I shrank all the onesies - rant, and request for advice

lzponce · October 2013

In my effort to prepare for my baby's arrival, I washed a lot of his/her clothes (team green!) last night. I washed them in cold water, and then dried them in the low heat setting in my dryer. WELLLL I don't know what the hell happened, but all of the baby's onesies shrunk down to comedic proportions; the only baby these onesies will fit is a hamster baby.

I was trying to look on the bright side of things and I realized that I only had 11 onesies to begin with (the rest of the laundry consisted of one million burp cloths, swaddling and receiving blankets, socks, hats, etc.), so it's not that great of a loss. The bad thing is, they were the only onesies I had, they were all gifts from wonderful and generous people, and now I have to buy a lot of onesies.

On that note, can anyone tell me how many onesies/outfits are essential to getting through the first month or so. I am going to go baby clothes shopping in the next two weeks, so any advice would be amazing!

TIA!

dbucks · October 2013

Omg I am going to have to hang-dry onesies!? I hadn't really thought about it before, but uuuugh! I hate laundry.

And I'm sorry OP! No advice cause I'm a FTM. That sucks.

Caitlinh27 · October 2013

I wonder what you did wrong?? I'm glad I read this before I started washing all LO's clothes because I would have done it the exact same way.

ladameperdue · October 2013

Ugh this does suck. I'm sorry : ( I had not thought of this either.

mavgirl_73 · October 2013

Whilst you may have shrunk them try do stretch out a bit. I've always washed and dried my girls' onesies. Were they all different brands or one brand?

tyedyeme12 · October 2013

I wonder what went wrong...I washed all my baby clothes on cold and dried them on normal dry...and they turned out fine... :-/ I'm so sorry that yours shrunk!

TheArmadillo · October 2013

That's how I have always washed all of my family's clothes, including our onesies, and have never had that much shrinkage. I suppose we probably had some with the 100% cotton ones, but never so much that it didn't fit. What were these made of?

bty19 · October 2013

I dont think I have ever pre- washed new clothing before!

lzponce · October 2013

A lot of them were from target (I dont' know the brand), some from Carter. I had three onesies that actually made it through all right - i'll go check what brand they are. I don't think it's the fault of the onesies, though. I have a super old dryer, and I think that the low setting is still pretty hot. I have an even lower setting "gentle, on the dryer that may work out better. This time though, i'll be sure to test out the "gentle" cycle before I throw in all the onesies!

lzponce · October 2013

@mavgirl73 I will definitely try and stretch them out a bit. Thanks!

Jen4033 · October 2013

I've always washed DS's & all of our own clothes the same exact way with no issues. I've even made mistakes not realizing the water temp and or dryer temp were hotter than I wanted & still they did not shrink that badly. Could you be exaggerating on the amount they shrunk perhaps?

chemily8 · October 2013

They are pretty stretchy, maybe they will work? Don't buy too much at first because you never know what will fit baby. Baby could be tall and skinny, short and fat all these things make a difference. I had an 8 lb 21 inch baby. Average size. They lose weight at first too. By the time I got home I had to buy a few premie outfits.

mh89 · October 2013

I never would have bought anything used as a FTM, but now that I'm a STM I'm all about saving money. I found a great deal for newborn outfits being sold on craigslist that I just bought for $60 - 30 sleepers, 50 onesies, 20 pants, 10 cute matching outfits, 7 dresses, 8 jackets, 30 pampers diapers, 3 blankets, 5 hats, and a pack of cloth diapers. All of them were name brand Gap and Carters and in perfect condition, most hadn't ever been worn. I definitely recommend buying used if you can find a good deal. Babies go through clothes so quickly the first year, it's not worth spending loads of money on brand new clothes.

Sorry your onesies shrunk. What detergent did you use?

Mrbatesisinnocent · October 2013

None of the clothes I washed shrunk. Are you double sure of the heat settings on your dryer?

Stffhappns · October 2013

Oh no! I don't have any advice, but now I'm freaked out that the onesies I currently have in the dryer will be comedically small! Do you happen to own a hamster?

FutureMrsCaesar · October 2013

Gerber onesies shrink ridiculous amounts, Carters do not. You'd have to buy Gerber onesies at least 1-2 sizes too big. They aren't as nice as Carters anyways, so I've always just spent the extra few dollars and gotten the Carters ones.

FWIW I've always washed/dried my kids clothes the same way as the rest of the families laundry. Definitely too much to keep track of when sleep deprived otherwise.

lzponce · October 2013

@jen4033 Some onesies shrank down a lot, others just a little. Obviously, the hamster comment was an exaggeration, but some of the 3 month old onesies I have look like they are now a little too small for newborns. I am def going to to try and stretch them out a little and see if they work for me.

I am hoping the lowest 'gentle' cycle on my dryer will fix the problem, because there is no way I am hang drying.

lzponce · October 2013

@mrbatesisinnocent I have always had trouble with my dryer. It is really old (at least 10 years) and runs a little hot. I think if I use the lowest setting, and run it on a shorter cycle, it won't cause any more problems. I'm sure i'll know soon enough.

lzponce · October 2013

@mh89 I used the Honest Co. brand detergent. This was my first time using it, but I don't think it caused the problem.

camedowncrushing · October 2013

FutureMrsCaesar said:

Gerber onesies shrink ridiculous amounts, Carters do not. You'd have to buy Gerber onesies at least 1-2 sizes too big. They aren't as nice as Carters anyways, so I've always just spent the extra few dollars and gotten the Carters ones.
FWIW I've always washed/dried my kids clothes the same way as the rest of the families laundry. Definitely too much to keep track of when sleep deprived otherwise.

I totally agree about Gerber. I dislike their pajamas as well. The fit is so odd.

camedowncrushing · October 2013

booty19 said:

I dont think I have ever pre- washed new clothing before!

Yikes! Even underwear? Those clothes that have been sitting in a dirty factory...

https://laundry.about.com/od/laundrybasics/a/washbeforewear.htm

MissyC979 · October 2013

camedowncrushing said:

FutureMrsCaesar said:

Gerber onesies shrink ridiculous amounts, Carters do not. You'd have to buy Gerber onesies at least 1-2 sizes too big. They aren't as nice as Carters anyways, so I've always just spent the extra few dollars and gotten the Carters ones.
FWIW I've always washed/dried my kids clothes the same way as the rest of the families laundry. Definitely too much to keep track of when sleep deprived otherwise.

I totally agree about Gerber. I dislike their pajamas as well. The fit is so odd.

Same here. I don't like Gerber or Circo onesies. The Carter ones always seemed so much more comfortable and stretchy for DS.

Sigir · October 2013

Circo onesies stink and don't last. Never had them shrink like that but I would never buy them. They get holes.

jadiereu@yahoo.com · October 2013

I've never done it before but I've seen ways to get "shrunk" clothes back to normal on Pinterest.
Just putting that out there if you want to give it a shot...
Good luck! And sorry ):

lzponce · October 2013

jadiereu@yahoo.com said:

I've never done it before but I've seen ways to get "shrunk" clothes back to normal on Pinterest. Just putting that out there if you want to give it a shot... Good luck! And sorry ):

Thank you!

grannyweatherwax · October 2013

Keep in mind that babies are smaller than you think. They will probably fit. Unless they're gerber. Those things are for hobbits.

malamutemommy · October 2013

@lzponce

Do they look like they'd fit like this?

lzponce · October 2013

malamutemommy said:

@lzponce
Do they look like they'd fit like this?

I'm dying right now. Is that your kitten? What a cutie! Maybe I can send you all my shrunken onesies for your little kitty to wear :P

airsica · October 2013

FutureMrsCaesar said:
Gerber onesies shrink ridiculous amounts, Carters do not. You'd have to buy Gerber onesies at least 1-2 sizes too big. They aren't as nice as Carters anyways, so I've always just spent the extra few dollars and gotten the Carters ones.
FWIW I've always washed/dried my kids clothes the same way as the rest of the families laundry. Definitely too much to keep track of when sleep deprived otherwise.

This is exactly what I was going to say! Gerber brand you have to buy at least 1 size bigger in onesies or Jammie's. And I would never buy baby clothes that I would have to wash any different than the rest of the families clothes, just too complicated. I would bet that it might be gerber that shrunk... The rest will be pretty stretchy. Good luck.

lorenzo302 · October 2013

They will be fine unless you have a 10 pound baby! None of my onsies shrunk they may just look smaller cause they are not perfectly pressed. My son was 7llbs 11 ounces when he was born and newborn was still so big!! You should have about 10b-15 and they will last a month. My son was a piker though so I changed him twice a day at least.

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