What to wear to daycare and not wear to daycare?

Slobina · January 2012

Hi ladies. I need some help with deciding what DD wears to daycare and what she doesn't. My mom and I just got her some clothes for the New Year, and I find myself dressing her in the mornings, then saying to myself "oh that's too cute/nice/whatever to wear to daycare", and then putting her a different outfit that is older and has already gotten messed up at daycare. Those old outfits are only going to last for so long though. My mom has advised me to buy things that I don't like, so I won't care about it getting messed up. I guess the problem is that I'm lame and I kind of like everything, so if it is new I just don't want it to get messed up. And I need to get over this issue of things getting messed up, I know.

For now, I'm thinking that we'll just do dark pants - black pants or jeans - and dark, patterned tops. These don't show the stains as much, it seems.

Do you have any other thoughts about picking which clothes for daycare? I'm all ears.

Thanks,

Amy

BSE · January 2012

i would just dress her in whatever you like! i mean how dirty can they really get at daycare that won't wash out? don't put her in anything you would regret losing (dd once got changed at daycare and her outfit never made it back to us) but remember they grow out of everything so fast that i find if i wait to put her in something sometimes we only end up wearing it once! granted majority of her clothes is hand me downs or from target/old navy and we do so few "special" activities that i can't really save her outfits for anything.

ali-1411 · January 2012

Maybe if you buy them second-hand, you won't mind them getting messed up so much. Check out ebay and the cosignment stores.

Or Walmart and Target always have stand of mix-and-match pants and shirts. Usually they're only $4-7 each.

ACR · January 2012

I send DS in anything, really. Some days he has on a smocked john john & other days he has on sweatpants and a tshirt. If something comes home with stains, I take care of it right away.

The only thing I've learned I need to avoid on days when he might eat something messy are light colors (white is fine, but off-white is the pits b/c I can't bleach it)

Abrooks · January 2012

All clothes are fair game for school except for fancy dresses. Sure, some clothes get stained, but they go to school 5 days a week. My opinion is what's the point of buying clothes if they aren't going to wear them? We buy clothes we like and let them wear them to school and on weekends. If it comes home dirty, I try to treat it then so it won't stain. Most things come out. But I don't distinguish clothes for home/weekends vs. school. It's all good for all activities.

Slobina · January 2012

The main problem for me is the food stains - the yogurt seems to come out fine, but sauces I put in her food (spaghetti sauce, salsa, etc.) don't seem to come out as easily in the wash. Also, they go out to the playground a lot, and she's still crawling, so the knees on her pants get really worn and dirty. Y'all are right though - I need to just get over it, or buy secondhand clothes so I don't care so much.

rssnlvr · January 2012

Abrooks:
All clothes are fair game for school except for fancy dresses. Sure, some clothes get stained, but they go to school 5 days a week. My opinion is what's the point of buying clothes if they aren't going to wear them? We buy clothes we like and let them wear them to school and on weekends. If it comes home dirty, I try to treat it then so it won't stain. Most things come out. But I don't distinguish clothes for home/weekends vs. school. It's all good for all activities.

This is our take. Clothes are for wearing, and I love it when she looks super cute. When DD outgrows a cute outfit and it's still in pristine shape, that's when I regret not putting her in it enough.

ACR · January 2012

It became a lot easier once DS was walking - I did get frustrated with the stained, worn down knees when he was crawling! Just keep some oxiclean around & you'll be in good shape. I've had to be persistent with some stains, but mostly I've had luck. I've learned that DS grows out of stuff so quickly, so if I'm going to have the cute outfits around, I need to let him wear them any day so I get my money's worth.

bobcatsteph · January 2012

Abrooks:
All clothes are fair game for school except for fancy dresses. Sure, some clothes get stained, but they go to school 5 days a week. My opinion is what's the point of buying clothes if they aren't going to wear them? We buy clothes we like and let them wear them to school and on weekends. If it comes home dirty, I try to treat it then so it won't stain. Most things come out. But I don't distinguish clothes for home/weekends vs. school. It's all good for all activities.

This.

Also, I don't buy many white clothes. I also don't buy many fancy outfits anyway.

I have the closet lined up with long sleeves on one side and short sleeves on the other. Depending on the weather, I take the first long or short sleeved shirt in line and find pants or a skirt to match and that's the outfit for the day..I keep pulling the next shirt every day. When things are washed, I put them in the "back of the line" to make sure everything is rotated and everything gets worn. It saves me the stress of picking out outfits and I make sure to get my money's worth out of everything (Am I the only one that stresses about this?).

Abinormal · January 2012

bobcatsteph:
Abrooks:
All clothes are fair game for school except for fancy dresses. Sure, some clothes get stained, but they go to school 5 days a week. My opinion is what's the point of buying clothes if they aren't going to wear them? We buy clothes we like and let them wear them to school and on weekends. If it comes home dirty, I try to treat it then so it won't stain. Most things come out. But I don't distinguish clothes for home/weekends vs. school. It's all good for all activities.

This.

Also, I don't buy many white clothes. I also don't buy many fancy outfits anyway.

I have the closet lined up with long sleeves on one side and short sleeves on the other. Depending on the weather, I take the first long or short sleeved shirt in line and find pants or a skirt to match and that's the outfit for the day..I keep pulling the next shirt every day. When things are washed, I put them in the "back of the line" to make sure everything is rotated and everything gets worn. It saves me the stress of picking out outfits and I make sure to get my money's worth out of everything (Am I the only one that stresses about this?).

Haha! You are NOT the only one that stresses about everything getting worn, lol! I have the stuff that I can't resist buying AND the stuff that you've so graciously handed down. As a result, Tegan has A TON of clothes. I feel weirdly guilty if Tegan doesn't wear something that I or someone else has bought her, but I also feel guilty if she doesn't wear the clothes that you've been so nice to let us borrow, lol!

I find that I like to lay out Tegan's clothes for the week on Sunday evenings. I don't like the pressure of finding matching clothes on weekday mornings and it's easier to just grab the top outfit on the pile. I only buy clothes that I'm ok with her wearing to daycare. If I want her to have something extra cute that won't get stained then I buy that outfit, but I do save it just for those special occasions. Otherwise, everything she owns gets worn to daycare, whether new, old or hand me down.

Right now... my child has enough shirts to make it through the winter with only repeating shirts once or twice... I wish I could say the same for pants... but she's hard to fit in the pants department right now, lol!

katattack · January 2012

We send her in anything. I only have a couple of things I haven't been able to get clean. I like buying her cute clothes, so I put her in anything, for the most part. My issue now is her 'input' in the mornings for her outfits mean they aren't getting rotated the way I'd like, but I'm working on that one.

MrsAJL · January 2012

Abrooks:
All clothes are fair game for school except for fancy dresses. Sure, some clothes get stained, but they go to school 5 days a week. My opinion is what's the point of buying clothes if they aren't going to wear them? We buy clothes we like and let them wear them to school and on weekends. If it comes home dirty, I try to treat it then so it won't stain. Most things come out. But I don't distinguish clothes for home/weekends vs. school. It's all good for all activities.

This.

Further, we don't buy second hand clothes just because they're going to get stained. If you're worried about stains, buy a good stain remover. My kids where Carter's because they fit and they have have great sales. Stains happen. I treat everything before I put it in the wash and 98% of all the stains come out. Babies are messy. Only way to prevent stains on baby clothes is for baby not to wear any. Smile

Mrs. K in TX · January 2012

I agree with most people on this. I send my LO in anything. I buy it so he can wear it. If you're worried about tomato stains, save those foods for home so you can strip her down before she eats.

As for stains, you may want to try a different detergent. DH and LO are both allergic to Tide, which I've always felt was the best at getting clothes clean. We've tried a bunch of different types of detergents, and I've found that the best one for our family is Gain. I've recently started using HEB's Bravo Free & Clear for LO because I think he's been having a reaction to Gain. It seems to work great, too. Last week, I actually found a white & red onsie from Christmas Eve that had chili stains on it. It had gotten pushed under the hamper instead of in it. I treated it with a little Spray and Wash (I think it's Resolve now) just before I washed it, and it came right out with the pre-treatment and the Bravo.

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