Sleeping Wear for Infants
May 25th, 2009 by Bjoern
Are you unsure what to consider, buying sleeping wear for your baby? In this article I will summarize the most important things to think about when buying.
Buying baby clothes is very stimulating. There are a lot of nice clothes to choose from and in the department for baby clothes you often hear “aah” from other parents as they discover clothes they find lovely.
The most common criterion for selecting baby clothes is appearance. Color and design are important aspects. Here it would be in place to think about some other features as well. Safety, comfort - for parents and for children, isolation, material and more.
The main purpose of sleeping wear is to keep your baby warm when sleeping. Another important function of sleeping wear is fire security. Some parents prefer using sleeping bags and the like which are impregnated and made of fire safe materials. Other parents don’t like to use these materials while they have too much chemicals in them. You have to choose for yourself.
Overheating:
Although the main objective of sleeping wear is to keep the body warm, it’s important to ensure that your baby doesn’t get too warm. Overheating is a serious problem with infants. Actually, investigations show that only a few degrees too hot dramatically increases the risk of sudden infant death. Therefore, it is very important that you make sure your infant isn’t overheating.
Size:
Normally when buying baby clothes, it’s recommended to buy bigger clothes than you presently need. An infant grows very fast and therefore bigger clothes can be used a longer time.
With sleeping wear it’s different. When the sleeping wear is too big, the baby can’t heat all air in the sleeping wear up. Another problem is that loose sleeping clothes are considered dangerous in case of fire. To reduce the risk of getting burned in case of a fire, the clothes should fit tight on the body.
Hand covers:
Infants often have sharp finger nails. To prevent the infant from scratching itself, buy sleeping wear with hand covers. Another benefit of hand covers is that they make sure the baby’s hands are kept warm.
Material:
Often parents buy fleece material for their children because it can keep the heat well. This is true but it could be in place to think about cotton as well. Cotton can keep warmth as well and is better to use directly on the skin. Cotton also soak up all moisture from the childs skin.
It’s recommended to have a few sets of sleeping wear, since you have to wash it often. 3-4 sets would be useful.
There are a lot of different brands for baby clothes. You can find basically all of them on the internet. Another option would be to buy second hand clothes. On the internet there exist a lot of market places for second hand clothes too. Ebay would be one of them.
Studies show that older parents, parents that are getting a child when they are 30-40 years old, prefer buying brand name clothing for their children. The reason for this is that these parents already have come a long way in their carreer building and therefore also have more money to spend on their child. Younger parents tend to buy more second hand clothes.
It doesn’t really matter what you choose. Just remember that an infant or small child will outgrow their clothes in a very short time. Never forget to consider the safety aspects when buying baby clothes and most important - never let your child overheat!
Suggested reading:
The Baby’s first Clothes - Part I
The Baby’s first Clothes - Part II
The Baby’s first Clothes - Part III
Boy Clothes
- Posted in Baby clothes, Sleeping wear, safety
