I wonder, does anyone do this outside of the Nordic countries? Here in Iceland it is standard practice for little babies to nap outside in their prams in all weather apart from full-on storms, including sub-zero temperatures.
I thought I would share this practice in case anyone has a baby that is a bad napper, a suitable climate and access to a safe garden or balcony, because it really, really works. Icelanders always rave about it making babies strong and they sleep so much better, and I was deeply sceptical. Now I don’t know about it making them strong, but it absolutely helps them sleep better. I feel silly for not trying it sooner, because our baby naps inside for roughly 45 minutes - 1 hour at a time, but outside - well sometimes she has to be woken because left to her own devices she’d sleep 4 hours.
The babies are wrapped up using hats, fleece/wool suits/socks/mittens and special hooded sleeping bags (for the coldest weather, you would adjust as it got warmer) and when you take them in their cheeks are a little cold to the touch but you unwrap them and they are toasty warm. I think the bundling helps them feel cosy and secure, but the cold air really seems to help also.
I know Iceland is a particularly safe place in terms of crime (nobody would ever worry a second about their baby getting abducted) and wildlife (hardly any, the only concern is cats and we have nets for that), but if you think you can do it I’d definitely recommend giving it a try!
I’ve let my niece, now 4, nap outside since she was about 8 weeks old. I have a large shade tree in my front yard and I’d put her pack & play under it to shield her from the sun. She’d nap while I read or did a few things around the house. I live a couple miles out of town, on a farm, so other people weren’t a concern. The only “issue” I ever had was when I’d left the gate open and an opportunistic cow wandered in and was eating the grass next to her. It was a non-event. I shoo’d it toward the gate and it moseyed out.
I never thought to use a net for her, which would have been great. I simply put a snug fitting crib sheet over the top of her pack and play to keep bees, mosquitoes, and such out when it got to be that time of year. She still prefers to be outside most of the time now.
My Canadian friend ended up marrying a Korean and living in South Korea, and she would get lectures from the grandmas all the time about how her baby was “too cold” when he wasn’t bundled up on a warm day. She took to saying (in Korean): “He’s half-Canadian. Our bodies are different.” And it worked! They leave her alone now.
If I had kids and was in a rural area, I would definitely do it. I’ve always found it interesting, although I don’t think I could do wool right against the skin. Suburbs or cities in the US, heck no.
This was in 1997, but it’s gotten worse. A family from my state had CPS get involved when they let their kids walk to the park.
A tourist from Denmark who left her child in a stroller outside a restaurant while she ate inside got her baby back from foster care yesterday evening, a day after a Family Court judge ordered that the child be returned to her.
The reunion, which was to have happened before 5 P.M. yesterday, was delayed for two hours because the court also ordered that the mother, an actress named Annette Sorensen who was in New York on vacation, not be left alone with the child. Social workers at the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, the agency taking care of the child, a 14-month-old girl, since the arrest, sought a suitable home where the two could be under the supervision of another adult.
The city’s decision to remove the child from the parents has ignited a trans-Atlantic stir, with many people in Denmark saying diners there commonly leave children outside restaurants as they eat.
@ottertails - [name_m]Christ[/name_m]… That’s so crazy. Almost everyone leaves their baby outside to sleep here. I’m glad to live in a place where this is not considered neglect. Although if this was [name_m]New[/name_m] [name_m]York[/name_m] city maybe [name_f]Annette[/name_f] Sorensen could have used better judgement. It would be fine in Copenhagen, though.
Freyja actually wears cotton as the first layer on her body, but for maximum warmth and breathability wool is better. She has a woolen balaclava (not like a bankrobber job, this one: https://www.66north.is/born/spoi-lambhushetta/), but it is Merino wool and it is incredibly soft and lightweight. Not itchy or irritating to the skin in the slightest. It really is the best stuff, it’s just so expensive and they grow so quick. She had a Merino wool onesie when she was smaller but she’s grown out of it now. I have a Merino wool undershirt myself and it is awesome.
Yeah, everything has gotten really crazy nowadays. I used to sit in the car when I was young (I knew to lock and unlock the door) while my parents went in the store to get a bagel or something. Nowadays the police are likely to be called. I think the US has gotten really paranoid
I would only worry about wool because I have eczema, and I know there’s a 50% chance I’d pass it on. Wool is a big no-no for a lot of people with eczema, which is a shame since it’s so warm like you said. I love the idea of putting a cotton layer on first, so you could still use wool. That balaclava looks nice too; the babies must look adorable all bundled up
Hmm…I wish I could try this when we have a baby! Times have changed from not all that long ago when I was a child we lived on Main [name_m]Street[/name_m] in our old town years ago, and my mom (and other parents on the road) were able to leave us in pack-n-plays nearly along the road and we were fine. Now…no, it isn’t safe. Sadly, people really have to be cautious. A girl in my neighborhood was snatched because her parents let her (age 3) play outside alone.
We aren’t in much of a position to move out of this town, but drug users and sex offenders have taken this place over. I have stairs and four locks between me and the outside world, and still don’t feel safe. There’s been an increase of armed robberies, murders, sexual assaults, and so on here and in neighboring towns. It’s crazy. I’d love for my child to get to play outside and nap out there like I used to…free to climb trees, watch bugs, and nap in the warm sunshine on the hot concrete…but I guess no place is safe anymore.
In the backyard, if I was out there reading or something, sure. I wouldn’t leave my child alone out there while I was inside though. We have sketchy people, but we also get big animals here sometimes, although we are in a city there is a lot of green space around.
I wouldn’t be afraid of strangers snatching my child- abductions are almost always the non-custodial parent, even though they do not always get reported that way. Then when there very rarely is a stranger abduction, we have 24 hour news channels that report on them endlessly, making them seem far more common than they are. There are studies about how the US is actually safer than ever, but perceived as more dangerous.
As ottertails said, I would mostly be worried about well meaning passers-by calling CPS. This is why I have to lug the [name_u]Baby[/name_u] carseat into preschool when I drop my older son off and pick him up. [name_m]Even[/name_m] though I would be leaving him for potentially 5 minutes maximum in a church parking lot with many fellow preschool parents milling about. They have signs up warning that they will call the police if you leave a child in the car while you bring your other kid in.
This creates a feedback loop. You never see kids walking alone, so then when you do, it seems alarming and dangerous. Sort of like how nobody rides bikes here bc riding bikes is dangerous bc no one rides bikes here.
While I don’t have children myself, I do have a much younger sister and of course eyes with which I can observe my surroundings. Letting babies nap outside is not nearly as common here as in Scandinavia, however, you can always spot a few prams in front of cafés or small shops (though I suppose the latter has more to do with prams not fitting into the shops).
I know my mum let my sister nap outside, even in the winter, when she’d sit down in a café or visit friends with a garden, however, she could always see the pram from where she sat.
Thank godness Germany (and most other European countires, it seems) is not as paranoid about older children being left alone for 20 minutes, walking to the park by themselves, or playing (in groups) on the playground without an adult around.
Abductions do happen but then the media never talks about the thousands of children who made it home savely but the one child that did not; of course you need to be careful and talk to your child about strangers, but the chances of them being hurt in a car crash while you’re driving are a lot higher than them being abducted and yet people seem to have no problem doing that.
Yeah, I hear you. I used to help out a friend from [name_f]China[/name_f] with her kids sometimes. Then her mom came from [name_f]China[/name_f] and even in the hottest day of [name_u]August[/name_u], she would lecture me if I held the baby near the fan because he was sweating. (Obviously not close enough for him to poke his fingers in somehow, but she acted like I was super irresponsible to be anywhere close to it.) Except my Mandarin isn’t good enough to understand, so I would just give the baby back and shrug. Poor little guy was sweltering. Meanwhile the rest of us are in tank tops because it’s [name_u]August[/name_u] and she has no A/C.
We live in Scandinavia and our three children have all napped outside on our balcony or outside the preschool. At the preschool they nap outside until -10C (14F) at which point they put the kids to sleep inside in their strollers instead.
I haven’t heard anyone suggest that if a kid is sick that he should sleep inside. There is no minimum age where we live.
As for how much to bundle them up, it totally depends on the temperature and the kid! This past winter I typically put my daughter in her winter snowsuit over her regular clothes. Thick wool socks, gloves and a super warm hat. Then I tucked her down into her sleeping bag (bunting bag?) in her stroller. If it was extra cold I tucked a wool or fleece blanket over the sleeping bag. With our boys we even had lambskins under the sleeping bags. If she wakes up sweatyI know that next time I should probably put her in less clothes for a similar temperature. Now we are up to about 5 C right now and I have her in a fleece jacket and a light hat with her sleeping bag and a fleece blanket. No gloves (she just pulls them off!) and today she even pulled of her hat.
I have heard that this helps with sleeping longer.
We have a balcony off our bedroom and I totally plan to give it a try if we are ever blessed.
It would be perfectly safe since the balcony is on the second floor and well fenced, and it never gets very cold here. I’d be more worried about a baby getting too warm.
I am Canadian and had my two kids in pretty cold parts of the country. The last was in the coldest area outside the Arctic. Both of them slept outside a fair amount in the winter. I am in Germany now and will have a [name_f]Spring[/name_f] baby but will do so again. I just always parked their bassinet buggy behind the house, tucked away from the street etc. People thought I was crazy.
Freyja goes out when she has a cold. I wouldn’t put her out if she had a fever, though. We only started doing it pretty recently (from 9 months old) since it’s only been a short while since a lot of construction work stopped outside our building (and also I honestly didn’t think it would be worth the effort - was totally wrong) but most Icelandic babies start a lot earlier. I do think that most people wait a few weeks at least, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of babies going out to nap from day 1, especially summer babies. Maximum age will no doubt be when she gets too big to lie in her pram! Iceland is actually not Scandinavia, but yeah I think this is done in all the Nordic countries.
You can tell if they are dressed appropriately from when you take them in. If they are warm on their bodies but not sweaty then you did it right. Cool cheeks are OK. If they are a bit chilly (not common) or a bit sweaty (far more common) then you know to do it a bit differently next time. You get a feel for it pretty quick.
It’s about 6°C outside right now and Freyja is out sleeping in: cotton long-sleeved onesie, cotton tights, Merino wool balaclava, thermal fleece suit with integral hood, hand and foot covers. She is also in a warm sleeping bag and her pram has the hood up to keep the breeze and drizzle out. The set up looks like this:
She always pulls her right arm out of the sleeping bag…
I live in [name_f]Scotland[/name_f], and pretty much every day it’s been dry since she moved in, [name_f]Ama[/name_f] has had a nap outside, and I can confirm she sleeps so much better. We live really rurally, so there’s no issue of safety or pollution. She sleeps in her pram when she’s outside so the dog doesn’t annoy her.
I love this idea! We have a carseat/stroller combo rather than a bassinet style pram, so that won’t work for extended naps, but I could easily take the travel cot outside. My only concern is coyotes. I haven’t seen any in our yard since we moved in, but a creek and green belt runs through the back of our property so it wouldn’t be unheard of.
we lived on Main [name_m]Street[/name_m] in our old town years ago, and my mom (and other parents on the road) were able to leave us in pack-n-plays nearly along the road and we were fine. Now…no, it isn’t safe. Sadly, people really have to be cautious. A girl in my neighborhood was snatched because her parents let her (age 3) play outside alone.
Now we are up to about 5 C right now and I have her in a fleece jacket and a light hat with her sleeping bag and a fleece blanket. No gloves (she just pulls them off!) and today she even pulled of her hat.