Bringing Baby Home: Why Baby Needs a Sun Hat

The final few months in the lead up to welcoming a new baby into the family are often full of frantically running around making sure everything is perfect for them… You’ve got everything you could possibly think you might need but you still have that looming feeling that you’ve forgotten something utterly vital.

Nursery? Check

Cot? Check

Nappies? Check

Bath? Check

Toys? Check

Cute clothes? Check

The truth is, if you haven’t got a sun hat on this list you HAVE forgotten something utterly vital. Too often than not, new and expectant parents leave a sun hat for baby off the list. “My newborn won’t need a hat”, you say, but you couldn’t be more wrong! Starting sun safety early is the essential key to having a happy hat wearing toddler and child. Getting baby a sun hat right from birth is the best way to avoid later saying “my toddler just hates wearing a hat, they always rip it off!”

The best time to teach a child to wear a hat is before they start developing fine motor skills. Familiarising baby with the sensation of wearing a hat is the key to raising a child that searches for their hat to wear before going outdoors. Once they can control those little hands; anything new is almost certainly getting ripped off! And really – who wants to argue with a two-nager?

As parents, we think about our children’s physical, cognitive and social development from day one. We start them on vegetables as early as possible, we talk to them so that they gradually pick up words, we make sure to give them plenty of tummy time to build up their muscles, but so many parents forget to teach their babies sun-safety by getting them used to wearing a hat from birth!

Unfortunately, hats that are made to fit newborns are hard to come by, even though this time of life is the most crucial in sun-safe habit-development. Many mums place a muslin cloth over the pram to shield baby from the sun, but UVA rays are out all year round and are strong enough to penetrate through fabric unless it’s got a high UPF rating!

And besides, baby can’t take in all its new and exciting surroundings with a cloth hiding their view! Having a hat for your newborn will ensure they are not only shielded from UVA rays but also that they can see the world around them.

Spending time outside is a significant part of Australian culture, no matter what season – and who wouldn’t want to enjoy the beauty that this country has to offer. This lifestyle, however, sadly often comes at a huge cost, with two in three being likely to be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they reach the age of seventy.

The great Australian lifestyle has come with the consequence of having one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. Not everyone understands that sun exposure in the first 10 years of life plays a large part in determining your lifetime potential risk for skin cancer. As parents it’s so important to encourage children to wear a hat – the consequences of not could be life threatening.

That’s why it’s so important to instil sun safety habits in children from a young age, and protect children from the harsh effects of the strong Australian sun and give parents the tools to get babies comfortable wearing hats from birth.

Bedhead Hats are made with stretchy lycra to allow for a perfect fit every time, especially when your kids are growing more and more every time you blink. Our baby Legionnaire hats have been built for comfort, perfect for converting hat-haters into hat-lovers. Our Legionnaire hats are soft and comfortable over the ears and the back of the neck, so comfy they’ll forget they’re wearing it!

Check out our sun-safety styling guide to find out which style is best for your little one!