a sleepsuit, and the winter part goes on top only for the trip outside: a warm fleece, a hat and, in real cold, a pram suit, which US shops call a snowsuit. All of it comes off again at the next warm door. At night, a warmer sleep bag takes the place of blankets.
What a newborn wears at home in winter
At home, the heating decides what your baby wears. In the first weeks that is usually a sleepsuit, the one-piece footed sleeper with long sleeves, worn from morning to bedtime. It does the job of a bodysuit, pants and socks, and there are no socks to go missing.
In a house at 20–23°C (68–73°F), a sleepsuit on its own is right for a newborn. Below 20°C (68°F), a bodysuit goes under the sleepsuit and a cardigan over it. In a warm apartment, from 24°C (75°F), a short-sleeve bodysuit and light pants are enough. Go by a thermometer in the room your baby is in, because a house in winter is rarely one temperature: the bedrooms can be warmer than the living room with the big windows.
How to dress a newborn outside in winter
Outside, the winter warmth goes on top of what your baby already wears at home. Find the row for today's feels-like temperature. A sleepsuit counts as the bodysuit, pants and socks in it, and a newborn needs a little more than an older baby, so these rows already have that extra piece in them.
The warm jacket in the first two rows can just as well be the pram suit. It does the job of the jacket and the warm pants in one piece, and on a baby lying flat it can't ride up at the back. Below 8°C (46°F), it is the pram suit either way. Zip it on last, after your own coat and boots, so your baby doesn't start to sweat in the warm hallway.
Stepping inside from the cold is where many babies overheat. You push the stroller into a heated shop or the pediatrician's waiting room, and your baby is sound asleep. Every parent hesitates to wake a sleeping baby. But a waiting room at 21°C (70°F) is no cooler for the snow outside, so take the hat off and open the pram suit as soon as you're in, even if it wakes your baby. If you're staying a while, take the suit off altogether.
The car is the exception to all this layering. Nothing padded goes under the harness, because the padding flattens in a crash and leaves the straps loose. With an infant seat, buckle your baby in at home, in the indoor clothes and a thin fleece, then lay a blanket over the buckled straps for the walk out and fold it down once the car is warm. Whether a fleece or a suit is thin enough, the coat test shows in a minute.
Does a newborn need a snowsuit?
Only for stroller walks in the cold. The padded suit is often the first thing parents buy for a winter baby, but that is its one job: the car seat can't take it, and in a carrier your coat or a carrier cover keeps your baby warm instead. A family that mostly drives in the first months can do without one, and a thin fleece suit is the easier buy.
Below 8°C (46°F)Padded pram suit
Padding all round, for stroller walks in the cold, zipped over the fleece.
Car daysThin fleece suit
No padding, so it can stay on under the straps if it passes the coat test, with the blanket on top.
If you do buy a pram suit, buy the size your baby wears now, one up at most: in a suit two sizes too big, the chin sinks into the collar. Fold-over cuffs over the hands and feet keep them covered where mittens and booties slip off. A newborn can outgrow the suit before spring, which is why so many are sold barely worn on secondhand sites.
If you walk a lot in freezing weather, a footmuff made for the bassinet can take the pram suit's place, rather than go over it. Your baby lies inside it in the indoor clothes and the fleece, and at the shop door you unzip the footmuff instead of undressing anyone.
What to buy for a winter newborn
The counts follow your laundry, so set how often you wash and the list changes with it. Before the birth, buy a few things in newborn size and a few in 0–3 months, because nobody knows which one fits until your baby arrives. TOG on a sleep bag is its warmth, and 2.5 TOG is the bag for a bedroom at 16–20°C (61–68°F), the usual winter room.
Winter newborn checklist
For the size that fits now.
How often do you wash?
Every day
For sleep
pick one, by how your baby sleeps
Warm layers
below 16°C (61°F)
Head, hands and feet
For cold walks
below 8°C (46°F)
For the car
A two-way zip on a sleepsuit opens from the feet, so a diaper change at 3am leaves the chest covered in a cold room. Long-sleeve bodysuits with envelope necks pull down over the shoulders after a blowout instead of up over the face. The warm sleep bag may not fit for the first few weeks, because sleep bags go by weight and the smallest size has a minimum. For the next size and the months it lands in, see what to buy for the first year.
Two things that are not clothes help a lot in the first winter: a plain room thermometer for the bedroom, and, if you drive, a cover that stretches over the outside of the infant seat like a shower cap, with nothing behind your baby.
Questions parents ask
What should my newborn wear to sleep in winter?
Dress for the bedroom, not for the frost on the window: it can be −10°C (14°F) on the street while the bedroom sits at 18°C (64°F). In a room at 18–19°C (64–66°F), a long-sleeve bodysuit inside a 2.5 TOG sleep bag is right, and in a colder room a footed sleepsuit goes under the same bag. No hat, and no blanket on top. It is tempting to add more on a cold night, but babies are safer a little cool than too hot. How to dress a baby for sleep has every room temperature.
Should the heating stay on all night?
Rarely. If the bedroom drops below 16°C (61°F), an extra layer under the sleep bag usually does the job. If you do leave the heating on, keep it low, no higher than 20°C (68°F), and keep the crib away from the radiator or heater.
What should my newborn wear home from the hospital in winter?
The same as for any winter car ride: a bodysuit, a sleepsuit with feet and a thin fleece, a blanket over the buckled straps, and a hat for the walk to the car that comes off once the car is warm. Save the padded going-home suit for the first stroller walk, and ask whoever drives to warm the car and bring it to the door. How to dress a newborn has the going-home bag, with two sizes in it.
How cold is too cold to take a newborn outside?
Most winter days are fine for a short walk with a warmly dressed newborn, even in the first weeks. Below 0°C (32°F) feels-like, keep the loop short and close to home. At about −26°C (−15°F) feels-like, bare skin starts to freeze within minutes, and that is a day to stay in. Dressing a baby for winter covers how long to stay out.
Does my newborn need a hat or mittens indoors?
No. A baby gives off spare heat through the head, so a hat indoors, in a warm car or for sleep can make your baby too hot. Mittens at home are for scratching, not for warmth, and a sleepsuit with fold-over cuffs keeps newborn nails off the face. Baby hats shows which hat goes on outside.
My newborn's hands feel freezing. Do I add a layer?
Not for the hands alone. A newborn's hands and feet often feel cold while the rest of the body is comfortable, so feel the chest or the back of the neck instead: warm and dry means the outfit is right. Baby's cold hands and feet explains why, and when cold skin means something else.
What should a newborn wear in a carrier in winter?
The indoor clothes, a hat and booties, with your coat or a carrier cover closed around both of you. Your body warms your baby, so the pram suit stays off: its padding keeps the carrier from sitting snug. Dressing a baby for the carrier shows the coat and the cover.
