keep your lo warm when going from the car to a building? I know this sounds dumb and I'm sure the answer is really simple but just can't figure it out. I would like to start wearing Izzy when I'm in a store but I can't figure out how to get her in the store without getting cold. She's still in her Snugride carseat and have been just carrying her into the store in her carseat. I hate to leave her in that thing though. We have a convertible carseat but it's too big for my current car.
I have a moby wrap and Slingrider (We don't really use the Slingrider very much).
babydirtybike
12-07-2007, 08:23 PM
I posted this exact question my first winter bwing ds. We are in Saskatchewan and regular winter temps are like -20 to -40 celcius, so I feel your angst.
DS was in a convertible seat and I would put on a ring sling and put my coat over it. Then I'd whip ds out of his seat, pop him in the sling (nothing fancy for positioning, just to get him in the store) throw a blanket over him and boot 'er into the store.
In the store I usually readjusted and grabbed a cart to put our hats and coats and purchases in. Ds was his fleece one piece snow suit.
Just my :2cents:
ETA: I just noticed you have a moby and you could do the same with that, but it would be trickier if you LO was in a big snow suit. Just tie it looser than normal to fit them in and then tighten once in the store.
Silefer
12-12-2007, 12:01 AM
I use a thick fleece suit and they stay nice and toasty , I usually open it a little when we get in so the baby is not too hot , once they get bigger I do jeans or fleece pants with baby legs under them and furry booties ( I live in Montana and its very cold here) and then a puffy jacket and a hat , I only use a onesie under the jacket it keeps them warmer and more mobile than having too many layers
Fither
12-12-2007, 12:15 AM
yeah, i try to dress my little one warmly, and i generally carry him under a blanket until we are in the store, then position in the carrier once we're in the warmth. i just toss the blanket back over him and snuggle him tight on the way back out and pop him out of the carrier and into the carseat.
Monzie
12-12-2007, 09:13 AM
Frigid Wisconsin here...
I haven't figured this out either, so I'm just keeping the kid in his toasty Snugride until he outgrows the thing (which, hopefully, won't happen until the warmer Spring weather arrives). Its less than ideal as far as Attachment Parenting goes, but it works. Dr. Sears' wife may have worn her eight children everywhere but, dude, they live in California. I'd like to see her try stuffing a kid into a sling while shivering in a snowy parking lot on a -10 degree day in January. And then coming back later with 8 bags of groceries and trying to load all that mess into the car with a baby strapped to you. It just isn't worth the trouble. If you absolutely must wear your baby all the time, take them in the car seat into the store and then transfer them into the sling when you're indoors. Then just stick the empty seat in the cart and wheel it around like all the other mothers.
Silefer
12-12-2007, 09:59 AM
Frigid Wisconsin here...
I haven't figured this out either, so I'm just keeping the kid in his toasty Snugride until he outgrows the thing (which, hopefully, won't happen until the warmer Spring weather arrives). Its less than ideal as far as Attachment Parenting goes, but it works. Dr. Sears' wife may have worn her eight children everywhere but, dude, they live in California. I'd like to see her try stuffing a kid into a sling while shivering in a snowy parking lot on a -10 degree day in January. And then coming back later with 8 bags of groceries and trying to load all that mess into the car with a baby strapped to you. It just isn't worth the trouble. If you absolutely must wear your baby all the time, take them in the car seat into the store and then transfer them into the sling when you're indoors. Then just stick the empty seat in the cart and wheel it around like all the other mothers.
I do this all the time and I live in frigid Montana! 30 miles from Canada so its also super cold here , what I do is I open my van door strap my baby on me ( I have a mei tai) , he is usually in his fleece suit with a hat with ear flaps or jeans with baby legs under them , booties and his super puffy coat that is so warm , so the only thing that hits some cold is his face , then I go around and get my other 2 kids out and off we go it takes all but 5 minutes to do all that, and we usually park pretty close to the store doors so we dont have to walk a ton , when I come back , the hell with the bags I put my kids in the car first and then I unload my cart , the groceries dont get cold! so thats what I do , I start the car and the kids go in first and then the stuff I bought .My baby outgrew his infant carseat at 4 months so I dont have much of a choice here if I want 2 free hands to hold my toddlers hands as we walk and carry my diaper bag lol
MistyP
12-13-2007, 12:00 PM
Well, we live in Florida now (Sorry!!!) but here is a suggestion that I have used before. If they still fit in the infant carseat, take them in the store in that. Have your sling in your bag and if you need to wear a fussy baby in the store you can. You can strap the baby back into the carseat before you leave the store and then they stay nice and warm. This may not be as easy in stores that don't have shopping carts though.
pigletmsu
12-14-2007, 11:49 AM
I am currently working this one out since I never had to deal with this before. My older 2 kids loved their carseats and I rarely had to take them out of them while shopping. My 3rd baby HATES her carseat and screams if you try to keep her in there when the car isn't moving (makes stop lights extra fun). You're not supposed to use snow suits in the carseat, so I haven't been. I dress her in her normal outfit, put on a hoodie, a hat, then put her in the carseat with a blanket tucked around her. When we get to the store, I put on my mei tai, stick her in there with the blanket wrapped around her and then tie her in. Then walk into the store. She's been fine so far with the blanket wrapped around her.
I don't bring the seat in very often because I have 2 other kids who shop with me and I need the front seat in the cart for DD to sit, and then I need the whole back to fit my groceries. If I have the seat across the back, I can't fit everything in there, and if I let DD walk, she and my DS will run off. They're fine when divided, not so much when they are together. And when we goto the mall, I have to put DD-2 in the stroller, DS-4 walks and I carry the baby. She hates the stroller as well so my double stroller isn't getting much use these days.
(How the heck did I get a kid who only likes to be carried???)
DsnyMom
12-14-2007, 08:08 PM
I totally know what you mean. My mom has a fit with my taking the little one out in the cold to put them in something else (that was previous dd). I'm due with #3 the end of Feb. here in Michigan thats about prime time cold as it gets time and I know how against the rules it is for the baby to have a coat or bunting on so I think what i'm going to do with this one is since I will have the other 2 in the 3rd row and the baby in the middle row captains chair i'm going to have the other captains chair stowed in the floor. I'll hop in the back and shut the door, undo the kids from the back, put there coats on (because they don't wear coats in there car seats either) and then take baby out of her seat and get her situated in the moby. Then I will try to wrap my coat around her as good as I can and then I will open up the van door and we will all hop out and be on our way. Seems to me about my best option. Or I will just scoop her out of her seat in a big fleece blanket and then put her in the wrap inside.
BlessedMama2521
12-14-2007, 10:32 PM
I make sure she has a hat on and that shes wearing longsleeves. When we get somewhere, I put her in the pouch as fast as possible while leaning into the car,....sounds simple right...:giggle: If it was REALLY cold, I'd run in with her and then put her on in the store, which can actually be even more complicated with all the gawkers!
Good luck!:goodvibes:
msmamabear
12-16-2007, 02:11 AM
Well if she is in a front carry I have some maternity sweatshirts I wear and that works great, but for back carriers I need a poncho with a baby hole, I am looking at this one (http://childrensneeds.com/mama_poncho.html) for Christmas :crossfingers:
geckoed
12-16-2007, 04:01 AM
Michigan here
kids born in Nov, Jan, and due in Feb/born in March (as well as May and July)
So I've had all ages/stages of babies in the freezing cold. My first kid was a May baby, and he wore a coat and used the infant bucket- I didn't know any better. He outgrew the bucket at 4 months but still wore a snowsuit b/c I didn't know better.
#2 (July baby) was a sling baby who HATED to be all bound up in coats/snowsuits. So she was a hat/blanket girl.
I don't even HAVE a bucket for the 2 youngest, and I don't miss it a bit!
Front carries in a wrap, MT, etc. You put the carrier on under your biggest coat (Dh's maybe?) and you can pop LO from seat to carrier in seconds, wrap the coat around you both, and adjust in the store.
We dont wear coats in the car b/c its dangerous. A fleece blanket with a slit makes a great car seat poncho. Double layer ones are soooo warm and they don't really get cold like most fabrics. (you can order them here (http://www.carseatponcho.com/) but you can make them REALLY easy, and cheap, without sewing. You can make a really big one with a generous slit to wear over you and baby for front OR back carries.
Anyway so I go from seat to carrier in clothes and a hat, quickly by the car and cover with the fleece once in a while, but mostly w/ my coat (which I put on after the wrap but before I get baby out of her seat so that I'm ready to pull it around here.
Its worked well for 5 winters of carrying babies. (before that I used a blanket w/ dd and a snowsuit w/ my oldest which I already said was a very bad idea.
mommylamb
12-16-2007, 04:12 AM
Thank you all for so much of you help! I havn't decided how we're going to accompish it yet lol but you definatly gave me some ways to think about :goodvibes:
SubliminalDarkness
12-16-2007, 10:11 AM
We mostly use a wrap, so that keeps him pretty cozy. I just take him out of the carseat, wrap the wrap around him, get him on my back and all situated, and by that point he has his clothes on, plus he's sharing my body warmth, and then he has several layers of the wrap around him to. And we're good to go.
If it's really really cold, I just get him out of the seat, put his coat on him, and take him into the store. Once in the store, I take his coat off and wrap him there, then shop.
cjbug
03-30-2008, 03:59 PM
I had this same problem when moving ds from an infant seat (which I hated carrying anyway!!!) to his convertible carseat. So I "invented" this:
I make a fleece poncho for my babies (and other peoples', too!!) that has an overlapping slit in the back. It really works great if you wear your baby either on your back or facing forward in the front (like in my avatar), and is safe for the carseat--no bulk underneath the straps! I give a 15% discount to DS mommas and charge only actual shipping. You can check them out here...
http://www.geocities.com/traveltrench/homepage.html
physlet
03-30-2008, 04:28 PM
I recently found these clip-on blankets, which work for babywearing or carseats and strollers:
