AIBU to expect baby clothes to be the same size regardless of where they are bought?

[honeytea]

Inspired by the vanity sizing thread.

I have noticed that baby clothing sizes is very random. The highstreet shops seem to manage to make their clothes pretty uniform when it comes to sizes but the more expensive brands seem to just imagine how big a 2 month old baby will be and make the clothes to fit this random size.

My DS is 2 months old and huge so I don't expect him to fit into clothes made for 2 month old babies but I do expect the size to be consistant. Most of his clothes come from ASDA, NEXT, H+M, primark, and highstreet Swedish shops, he is in age 3-6 months in these clothes without exception. He has a few posh clothes that were given to us as gifts and the sizes are so strange. Today he is wearing a polarn o pyret in size 56 (newborn-1 month) and a petit bateau babygrow in size 6 months.

AIBU to think that it would be easy enough to have a standard size and for shops to make clothes that fit those sizes?

[wigglesrock]

I've always noticed differences. Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys are quite uniform. Next, Mothercare smaller fittings, Marksies a bit of a bigger fit and anything designerish, boutiqueish always were quite small fitting imo. I think obviously it's such a vast age range that it's quite difficult for standard sizes to be standard. My eldest was a smallish new born but big at 5 months. Dd 2 was the opposite and dd 3 is so tall that I had to go separates superstardom day 1 - no snuggly babygros for her

[wigglesrock]

Superstardom is supposed to read from!! Although now reads much funnier

[traintracks]

By and large the more expensive the shop, the smaller the clothes

[noisytoys]

Most people I know just find the 1 shop whose sizings fit their DC the beat and buy all their clothes from that one shop. DD has no clothes from anywhere other than Next for that reason. She is tall and slim and most other high street children's cloths swamp her

[mamapants]

I found Asda and Boots biggest
Then tesco, Next and M+s
Then jojomamanbebe and vertbaudet and anything with a french name teeny tiny.

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

It's maddening isn't it! I bought vests and long sleeve tees in the same size from tescos recently and the tee shirts came up so small they wouldn't fit over the vests, grr!

[ImAlpharius]

It's not just bigger or smaller it's different proportions, like longer in the boday, wider. short arms etc.

They have changed lots over the year as well, I have a lot of my mums old stuff (she is a hoarder) and stuff that 20-30 years old is a lot lot smaller than modern stuff.

[dawntigga]

for baby clothes it depends which centile they use for measurements, for my blocks I use the 75% because then 3/4 of children can fit in them and it's what Wini uses.

ChildrensStandardMeasurementsAreMadTiggaxx

[surroundedbyblondes]

It is confusing! It drives DH mad. I could understand it in clothes that have an 'age' on them, but those that have a measurement should be standard, no?

[honeytea]

Noisy toys that is a good idea! Unfortunatly the clothes that fit him best are the petit bateau ones and I refuse to spend that much on baby clothes.

I find babygrows make legs far far too short, I understand it in the newborn size when they still have their legs tucked up like a little frog but some of the 3-6 month babygrows we have have legs 5 cm long.

[Scootee]

Ds has clothes ranging in size from age 5 to age 11. All fit him.

Dd has clothes ranging in size from age 5 to age 12. All fit her.

Clothing is a total pita!

[MyNameIsInigoMontoya]

Nooo, you NEED clothes to be varying in size, trust me!

It might seem a pain - but wait till you have a fast-growing toddler or preschooler and the sizes have reduced to one or two a year. Then you get those maddening stages where the 2-yo clothes are all getting too small (as they're sized for the middle of that year) but the 3-yo ones are all still much too long!

Then you will start to give thanks for those few of the smaller size that came up big and still fit, and the few of the next size up that are a little bit smaller than most.

Though I admit, you get the odd annoying thing that is totally the wrong size - we had one coat for DD that she never wore at all as it was sized so small it was already tight when she got to that age (luckily, the size-below one was generous so fitted her for two stages, so it wasn't an issue!).

[honeytea]

That is good to know mynameisinigo :) I just need to make sure we get the chance to use the smaller ones before DS grows out of them!

[Bananasinfadedpjs]

YABU, it would mean that unless your child was completely average size, you wouldn't have a hope of ever getting any clothes to fit them.

At least when things are varying sizes you can search around and find stuff that fits well. It's not just about one measurement, there are loads of variables like waistband size, sleeve length, torso length, width across the shoulders or chest, leg length... even children that are the same height can differ quite a bit in all of these.

I do think that within the same brand there should be standardisation, but otherwise a variety of fits is a godsend.

[maybunny]

Yep very annoying but no different to adult clothing, so don't expect much else really!
I now ignore the label and am v geeky and hang up the clothes according to real size, so I know to use the clothes on the left first to get more use out of them. That way I don't go to use something for the first time to find it already too small - infuriating!

[foreverondiet]

Well I bought long sleeve thermal vests for ds1 and ds2 from 2 different shops. They are almost the same size! But DS1 is almost 7 (6-7) and Ds2 is almost 3 (2-3).......

[Pigsmummy]

Drives me nuts!

[Loup23]

Agree moresnow saved lovely size '3 months' for 3-6 months for DD who wore them approximately once before I realised it meant 0-3 months

[gemma4d]

As I understand it, in the UK age "6 months" is the equivalent of 3-6 months, but in the US age 2T is age 2 - 3 years? Can anyone confirm that, I've never been positive!

[BikeRunSki]

YABU - adult clothes / shoes/ bras etc are not consistent sizing, why start with babies? At the moment DS (4) is in age 4 jeans from H&M, or Age 5 from Boden, or Age 6 from Gap. DD (16 months) is in age 12-18 months jeans from Sainsbury's, or Age 2 from Gap, but th3 18-24 months stuff she has from H&M is huge! And I am Size 10 at Sainsbury's, Size 12 at Next and Size 18 at Mulberry (Only to try on! My mum lives near the factory shop).

[BikeRunSki]

My understanding of the US "Age T" sizes is that T is toddler and cut for children out of nappies, and month sies are for "babies" in nappies, so 24-36 months is for 2 year olds in nappies, but 2T is for children the same age without nappies.

[Stixswhichtwizzle]

Its funny how our perception of sizes vary too!
For my very long (98th centile) but av. Weight (50th) Dd, Next is worn at the start of the 3 month block as they won't fit her at 6 months but do at 3 because they're too short in length. Same with Tesco.
Mother care swamps her, their clothes are very wide
Sainsburys seem v. good for length and fit at the end of the size range.

[midastouch]

It is rediculous there should be a standard size that everyone should stick too! Dont get me started on kids clothes!! i brought quite a few bits in the next sale for my DD in 9-12 and 12-18, all the tops i brought are the same size! how is that even possible?? Trouble is i only noticed a week ago you just presume they're the size they say they are.