Babies and toddlers need hats for many reasons.  The obvious reason is for body temperature regulation, as their little bodies do not adjust as quickly as ours, plus you want to avoid the dirty looks of the older generation if your baby is bare headed :).

Not only do hats offer protection from heat and cold, they also shield baby’s tender head that may or may not have hair from the harmful rays of the sun.  There is one other aspect of hat protection I had not previously thought of and is not offered by all hats…hearing and ear protection.

We were sent two American made organic hats by Dots on Tots.

[amazon_link id=”B005XZZ2JQ” target=”_blank” ]Dots on Tots Organic Cotton Ear Flap Hat)[/amazon_link]

100% certified organic soft baby cotton.
Hat is double layered, seamless with soft Velcro (hook and loop) closure on the flaps.
Low-impact dyes used on eco-dyed colors (blue, white, pink). Fabrics and hats are made in the USA.
Each hat is carefully wrapped in tissue paper with little thank you note and packed in our signature eco-friendly, recyclable pillow box.

[amazon_link id=”B005R6U55C” target=”_blank” ]Dots on Tots Reversible Sun Hat[/amazon_link]

All our hats are made from eco-friendly, hypoallergenic, breathable 100% certified (GOTS standard) organic cotton fabric produced in the USA.

I think these hats are a bit overpriced, but your child’s protection is priceless, and they are made of sustainable organic cotton.  Cotton is truly one of the crops that you need to seek out organic and thus worth the extra expense:

Before the 1950s, cotton-growing mainly involved sustainable techniques, but now cotton is one of the most environmentally damaging crops grown in the world, resulting in wide-scale water pollution, chronic illness in farm workers, and calamitous effects on wildlife. Conventionally grown cotton occupies only three percent of the world’s farmland, but uses 25 percent of the world’s chemical insecticides, including Parathion, which is at least 30 times more toxic than DDT! As insects develop pesticide resistance over time, farmers desperate to keep up yields often resort to genetically modified cottonseed and heavier and heavier cocktails of pesticide poisons. Ironically, less than ten percent of those chemicals actually accomplish their task—the rest are absorbed into the plants, the soil, the air, the water and eventually, our bodies.

Although I was not sent a sample of the [amazon_link id=”B005MSK92O” target=”_blank” ]noise reduction hat[/amazon_link], I think it is an excellent idea when taking your child to events that are noisy and more likely to stay in or on their ears than ear plugs or headphones.  I don’t think a noise reduction hat should be used all the time though, as hearing is crucial for language development.

Disclosure: The products described above were sent to us as free samples. Prior assurances as to the nature of the reviews, whether positive or negative, were not given. No financial payments were accepted in exchange for the reviews. The reviews reflect our honest, authentic opinions.