Hats on newborn babies

It is recognised that newborn babies lose heat and wearing a hat helps keep them warm.

My cousin knits baby hats for her local hospital.

I see mothers out with their babies heads uncovered in the Winter and I want to run up and tell them to get a hat.

Yes head heat loss is significant in all of us especially those who have fine or thinning hair. I'm seldom without my wee skull cap. Makes such a difference.

Grandmabatty

It is recognised that newborn babies lose heat and wearing a hat helps keep them warm.

That makes sense of course but in some of the pictures I've seen recently the babies are pretty much naked except for the hat, which I would have thought kind of defeats the purpose of it.

Anyway, just wondered. My kids all thrived hatless indoors though always with a hat outdoors if it was at all cold, and sunhats if hot.

Oopsadaisy1

My cousin knits baby hats for her local hospital.

I see mothers out with their babies heads uncovered in the Winter and I want to run up and tell them to get a hat.

Yep.

Baggs naked but wearing a hat sounds daft!?

I think its a fashion photo thing...like those horrible stretchy headbands.

I feel like doing the very same Oopsadaisy1;.

I can't stand the stupid headbands that are only put on girl babies.

I guess the hat people might think the hat makes their baby look a bit more interesting.
Like people who think they are instantly amusing if they stick something silly on their head.

I'm puzzled by that too but it's not new. Mine didn't wear them either and I think for going out in winter they had sort of all-in-one outdoor garments with close fitting hoods - v difficult to ram their legs into when tiny.

My little premmie granddaughter, a 27 weeker , had to wear a hat for the first 4 months of her life because of possible heat loss. This is in Australia where we don’t get extremely cold weather.

The headbands look daft if the baby has no hair.

My DS calls them ‘Ninja Babies’.

I dislike the headbands too, quite often a different one for each ‘outfit’, a waste of money and reminds me of dressing up dolls.

I have also noticed that newborns have a hat put on, and also babies don’t seem to be cleaned up or bathed. The hat is often hiding blood/gunk from the birth. My grandson wasn’t bathed for more than a week after he was born, probably nearer 2 weeks if IRC. It’s to preserve the protective waxy coating on their skin, apparently.

My youngest GC, all born in the same hospital were put into little hand knitted hats by the Midwives shortly after birth, we have saved them & they look so tiny now. I’m sure it’s just to keep them warm, especially important for premature or small babies.
I don’t really like the headbands, can’t see that they serve any useful purpose at all.

winterwhite

I'm puzzled by that too but it's not new. Mine didn't wear them either and I think for going out in winter they had sort of all-in-one outdoor garments with close fitting hoods - v difficult to ram their legs into when tiny.

Why would you want ram their legs in their hoods ??

My twins were 28wk gestation and even all those years ago we were advised for them to wear hats. Premature babies cannot regulate their temperatures. Even now some 40yrs later one of them struggles to regulate their temperature.

Pleased to see that the woman who was bombed out in the maternity hospital has given birth to a daughter. The baby is pictured wearing a hat, but I guess it will be pretty essential as there is almost certainly no heat.

Maybe maternity units are no longer kept at the tropical temperatures they were when I had my babies? Where my dd had her babies, the hats are made by volunteers as a gift for a baby and for your first baby you’re also given a handmade blanket. ❤️

Those headbands - I always wonder if they give the poor child a headache. I’m sure I’d develop a migraine if I had something elastic round my head!

I agree that newborn babies wearing hats all the time seems to be a fairly recent trend. However, both my daughers had babies recently, and while they came home from hospital wearing hats, I haven't seem them wearing them indoors since.

However, when her new baby sister came home, GD (3) decided that she needed her hat - baby wasn't impressed!

I knitted loads of little hats for the local maternity hospital. They put babies in hats as soon as they are born lease days.

These's

Farmor
One for the album! ?

I have met all of my GC on Day 1 and don't recall any of them wearing hats. It will be interesting to see if my GGD, due to arrive in June, will be wearing headgear.