Winter Baby Essentials for Newborns

A winter baby comes with particular clothing needs: staying warm and well protected through the cold season without overheating. This checklist covers the essentials.

Winter Clothing for Your Newborn

For everyday life indoors and out, these quantities have proven useful:

• 5–6 long-sleeve bodysuits (onesies) as a base for stable body temperature
• 5–6 warm footed sleepers (called sleepsuits in the UK)
• 5–6 long-sleeve shirts as a second layer
• 2 cotton or knitted hats, almost constantly in use for a winter baby
• Lined mittens for outdoors
• 6 pairs of warm socks
• 2–3 thick sweaters and 1–2 cardigans to pull on without going over the head
• 5–6 tights, thick and thin mixed, versatile under sleepers as well as under snow pants
• 1–2 wool or boiled-wool suits for walks (boiled wool is felted wool, warm and water-repellent)
• 2–3 bandana bibs to catch drool and spit-up

That's a fair amount of laundry, and it's still a tight estimate: in winter too, you'll change a newborn several times a day.

Sleepwear

For the night you need:

• 4 cozy pajama sets, ideally with fold-over foot cuffs, so you don't have to undress your baby completely for nighttime changes
• 2 winter or year-round sleep sacks (called sleeping bags in the UK and Australia) at 2.0 to 2.5 TOG

Sleep sacks sold in the US often carry no TOG rating; as a rough guide, a light muslin or cotton sleep sack is about 0.5 TOG and a warm quilted winter one 2.5 TOG.

At 16 to 18 °C (61 to 64 °F) in the room, a long-sleeve bodysuit with thin pajamas and thin socks fits underneath. More on how warm the pajamas may be.

A Few More Notes

The bedroom should sit at 16 to 18 °C (61 to 64 °F), even in winter. That may feel cool, but the deciding factor against the cold is a suitable sleep sack, not the heating. During the day and outdoors, layering works best: several thin layers rather than one thick piece, so you can react quickly in heated rooms. For materials, cotton and wool keep warm while staying breathable. For the stroller, a footmuff (a cozy stroller bag, sometimes called a bunting bag in the US) and a windproof rain cover add extra warmth.

Whether the wool suit is needed today or the cardigan is enough is something the Wetterbaby app shows with personalized recommendations based on the current weather.