Practical Winter Baby Clothing
Newborns
Parents will usually need a minimal amount of winter baby clothing for a newborn, partially because they grow so fast and because it can be difficult to travel with a newborn, therefore they will not be outside too often. The winter clothing babies will need can vary, depending on what area of the county they live in; places with a harsh winter will need heavy quilted coverall with a long sleeved shirt and soft pants under that, and a onesie under that.
A hat is also a good idea even if the coverall has a hood, because air can get into the hood, gloves are a waste of time with a newborn, and the coverall should have fold over hands and feet because shoes are also useless with a newborn, newborns don't walk and really don't need shoes. There is actually evidence that routinely wearing shoes prevents a baby's foot muscles from strengthening properly until after they are already able to walk.
Three to Six Months
Babies aged three to six months will need much the same winter clothing line up as newborn. Because babies often have a growth spurt between their third and sixth month the amount of clothing should still be limited to what they need to get through a week. It is still the most practical to keep baby's winter wardrobe limited to soft pants and long sleeved shirts or one-piece undershirts; these make for easy diaper changes and are easy to care for. A good rule of thumb of buying baby clothing for any season is to keep it 80% functional and 20% novel, simply because babies grow very quickly and may only get to wear those adorable special outfits for a party or two before they out grow them.
Six to Nine Months
Babies between the ages of six to nine months are usually beginning to eat solid foods, and are sitting up by themselves, how this relates to the baby's winter clothing is that they will need very flexible waists and easy to care for tops (that will get messy a lot!!). Fleece pants are warm and toasty, plus they often come in very fashionable colors, a baby of this age is usually going out of the house more and it is practical to more of this size. The variety of winter baby clothing for this age group is very similar to newborn through six month styles, and practicality should still be the first priority.
Nine to Twelve Months
Sometime between nine and twelve months a baby begins to crawl, and some even begin to walk, for this reason even for little girls, soft pants such as fleece or sweat pants are the best choice. Crawling babies need more padding around the knees and flexibility in the waist, and as diaper changes become wigglier, a separate shirt over a onesie can help to make diaper changes a little faster. While the styles of winter baby clothing will not change, since the baby has, a coverall ought to be replaced by quilted snow pants and a nice heavy jacket.
