Why my toddler always wears a hat
Even when Alice was little people asked ‘does she have a medical condition? is she ill?’ ‘why does she (always) wear a hat?’
No, she just loves it. I could even say she needs it sometimes, to calm down and find her inner peace.
As we all know most newborns will have a hat on the first week (maybe longer if born during winter), for temperature regulating reasons.
I did read a blog somewhere stating that for the hormones/breastfeeding not putting a hat on your newborn might be the better choice. ( read more here )
Still, in Holland, it’s very common to do so and it’s the way we started too.
As soon as she kept her temperature well, we ditched the hat. As she was born in December we did put a hat on when we went outside, but I never thought about putting one on inside our house.
She seemed to cry a lot the first weeks, I felt like I was breastfeeding 24/7 and didn’t get any rest.
One evening my mom put a hat on Alice’s head. Just for fun mainly because it was sooo cute. Alice stopped crying and instead of spending my whole evening nursing her, she was asleep on the couch with her hat on. At first, we made jokes and thought it was just a coincidence… but the next day when she was restless again I decided to just give it a try to see if it would work (again) like it did the night before.
My crying baby calmed down immediately. The hats I owned were not meant to be worn inside (way too warm), so I order some thinner all cotton, wool and silk hats.
I think she has worn her hats almost 24/7 those first months. Even now (at 2,5YO) she will ask for her hat if she’s tired but can’t fall asleep.
Her hat and her rainboots are all she needs. 🙂
Wearing a hat helps a child to feel the boundaries of their body, but it also reduces the auditory input. I also believe it helps her to feel less vulnerable.
When we’re on a busy fair she will be shielded from all the sounds and instead of being over-stimulated and getting unsettled, she will be calm and relaxed.
Some people like to make fun of it, if it’s warm outside they don’t see the need of wearing it. I just want her to wear whatever makes her feel good and if that is a hat & rainboots, great! could be worse 😉
There are not a lot of brands selling bigger bonnets, but she still fits the size 86/92 and 50cm hats that we own.
I love to shop at Regenboogschaap and Littleshoparoundthecorner. Cosilana, Celavi and Joha are some brands we have.