Product Spotlight: Newborn Apparel

rivercitynik · March 2020

We are almost caught up! We'll be back to the normal schedule on Friday

This is a place for FTMs to ask questions about, S+TMs to share their prior experience with, and everyone to share what they're eyeing in the world of maternity, baby and postpartum products. Each week we'll spotlight a new category of product to help streamline and make it easier to refer back. This week we are discussing Newborn Apparel.

To view past Product Spotlights or the upcoming schedule, see here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DzmfbSu7toufv3p1VWNu1XOXDaU-tbI5FEfV8av46pc/edit?usp=sharing

rivercitynik · March 2020

So! Some questions I have about this:

I feel so stumped on how to dress an infant in August. Mostly short sleeve body suits? What about at night?
How many clothes do I actually need? I'd love to keep it to a minimum but also don't want to do laundry every other day. Also, how many newborn clothes should I be prepared to have on hand? Or can I mostly use clothes for 0-3?
I have a lot of friends offering to loan me clothes, but their babies were born in the winter months. Would this be helpful? Should I be specific about what I want so that I don't end up with clothes that are too heavy for the season?
I'm hoping to mostly use hand-me-downs, but I do want to buy a nice take-home outfit. What are people's favorite places for nicer clothes? And I'll probably buy a few basic bodysuits, so what's your favorite spot for affordable basics?
I know we will do a summer gear thread, but do I need any summer clothing gear? Sunglasses, baby sun hat, bathing suit?

Love having so many wise STM+ in this group!

coldlife · March 2020

I probably won't be buying very much, if anything, because we have lots of stuff my first two wore. Because we've always been Team Green, we have plenty of neutral as well as enough girly stuff I've been given.

I don't do shoes until they're walking, for the most part. (I do have a couple pairs of baby Mary Janes I was given but wouldn't have bought otherwise) I do like some warm booties though since it gets cold in the winter where we live.

@rivercitynik,

My daughter who was born in June wore plenty of short sleeved stuff and pants. It kind of varied based on how the house felt. I always put them in footed sleepers at night because I don't want them to get cold, and you're not really supposed to use blankets those first few months. Someone shared this with me once. I don't exactly follow it though, but it's probably a good place to start. We've never used those sleeping bags.

How many clothes? There are infographics and blogs that will give you guidelines. Personally, we were given so much that we have a lot. And I find I use most of it! People say kids are so much laundry, but when they're little, they're really not! Even with a 2.75 yo and a 1 yo now, I find myself running out of clothes before I have enough dirty to make a full load in the washer. It takes a LOT of clothes that small to fill a washing machine. A weeks worth of onesies and pants and socks and a couple sleepers barely covers the bottom of my washer. So that's something to keep in mind. I also don't change frequently for spit up or drool unless they spit up a whole feeding and are completely soaked. Even my more than 8.5 pound babies wore newborn for at least a couple weeks. However, I tend to mix all my newborn and 0-3 together and they wear either/or. Even a smaller baby could still wear 0-3 at birth, a little baggy, but not bad. So I wouldn't go overboard with newborn sizes.

Winter stuff from friends - I guess it depends on your/their philosophy. I don't really buy "winter" or "summer" clothes. If it's winter, they wear a onesie and leggings or tights under that tank dress. If it's summer, they just wear shorts or the diaper cover that comes with some dresses. My girls wear short-sleeve shirts year round (I do have long-sleeve as well), and of course have coats or jackets when we go out.

For basic onesies, I generally buy the sets of 4 or 5 from Carters. I buy a lot of secondhand as well. They have some cute nice outfits as well, but I don't do cute going home outfits. Just a basic sleeper.

Summer gear. For this small? Probably not but it will depend on your lifestyle and where you live. If you go to the beach often, you may want that. You will probably mostly keep the baby out of direct sunlight anyway.

[Deleted User] · March 2020

You definitely do NOT need baby sunglasses. Even my almost 1yo just wanted to take them off and chew them, and with the sunglass holder, she just got frustrated that she couldn't easily pull them off. I had some kind of hat with a chin tie I put on her for hikes at almost 1, but when they are nb they will just be totally covered up, even if it's just with a swaddle blanket thrown over the car seat / stroller.

charhar0820 · March 2020

I came across this article a while back and saved it! It seemed it could come in handy 😀

From The Bump: "How to Buy Baby Clothes" https://www.thebump.com/a/how-to-buy-baby-clothes

viola_mama · March 2020

Speaking of things to sleep in, any suggestions for an extra-super light, breathable swaddle? Our hottest day last summer was August 31 and we don’t have AC, so I’ve been a little anxious about whether to try to swaddle early on, what to do if it’s 80 degrees in our house at night and they don’t sleep well without one, how I’m going to sleep myself if I’m worried about overheating a baby...

ziggymama06 · March 2020

This thread!!! Thanks @rivercitynik for getting us caught up and jumping off with all the great questions, as usual!!

I'm so curious about sleeping. We plan to keep it a bit warmer in the house for baby, but do you still swaddle them to sleep? Or just a sleep sack type over a onesie?

To provide some extra warmth with easy access to diaper changes, I found these baby leggings

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/34/yg28ozfv37av.jpg

www.babyleggings.com currently promo for 40% off. I had a gift card from motherhood with a recent order. I received them and they are so adorable.

roo_baby · March 2020

I think we had 10 short sleeve onesies, 3 long sleeve onesies, 5 pairs of pants, a handful of Pjs and a few fun dress up options. That was more than enough to start with, doing laundry once a week, especially since she just wore a diaper most of the time at home. But what you need depends on the climate where you are, if you have A/C and how much you plan to go out vs be at home. As they get bigger, they will need more clothes because spit up and diaper blow outs and solid foods create more mess, and the colder weather will require more layers.

Pro tips:
- Zippers are better than snaps. Buttons are the worst.

- Some babies will be tiny and others huge. Make sure you have at least a few preemie clothes with tags on you that can return if you don’t need, and 0-3 clothes on hand for if your baby is huge. Pack one of each size (P, N, 0-3) in your hospital bag just in case.

- Sizes vary a LOT by brand. Carters tends to be tts or a little big, target usually runs 1-2 sizes big and small shop brands tend to run true or small.

- Even summer babies need hats or bonnets to keep their head warm and protected. Plus they are super cute.

- If you are having a girl, get a few bows. You’ll be glad you have them for the newborn photos and after someone says “he’s so cute” for the 87th time.

- Make sure your baby has socks or booties on when you go out in public or old ladies will yell at you. Even if it’s 80 degrees outside.

tanhabanana · March 2020

I’m loving the advice in this thread.

[Deleted User] · April 2020

Lol I brought DD home in a footless zip pj and no socks, and I look at the picture now, and I'm like, why did I do that??? 🤔 But it was obviously not cold or anything and her toes look adorable so 🤷 @roo_baby

[Deleted User] · April 2020

Turns out, our favorite nb pants actually have the feet built right in, which is perfect bc it won't even be cold yet for a while, so two less tiny articles of clothing to worry about 👍👍 And then if it IS cold, you can layer socks underneath.

I bought like ten nb / 3m kimono tees to later underneath the longsleeves. If it's warm enough, you can just do the tee and the diaper and you don't have to mess around with snaps. And when it starts getting cooler, you have an automatic base layer. They say if it's at all chilly, you want baby to always have one more layer on than yourself, so that always seemed like a simple common-sense guideline to me.

RedBaramid · April 2020

Hey I just wanted to throw out there that it's OKAY to ignore the nannies and grandmammies who tell you your baby is cold and to put pants/socks on them. I promise you within a blink of an eye YOU will know YOUR baby the BEST. I know the standard advice for babies is one more layer than you would wear but for my kid if I would have done that she would have been an overheated sweat-ball CONSTANTLY. She's 5 and she's still a hot blooded sweat-ball.. for her it is genetic. She runs hot just like her daddy. SO, tell grammy to zip it when you send the cute picture of the baby in a short sleeve onsie and no socks because if they are hot, they are hot.

Also shoes to me are basically unnecessary until they start being ready for you to hold their hands and help them "walk." Sure we had a couple pairs of those itty bitty newborn because who can resist putting them in shoes?! (Unless you count that my daughter now plays with hers and puts them on stuffed animals, then they have a great use!)

(My favorite advice for new moms is always tell them it's okay to ignore other people's advice and validate them that they are capable to trusting their instincts and being a good parent. One of my closest friends and I had babies 9 months a part and she spent her whole pregnancy reading baby raising books and I spent my whole pregnancy just trying to survive pregnancy and honestly we both agree books are nice but you're capable of learning just about everything you need on the job. Neither one of us had experience with small children or babies when we gave birth.)

sarah0985 · April 2020

I personally loved carters onesies for undershirts. I did not care for Gerber. I found them cheap.

I would say at least 10 pairs of pajamas is good. I mostly kept her in a pair of pajamas unless going out and I didn’t want to do laundry all the time.

I never did a onesie under a pajama deal but we also used a swaddle which was warm enough. My daughter was a pretty content baby in terms of warmth. She wasn’t hot or cold and those two things were sufficient in an air conditioned house.

[Deleted User] · April 2020

@RedBaramid DD will still rip her socks off if she doesn't have shoes on over, no matter how cold the house is! Have I stopped trying!??? You bet. ;)

wildrainbow · April 2020

I LOVE the Cloud Line brand of clothing at Target. Those clothes are soooooo soft and they hold up great. I plan on having some footie onesies to put baby in. We live in the South and August is basically the seventh level of hell here so we will have the AC cranking. Both my other boys ran hot as newborns. Ds1 preferred to be in just his diaper and he was born in February. Ds2 preferred just a simple onesie and he was born in October. To this day, neither boy likes clothes or to be covered up despite how cold it is outside.

I agree with @RedBaramid, you will know your baby best. Politely smile and do you.

Keep the tags on your clothes and wash as you go, because there will always be clothes you dont use or you will get multiples of the same outfit.

Also, you dont have to have a special washing detergent just to wash baby clothes in. Start out with what you use for your clothes and only switch if baby reacts. I've never used a special detergent and my kiddos have never had a reaction.

coldlife · April 2020

wildrainbow said:

>snip<

Also, you dont have to have a special washing detergent just to wash baby clothes in. Start out with what you use for your clothes and only switch if baby reacts. I've never used a special detergent and my kiddos have never had a reaction.

Same.

maelove · April 2020

@roo_baby your pro tips are on point!

my recommendations as a STM-
-your baby will realistically live in PJs and onesies so don't overdo it on the cute expensive outfits
- don't buy a lot of shoes and socks. either get footed onesies or Check out Zutanos baby booties. They come in fleece and lighter fabric and stayed on SO WELL. Example: cozie-fleece-baby-bootie-heather-gray
-these babes will outgrow NB sizes quickly so don't stock up a ton on that size
- Keep in mind babies can't wear sunscreen until 6 months of age so if you get a swim suit, get the long sleeve because it just makes it easier. That or a swim diaper and long sleeve rash guard shirt. And definitely get baby sun hats- I really loved the iplay brand (amazon or buybuybaby) for both long sleeve rash guard shirts and hats.
- there are cool charts that tell you on pinterest, etc. what a baby should wear for each temperature. Example: How to dress baby and toddler under sleep sack in winter and summer Printable chart and guide for what to wear under sleep sack

How to dress baby and toddler under sleep sack in winter and summer Printable chart and guide for what to wear under sleep sack

-you don't HAVE to have a special washing detergent, but I ended up switching us all when DD was born because I wanted to cut down on house hold products that did not have the safest chemicals. We ended up switching a lot of our stuff to the "free and clear" versions. I used (and still use) the app "think dirty" for all of our house held products. It provided safety rankings based on product ingredients. Its super helpful!

sarah0985 · April 2020

One thing I forgot to add is DO NOT BUY TOO MUCH IN ADVANCE! I bought a years worth of clothes when my daughter was about 2 months old as the USA had such cheap things (and we were home visiting) and clothes was expensive in the Middle East where we lived.

Well, my daughter wound up being failure to thrive (didn’t grow or gain weight as expected) and I had clothing sizes at all the wrong times of the year by the time she actually fit into her clothes.
So in theory, she should have been in 3-6 months for late fall and early winter and 6-9 months for the end of winter early spring. In reality, she was entering 3-6 month clothes at the end of winter early spring and it was 90 degrees plus from that point on. So a lot of it I couldn’t use.

It’s ok to buy in advance but be aware that your baby might grow way too fast for what you’re buying or way too slow. If you’re gonna buy in advance make sure it’s cheap or things that can be utilized at all points of the year.

[Deleted User] · April 2020

@sarah0985 That is a really good point.

I did buy a lot in advance (and thankfully I mostly guessed right, but I absolutely could have sized up even a little more :# ), but luckily I didn't really get much past 12m before she was born and most of the basics aren't terribly seasonal anyway.

Or I guess my advice would be if you MUST buy ahead so you don't feel like you have NOTHING, stick with basic cotton onesies, pants, and jammies, and wait on things like heavier fabrics or bitty little summer rompers till you see how they are growing.

And then I only washed a size at a time, so say if you just have your nb and 0-3 washed at first -- that's plenty! -- you can still exchange your 6m stuff when the you time comes should you need to swap sizes.

ETA also, pro tip - when you box things up in your clear bins "by size" actually hold up the garments and compare, don't just stick to the tag sizing. So if something says 6m but it looks smaller, keep it with the 3m stuff. Because I'd hate to get to the next bin and pull things out they've already outgrown, but totally could have been wearing if they'd only been in rotation. 🤦. I agree that generally Gerber runs a whole size smaller than everything else.

sarah0985 · April 2020

Exactly what I mean @businesswife! Light weight pants are needed even in summer. Onesies are needed at every season. But fleece and winter weight sweaters aren’t. Shorts aren’t. I know it won’t apply to everyone but it was definitely a lesson I learned the hard way

charhar0820 · April 2020

Has anyone ordered from or used BabyLeggings?

Thoughts?
I was thinking I’d would maybe use those more with a onesie rather than with actual pants on baby while we’re in the middle of summer. Just trying to decide if I should order from BabyLeggings.com or if there’s a better place to purchase baby leg warmers.

[Deleted User] · April 2020

I purchased some from the cloth diaper websites (I was shopping from anyway), but I gotta be honest @charhar0820 - I way overbought and didn't use them nearly as much as I thought I would. 🤷 :# I would try a pair or two if you're in love with a specific design, and you can always buy more if it's something you're really getting a lot of use out of.

maelove · April 2020

@charhar0820 I am not going to lie....baby leggings (for me) are one of those things that seems like a cute/good idea hypothetically but I never would have actually utilized them.

ziggymama06 · April 2020

@charhar0820 I received a giftcard from Motherhood and purchased a few pairs to use when baby arrives. I figured they would be easier than having pants - easier access to the diaper when wearing with a onesie. They came in and are adorable. I can't wait to put them on baby girl 🥰

whl1013 · April 2020

Maybe this is old news to most on here, but I just discovered that H&M has adorable baby clothes and the prices are really reasonable. I haven't ordered any, so I can't speak to the quality, but the styles are super cute. Has anyone ordered any H&M baby clothes?

coldlife · April 2020

Ordered? No. But I do have one H&M onesie I received second hand. I have to say, as far as the actual material, it's my absolute favorite onesie we own. It hasn't gotten stretched out even with being second hand and two kids wearing it (unlike, say, Carter's). I have other brands that don't stretch out, but they aren't as stretchy either. H&M seems to be a unicorn that is soft and stretchy but doesn't stretch out, and it just feels high quality.

It is older. Again, I got it second hand and that was three years ago now, so things could have changed with their manufacturing.

charhar0820 · April 2020

@whl1013 I have purchased baby clothes and toddler clothes from H&M, as gifts. Their baby clothing can be so freakin adorable lol The quality of the clothes to me seemed great, reasonably priced as well! I haven’t personally used their clothing (ftm) but I will be buying from there.

Thanks for the reminder 😆

cornichonmam · April 2020

I agree with @sarah0985. I wouldn’t by too much other than basics in bigger sizes (sleepsuits, vests, socks) because it is so difficult to predict what you will need when. My son was 9lb2oz at birth so went straight into 0-1m or 0-3m and grew out of everything very quickly but then between 4m and 8m he struggled to put on weight and ended up fitting in his 6-9 month clothes for about 5months and now at 18m he's tall so grows out of everything quickly again. I ended up getting given a lot of second hand stuff that I didn't use because it was for the wrong season too.

roo_baby · April 2020

H&M baby clothes quality is generally good, especially their conscious line. Some of the super cheap clothes ($4.99 toddler dresses) are lower quality, but great for daycare. I really like their nursing tanks, too, if you are ordering from there anyway.

[Deleted User] · April 2020

I was pretty happy with everything I got from h&m too. Our little Pooh onesie / pants / hat set is definitely a fave! And some of the other onesies I remember feeling very nice, too, and wishing I had more of. Very cute sweaters and things.

The only thing I wasn't crazy about were these socks, I got two sets because I liked the colours, but the ankles were very loose and flopsy and NEVER stayed on. I loved the nb socks I found on Amazon tho, and have bought those as gifts for other new moms, bc they feel super plush and actually say on! 😲

ziggymama06 · April 2020

@BusinessWife Would you mind sharing the link for the nb socks on Amazon?

[Deleted User] · April 2020

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00T9T9LPI?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I had a pack of white, and then pink/white combo, and 12 pairs was plenty! @ziggymama06

ziggymama06 · April 2020

@BusinessWife Sweet, thank you!!

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