Monkey doesn’t wear jumpers!

This week’s The Prompt immediately reminded me of when Monkey was a tiny baby and it has led me to thinking a lot about those days.

The Prompt, if you don’t already know, is a linky hosted by Mum Turned Mom, and this week’s prompt is the following quote:

Sweater, n. Garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.Β Ambrose Bierce

9 days oldThis quote reminded me of what we were told by health visitors and midwives about dressing our Newborn Monkey. They said he should wear a vest – which we should count as his skin, then he should wear the same number of layers as us, plus an extra layer. So if I was wearing a t-shirt, he should wear a vest, a t-shirt, and then another layer. If I was wearing a tshirt and a jumper, Monkey should wear 4 layers. You get the idea.

In reality, we soon realised that for Monkey, this was completely wrong. I know it’s just a rule of thumb and that it is probably perfectly accurate for a lot of babies, but for Monkey this was waaaaay too many layers. He was one warm baby! Still is in truth.

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In summers, especially the first summer when he was born, he was basically in nappies most of the time, slept with a fan in his room and actually his favourite thing on a hot day was to be positioned in front of a fan (at a safe distance) to get a nice breeze, he has always loved feeling the wind in his face!

 

 

Just found this cute clip of Monkey very much enjoying lying in front of the fan πŸ™‚

Occasionally we have forgotten what a hot baby he is … with disastrous results.

For example, his first Christmas, we bought him a really cute fleecy baby-grow for him to sleep in with the idea that he would look really cute on Christmas morning. We forgot how warm he is naturally and oh. dear. lord. He went to bed fine, then about an hour and a half later he was screaming, we went upstairs and he was on fire, just completely overheating (cue us feeling like the worst parents in the world) so we had to strip him down to his nappy and basically held him up in front of the open window (and it was cold!) to cool him down. Thankfully this worked and he slept fine for the rest of the night in one of his normal baby-grows. But that pretty much put paid to our relaxed Christmas Eve! He still looked cute on Christmas morning though and we will never make that mistake again!

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So, honestly, Monkey hardly ever wears sweaters (or Jumpers) because I know he would completely overheat in one. I can be really chilly and in a big jumper with a t-shirt under and he’ll be in two thin layers, perfectly happy. He is in a sleepy bag at the moment but he is still in the summer Tog one, we have bought a lovely winter one but it seems so thick and it just hasn’t been cold enough for him to wear it.

I really like the quote, but for us it is very much untrue!

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30 thoughts on “Monkey doesn’t wear jumpers!

  1. It’s amazing how kids don’t feel the cold like we do. My 2 will happily run around with their jackets unzipped, no hats or scarfs and I’m wrapped up in a million layers LOL

    • it’s crazy isn’t it? It just doesn’t bother them as much. Monkey hardly ever wants to wear a hat and he’s always so warm! Me, I’m freezing, gloves and scarves on from autumn to spring! πŸ™‚

    • Thank you, tis lovely looking back on the baby pics! Some of them just are warm blooded aren’t they, though think Monkey gets it from his daddy as he’s usually quite warm too! xx

    • Its bonkers isn’t it? I vaguely remember expressing doubts at the time but as we were a bit rabbit in the headlights did as we were told… Not for long though! Xx

    • Oh interesting, not just us then, weird that they recommend so many layers. Aww bless them. No problem it’s a great link! xx

  2. i really do not think that children feel the cold like adults do. i remember my Mum forever telling me to do my coat up as i went out with it open and i was never cold. But now as a mum myself i am forver asking my two to do their coats up while i am freezing!
    what a lovely theme to prompt your flashback and your monkey looks so cute and i did feel for you with regards to that xmas eve incident – at least he got your attention to cool him down
    thank you for linking up x x

  3. You make a fantastic point here, they’re all different aren’t they! It can be quite annoying when the so-called professionals give one size fits all advice. We had a similar scary experience when our 4yo was about one. Overheating is so dangerous when the little monkeys can’t regulate their own body temps #ThePrompt

    • It really is surely just as dangerous as them being too cold so it does seem strange that you are told to put them in so many layers – we just assumed that Monkey was just warmer than the norm but with so many of the comments on here I now I am not so sure!

  4. This sounds exactly like my son, and daughter. Neither of them like layers and I am forever making them sweat it out because I don’t want them to catch a cold. lol

    • Ha Ha love it, mummy knows best πŸ™‚ Does feeling cold actually give you a cold though? It’s one of those things I’ve heard a lot from my mum and mother in law but always doubted! πŸ™‚

    • It is funny isn’t it? You’d think being so small they would be colder – but I guess they have less surface area to keep warm haha!xx

    • Exactly the same as Monkey! There is a lot more warm babies than I thought but you are right they are all so different in different ways! xx

  5. It’s so hard to know at first what they should be wearing isn’t it? Toby was born last summer when it was really hot. I remember it being 28 degrees in our bedroom and I didn’t know what to do. Toby was pretty tiny so he would just sleep in his vest and nappy but now he’s always warm. He always has really sweaty feet in the mornings too!

    • It can be really hard – especially as you say when they are summer babies and it’s hot. SO difficult to know what the best thing is, time to trust the mummy instincts I guess! Ha ha ooh lovely πŸ™‚ xx

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