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Original poster

Why is a baby’s “going home outfit” a big deal?

257 replies

EmAreSea · 09/10/2019 07:23

DH and I have just been discussing this as I’m 37+6 today and have been packing (and re-packing, and double-triple-checking, and re-re-packing) hospital bags. We’re taking a selection of sleepsuits for baby to wear in the hospital and then started talking about the Going Home Outfit, and both started wondering why it’s a thing? How did that come about? Does anyone know?

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 09/10/2019 08:42

You don't have to have a special outfit :)

If you take clothes into hospital and you end up stuck in for a few days, you won't be able to wash things - so you'll either end up with loads of stuff that could potentially be stained as it's waiting to be washed, or send it home with your DH who unfortunately may not wash stuff to your own standards (love DH... he does everything in the house but he does not "believe in" the concept of separating whites for a wash, and thinks stain remover is a con.)

Therefore it can be a nice idea to save your favourite things for when you're going home and have plainer things for the first couple of days.

Of course if you are my children you will manage to shit on the going home outfit and end up wearing something slightly too big because it was all that was clean :o

AuntieMarys · 09/10/2019 08:43

I have no photos of mine coming home. They are early 20s. I was more concerned about getting home and having a shower and a decent cup of tea

legalseagull · 09/10/2019 08:45

Different strokes for different folkes. Both of mine had special baby grows and a matching hat to go home in. Taking you baby home feels really important to me. It was a special moment. I now have both those outfits, which I'll keep forever. I'm quite a sentimental person though

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Clothing Families
legalseagull · 09/10/2019 08:47

@Tableclothing no horror, just trying to work the straps for the first time and seeing if baby is comfy. It's not a problem

BertrandRussell · 09/10/2019 08:48

I was suddenly obsessed with
my second coming home in the same black velour babygro his sister had come home in. I had people searching through their cupboards hunting for it (I thought I had handed it on) until I found it at the back of a drawer. I was quite rational apart from that!

HalfBloodPrincess · 09/10/2019 08:50

Its definitely a 'thing' and predates social media and Mumsnet.
All my DC had a nice outfit to come home from hospital in which are in their memory boxes (oldest dc is 17) and I have mine from 40 years ago!

I'm guessig it's one of those traditions thats getting lost to self righteousness

strawbmilk · 09/10/2019 08:50

I bought an expensive little white company baby grow as the baby's coming home outfit. Well I was so relived to be getting out of the hospital I didn't give two toots what she was wearing. The ironic thing is that the labels are still on the baby grow and she is 2!!!!!! Pregnant with baby 2 so will keep it for them

TheNavigator · 09/10/2019 08:51

I've never heard of it, so didn't realise it was a 'thing'. But then my youngest is 17 and was born at home Grin

gingersausage · 09/10/2019 08:51

Oh for god’s sake stop with the snarking. It’s nothing to do with America or social media 🙄. Going home outfits have been on hospital packing lists since people started having babies in hospital ffs.

In the “olden days” when you stayed in hospital for a fortnight, it was nice to have a little outfit to put the baby in to bring it home, usually with a cardigan knitted by granny or a crocheted shawl. Even 20ish years ago when I had mine, people had going home outfits.

@CherryPavlova, how old are your children for goodness sake that they were dressed in nightgowns? Surely they just wore babygrows like everyone else’s kids, or were they born in the Victorian workhouse?

ChillyB · 09/10/2019 08:52

Another poster here who has photos of their baby in their “going home” outfit at 9 weeks old when it fitted...

daisypond · 09/10/2019 08:52

Halfblood You can’t say it’s definitely a thing and something that is lost to tradition when so many people have actually never heard of it.

20viona · 09/10/2019 08:52

None of my babies clothes for so she looked ridiculous as they were so big. I did however, have a choice of hats and one in particular was for coming home... of course my husband have this one to the midwife when she was born🤣🤦🏼‍♀️.

gingersausage · 09/10/2019 08:54

Haha @BertrandRussell, I remember I had a navy blue babygro with white stars. I was similarly obsessed with having a photo of both of them in it at the same age.

SunshineCake · 09/10/2019 08:55

It's only a thing for those that want it to be. You don't have to be a sheep. All my children came home in a plain white baby grow and little white coat when the weather dictated it. They lived in baby grows for a while too. Shock horror.

coffeeforone · 09/10/2019 08:56

It is a thing! I didn't put either of mine in a special outfit (plain white babygrows were all I took to hospital) but plenty of people like to. If you want to do it then something like a nice 'hello world' sleep suit sounds lovely. And a hat which they really do insist on! Make sure you take a good few hats - the midwife will be demanding one as the cord is being cut and you'll go though a few as the first few will get a bit grubby!

northbacchus · 09/10/2019 08:56

Didn’t have one! Well, we did but we ended up staying in hospital for three days so we got through all the outfits, then it was unseasonably warm so we didn’t use the snowsuit!

AlexaAmbidextra · 09/10/2019 08:57

When I did my obstetric placement in the 70s, going home outfits in the East End were a thing to behold. So many frills and ruffles you could hardly see the baby beneath. This was in the days before car seats though. They’d never have fitted in one. 😂

emwithme · 09/10/2019 08:58

I bought a beautiful going home dress (in "first size") for DD...put it on her and she literally fell through the head hole, so she came home in a white tiny baby babygrow.

She looked beautiful in it for 5 minutes 5 weeks later, until the inevitable poonami.

lalaloopyhead · 09/10/2019 09:01

My eldest is 20 and this was definitely a thing back then....saying that it wasn't anything fancy I just kept the cutest babygro from a set of 3 from Mothercare (I still have it) for what seemed the special event. Granted there was no social media back then, but there were cameras!

BertieBotts · 09/10/2019 09:01

Please forgive the minor derail, but can someone please explain to this soon-to-be ftm what the Car Seat Horror entails?

Car seats are way more complicated than you imagined when you ordered one - it's not THAT bad, it just suddenly seems very daunting when you have a tiny baby to put in one :) I would recommend reading the manual and taking it with you to hospital so you can check again. Check which way the pads on the safety harness are supposed to go, and any inserts (they do usually come with all the inserts in ready for a new baby). And then newborns are just so very tiny that they typically don't seem to fit the safety harness very well - they do soon grow and fill it out a bit better. They are also so delicate that you worry about doing up the harness too tightly, but then worry that it is too loose - if in doubt, do it tighter. Most people make it too loose especially at first. Remember that newborns are quite used to being squished as they didn't have much space inside you, and they like being swaddled, which is also very tight.

If they have too much clothing or clothing which is too bulky, that can affect the usage of the straps too and again when you have a little fresh one, it's easy to end up with lots of clothing compared to very little baby.

Then you panic about every single speed bump (why are hospitals always surrounded by them? Must be terrible for ambulances) and corner. The shape of the car seat immediately pushes the baby chin-to-chest which you've been told is very bad and dangerous (it's not great, but it's OK for up to 30 minutes or so, and the crash protection is more of a concern, but this is why you keep car seat stretches short for the first 4-6 weeks).

You will look back later and see all the ways you did the car seat wrong :o

SunshineCake · 09/10/2019 09:03

I can't remember if I kept any of my children's first clothes and feel bad until I remember I sent a huge parcel to someone who had nothing for her baby and that helps a bit to assuage the guilt. The loft is full of every picture they ever drew, every certificate they ever won, etc etc though. I definitely have dds first shoes.

Greedytiger · 09/10/2019 09:03

I bought DC1 a lovely going home outfit. Put it on him and the puked all down the front within 2 minutes so went home in a normal baby grow. Didn’t bother buying one for DC2 who went home in one of DC1’s old babygrows!

BikeRunSki · 09/10/2019 09:03

I suppose because it’s a photo op these days. My DC are 8 and 11 and I couldn’t tell you what they came home in. In fact they look very similar, were born in the sane hospital, I had the same maternity nighties - It is very difficult to tell which baby is in the photos now.

daisypond · 09/10/2019 09:04

Mine are in their early 20s and late teens and it definitely wasn’t a thing where I am.

BertieBotts · 09/10/2019 09:04

A baby grow is an outfit for a newborn Confused

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