
Swedish researchers have found that a muslin or blanket covering a pram can reduce air circulation and create intense heat, with one doctor warning even a thin cover can increase the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
This doesn’t surprise me at all. As a mum of two, I would say that 90% of mums I’ve come across use a muslin over their pram to protect from the sun’s rays. I’ve always wondered what sort of temperature is being created under there.
When our first bub was around six months old we were living in Queensland during a particularly intense summer. The heat and humidity were unbearable. I’ll never forget the time I lifted the muslin covering his pram to find him sweating and red. From then on, I never used one in warm weather.

New warning about covering a pram when out in the sun. Image via iStock.
The Daily Mail reported that Svante Norgren, a paediatrician at the Astrid Lindgren children's hospital in Stockholm said covering a pram creates bad air circulation and makes it hard to see the baby.
"It gets extremely hot down in the pram, something like a thermos," he said, speaking to the Swedish Svenska Dagbladet newspaper.