Surviving Winter with Baby: Must-Haves!

It’s mid February and there’s no denying winter is upon us. If you watch my #Instastories every day you KNOW we don’t kid around with the weather when it comes to Chickie. It’s SO easy for a badly bundled kid to catch a cold these winters months so we always err on the side of one layer too many. So what if Chick’s a little toasty? She’ll live.. 🤣 As a general rule, we try to stick to three layers and a jacket and it seems to do the trick! Oh and we always, always, always use a HAT! It really makes all the difference in the world.

Any time I post a video of Chickie walking down the street in the cold- usually on her way to day care- I get lots of questions about her hat, mittens, coat, etc.. so I figured I would compile all of our winter must-haves in one, LINK FILLED post! As always, if I forgot anything or it you’ve got any suggestions (particularly for gloves!!) please, please share them below! I’ll update the post with your must-have and give you a little shout-out, duh..😉

• 7AM Enfant Stroller Gear: I discovered this brand at my local baby store last winter (2017) and fell in LOVE with their Blanket 212 Evolution and WarmMuffs. The Blanket 212 has loops with velcro that attach to any stroller and it can be made smaller/bigger to grow with your kiddo! The WarmMuffs are super thick gloves that attach to the stroller so YOUR hands are toasty when you push baby without having one the extra item to carry around (and loose!). Both of these should keep you two warm up to -4F/-20C.

• JJ Cole Car Seat Cover: If you are still using a NEWBORN car seat, I can’t recommend JJ Cole’s Bundle Me Cover enough! It successfully got us through out first winter with baby. This cover has an elastic bottom that fits over any car seat and a zippered top layer that you can remove if it gets warm! The zip top also lets you take baby in and out without taking the whole thing off which is a mayor time-saver. It’s made of warm fleece on the inside and “weather resistant” nylon on the outside. Note that it’s not as warm as the 7AM combo above but it did the trick for us. 7AM also offers A car seat cover that (by the pictures) seems to be the same material and width as the 212 blanket. I’ve linked them both so you can compare but didn’t want to straight up recommend the 7AM since I didn’t use it.

 

• Long Sleeve Onesies: Chickie’s first layer is always a long sleeved onesie! We buy classic white onesies in bulk from Carter’s every couple of months. If you’re looking for different colored onesies, my recommendation is Primary Clothing because of their super soft cotton and their rainbow of color offerings! We typically do a long sleeve onsesie under a classic T or long sleeve shirt with a sweater on top and it does the trick!

 

• Fleece Lined Leggins: On days were it’s less than 35F we always use thicker, fleece lined leggins. My favorites are from Gap (cutest prints ever!)  and Target (thinner than the Gap but their reinforced knees are the the best!). If you have boy, we’ve tried and have had success with Target’s fleece-lined pull-on pants,  they fit looser than leggins but not as baggy as sweats which I know can be annoying! On extra, extra cold days when we know we’ll be outside (playing in the snow, for example)  I have put these on Chickie UNDER her leggins/pants and they keep her really warm. Sometimes too warm! I wouldn’t be surprised if you kiddo asks you to take them off once inside.

 

• Tall Socks: A cool little trick we came up with this winter is putting long socks on, pulled all the way up to her knees BEFORE her pants/leggins. This is a MUCH more comfortable alterative to traditional underwear and it’s not SO warm that we need to adjust once inside. Our favorites are from gap because of the price (5$) and the grips at the bottom since we do no shoes inside #CasaRice!

• Winter Hat: I once read us humans loose 50% of our body heat through our head! Isn’t that cray? A winter hat on your kiddo is a MUST! We love Chickie’s  Zutano fleece lined hat. I get so many questions every time I post Chickie in this hat and I totally get why. It’s super warm, covers her ears and thanks to a chin strap with velcro it STAYS IN PLACE! Doesn’t get much better than that!

 

• Mittens/Gloves: The best mittens I’ve found are these, also by Zutano. They’re kinda hard to put on and are somewhat big on Chickie so I’m not over-the-moon about them. I just ordered these mittens from 7AM Enfant so I will keep you posted on how we do with them. Any and all suggestions in this department are welcome!!!

 

• Boots: A good pair of boots is a must-have for winter weather. If your baby is NOT walking, my recommendation is you get some Zutano booties. Their fleece lined booties STAY ON and are really warm!  For older kiddos, on not so cold but wet days I recommend a good pair of rainboots. We use these cute ones by Mini Melissa (boy version here) but also love these classic Hunter boots.  Zara  has GREA, inexpensive winter boots for walkers- Chickie owns this pair in pink. Ugg makes some good ones too- I especially like these ones. If you’re looking for hardcore snow boots, you can’t go wrong with these classics by Sorel!

• Baby Eczema Cream: When the temperature drops Chickie gets the worst eczema patches! Last winter I was desperate for a cure after using steriods for far longer than we should’ve when I stumbled upon Goodness Bee Eczema Cream and BOY was I glad I did! I’ll do a full review post on this cream (with a giveaway!) so I’ll just quickly say it’s amazing and really worked wonders for Chickie’s Eczema!

 

• Coat: I swear by Gap’s lightweight fleece-lined puffers– you  get all the warmth minus the heaviness! We’ve had such a great experience with ours. Chickie’s exact style is sold out but they have this similar one. We also have this more formal non-puffer coat, from the Gap and love it- it’s on sale right now! Mini Boden, although a little more pricey, also makes GREAT lightweight yet warm coats!

• Snowsuit: We got a cheap GAP snowsuit for Chickie’s first winter and hardly ever used it- with the stroller blanket we just didn’t need it! This year, for her second winter, we got a hand-me-down snowsuit and have used it twice. WHere I am going with this? If someone gives you one, great but until your babe is around 4-5, I wouldn’t invest in a snowsuit. Why? Well, for starters kids grow out of them SO FAST you’d need one every year until infinity! Also, in my experience before 4-5 years old kids don’t last outside in the cold/snow long enough to actually NEED a snowsuit.. Your 0-4 year old will play in the snow for about 15 minutes and come inside- it’ll take you longer than that to PUT THE SNOWSUIT ON! I say, skip it..

That’s it friends, our must-have items for surviving winter with baby! As always, please send over your recommendations and I’ll add them to the list!