Baby clothes...how many of each size?

A&DPritchett2be · July 2014

We had our shower last weekend and I am extremely thankful for everything we received. We got a TON of baby clothes and I just sorted them by size. Most are in 0-3 month size, 32 outfits to be exact! I am wondering if that many are honestly needed. I am thinking of keeping 21 of the outfits and exchanging the other 11 for different sizes. Any STM's have any insight on how many clothes of each size that you actually need? I know babies grow fast and I would hate to not use the clothes which is why I think getting some in other sizes may be more beneficial.

kayemgi · July 2014

Just by what I've read in other forums on this topic, I'm planning for 10-12 outfits (onesie, sleeper, pants with top) for each size. That way I can go at least two days before I have to do laundry. Most moms seem to say that one day you can be good with one outfit, and the next day baby's diaper will leak, she'll puke on herself multiple times, you'll spill something, and end up going through six outfits in one day.

LTMama · July 2014

As I recall, when DD was a newborn we didn't use a lot of her cute clothes, or had to make an effort to use them. We had (I think) 4 footie pajamas, and a pack or two of onesies, and she wore those most of the time. She wasn't a big spit-upper, so we probably only had 2, maaaaybe 3 outfit changes per day for blowouts etc.

It also depends on how often you do laundry. Honestly with baby clothes, we did laundry pretty often bcs the clothing changes were for spit up or poo, and we didn't leave that stuff sitting around. So we didn't need a ton of changes of clothes. 32 is way too many, unless you plan to have fun with changing the kiddos outfits a lot (that used to stress me out LOL). Even 21 might be too much, depending on what you mean by outfits? Onesies, or actual other outfits?

TL;DR: I think we had 4 pajamas and like 10 onesies (summer baby) that DD wore most of the time, and the rest of her clothes didn't get much use. I wouldn't get a ton of stuff, or would swap out for different sizes.

bethybeach · July 2014

I think it depends on how often you want to do laundry. I remember going through 4 outfits in one hour and a friend just had a little baby boy and the same thing happened to her when visiting. I am into consignment, consigning the clothes if you don't use them or return them later for bigger sizes can be done at anytime if you have the tags on them.

Also being September the temperature can effect what clothese the baby wears. I didn't have much 0-3 but it was the winter so we didn't go out a lot so he had a lot of sleepers and that is what DS wore.

megs2011 · July 2014

I can definitely tell you that mine lived in footed sleepers with a onesies under most of the first 3 months. It was just easier that way. I had so much nb clothes that they hardly wore anything. Mine were born sept 30 but didn't come home till Oct 29 and were still in preemie when they came home. I'm going to agree with the others and say you don't need that much and it does depend on how often you want to do laundry.

mytinc · July 2014

It really depends on how much your baby spits up and makes messes. I agree you can get by with mostly onesies, sleepers and cotton pants the first 2-3 months vs. actual cute outfits. With growth spurts, the longest DS has been in one size is about 3 months and the shortest time is about 6 weeks. I'd suggest exchanging some of the outfits for bigger sizes, or getting store credit/gift cards to buy outfits later as just changing sizes might make them off season. I'd start with 4-6 "outfits" per size (aside from basic onesies and stuff to wear at home), and go from there.

MrsLaLaBug · July 2014

depends on how often you plan to do laundry.

bumpuser10199668 · July 2014

Not to thread hijack or anything because I really do love this question, but the thing I'm always having trouble with is what the sizes MEAN. If it says 3months or 6 months is that when it STARTS or ends? Like if a onesie just says 3 months is it for 0-3 or 3-6??

Djcieply · July 2014

DS lived in sleepers and onsies for like the first 2 months. I would say 10 onesies and 10 sleepers would be good, depending on how often you want to do laundry. As far as actual outfits go he had 4-5 and only wore them if we had a party or special event. He was born on 10/25 so we had Thanksgiving and Christmas to celebrate not long after he was born.

I just felt like he looked so much more comfortable in the onesies and sleepers and it was hard to find actual outfits that actually fit him until he got a little older. Even then he lived in onesies and sweatpants. So I would definitely return some of those clothes for different sizes or for more sleepers and onesies depending on how many of those you recieved.

Irisheyes1247 · July 2014

CarmAlarm said:

Not to thread hijack or anything because I really do love this question, but the thing I'm always having trouble with is what the sizes MEAN. If it says 3months or 6 months is that when it STARTS or ends? Like if a onesie just says 3 months is it for 0-3 or 3-6??

If it says 3 mos, it fits like 0-3 months.

LTMama · July 2014

Irisheyes1247 said:

CarmAlarm said:

Not to thread hijack or anything because I really do love this question, but the thing I'm always having trouble with is what the sizes MEAN. If it says 3months or 6 months is that when it STARTS or ends? Like if a onesie just says 3 months is it for 0-3 or 3-6??

If it says 3 mos, it fits like 0-3 months.

Yes. The listed size is the upper end of the size range.

Djcieply · July 2014

Irisheyes1247 said:

CarmAlarm said:

Not to thread hijack or anything because I really do love this question, but the thing I'm always having trouble with is what the sizes MEAN. If it says 3months or 6 months is that when it STARTS or ends? Like if a onesie just says 3 months is it for 0-3 or 3-6??

If it says 3 mos, it fits like 0-3 months.

This. And I found every brand fit DS differently. Once I found a brand that I knew how it would fit him I kind of stuck with that brand of clothing. I hated and got tired buying clothes that said it was the size he was in and it would either be WAY too big or WAY too small.

Bella2425 · July 2014

I think exchanging some sounds like a good idea. DS lived in sleepers for the first couple months. "cute" outfits were totally lost on me, I just wanted him to be comfortable and easy to change.

LTMama · July 2014

And FYI, we did a lot of Old Navy baby stuff, once we got into the swing of things. They have great cotton onesies and pajamas, and sales all the time.

Once DD got into the 2T range, a lot of pajamas we found were cotton/synthetic blends, and would make her sweaty. ON has a lot of all-cotton stuff and we got used to their sizing, so we'd just get stuff online.

A&DPritchett2be · July 2014

Thanks everyone for the info. I have sorted it again and found more in other boxes that were hidden. To clarify most are sleepers, 10 are onesies, and a few are real outfits bought by MIL that can't be returned. I guess I need to downsize more, I don't want to play dress up with baby just so she wears all of these clothes!

@CarmAlarm‌ I decided that the sizes were varied so I am trying to go by the estimated wait on the size tag thinking that may be more accurate instead of the months.

mrsdanielleM2010 · July 2014

I have found this chart to be damn helpful @CarmAlarm‌

jg1011 · July 2014

I found we used footed pjs and onesies mostly in beginning. We used ALOT of onesies.... I think 15 at each size. The gowns were good for first couple of weeks but my little guy always figured out how to get his feet out!

I will say that this time around I am only pulling tags off as we need stuff. I washed a lot of stuff ahead of time last time and we didn't get use out of a lot of it esp at 0-3 size. We needed to go out and buy newborn stuff. I expected the 0-3 to work but they were HUGE even on my 7lb 6oz baby! I started leaving tags on stuff at the 3-6 size and I was able to return the excess stuff we didn't use. He started leveling out at 12 months and getting more wear time out of clothes.

The size question is a good one. I found Gerber to run VERY VERY small. Didn't get much wear out of any of that stuff. I found it was best to go by length and weight because each vendor was so different.

CplusJ=S · July 2014

You got some great advice already, but I wanted to add that it also depends on baby's size. My DD was a peanut and didn't start wearing her 6 month size clothing until she was a year old. She was in 0-3 for almost 9 months. It was nice to have many outfits in that size because I would have gotten tired of using the same ones over and over again for 6-9 months. I do agree that 32 is way too many and you will want to exchange some of them for larger sizes.

portentosa · July 2014

It depends on how often you want to do laundry, how messy your LO is (I went through a lot of sleepers the first couple weeks before I got a handle on diaper leaks), and how quickly LO grows. For example DS has been in 12-18 month clothes since he was 10/11 months old. He's now 18 months old and still wearing that size..... but 3-6 months didn't last longer than a month becasue he had a huge growth spurt.

BrightMoon1 · July 2014

I would say about 10 outfits at every size, plus about 8-10 onesies. But when I use the word outfit I mean sleepers/footie pjs included. Because for me, footie pjs/sleepers were their outfits those first few months. Newborns just look so uncomfortable in anything else, like cutesy outfits. I only used those for special occasions/parties we were invited to and for photo sessions.

amom2four · July 2014

This thread had me stressed out that I bought a TON of little clothes but between the size variations I think I'm ok! I don't remember what I had with my last lo but I have 5 newborn sleepers and 10 onesies. In 0-3 I have 15ish onesies and about a dozen sleepers half a dozen little pants and shirt combos. We are expecting this lo to be much smaller than my other 3 were so I did buy more newborn than typical. I usually skip nb size altogether. I guess I do have a lot of clothes but I hit a garage sale that was fill a shopping bag for $5 and I filled that bag and my cousin gave me $60 is Carter's rewards so I didn't pay for much!

LifeofCat · July 2014

I just want to pipe in and say how useful this thread has been since I was *just* asking myself this question last night...

peanutbuttervibes · July 2014

CplusJ=S said:
You got some great advice already, but I wanted to add that it also depends on baby's size. My DD was a peanut and didn't start wearing her 6 month size clothing until she was a year old. She was in 0-3 for almost 9 months. It was nice to have many outfits in that size because I would have gotten tired of using the same ones over and over again for 6-9 months. I do agree that 32 is way too many and you will want to exchange some of them for larger sizes.

This. DS wore 0-3 months way past 3 months.

jg1011 · July 2014

mrsdanielleM2010 said:
I have found this chart to be damn helpful @CarmAlarm‌

@mrsdanielleM2010‌ LOVE this! Just saved image on my phone!!

brittneyandadam · July 2014

There's also a diagram with different size charts in this Buzzfeed list (it's #11)....there's a bunch of other helpful pictures too

https://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/incredibly-helpful-diagrams-for-moms-to-be?sub=2100982_1003266

Edit to add more info

Beedeck · July 2014

My DS was 8lbs 3oz 21inches at birth, he was in newborn size for about 2 1/2 months. Then he was in 0-3 for about another 3 months. He was exclusively breast fed, and gained the recommended 1-2lbs per month. For the first month we mostly kept him in a onesie and blanket at home. Then after that we liked the convenience of the sleepers, Carter's were my fav. He only wore the cutesy outfits if we were going out somewhere or if we were having people over.

conradraging · July 2014

I am going with WAY TOO MANY of every size, because I am planning on CDing so I'll already have a lot of laundry to do and I think I'll feel more comfortable not having to wash clothes that often. Also I just have no self control so there's that.

brittneyandadam · July 2014

Conradgallagher said:

I am going with WAY TOO MANY of every size, because I am planning on CDing so I'll already have a lot of laundry to do and I think I'll feel more comfortable not having to wash clothes that often. Also I just have no self control so there's that.

Getting DH to help me with laundry every week now is a battle...I can't imagine what it'll be like once there's poop and puke all over everything.

chardonnay24 · July 2014

My first was a spitter and I think that after the newborn stage, we had enough outfits to do 2 changes a day without doing any laundry. I'm planning on about the same for this baby. For the newborn size clothes, we only had about 6 onesies, 3 pairs of pants, and 3 or 4 sleepers. I was doing laundry every 2 or 3 days, but that was okay with me considering he only wore NB for 3 or 4 weeks.

stephanie123456 · July 2014

Thank you for all of this! I have bought some clothes and received a few articles of clothing from my mom but I have really no idea what I will need. I received some clothes from a friend and also DH just got a huge storage container from his brother of hand-me-downs, so we will be sorting through those tonight. With my baby shower this weekend, I have a feeling I will have an over abundance of clothing and will probably have to pick and choose what items stay and which ones go back for bigger sizes. We have our own washer and dryer but getting laundry done may influence some.

brachysira · July 2014

I did laundry every 1-2 days in the beginning. Not because I was out of clothes, but because we had a full load. Reflux played a role and there were a lot of burp cloths, towels, etc. from this, but we'd also end up washing changing table linens and other items that got poopy. I didn't need that many clothing items at all. I cloth diapered also, and it wasn't really going to work to let a lot of loads pile up. It also didn't matter much if things fit super well if she was just staying home snoozing in them, so if I had to grab a slightly large sleeper once in a while, that was fine. Keep a couple cute outfits in each size for showing off, and then stick to sleepers. People tended to not continue buying like mad later (like, maybe you won't ever receive summer clothes b/c Christmas is too early and birthday is too late) and there are all kind of things you never get again like socks, swimwear, etc., so if you can get store credit or items for later, it is useful.

My other advice is to just go through things frequently. Just because it says 6 months, pull it out at 3 months and decide if it should get into circulation. You might leave a couple things with tags on them, but honestly, it was kind of a lot of work going through things, removing tags, and washing them, and I was glad I did not have to do that in addition to having to care for a baby.

teenybean · July 2014

So variable depending on how fast baby grows, less is more at each stage with the option of shopping especially as you find what brand you like , style works best little things that are particular to you that you figure out as you go.

Things like for my first he was an exploder so we kept him in a onsie under all outfits til a year just to keep his diaper tight, skinny, no waist, poo exploder.

He grew more slowly too so things lasted longer through multiple seasons so we might have needed say 2xs the number of 6month outfits that my 2nd did because he chunked right up and was in 6month clothing by 3-4 months.

Or my husband being a simple guy loved footsie jams in cold weather and what we call a union suit (onesie, with legs) in cool weather because clearly for him matching tops and bottoms and having all that in the diaper bag was too much for him. So pretty soon all of our clothes were one pieces.

I'd totally exchange/return some and wait and see what works, what you like, what you actually use and how baby grows.

mrsdanielleM2010 · July 2014

I just went through our clothes pile. We have 2 outfits in newborn, 2 in 0-3, and 13 each in 3-6 and 6-9. Baby boy has been measuring 99th percentile so the plan is that if he's smaller than we're expecting, DH will go to target or something and buy more of the small stuff as needed. I think one or two more layettes for 3-6 and 6-9 will do us fine, and we'll go from there. I didnt' want to go too far ahead without knowing what kind of pace he grows at.

stephanie123456 · July 2014

Monicavickery said:

We'll end up with way too many of everything I'm sure. Like @Conradgallagher‌ said, I have no self control and neither do my family and friends. This kid is going to be spoiled rotten with cute clothes that mostly no one will ever see. Expect me. And instagram.

This is so true! I went through the storage bin we got from BIL last night and it had lots of NB clothes so we won't purchase any of those. I need to re-sort again after my shower this weekend but in the end, I know I will have WAYYY too many. I guess it's going to be fashion show time when daddy isn't home.

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