Babies and Healthy Temperatures: Deciding if Your Baby is Too Hot or Cold

Here's another one of our favorite questions as new parents:

"How do we know if our baby is too cold? Or too hot?"

A couple of weeks ago we went over to my in-laws' place for a family BBQ, and my wife's grandparents were there. It was a fairly nice day, so we had dressed our baby girl in just a onesie. At one point the baby started crying and of course everyone had to tell us why they thought she was crying (it's funny how people give you advice even when you don't ask for it). But my wife's grandmother actually scolded us saying, "Can't you see that your baby is cold?!" So we wrapped her in a blanket, which didn't stop the crying...but never mind that, grandma said the baby is cold.

On the flip side, the last few days have been extremely hot where we live. So my wife and I have been wondering, is she cranky because she's too hot?

We've heard all sorts of advice on how we are supposed to know if our baby is too hot or too cold (some were solicited, most were not). Here are some of the more sensible things we've heard.

Don't use the baby's hands or feet to determine whether she is too cold or too hot. Here little extremities will naturally be colder than the rest of her because of less circulation. So just because the hands or feet are cold doesn't mean she needs more clothes.

So rather than the hands or feet, feel they baby's back or tummy area. If she feels cold there, perhaps another layer of clothing is necessary. I've heard that a good rule of thumb is a baby will need one more layer of clothing than you to feel comfortable. Generally speaking, this probably works well. But what happens when one parent is hot while the other is cold? My wife tends to get really hot when she sleeps. I, on the other hand, get cold. So we're always debating about how to dress our baby for bedtime.

If you take your baby out on cooler days, make sure to put a hat on her. We all know that heat is lost mainly through the head, so a hat is a must on cold days. And although cold hands and feet are not a good measure for the rest of the baby's body, if your baby's hands and feet are icy perhaps some mittens and socks are called for.

On warmer days it's probably not a bad idea to keep your baby in just a diaper. A onesie might be a good alternative for going out if you are concerned about being appropriate in public. Although I don't think too many people would object to seeing a baby in just a diaper...it's kind of cute. If your baby is sweating, that's an obvious sign that she is hot! Our baby tends to sweat a lot when she cries, so we have to calm AND cool her down.

You know, if you think about it most of the stuff we are told to do for keeping our babies comfortable turn out to be common sense. I figure...my wife and I know our baby best so we'll just follow our instincts. Pretty soon our daughter will be able to just tell us whether she's hot or cold when she starts talking...then we'll have to deal with a whole new set of issues!

Have any suggestions about this? Please share your comments.