Help me navigate the sleep suit jungle...

[Cottagecosy]

Hey all. Our first DC is due end of December- so mid winter. I had assumed sleep suit & grow bag would be sufficient at night/ with a cards in the day but another thread on here has made me think we may need another layer.

So my question is which vests (I think that's what the legless ones are called!?) do I get? Do I go long sleeve, short sleeve or sleeveless?

Would they be too hot in a long sleeve vest & sleep suit and would this be awkward to get on and off (2 layers of sleeves)?

Our house isn't hot but not freezing either. Maybe 16-18 degrees at night?

I had planned to get 5 or so of each (vests and sleepsuits) in newborn and 0-3m sizes to begin with until we know what size we need. Is that about right?

Thanks all!

[Oysterbabe]

Get both long sleeve and short sleeve I'd say. Baby will wear them in the day too so worth having a reasonable amount. I didn't have any issues having 2 layers of sleeves.
It partly depends on your baby. My DD is always like a little furnace and gets sweaty with anything but the lightest covering.

[ConvincingLiar]

It's hard to know up front, because babies are different. I had a mix of LS/SS vests (aka bodysuits). They're often more important for day wear. I'd avoid sleeveless, they're a bit Rab C Nesbitt. If you're caught short, or its summer, you might want your baby in just a vest and bottoms but it needs some sleeves for that imo.

How much you but for your baby depends on how much washing you do and how often, how long stuff takes to dry and how sick/pooey your baby is. With a newborn you could easily get through 3 changes a day, so 5 is quite tight. You might be planning day clothes too, although when they're very little, baby grows are often a good bet as they're comfy. You can always wear the next size up if you run out of clothes. I'd say buy more 0-3 because you will need them. I found gifts mainly came in 3-6 (because everyone thought everyone else would buy 0-3!).

[ConvincingLiar]

Buy, not but.

[ConvincingLiar]

PS if you can, try and buy sleep suits with integrated scratch mitts (they're incorporated into the cuffs). They keep baby cosy and they don't fall off.

You can also get baby bundlers/nighties which are very obviously nightwear. The advtange is they're good for nappy changes and easier than fiddling with poppers at 2am.

[Jodie1982]

You'll definitely need way more than 5 vests. I've always bought short sleeved ones for wearing under sleepsuits.

[user1473371143]

I would get newborn size (7-8lbs), up to one month (10lbs) and 0-3 months (13-14lbs) stuff - short sleeve vests, long sleeve vests and sleep suits. I'd get half a dozen of each. You'll get bought lots of 0-3 months stuff. My DS was 7lb 2oz & in newborn size for the first month. I think m&s do these three sizes and do packs of 7 for short sleeve vests and packs of 3-5 for sleep suits.

[user1473371143]

Oh, my DS was born in November & wore a short sleeved vest, a sleep suit & was then swaddled in Moses basket or sling for sleep x

[timeforachangeithink]

Sainsburys sleepsuits have built in mitts, are great quality and good value, especially if you get them in the 25% off deal. Their sizes are huge though.

[camena]

It depends, I don't think there is one right answer. If you end up cosleeping then your baby won't get as cold. If you end up with a warm baby they will need less layers, a cold baby will need more.

I wouldn't overthink it. Sleeveless vests are a good extra layer under a sleepsuit, but you can also just put an extra cellular blanket on if they wake up cold. Whatever you do, I can guarantee at some point you'll be wondering in the middle of the night what to do re layers! It's not that scientific.

If you can get breathable sleeping bags then do that (eg wool), most of them are synthetic and very sweat-inducing hence the highly complex gro-bag rules about clothing.

[Cottagecosy]

Wow thanks everyone that's really helpful. It seems I massively underestimated how much we would need!

It sounds like half a dozen of short sleeve and long sleeve in the 3 different sizes is the way to go...

Interesting point on the sleeping bag though camena. Where would I look for a non synthetic one?

[Afreshstartplease]

Long sleeve vests piss me off when the sleeves roll up under the sleeping/clothes sleeves

The only long sleeve vests I have are those for under dungarees etc

[welshweasel]

Agree cannot be doing with sleeves under sleeves. Only use long sleeves as a top in their own right e.g. with leggings. We always used short sleeved bodysuit under babygrow and grobag. Only once had to put a blanket over as well when staying in my parents ancient freezing house with no heating overnight. We needed v tiny sizes to start with as DS only 5lb9 but we bought a load of multipacks in different sizes from John Lewis and took back/exchanged the ones we didn't use.

[camena]

We had a merino kids sleeping bag for DD1, which survived and washed well enough to do for DD2. Lana bambini and a few other places also do them.

[cuckoowith2]

I have always put mine in short sleeve vest, sleepsuit and gro bag in the winter, depends on the temp in the room etc, I think get a supply of long sleeve/short sleeve vests etc you'll be know what to do just follow your instincts all babies are different! Both mine are quite sweaty sleepers! Xx

[pukekos]

Yes as others have said definitely need more sleepsuits! Other thing is grobags and most other sleeping bags have minimum weight (think it's 4kg for grobag) so took about 6-7 weeks for dd1 to be big enough for it, you might need to consider swaddles or blankets meantime unless expecting a particularly big baby. Gro egg was amazingly reassuring for helping check temperature of room (I honestly don't work for the gro company!).

[KatoPotato]

M&S do lovely wee layering sets that have long and short sleeved vests, sleepsuit, little jacket and footed trousers. It makes baby dressing very easy! I kept buying the same set in the next size up! long sleeved vest and those little trousers during the day, easy nappy changing!

www.marksandspencer.com/8-piece-pure-cotton-dog-themed-starter-set/p/p22450607?image=SD_04_T78_7101B_E4_X_EC_0&color=BLUEMIX&prevPage=plp&pdpredirect

[Oysterbabe]

We took 5 vests with us to the hospital and DD had puked over all of them within 12 hours. She was pretty sicky for the first couple of days.

[Caper86]

Not related to your question but something I wish I'd known when buying sleepsuits! I wish I'd known you can get them with zips. Bonds (John Lewis) and baby gap both make them - they save a hell of a lot of time. Doing up a million poppers when changing a newborn baby for the 4th time and then realizing you've done them up wrong is a killer - zips all the way!!

[liquidrevolution]

we live in a cold house. DD was fine in a long sleeved suit and grobag with cotton cardi over the top to keep her arms warm. You can buy grobags with sleeves but honestly I couldnt see the point of the extra expense (they are not cheap).

She would only wear sleepsuits until she was 9 months- ditto grobags- so now she is in pjs with duvet over (and socks when it is extra cold).

[kat088]

lana bambini have a handy guide for how many layers to wear/temperature of room - lanabambini.co.uk/store/sleeping-bag-guide/?___store=default

[ConvincingLiar]

We had some zipped baby grows from Aldi which were pretty good quality given how cheap they were.

[SpinALittleFaster]

I have never used long sleeved vests under a sleepsuit as it's such a pain to do sleeves over sleeves. For a newborn I'd use a short sleeved vest, sleepsuit and layered blankets. Be aware of the termperature in your room though as it may not be that bad even in the winter. Our room was actually quite comfortable last year with 3 of us sleeping in it and the heating set to come on overnight.

[itsonlysubterfuge]

My DD was too tiny to put into a sleeping bag for quite some time, so you might want to keep that in mind. they say if you put them in and their head can fit in the hole for their neck they are too small. We use to just do a long sleeve sleep suit and then a blanket with holes in.

When she got older though, I use to put her in more layers.

[itsonlysubterfuge]

I forgot, we use to do a safe swaddle as well. They have instructions on YouTube. It's basically where you keep there arms in close, but the bottom bit is loose so you can't damage their hip joints.

[SatsukiKusakabe]

My dd was born at that time of year and I only used long sleeved vests as a 'top' with trousers or dungarees, never under a sleep suit. They are handy as they then don't ride up the way a tshirt would. Also to bear in mind - neither of mine got on with grobags, so we had layers of cellular blankets and this was fine.

In all honesty, I would buy as many vests and sleep suits as you can - in the early days of explosive nappies and bringing up milk you can easily get through a few a day, and I always used to put a clean one on morning and night in any case.

My babies were 8/9 pounds and were only in newborn size for about a couple of weeks, but would have been swamped in 0-3 at first, to give you an idea. In other words you would definitely need newborn size, but are likely to need more of the next ones.