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Summer Sleep
Keeping your baby safe and comfortable when it’s hot Summer brings holidays, beach trips, swims and sunshine – but it also brings higher temperatures, which can be hard on your baby’s sleep. Make sure you’re ready by organising your baby’s room, sorting out summer clothing and bedding, and being aware of summer sleep safety while you’re out and about. Cool, comfortable, controlled Babies sleep best at 18-20 degrees Celsius (use a room thermometer to keep track). In the summer months, a baby’s room can rise above this temperature very quickly, even without direct sunlight. Fortunately, there are a few ways to keep your baby’s bedroom cool and comfy. If you have air conditioning or a heat pump with cooling function, simply set it at the right temperature before baby’s bedtime, so the room has time to cool down. If you don’t, a small fan can help with temperature and airflow – just don’t point it directly at your baby. Bonus – the noise of a fan can help some babies drift off. You can also keep the temperature down by leaving the windows open and curtains closed – this lets air circulate, but keeps sunlight out. Just remember to use mesh screens to prevent mosquitoes and other insects coming in. The best baby bedding Summer bedding is pretty straightforward. You’ll need light cotton sheets for the cot, bassinette, or Moses basket, and not much else. Depending on the temperature, your baby may need a cotton top sheet or a light muslin sleeping bag as well. Avoid synthetic fabrics, as these don’t breathe, and can make babies sweaty and uncomfortable. If your baby is very young and still needs to be swaddled, use a thin cotton swaddle , and consider leaving their legs free to regulate temperature. As always, keep unnecessary toys and blankets out of the bed. Clothing choices For clothing, think loose, light, and cotton. Depending on the heat in your house, your baby can sleep in just a nappy and singlet, or a light sleepsuit. Avoid synthetics, and keep everything loose and breathable. If you’re not sure, check the back of your baby’s neck – if it’s sweaty or hot, remove a layer of clothing or bedding. Out and about Summer means outings and disrupted sleep schedules. If your baby is happy to sleep in the pram or car, you’re lucky – but don’t forget to think about the temperature. Prams can get hot and airless very quickly, so park yours in the shade if your baby is asleep. Carry a mesh pram cover or light muslin throw for extra shade, but always leave an opening to allow air to circulate in the pram. Never use a heavy blanket or cover, as this could prevent airflow – which can be dangerous. In the car, use a sunshade over the window to keep direct sunlight off your baby’s skin. Crack a window or use the air conditioning to keep air flowing inside the car, and never, ever leave your baby asleep in the car alone. The temperature can rise to dangerous levels extremely quickly, even with a window open. Keeping your baby cool and comfortable should help them sleep better and feel happier during the day – so you can both enjoy the fun parts of summer. Get sorted for summer with Dimples’ range of clothing, bedding, and sleep accessories.
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Summer smart, right from the start
Keeping little ones safe this summer After a long, cold, virus-heavy winter, many parents will be looking forward to summer – warmer days, fewer illnesses, and time outside with the kids. But after last year’s record-high temperatures, it’s important to remember that summer has dangers too. Babies, with their delicate skin and inability to regulate temperature, are particularly sensitive to harsh sun and heat. Make sure you’re aware and prepared before summer starts, so you can protect your wee ones – no matter how hot it gets. Here’s our summer safety toolkit: Safer with sunscreen Babies and small children have delicate skin that burns easily, so sunscreen is a non-negotiable in the summer months. Even if your children hate the application process, it’s still something that has to be done. If you make it a regular part of their morning routine, they’ll get used to it eventually. • Choose a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF30+ at minimum. • Apply sunscreen at least 15 minutes before you go outside, and remember to reapply every 3-4 hours. • Use plenty – apply sunscreen thickly, and don’t miss areas like the back of the arms or ears. • Keep bottles of sunscreen everywhere – the car, the baby bag, grandparents’ house – so you’re never caught without it. • Don’t forget sunscreen on cloudy days – 80% of rays penetrate through cloud cover, so you can still get burnt. Buy the Made 4 Baby SPF50 Natural Sunscreen HERE . Shade solutions Sunscreen is a must if you’re out in the sunshine, but it’s not the only way to prevent sunburn or overheating. Staying indoors or in the shade during the hottest part of the day helps you avoid the heat altogether while dressing appropriately keeps you – and your children – safe and comfortable. • Try to avoid the sun between 11am-4pm, when UV rays are strongest. • Dress your children in loose, dark-coloured or UV-protective clothing and swimwear – the sun’s rays can penetrate light, thin fabrics. • Choose long-sleeved swimwear. • Make sure your babies and children always wear hats – full brim is best. • Use a sunshade or cover for your pram – but make sure it’s not preventing airflow to your baby, or she could overheat. • Use a shade cloth or stick-on shade in the car, to keep your baby’s seat out of the sun. Check out our range of Cotton Products Here Overheating and hydration During the summer months, it’s important to keep babies and children hydrated and cool as much as possible. Because they’re less developed than adults, babies and small children can’t regulate their body temperature properly, which means they’re more susceptible to overheating. During record high temperatures, overheating and dehydration can be a real concern for smaller babies. Although it’s less common in New Zealand’s fairly temperate climate, babies have died of heat exhaustion in extreme weather • Keep small children indoors, preferably with air conditioning on, during very high temperatures. • Make sure children drink plenty of fluids – homemade ice-blocks are a great way to get more liquid into them. • Give breastfed babies more frequent feeds – your milk will naturally be less concentrated to keep your baby hydrated. Drink more water yourself. • Bottle-fed babies should also be given more feeds – you can offer small amounts of water if you’re concerned about dehydration. • Dress babies and children lightly for sleep, and use a fan or air conditioning to keep the temperature in their room down. • Never leave a baby or child alone in the car, as temperatures can rise extremely rapidly. • If your baby or child is showing signs of dehydration or heatstroke – including lethargy, a dry mouth, fewer wet nappies, or a sunken fontanelle – seek medical treatment immediately. If it all sounds a bit alarming, don’t worry. Summer should be a time of fun and relaxation, even when you do have small children. As long as you’re aware and well prepared, you – and your wee ones – should be fine. Don't Forget the Sunscreen! Buy Sun Lotion Here
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From Hobby to 'Family' Business
As the first few of her fourteen children came along, our founder Jane Anne McAllister found that store-bought clothes just didn’t have the quality she wanted for her babies. They also lacked the strength to endure being passed from one baby to the next and still look good, or even stay intact. So she sourced the best fabrics and began making her baby clothes, lovingly embroidering each item by hand. That was the start of Dimples. Founded in 1992, today, we still dedicate the same care and time that Jane gave to those first garments. We’re one of the few clothing companies that still manufacture in NZ, which lets us make sure each garment is of the highest quality. It also means that our manufacturing is inherently ethical – no unknown, offshore factories with little oversight of working conditions, wages or environmental issues. So who makes our clothes? Our sewing machinists are part of our family, and all highly-skilled craftspeople. Karen has been with us for about seven years, putting her five decades of experience into every garment. Meet Karen – a Dimples sewer As a teenager, Karen finished school in December and reached school-leaving age in January, with dreams of training as a hairdresser. Her parents had other ideas – the hairdressing job didn’t start until mid-February, and they weren’t having her underfoot with nothing to do all that time. “I had to do what my parents told me to. So they marched me into town and got me a sewing job, and that’s where I stayed. I started in the city – 50 years ago. Yes, it was a craft.” ‘Made-in-NZ’ – an endangered species Back when Karen started her working life, a trained machinist could walk out of one job and into another almost immediately. That’s changed now. Textile, leather, clothing and footwear manufacturing make up only 5% of New Zealand’s manufacturing sector, down from 8% in 2008. [1] The number of jobs filled by paid employees in the clothing and knitted-product manufacturing industry fell nearly 60 percent – from 9,550 to 4,120 between 1986 and 2012 [2] . Taking pride in the quality As a professional machinist, Karen says the shift towards international production might make clothes cheaper, but they’re often very poorly constructed. The difference, she says, is that she was trained to complete a whole garment rather than doing piece-work. International garment factories tend to have a group of people just sewing collars, cuffs or hems, for example. “Everything’s done on the big stitch, no back-tacking. Within weeks the seams come apart.” At Dimples, we can turn out high-quality garments because we employ craftspeople like Karen – they have very high standards and the skills to back it up. Karen, in particular was known for her precision and was often used as a sample machinist. “Everything had to be spot on. It was an example – then other sewers had to make it exactly like the sample.” The Dimples family The inclusive culture we foster at Dimples helps our engaged and committed staff produce their best work in a happy, supportive atmosphere. Karen truly thinks the Dimples ‘family’ are lovely people to work for. “I’ve worked for a lot of people, and some of the other bosses were terrible. But Jane is just fantastic. When my grandkids were born, I got a beautiful gift for each baby. At Dimples, they care about you. They’re just nice people.”
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