Keeping Baby Warm - Leg Warmers, Car Seat Covers Etc

When my son was an infant, I had this Snug Sack thing that would fit into his car seat / stroller (there were places for the straps to feed through). I would zip him into it and he was cozy comfy as can be.
I kept the house at about 70 - 72 degrees, so he was never cold inside. Blanket sleepers are the way to go if the inside temp is going to be on the cool side (they are calling these Snug Sacks now sometimes, but these are different than the car seat things).
Try not to over dress him - he'll overheat.
Leg warmers for a baby I never heard of, but I'm thinking it could be a mess come changing time.

I wish they had those car seat covers when my daughter was a baby..shes 16 now! The recommendations are for not using any sort of additional layers in car seats. Not sure how parents are expected to do that with all small children, but with babies you easily can by tucking a light blanket around them snugly and using a good one of these car seat covers. Really, if they are in an infant seat, you will be going in and out of the car/stores/house. In the "olden days" (LOL) we tossed a good blanket over the whole baby or car seat and it was a big thing to lug around and try not to get dirty in sloppy store conditions, etc (carts and junk..ugh).

Fleece is good in layers as it blocks out wind and is warm and easy to wash...but as a provider, I see many of those covers have a flannel exterior and a sort of fluffy fake sheepy looking thing inside. . The babies are always toasty warm when they arrive at my house (I do home childcare).

Just consider and read up on current recommendations for car seat safety and adding layers with bulky coats or bunting sorts of things for babies. Alot of opinions out there, but really, the seats were not designed for bulky layers to be added and for the straps to still function at maximum safety. They are meant to be snugly next to your child with normal clothing.

As for your home, keep it at what ever your normal temp is. At my house, we have always kept it cool. Always. And now, as a teen, she still likes a cool house, year round as well, but thats just us! LOL. The sleep sacks are great they have now..many price ranges and thickness, etc. Good old sleepers with legs for bigger kids as well. Again, speaking as a provider who has done various safety training...SIDS traing tells us (and is regulated for licensed providers) that for children under 12 mos of age, we are not allowed to have ANY blankets in the cribs of our daycare children..so these sleep sacks are great! Especially in a cool house like mine. Of course for a parent and your own home, you get to decide! I keep my house 66-68 year round (colder at night in the winter for just my family..we go to 58 at night for us)..and my daycare babies always have a onsie, good socks, long sleeve shirt and pants....nothing unusual and they stay warm enough!

For outdoor play, etc for older baies/toddler/children..I love Lands End and can't say enough good things about their stuff. As a child my daughter lived in their stuff...and still has the womens boots (I have jackets of theirs)...and an old jacket and snow pants to use for sledding fun.

Good Luck and Enjoy Winter!!! I do!

I didn't grow up in MN, but we just had our 4th kid here. I have not had much winter gear for any of them. If you use the car seat cover, you can add different layers of blankets depending on the level of cold. They also need a hat to cover their head and ears, preferably one that straps under the chin. For the most part, you are just going from your house to the car and from your car to the store, etc., so they are exposed to the elements for very brief periods of time. If you are going to take him out to "play" in the snow, then you will need a snowsuit of some sort and additional coverings for hands and feet. You really don't need to go overboard because I doubt you will have him out for long when it's -20, and on other days he will get too hot and want to sleep all day. Coats are hard to manage and get the car seat straps tight, so if you can make it through the winter in the infant seat, it will be much easier.

Oh my gosh! I LOVE baby leg warmers! I bought lots of them off of Etsy.com last fall. Several different people make them and they have lots of different colors and patterns, even electric guitar and skull designs for those kids on the edge;)
If you have a sewing machine they are supposedly easy to make also. You just take a pair of adult knee high socks, cut the foot off right above the heel, trim off the heel and toe sections from the foot. The 'arch' section gets folded in half to make the bottom edge of the leg warmer (the top edge being the top of the sock). Sew the arch/bottom to the bottom of the sock where you cut off the foot and they are done!
I have no time in my life so when I found some knee socks that i wanted for legwarmers I had one of the ladies on Etsy.com make them into warmers for M.. I particularly like 'FateGoddess" on Etsy. She has tons of legwarmers for sale.

I have seen some really cute snow suits on line as I have been looking for coats for my girls. I think they were on JCPenny and Kohls.
As for the house, I've always been told that if you are comfortable, they are comfortable.

Babylegs are the best. I would just google them, and you can by direct from them or local baby stores.

Land's End is great

Even though it is cold outside, your house should still be comfortable. Babylegs are great on arms and legs if needed, and I love sleep sacks. I usually try to keep the house between 68-72.

I haven't tried those carseat things, but you definitely want something that will block out the wind and snow, no matter what you do.

I ordered leg warmers from Amazon as they have a good variety. I think I might try etsy to as Beth mentioned since my next LO will need them this winter and next. My DD is 3 and she's been wearing leg warmers from Gap (fleece lined, cable knit). I usually wait until I have a coupon and stock up for her as tights are kind of a pain to get off for diapers and potty training.

I have a snowsuit that I used a couple of times for my first when we would go on stroller walks, but honestly didn't use them any other time because we would normally head indoors where it was too hot to keep on her. Same with the car seat cover - unless you are going to have him sitting out in the cold or not going to heat your car it's kind of a pain to remove. Blankets are much easier along with a good hat that covers the head and ears. My daughter would usually get hot rather than cold with M. trying to keep her warm =)

Don't know about Minnesota but here many consignment and kids specialty stores carry baby legs, or you can buy them online. And we loved the jj cole bundle M. for the carseat/stroller! Houses should be kept at 68 during the day and 65 at night. Blanket sleepers and footie pjs are usually enough inside. It sure does get cold in Minnesota, stay warm! :)

Never used baby leg warmers, but I totally would! My trick (even for baby boys) is tights. They keep their legs and feet warm even if they are just wearing a onsie around the house or at naptime, and the best part is that if they take their shoes and socks off in the car (my son did ALL the time), the tights don't go anywhere! You can't even tell a boy is wearing tights under his pants if that bothers you at all, they just look like black or navy socks.

I don't know if you sew at all, but I came across these baby leg warmers that I thought were just darling. They are made from 'upcycled' wool sweaters. Check this out:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/55690626/natural-wool-upcycle...

You apparently would just cut the sleeves off a nicely used wool sweater, and sew them together, and perhaps put some elastic in for a waistband. I don't sew much, but I think I could manage these! They look so easy!

You could go to a local thrift store, get some really cute wool sweaters with neat prints and colors, and make your own leg warmers!

Babylegs.com for legwarmers are amazing. If you "follow" them on facebook or twitter they send out weekly coupon codes as well! We ONLY used our JJ cole bundle M. in the winter! The snowsuits are a PAIN to try and get baby in and out of and strapped properly! We have a tri level and keep our heat at 75, I get cold easily so I cannot stand it any colder than that! Old navy has fleece lined pants/overalls and they are awesome! Also, Halo sleepsacks on top of regular jammies for extra warmth and night since blankets are a no-no. If you search on etsy for crochet hats, you will find a million cute styles!!! My son has an owl, Brobee and Muno from yo gabba gabba, a sock monkey, and a frog! They are super cute and most of the sellers on etsy are mommies so you are helping to support them! (Can't beat that!)

Just another note on the babylegs...they are awesome for spring/summer too! Just a onesie and babylegs, makes easy diaper changes and we keep them in the diaper bag to put over bare arms/legs when you go into a cold air conditioned store ;)

you can get those hand warmers and place them in i blanket in his carseat maybe?

We keep our house at around 70F during winter. We also have fleece blankets we put on top of comforters in the kid's beds. They can pull them off if they get hot. As for pjs, when my kids were little I love the fleece footy pjs. If my kid didn't keep his blankets on I would put a onesie underneath and some socks. I never had much of a problem. I used those car seat covers but I just ended up with a blanket that I brought in and out when they got a little older. We just had a fleece blanket that was smaller. Also I still do this, but I warm the car up on really cold days and pull it out of the garage and then go in and get jackets on and everything so the car is not so cold when we leave. As for leg warmers I make mine for my daughter. I take a woman's knee high socks and cute the foot part off and make a cuff. She wears them when it starts getting chilly and she insists on wearing skirts. Also works great for arms.