Overwhelmed with baby clothes!

AppleMuffins · June 2013

Holy Moley.

I recently got back from a trip visiting my family this week and came home with a bunch of baby clothes, some gifted, some from a shopping spree with my mom, some hand me downs. I decided I would go through them all to see what I had in what sizes. Dh kind of laughed and said I'm doing inventory. What I didn't realize is how overwhelming it kind of is. We've got a ton of stuff and it's difficult to organize because the sizing is kind of weird. Some are 0-3 mos, some just plain 3 mos, others 3-6mos. Even some that are the same size on the tag don't actually look like it side by side. Then there are a few weird ones that are 0-6mos or 6-12mos. I don't even know how I can organize this. It's not like I can just make baby try them on.

BTDT moms, any tips? What should I wash before she gets here? Most things will be past their return by dates anyway, and I don't have receipts for most of it, so I'm not too concerned about not washing them in the event that they need to be returned.

Should I just group all the 0-6mos together and then 6-12mos together? Or should I split them further? I also realize I have very few newborn size clothes. I know some babies don't even fit in that size when they're born though, so I'm not really sure if I should get more. Advice on that?

illybean · June 2013

I am so going to watch this post because I am going through the same thing!

I don't even know....do I put them in drawers, hang them? Its a bit overwhelming!

achadwick19 · June 2013

I'm a FTM, but I got a lot of clothes from a parent at my work. I washed it all, mainly because they had dog hair on some of them. Some things that are new I didn't wash yet though. I put the clothes in bins by season. I have 0-3 in her dresser/closet and then a bin in the bottom of the closet with 3-6 so it's easy to access. All of the other sizes are put in the basement until we are ready to use them. But for the other clothes I did a spring bin and a summer bin. The 3-6 bin is winter/beginning of spring.

Hope this helps! It is definitely overwhelming.

achadwick19 · June 2013

I also know that a LOT of people will get you newborn clothes at your shower (if you're having one) so if you are having a shower, I would definitely wait until after that to see what you get for newborn clothes.

Mrs. Mo · June 2013

I started off by washing all the 0-6 month clothing. Then, I put the newborn & 0-3 (or 3 month) sized stuff in her dresser and hung up the 3-6 month stuff.

iceprincess15 · June 2013

3 months = 0-3 months - all Carter's clothing is sized this way

I have one drawer of newborn - lots of gowns, sleepers. My first was a little guy, so that is why I have a full drawer just of newborn. You can always order some more sleepers online if LO ends up being on the smaller side. My mom actually had to run out and buy premie clothes, and he was in them for 3 weeks.

The rest of my drawers are 0-3, and then a drawer for hats, socks, bibs.

Some brands run bigger than others (I found that Gymboree, Crazy 8, and Children's Place ran large on my son). Old Navy, Carters, Gap runs pretty true to size. Gerber runs SUPER small.

I put some of the clothes that run larger in with my true to size. They tend to be my good transition pieces before changing out sizes. I do move Gerber though. So I have 0-3 Gerbers in my newborn drawer, and 3-6 in my 0-3 drawers.

RunningGal900 · June 2013

It is overwhelming! I got loads from my cousins and I did the same thing. I would put 0 to 3, 3 and 0 to 6 together. Your baby may not wear 0 to 6 right away, but at least you have it. I wouldn't bother with the 3 to 6 yet because it will just be confusing. Typically, I found that something labeled three months, was more of a 0 to 3 months vs a 3 to 6 months size. Then it's sort of trial and error once baby gets here and if you realize something is huge you can put it away vs not having it out and potentially missing it. As she grows, you will start putting stuff away and know when it's time to get out the next size

iceprincess15 · June 2013

I also ditto the bins. You will need these for when LO grows out of clothes too

We have bins downstairs of 3-6, and 6-9 or -12.

EMLYNNLERETTE · June 2013

It was very overwhelming, I remember too well! Basically I kept out all NB and 0 to 3 months, which includes sizes labeled 3 months. Those were for baby arrival since you may end up skipping NB sizes if baby is bigger. When I started to notice things shrinking ob baby's body, I took out the next group of sizes which I organized to be 3 to 6, then 6 to 9 including 6 to 12 mo... You get the idea. Just put random labeled sized items with whatever the smallest size is. You may have to eyeball some of it to gage which group it should really go into. I kept everything organized as I packed each size away, so if this baby is a girl, it will hopefully be super easy on me.

sprocketsmom · June 2013

True to size brands like Carter's or Old Navy get grouped by the size on the tag. I have a drawer for newborn, and two for 0 to 3. The rest I put in space bags and will rotate in as LO grows. Some brands, like Gerber as pp said, run super small. I just eyeball and group with what size the item looks like it should be. I have some Gerber onesies that are 0 to 3 on the tag but are smaller than Carter's newborn onesies, so they went in the newborn drawer.

AppleMuffins · June 2013

This has been so helpful! Good to know that the 3mos go with 0-3mos and that Gerber runs small. I had a pack of onesies that did look small to me but I was just going to trust the tag size. Now I know too what I still need, so this is going to make shopping much easier. I'll have to figure out where to store the extra clothes. As it is, she's probably going to share a dresser with us for now (tiny NYC apartment), but I might be able to fit a flat storage box under the crib.

jmjewell19 · June 2013

Thank you for asking this! I feel the same way! We got 3 big totes and a small tote of clothes from a friendmost hardly worn. Plus we picked up a few hardly worn things at a rummage sale...so many clothes! We won't have to clothe her until she's over a year. But I was feeling overwhelmed about what to do with it all as well. Definitely appreciate the advice from others on this one.

ocnfish4 · June 2013

FTM here. My SIL gave me all of her boy clothes up to age 2! I was overwhelmed at first too. I have a built-in dresser in the nursery, and I put newborn stuff in one small drawer, 0-3 in a drawer, 3 months in one, and 3-6 in the last. I'll rotate them once he's here if he doesn't fit in newborn stuff. And then again as he grows. I don't have anything hung up right now, but I'm planning to hang up any new clothes we get from showers in the closet and use those first.

Pockety · June 2013

I'd get just a few newborn items, or buy some closer to your due date and keep the tags on and receipts so you can return them. DS was born at 8lbs 2oz, and he could've worn newborn clothes but also fit fine into 0 to 3m clothes, so we really skipped newborn. This was a surprise to us as I'm 5'1" 110lbs not pregnant, and DH is 5'8" and skinny. Doctor said there was no way DS would be over 7lbs!

Target sells adorable newborn clothes, so if baby is born small, you can even send someone shopping and have them throw in a load of laundry while you're still in the hospital. The hospital will provide clothes while you're there.

mwindyy · August 2013

Many of my friends has suggested that I don't buy too many NB sizes when I was having my DD, but after going through the first few months with my DD, I think you should make sure you have a good amount of NB basics (basics, not fancy clothes). My DD also started to wear these special onesies called tumsies that comes in these super cute prints. I wish I had these when my DD was first born, they would have been great. You can find them at www.tumsie.com

- Michelle

amu110902 · August 2013

My "dresser" is a remade buffet table...It has two drawers in the middle and room for 6 baskets on it. I have my cloth diapers in both diapers (newborn at the top, one size on the bottom). I have one basket of extra diapering stuff (inserts, etc.), one basket with all the "tiny" things like booties, socks, mittens, hats, shoes, etc., one basket of onesies, one basket of sleepers/rompers, and one basket of pants/hoodies. These are all of his NB sized clothes. Washed and in the closet ready to go are all of the things we have so far for 0-3 months. Hanging up by size but not ready are all the other things we have. I'll wash when it gets closer. We have one more shower in two weeks, but I wanted the things we already had to be prepared in the event that we have an early arrival. I'm sure we'll adjust this system as we find what works for us, but it's where we will start from.

michelle7482 · August 2013

I split nb and 0-3 together, 3 and 3-6, 6mo, 9 mo, 12 mo. 0-6 I would keep with 3 months. I stayed organized by keeping all current clothing folded in the dresser and the rest hanging in the closet. Then switched it out as needed. I also washed as needed.

erink7211 · August 2013

Thank you so much for starting this post! I have been wondering the same thing. Granted now that I am reading everyone's responses I'm starting to think we need to get our little guy some more clothes. We have everything (ranging from 0-12 months) hanging in his closet right now and I'd say there are only about 25 things (not including sleepers which are folded in his dresser).

AppleMuffins · August 2013

@erink7211 You probably have enough. I'm worried that I have too much and she'll never get to wear it all! My mom went overboard, plus the stuff I've bought... ha

I posted this awhile but I guess I can update with what I did. Might be helpful for people in a similar situation. We're sharing our room with her for now because we're in NYC and can't currently afford an apartment with an extra bedroom. Not while I'm out on unpaid maternity leave anyway. So she's sharing our closet and dresser, which definitely makes things harder to organize. So, what we did is we have two drawers from our dresser we gave to her. One has newborn clothes and the other is 0-3. I'm in the process of washing all of those. The closet has a few little outfits and jackets hanging up- the nicer stuff that I wouldn't want wrinkled, but not much because dh and my clothes take up pretty much all of it. Then for the rest of the clothes, I bought two under-bed storage containers and labeled them for 6 mos and 9+mos (since she doesn't have as much clothes in the 9 and 12mos sizes). Those I'm keeping under the crib and will pull them out once her clothes start to get small. I haven't washed those, or removed the tags. And that's where we stand for now! Hopefully it works for us.

kje120 · August 2013

Different brands are sized differently and will fit differently. I remember Gerber running small and Carters running large (I think). I would have the newborn, 0-3 month and 3 month stuff ready and washed since you don't know how big your LO will be. And really, go by how they look as far as size, you don't need to stick with the sizing on the tag. You'll see what fits once the baby is here.

AppleMuffins · August 2013

@kestock120 Good point! I did have a couple onesies that said 0-6mos, but when I looked at the weight, it only went up to 13lbs, which might be closer to a 3-4mos old, so I stuck that in with the 0-3. A few other things didn't have tags (hand me downs), so I just guessed and erred on the size of caution by putting them with the smaller sizes. I'd rather see it doesn't fit and wait to use it then pull out my box and realize she never got to wear something because it's too small now! And I definitely sized down all the Gerber clothes, which luckily weren't that many.

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