Ruchi Sachdev shares her experience and tips on how moms can travel with their babies without any worries during winters.
It’s again close to the time when I travelled to the Arctic last year. Let me begin with listing out my regret - not taking my then 2-years and 8-month-old daughter for the fear of brutally cold winters. To only be welcomed to the sight of so many babies in strollers in the right clothing gear. Just to give you a Scandinavian perspective - there’s no such thing as bad weather but only bad clothes. Whenever I am asked about travelling to cold areas with babies, I always assure you it won’t be as cold as the North Pole in December, so with this clothing guide I should most likely be able to cover you up for clothing for up to -15 degrees Celsius (discard layers from my listing depending upon whichever temperature you are going to experience).
Of course, our agenda was northern lights, Whale watching and let me put in a disclaimer here - they don’t allow kids under a particular age for that extreme an adventure but I and my husband could have taken turns for our respective Northern Light Chases or Whale watching. One of us could have alternatively slept the night with the baby at the hotel on the days of our chase and yet manage our travel effortlessly.
Now let’s decode the clothing to travel during winters:
Layers - Dressing up in layers is the key to beat cold. It’s the layers that trap the body heat.
1. The inner thermal layer should be woollen for babies. As it’s always wool that produces heat, not synthetics or acrylics.
2. The second layer can be a full sleeves shirt.
3. The third layer should be a woollen sweater preferably lamb/ Merino wool.
4. Over this, you can have a nice warm fleece jacket.
5. The last layer can be down jacket for you or a snowsuit filled with down for the baby. Make sure they are the waterproof kind. For an infant, the strollers with covers till neck keep them cosy and packed while you are busy walking the roads.
Accessories - The perfect accessories don't just look adorale but can give your little one the much-needed warmth during extremely cold weathers.
1. Hats and mufflers are essential as wind chill can be chillier than the actual temperature. Make sure the hats have a fleece layer on the inside and synthetic on the outside so the heat remains trapped.
2. Mittens (fingers together generate more heat than fingers separated in gloves) or 2 layer-mittens with the inner layer of gloves for extreme weather. The inner glove can be made out of wool. Ex: I used merino wool gloves with leather mittens having an inner fleece lining. In extreme weather for a grownup, I don’t favour touch screen ability of the gloves.
3. Woollen socks to keep the feet warm through chilly weather.
Boots - Good boots and warm feet are key to insulation. Get rubber boots if you expect a lot of snow.
As a parting note, heat loss is maximum from head, ears and feet. You insulate yourself and you will be sorted this winter for your casual travel! Subtract layers according to the location you are travelling to keeping temperatures in mind. My listing is based on our extreme travel to Tromso, Norway; followed by comparatively mild winters in Helsinki, Finland and Copenhagen, Denmark!
Bon Voyage!
Author Bio: Ruchi Bhalla Sachdev is one of the leading Indian mom bloggers. Ruchi and her baby girl, Ivanka are changing the face of baby fashion in India, one baby step at a time. Ruchi's content has helped many parents find everything related to fashion, travel, lifestyle and child-led parenting through her work.
You can follow Ruchi Sachdev on: The Blog Of Ruchi and Instagram
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