Baby clothes - how many

[Eskarina]

At 37+2 I thought I ought to start making sure I have baby clothes washed and ready.
I've been very very fortunate and had a lot of clothes given "pre-loved" (haven't bought a thing) and it seems I have way too many. I also suspect that once Squig arrives and we therefore know the sex, we'll be given lots more.
So how many babygrows/vests/hats do I need? I'll happily give the extra bits away as I just don't have the space to store excess clothes and it seems a shame to parcel it up in the loft when it could be useful for someone else.

[Lisaklf]

I am in the same situation as have lovely friends/relatives with tots. I am hanging onto all of it until I know how big she is and how much she poops/vomits and then get rid of stuff that doesn't fit or not needed. My cousin is due 3 weeks after me and my SIL 5 weeks after that so will be plenty of takers :)

[tigana]

it all depends

how big your baby is when born ( might skip newborn size for example)
how quickly he/she grows.
how many loads of washing you plan on doing and how often
how long stuff takes to dry

Assume you have already given away any seasonally unsuitable stuff? (big fleecy newborn coats for an august baby, or a summery 3-6m playsuit for a baby that'll hit that age in november for example)

whatever you dress your baby in in the morning will be in the wash pile by breakfast dinner time, what with sick and leaky nappies etc.

[Eskarina]

Thanks both
This is just the newborn/tiny baby stuff that I'm going through. There's another bin-bag sized bag in the loft with 0-3 clothes in. Should I be washing that now too?
Would I be safe in assuming that 20 newborn babygrows is too many? Or is that just naive??

[Helzapoppin]

You may want to sort through the 0-3 months before your baby comes too- I know several babies who were in that size within the first week! If it's just a case of doing a quick maching load of washing and hanging on the line then at least it's a job done before the baby arrives.
I've been sorting baby clothes out for DC2 today (only a week to go!) - we've got 12 tiny baby vests (not a tiny baby as far as we know!) and about 20 newborn and about 10 babygros. It sounds quite a lot, but I remember that DD needed a complete clothes change after every nappy change due to leaking and general inexpert parental handling of poo!
Also, bear in mind sizing varies graetly between stores (John Lewis is about 'normal' as is Next, Sainsburys and M and S are HUGE!)

[benne81]

this might be a slightly stupid question but do i need to wash all the newborn clothes before the baby wears them and why? Unfortunately nobody has given us anything yet so I have bought the newborn white starter pack stuff and I seem to remeber reading somewhere that new things should be washed - is this true?

[IvyAndGold]

I always think it's better to have too much than be struggling along with too little, I'd leave it till baby is a couple of weeks old and you can see how much you're getting through. You might have one of those babies like my DD who just seem to be able to get their clothes dirty without moving!

[nothingsoextraordinary]

I've no idea why we have to wash everything either. The answer to everything seems to be toxic substances...

We're due in 3 weeks. I probably have far too much, but here's what we've managed to beg and borrow and buy. Incidentally, isn't it all shockingly expensive. I seriously considered going up to my parents' attic to see if there was anything in my dolls' wardrobes that might be suitable.

7 babygros (newborn)
10 longsleeved bodysuits (newborn)
9 shortsleeved bodysuits (newborn)
8 sleeveless bodysuits (newborn)
Couple of pram sheets and cellular blankets
1 light cardigan, 1 medium and 1 woolly.

If my daughter is not newborn size, I shall be writing a letter to complain.

[Merinda]

there seems to be a load of baby clothing bundles on ebay - I am seriously considering...

[Fresh01]

Depends on the baby - what their weight is and what their length is, some of them are very long and skinny. I have had 3 so far, no. 4 due in Dec, and they have all been around 8lb 6ozs and yes they fitted the newborn size but only for a matter of weeks then it was onto the 0-3 months size. So I would say it is more important to have more in the 0-3 months than newborn, you can turn up cuffs etc. Also depends if it is a boy or a girl and if it is a puker or not. The girls would have been 3-4 vests/babygros a day but DS (no. 3 baby) was a boy who peed on himself when you lifted his bum up to change the nappy meaning most nappy changes for the first month resulted in a clothes change! He was also a puker so feeds meant more changes too. He would have got through more than double the number of outfits the girls did per day in the first month.

Also agree with Helzapoppin that the definition of clothing size varies between shops.