Clothing - How many of each size?

jshefty · June 2016

Can any STMs help with how many onesies, sleepers, cute outfits each are practical for each size? Newborn, 0-3, 3-6, 6-9 etc.?
Are we going to go through several wardrobe changes a day?

Snaps816 · June 2016

I've been wondering the same thing! I just took stock of everything I have, now I need to know what to do with that information. I was in a baby store the other day and ended up not buying anything because I don't really know what I need.

MamaKSquared · June 2016

I'm in a similar situation. We have a good amount of clothes, but I'm not sure what is reasonable. I don't want have so many clothes that baby never wears some of them, but at the same time, I don't want to have to rush to do laundry because we've run out of clean clothes before expected.

ginger819 · June 2016

With DD everyone got really excited and bought and bought (she's our first, the only grandchild on both sides, and only great-grandchild to my grandma and basically the only baby in the family). We got WAY too much and she only wore most of them once or twice. I'm trying to keep everyone in check for this little guy (he's still only the second baby in the family).

I would say there were definitely days I changed her a couple of times due to blow outs and smelling like spit up. I plan on keeping the amount of clothes small to start with (especially short sleeve stuff) even if I have to do laundry more often. If I need more later I know we can get some then. I have a good stock of about 10 onesies leftover from DD that were gender neutral and I love the button up rompers for the summer so I have a couple of them (DD basically lived in them after she was born and this year again at 1 yo). Then for when it gets cooler out I have about 5 sleep and plays and a couple of outfits with the pants, sweater, and onesie. I never used more than one special occasion outfit for each size and really started just waiting to see if we would even need one. I was a sucker for cute outfits with DD and now plaid for this little guy.

ShanRum3 · June 2016

Some days you will go through several onesies.. other days you may only need to use 1. I have a ton of newborn and 0-3 onesies, and a little less of each size going up. I have about 8 or 10 cute outfits in newborn as well as about a dozen sleepers. I really can't remember how many we went through, but hopefully it will be enough.

ginger819 · June 2016

Also, with DD I found she went straight from 6 month clothes to 12 month clothes. I wouldn't necessarily have needed any 9 month clothes. That could have just been the way she grew though.

Fremdschamen · June 2016

It mostly depends on how often you do laundry. We generally only do our clothes laundry once a week.

We used about 1-2 outfits a day, sometimes more if there were poopsplosions, plus sleepers or a onesie each night (depending on how hot it was that night). In the beginning, baby will probably spend most days in sleepers or a onesie (temperature dependent), unless you are someone who will make the effort to put your kid in a spiffy outfit each morning. I'd say 12-20 sleepers and onesies (total) is plenty for the first bit (less if you do laundry more often). As your kid gets older, you may have more of a preference for "outfits" instead of basic sleepers, but that will depend on you.

As for dresses or cute outfits, you only *need* a few per size range unless you have a lot of special events. Of course, how many you buy/use might depend on your own preferences.

LacieMac · June 2016

With DD I received a lot of 3 to 6, 6 and 9 month clothing which was great for when she got to those sizes. She couldn't wear all the clothes she got. What I didn't get was newborn and 0-3 month clothing. My daughter was in newborn clothing for almost a month and then 0-3 month for another month or longer and she was born at 8 pounds, she wasn't tiny. The only clothes I had for those sizes were onesies and dresses/fancy and uncomfortable outfits. I would suggest getting comfortable cute outfits for the first couple months. I really liked cotton rompers and 1 piece outfits that are made with comfortable material since they will do so much sleeping. Onesies are great but when people stop by its nice to have other options. Also, everyone bought summer outfits, so when my daughter actually did fit in 6 month clothing it was December and to cold for the outfits people bought her.

Curls919 · June 2016

I agree with @LacieMac - not only did we get a ton of clothing as gifts, but you don't know when they'll grow to the next size and what season it will be.

For DS we got a few gender neutral onsies before he was born then we went out and bought a few more things but we didn't have a ton of clothing. We just did laundry often.

bearsandbeets7 · June 2016

Like PPs said it just depends on how often you do laundry. Also it depends on how fast your baby grows and moves through sizes. We moved out of newborn pretty quick but stayed in 0-3 for a while with DD. We also ended up skipping a few sizes all together. We skipped 9 months and went straight to 12 months, but we moved out of 12 and into 18 months pretty quickly and she wore that for pretty much all winter.

Also I've noticed that the onesies fit longer than outfits do, so while DD is in size 2T-3T now she can still wear the 18 month onesies.

Duffgurl · June 2016

It really just depends on how often you do laundry and how fast your LO grows as PPs have stated. I also say be sure to try different brands of clothing Carters, Gerber, Circo, Garanimals, Wonder kids ect. Some run smaller and bigger than others. If this is your 1st be sure to expect plenty of newborn to 3month sizes. Just go with what you feel comfortable with. Plus you can always buy more if needed.

1faceinacrowd · June 2016

The only advice I would add is to NOT overstock on NB size as they will grow out of that size suuuuper fast. I mostly focused on getting plenty of 0-3 mo and 3-6 mo onesies this time around. Remember that putting something on baby that's a little big isn't a huge deal, but obviously you can't put something on that's too small, so you get a lot less use out of NB than you will 0-3 and 3-6 month sizes.

What I do is, whenever I shop for my now 5-year-old, I ALWAYS buy tops/shirts/dresses in the next size up from what she's currently wearing (pants are different since they can fall down if they're too big). Sure, they'll be just a little baggy or loose-fitting right now but a lot of the time they'll still fit her the following year, so we get more use out of the clothes. For how much they grow and how much you'll spend on new clothes every season, I HIGHLY recommend doing this whenever possible. And it gets easier to do the bigger they are, since they start going up in sizes at a slower pace once they hit toddler years.

Snaps816 · June 2016

What about pants? For a summer/early fall baby, I kind of assume I won't need pants on him for the first few months. I expect he'll wear either a onesie, or a footie pajama thing if it's cooler. I do have like one or two pairs of newborn/0-3 pants that were given to me, but this is not something I've bought. Am I wrong here? Should I get this kid some pants?

bearsandbeets7 · June 2016

@Snaps816 I had DD at the very end of October and I didn't like pants on her in the first few months in general. When we were at home she wore onesies or the footed onesie. There was a few times she wore the footed onesies out. I did end up having her wear baby leggings a lot until summer time rolled back around.

Alygohome · June 2016

Babies poop on everything so it is good to have lots of back up. My dd was preemie so we lived in preemie and NB and 0-3 clothes. Pretty much skipped 3-6 and then was in 6-12 for many many many months so it is sort of hard to predict what size. I would say the thing I used the most were diaper shirts and leg warmers and sleepers that buttoned at the crotch (until about 8 months and then zippers were way easier as we didn't have to do the motn changing) And on average we went through a few outfits a day.

Stephanie7693 · June 2016

I have about 6 sleepers aND 6 onsies in newborn. I plan on getting a few more used items from a friend, and we have a couple pairs of pants. I also invested in a small stock of sleep sacks, so baby will probably wear those at home a lot, and they are either one size or 0 to 6 months. I think what I will have after that will be plenty. The bigger sizes we do have more, but baby is more likely to be in those sizes longer. If need be I can make a target run and buy a couple new things on clearance after baby comes! I think it's better to not have enough than to have tons of stuff they never eben get to wear.

No more Miss! · June 2016

My DD was a preemie and a huge spitter. I would say we went through about 5-6 outfits a day, no joke. Even a bib couldn't contain the spits. Ugh. Major laundry from NB-12m...hoping this little one doesn't have the ridiculous spit up that my DD had.

She was in NB for a super long time too. At 5, she's still a size or more (in pants) behind. Peanut.

We had to buy preemie sleepers for her in the beginning. Luckily we lived less than a mile from BRU at the time.

So, yeah, I guess to sum up my view, you just don't know what you'll need and it's good to be flexible. You'll find you have a preference for certain types of clothing and there may be things you don't use because they aren't your style (especially hand-me-downs).

karlimonster · June 2016

I really can't remember specifics. There is a big Rubbermaid tub in the closet I need to wash and go through. First grand baby so lots of gifts and hand me downs from friends. I don't remember changing outfits a ton and in Southern California it's pretty much always hot so sometimes it was diapers only. The thing you can't predict is what size your baby may be in for awhile. I feel like my son was in 9 months forever. If you plan to save clothes for a future baby it would be okay to have extra/unworn outfits, but I would say if you don't want to have a ton of leftover stuff I would buy as needed.

SkiChic626 · June 2016

With DD I was so excited to be having a girl and getting all the cute girly outfits, I totally went nuts. Of course, real life came and she basically lived in short sleeved onesies for the first several months of her life - even when sleeping because we swaddled her. I would say you'll need the most onesies and pjs, at least in the beginning. However, you might not want to buy too much until LO is here and you know what size you're going to need. DD was never in newborn, and she was in 6 month clothing by the time she was 2 months - it's too hard to know until you meet them. Plus, if you have blowouts, just throw the clothes out - IMO it's not worth trying to clean that stuff. As for 'dressier' stuff, maybe have one or two things, but I would wait until you know you're going to need something for an event to buy that stuff. I'm still guilty of buying things I think are too cute to pass up, and then months go by, DD grows out of that size, and they're still sitting with the tags on. We also skipped 9 mos and 18 mos....we have a few things in these sizes, but those two bins are very lacking compared to other sizes.

ThisisNumber3 · June 2016

I'm shooting for the following qty per size (minimum base amount for a wardrobe):
- 10 day to day outfits (basics like onesie and leggings)
- 10 sleepers
- 3-4 special outfits

ThisisNumber3 · June 2016

We were pretty good with one outfit a day and one sleeper at night. Occasionally we would have an issue (usually a diaper leak). Ideally I would like to do laundry once a week when things settle down. So I figure shoot for 10 per day/night and in the beginning if we are going through so many outfits I still would only be doing laundry every 3-4 days.

NICU RN · June 2016

I had an insane amount of newborn clothing with my son. I was gifted a ton and bought some on my own and then got all the hand-me-downs from my best friend's three sons. He definitely didn't wear everything we had before he moved up to the next size. Now that he is a big boy, he has caught up in size to my friend's youngest, so no more hand me downs. After about 12 months, we have consistently aimed for about 18-20 outfits in each size. A few nicer outfits and the rest more casual. We get most of ours consigned and then I resell to make back most of what was spent. Ideally I would want more than that for the first year. My DS went through about three outfits a day for the first several months (he was a spitter and a drooler), and then two a day until about a year. I wanted to have enough that I could go a week between washes with a couple days buffer. So probably closer to 30 outfits for a newbie. (Although at that age "an outfit" can just be a onesie or sleeper.) This is by no means a bare minimum, this is my number for maximum flexibility if you have a baby that needs frequent clothing changes and you want to minimize how often you have to do laundry after delivery.

Bookhousegirl · June 2016

I'm an every day/every other day laundry person, so I'm not planning on having as much, in terms of quantity. I will say, you cannot have enough of the basic white onsies, because those are a staple for most outfits. My thinking with this baby is he'll probably be in onsies for the first few weeks/month because of the weather and then 0-3m sleepers for a while. We went through at least 2-3 sleepers per day initially due to blowouts/spit up, but it was chilly when DS was born so I think clothing will be a little different this time around. Comfy and convenient trumps everything in those early months, so I wouldn't even worry about "nice outfits" for a little while, unless you have something specific you are going to.

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