My son lived in the zip-up Sleep & Play outfits from Carter’s until he was about 6 months old. In my experience, Carter’s has been the most reliable brand as far as sizing, and they always have good sales so you can stock up on staples without breaking the bank. My advice is to look for outfits that will make diaper and outfit changes as quick and easy as possible (i.e. zippers over snaps), especially for sleepwear. My son needed a middle of the night diaper change until 9 months or so to prevent leaks, and it’s best if you can get it done without too much fuss so they don’t fully wake up. Gowns are another great option in the infant stage.
I’m probably in the minority here but I really didn’t like the gowns at all. DS hated all swaddles and was a winter baby so lived in fleece sleepers. We were team green so I have a handful of newborn neutral sleepers we just rotated which was great because he grew out of them quick.
Carters is probably cheapest but I really like old navy, cloud island (target), cat and jack (target) and baby gap. Baby gap and cat and jack have 2-piece pj’s for older babies but the others are great for little babes and have the two-way zipper. Burt’s bees has cute stuff too that you can find at target sometimes or amazon.
He’s 14 months now and all his clothes are old navy, gap, h&m (runs super big), and cat and jack. Boy clothes are a struggle to find!
If you’re into higher end stuff or need something nice for a specific event, we have a high end baby boutique near me and my go-to for that is tea collection, Hatley, kickee pants or Zara.
Definitely zippers not snaps for sleepers. Quick redress is a must.
Sleep sacks when they are tiny are amazing!
Don't need shoes until way later on. Save your money.
Don't buy a lot of newborn. Ds was in it for maybe three days. We easily could have started in 0-3 month. (this also applies to diapers) leave tags on and return most if you are worried about having a smaller baby.
I really liked the weighted zen sleep sack. It has a bean bag type thing that makes bbay feel like your hand is on them.
Ds grew super fast in the beginning and didn't stall in a size until 12 or 18 months. Don't buy a ton of one size.
How much stuff at each size did you need? I know it's just a matter of doing laundry more often if you're short on stuff but I'm not sure where to start
@SpartanCat I would recommend at least 10 outfits for the younger stages when you’re dealing with spit up and blowouts. My son is 15 months now and has a sizable wardrobe (mostly gifted) but is in a rotation of about 5-7 pants and 7-10 shirts most of the time. Plus pajamas of course. You can get by with fewer items if you buy mix-and-match outfits.
@SpartanCat definitely don’t buy a lot of newborn, I had like 6-7 sleepers. I would also wait and see because you don’t know how quick they’ll grow out of things so it’s hard to match season to size. We weren’t in any size very long until he hit 12 months (at about 6-7 months old) and now he’s been in 18 months for a while.
Every baby has different proportions and different brands fit better for different shapes of kids. My DS1 wore/wears a lot of Carter's because he's long and skinny. Some other brands would have pants that fell off his narrow butt while also being too short for his legs. 🤷♀️
As cute as tiny baby outfits are, my LO basically lived in jammies for the first 6 months. He also spit up all the time, so we did tons of laundry. White shows spit stains more than colors, so we gave up on white early. Keep an eye on the amount of white in your gender neutral stashes!
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but hand-me-downs are golden. In early sizes, kids aren't in clothes for very long. Second hand clothes will often be in great condition and deeply marked down at a resale shop, or free from friends and relatives. I always sorted and washed the hand-me-downs, tried to fill in from the second hand store or kids on 45th, and then bought new as a last resort. Costco has decent prices on Carter's jammies most of the year, and jammies are usually what we sized up first and/or needed to fill in.
Babies in my family are HUGE. We had nothing under 0-3 months for DS1. He was just over 5lbs and preemie sized when we brought him home. I was so unprepared, but a quick Target run fixed our gaps.
Kinda clothing related: register for or invest in some wet bags (usually found under cloth diapering stuff). These are machine washable (Yes!), contain blowout or spit up soiled clothes (Yay!), and transition nicely to holding dirty toddler plates and utensils after the blowout stage passes. I never would have picked them for myself, but they've been life savers over the past two years.
My number one tip for baby clothes is buy oxyclean!! I threw away so many explosion stained clothes before someone recommended it to me. It gets poop out of anything 🤣🤣
@kyrwyn definitely on the second hand stuff. I’ve gotten a lot at local mom to mom sales, neighborhood garage sales and fb marketplace. Clothes but also second stroller, toys etc for my parents house where DS goes 2 days a week.
And definitely try different brands to see what works for your kid! DS is long and skinny with a giant head. Every newborn outfit we had came with a hat that never fit him. I still struggle to find pants that are long enough that fit his teeny waist.
@chaos-and-coffee Ditto on the big head, tiny waist woes. The adjustable waist toddler jeans are life at our house. I may modify pants to have a similar feature as he grows up. The buttonhole elastic is available in long strips, and I can definitely sew on buttons.
My 2yr old currently wears 3T shirts, 2T pants, and a child's small for hats (4-8 year old).
I second handmedowns and consignment sales/shops. I know most regions have Once Upon a Child which is a great consignment shop.
We did a lot of Carter's for my long skinny boy.
I'm going to go against the grain here and say Dh and I liked snap sleepers in the early stages. Ds is a December baby, being by able to just unsnap to his belly button made it easier to change him while he was still sleepy. This time I'm buying some Little Sleepies brand viscose bamboo sleepers that have the dual zipper. Ds wears the two piece and the they are so soft and stretchy. And sleepers have cuffs at the hands and feet that you can flip over. They are awesome.
I've also grown to love Primary. The quality is excellent and they seem to hold up well. I also like that the styles and colors are not gender specific. Also the jogger pants which Ds would live in if we let him have reinforced knees!
Another brand I love but is pricey is Frugi. Organic cotton, generous sizing. I think one of the 18-24 month tees I have still fits Ds at 3. They also make pants that fit great over cloth diapers which is awesome.
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@ErikandAfton you made me remember something. The best sleeper I had, was hideous, but had a double zipper. So on winter I could unzip from the bottom up and not completely undress to change motn. This baby will probably live in sleep sacks with open bottoms in the start though with a June birthday.
And yes to all the hand me downs. We are so fortunate that 90% of our clothes are from family for ds. My best friend just had her second girl 5 months girl and sil had hers 3 months ago. She got all my friends clothes and that stash is coming this way for Mae. I'll buy a couple come home outfits (one nb one 0-3) for the trip home from the hospital and possibly one or two for a the newborn shoot but that's about it.
Also, I was a lover of snap pajamas. 1-super super chunky babies that I had a hard time not pinching with zipper, especially when not awake. 2-because of so many hand-me-downs, we had zero where zipper went backwards, so zipper opened up all the way, every time. Not a fan. 3-cloth diapers. They are bulkier, especially overnight. With chunky long torso kids, being able to leave just one crotch snap open sometimes for an overnight diaper meant we could wear onesie footie pajamas at all. Otherwise we'd have had to size up way too early and they would have been too big to be safe/reasonable.
_______________________________________________
Me: 33 DH: 32 Married 7/18/15 1st born at 35+4 on 6/6/16 Team green turned BLUE! 2nd born at 38+6 on 8/30/18 Team green turned PINK! Due with #3 on 6/6/20 Team Green
runwmusic
member
Re: Product spotlight: baby apparel
Sleep sacks when they are tiny are amazing!
Don't need shoes until way later on. Save your money.
Don't buy a lot of newborn. Ds was in it for maybe three days. We easily could have started in 0-3 month. (this also applies to diapers) leave tags on and return most if you are worried about having a smaller baby.
I really liked the weighted zen sleep sack. It has a bean bag type thing that makes bbay feel like your hand is on them.
Ds grew super fast in the beginning and didn't stall in a size until 12 or 18 months. Don't buy a ton of one size.
As cute as tiny baby outfits are, my LO basically lived in jammies for the first 6 months. He also spit up all the time, so we did tons of laundry. White shows spit stains more than colors, so we gave up on white early. Keep an eye on the amount of white in your gender neutral stashes!
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but hand-me-downs are golden. In early sizes, kids aren't in clothes for very long. Second hand clothes will often be in great condition and deeply marked down at a resale shop, or free from friends and relatives. I always sorted and washed the hand-me-downs, tried to fill in from the second hand store or kids on 45th, and then bought new as a last resort. Costco has decent prices on Carter's jammies most of the year, and jammies are usually what we sized up first and/or needed to fill in.
Babies in my family are HUGE. We had nothing under 0-3 months for DS1. He was just over 5lbs and preemie sized when we brought him home. I was so unprepared, but a quick Target run fixed our gaps.
Kinda clothing related: register for or invest in some wet bags (usually found under cloth diapering stuff). These are machine washable (Yes!), contain blowout or spit up soiled clothes (Yay!), and transition nicely to holding dirty toddler plates and utensils after the blowout stage passes. I never would have picked them for myself, but they've been life savers over the past two years.
My 2yr old currently wears 3T shirts, 2T pants, and a child's small for hats (4-8 year old).
We did a lot of Carter's for my long skinny boy.
I'm going to go against the grain here and say Dh and I liked snap sleepers in the early stages. Ds is a December baby, being by able to just unsnap to his belly button made it easier to change him while he was still sleepy. This time I'm buying some Little Sleepies brand viscose bamboo sleepers that have the dual zipper. Ds wears the two piece and the they are so soft and stretchy. And sleepers have cuffs at the hands and feet that you can flip over. They are awesome.
I've also grown to love Primary. The quality is excellent and they seem to hold up well. I also like that the styles and colors are not gender specific. Also the jogger pants which Ds would live in if we let him have reinforced knees!
Another brand I love but is pricey is Frugi. Organic cotton, generous sizing. I think one of the 18-24 month tees I have still fits Ds at 3. They also make pants that fit great over cloth diapers which is awesome.
And yes to all the hand me downs. We are so fortunate that 90% of our clothes are from family for ds. My best friend just had her second girl 5 months girl and sil had hers 3 months ago. She got all my friends clothes and that stash is coming this way for Mae. I'll buy a couple come home outfits (one nb one 0-3) for the trip home from the hospital and possibly one or two for a the newborn shoot but that's about it.
Also, I was a lover of snap pajamas. 1-super super chunky babies that I had a hard time not pinching with zipper, especially when not awake. 2-because of so many hand-me-downs, we had zero where zipper went backwards, so zipper opened up all the way, every time. Not a fan. 3-cloth diapers. They are bulkier, especially overnight. With chunky long torso kids, being able to leave just one crotch snap open sometimes for an overnight diaper meant we could wear onesie footie pajamas at all. Otherwise we'd have had to size up way too early and they would have been too big to be safe/reasonable.
DH: 32
Married 7/18/15
1st born at 35+4 on 6/6/16
Team green turned BLUE!
2nd born at 38+6 on 8/30/18
Team green turned PINK!
Due with #3 on 6/6/20 Team Green