Today on the list of topics to discuss we have BABY APPAREL. So let's have our first serious baby clothes discussion! Looking ahead at the product topics, in later weeks we'll also have specific conversations on fall and winter essentials for our growing babies, so we'll be able to revisit seasonal particularities, so don't feel the need to comb your brain for every last item! This thread can focus on what to get throughout our pregnancies to be ready for those first few newborn rollercoaster months!
So tell me all about tiny baby clothes! Do you have favorite brands? Where do you get your basics and where do you get your splurges? Does one even splurge for a newborn? Did you have a special coming home outfit? Any particular stylistic preferences to warn FTMs (e.g., do you avoid teensy buttons like the plague and only get zippered onesies)? Opinions on baby hats and baby socks?
How much do you REALLY need for a newborn: did STMs find you changed their onesie 10 times a day or, like, rarely? Any shopping tips to get a good baby clothes haul (which they'll inevitably use for 10 seconds before growing out of it)--did you get used baby clothes? What range of sizes should we get now that we have a little time to plan and shop: should you buy ahead and be equipped through months 0-6 or 12, or buy as you go? How do you dress them to sleep: do you use a sleep sack on top of pjs? Baby shoes: adorable accessories or complete waste of time? And while we're talking clothes, how do you wash baby clothes? Do you use special soap? Please share!
Prior and Upcoming Product Spotlight
Re: Product Spotlight 01/26: Baby Apparel
I don't personally care on the zipper vs snaps front but I know many people feel very strongly about this. I'm a minimalist in everything I do so baby clothes too. I like to have what I need and nothing else. Everyone buys unnecessary outfits for us and he wears it 1 time, maybe. With COVID, he barely even did and I'd put it on just so he at least wore it 1 time. (My son was 6 months when COVID hit)
My favourite brand for sleepers/PJs is Petit Lem. It's organic cotton, super soft, and has a double zipper. It's the only thing I use for him to sleep in even now so I own sizes newborn-4T currently (he's in 24 months/2T).
I'd totally recommend looking at buy nothing/marketplace as you can get bundle of clothes for super cheap. It's super handy!
Sizes are different here (we go by cm so 86 cm is 12-18 months but much more precise and accurate than a US size 12-18 months, which I hate!!!). So I made sure we had 0-3 and 3-6/Size 56 and 62 and then bought as we went/used presents. My son was 8lbs 4oz so he didn't really need anything newborn sized. Then we bought as we need things. I.e. I have no short sleeve onesies so I'll buy size 92 (18-24 months) in my next H&M purchase to fill in that gap. I only buy as I need as I don't want to be wasteful.
Love sleepsacks. We used the Ollie swaddle (amazing - actually just preordered a 2nd one yesterday as they've been sold out for months) and use Perlimpinpin sleep sacks now (Canadian brand). Kyte is another favourite brand (I need to order my son 18-36m in the summer sleepsack). Baby shoes are a complete waste of money. Baby socks are super cute. Baby hats, you only need 1-2. I'm pretty sure 90% of my son's wardrobe from 0-9 months was gifted to us, including blankets, etc.
I also love H&M for baby clothes - super cute, well priced, and sizing is so much more accurate than other brands. I also use a lot of European brands (Little Green Radicals is a fave). I hate Carters - sorry not sorry. The sizing is ridiculous to me.
*Live, Love, Laugh, Learn*
For sleep sacks we have sworn by the Swaddlenot (which is a Canadian company but I think the Zipa-dee-dip is comparable in the US). Our little guy had really bad eczema for months and months and this kept his hands covered and no scratches. He still wears his Swaddlenot at 2.5 years old but we cut the hands out of his bigger ones (scratching is not a problem anymore). We're moving out of the crib this weekend so are sadly saying goodbye to the sleep sacks but we'll definitely be using Swaddlenot for this baby too.
Otherwise, I agree with all of what @AKuzReve said - go for used, try and get a good big box of 0-3mo stuff at least - after that its hard to know how your babe will grow so you might want to hold off on buying a ton of bigger sizes. Luckily, we have too many clothes to know what to do with so will not be worrying about purchasing baby clothing with this one!
We swore by sleepsacks with #1 and particularly like nest design cold weather ones. They feel like an actual duvet!
Having said that, I took any and all hand me downs. If there were things that weren’t my taste I then passed them on to someone else. I also love consignment events and shops. They grow so quickly and will grow out of things so I don’t feel the need to pay full price. Having said that, we had feeding difficulties for about the first 4/5 months so we were in newborn/0-3 months for what seemed like forever. He has since been more true to size/age.
(think baby straight jacket) and then I layered a swaddle me. This was the bedtime routine until 3/4 months. Then we switched to a zipadee zip layered with a nested bean until 6-8 months. Then we ditched the nested bean and just used the zipadee zip until 15-18. Now he just wears normal pjs. Here’s to hoping the new babe won’t be quite so complicated early on 😂
We were not big on socks or shoes when really little - mainly clothing with feet included since he was a winter baby. We then transitioned to the zutano type footwear when he was crawling and first walking.
We use either babyganics or tide free and clear laundry detergent.
DD1 - BFP 7/23/15 (EDD 3/31/16). "We believe in you rainbow" DOB 4/2/16
DD2 - BFP 2/9/18 (EDD 10/19/18). "Grow baby grow!" DOB 10/24/18
BFP 11/16/20 (EDD 7/31/21). "Round 3 FIGHT!"
We actually ended up needing to buy more newborn clothes bc my kids were tiny. With my daughter I was gifted a bunch of preemie clothes so I didn’t buy too much for that stage. She was in newborn for quite a while. I also had spitters so between spit up and blowouts, I changed their outfits probably 2-3 times a day. Spit ups were the biggest reason. It’s definitely smart to start smaller and buy more if you need it. We did also have hand me downs in the mix - but I really enjoy dressing up my babies haha
I put some clothes i like on the registry list to help my family in France find out brands that are local to canada (rather than buying in France & shipping)
Other than that, i ll goewith the flow. We ll order basic onesies from amazon, and see closer to the date what we have,
Worst case i ll send my partner to the store last minute to buy something that we would miss!