Kids clothes- when do you go to the next size up?

[faithfulbird20]

Birthday month or a few months after?

I'm actually surprised that most people wait until their kids clothes are too small before buying bigger!

If I’m buying for next season in the sale, then yes you buy what size you think they will need in six months.

But there’s no point in buying age 5-6 school trousers on DS’s 5th birthday when he still fits in age 3-4 completely fine. He may not grow into 5-6 until next September, I don’t have cupboard space for 98 million pairs of oversized trousers.

Whenever they need them, usually much later than the age stated in our case. I have a friend who insists on buying all new just because their child's age changes. Ridiculous if you ask me.

@user64323

I'm actually surprised that most people wait until their kids clothes are too small before buying bigger! Once they go into a bigger size I generally start to buy the next size. When I'm browsing sales I am usually looking for the next size up. Mine have all pretty much matched age labels, so do go into new around their birthday. For my summer borns this works well, it means that are new into a size for starting school in September. I struggled with my winter born starting school this year as 4-5 won't last long but 5-6 is too big.

I don’t have space to store the size they’re wearing and the next size up. We tend to just shop seasonally. I’ve just taken all their summer stuff out of their drawers… anything in not great condition has gone to the clothes bank, decent but too small stuff to the charity shop and anything that I think might still fit next year has been stashed away. Ive also got our last years winter stuff to see what still fits. Then I do a shop to fill the gaps for all 3 of the children. I don’t tend to buy clothes much before we actually need them.

DD is 4.5 years old and currently has clothes that fit in the following sizes:

12–18m
2–3y
3–4
4–5

Sizing is so wildly variable that there's little point looking at the label.

DD has gone up 3 sizes this year. She’s now in 6-7. She’s just turned 5. She is ridiculously tall and skinny, lives in dresses and tights due to this.

DD seems to have spontaneous overnight growth spurts where she'll go to bed in one size of clothing and shoes and wake up 2cm taller with feet a size bigger. I try to anticipate and have clothes in the next size on standby from sales buying where possible but she had one particularly annoying period earlier this year where she went up 2 shoes sizes in a 4 week space of time.

She is 7, she wears 9-10 from Asda and primark, 8-9 from M&S and sainsburys but the length on these is getting close to being too short so will need to rotate out for bigger sizes soon and the old stuff will go in the charity bin.

My six week old's drawers contain

Mostly 3-6 months
A few 0-3 months
A couple of big 0-1 month (and all 0-1 tops)
A couple of tiny 6-9/6-12 months (mainly sleepsuits as he is long and sizing is ridiculous)

My just turned three year old is wearing

Mostly age 3-4
A few age 2-3
Age 4-5 or 5-6 pants
A couple of 18-24 months (but I have just retired a load of this size in autumn /winter clothing)

I tend to buy ahead. I get second hand bundles and top up with sales items or the occasional really cute thing I can't resist. I keep a big sturdy bag for each child with all the clothes that are too big for them (the youngest only a size or two up) sorted into type of clothing and sizes. Periodically I'll get out a pair of trousers or vest or whatever and try it on them, if it's still too big it stays in the bag. If it fits it goes in the drawer along with everything else of that type in that size.

When I notice that an item of clothing is too small I have a box in the wardrobe that I put it into. When the box gets full I sort through it and decide which to keep for the baby and which to get rid of. The baby's outgrown clothes go straight in the sell pile because he's the last one. I have a couple of big boxes that I'm storing the in between sizes in for the baby to grow into, but once he's in 18-24 months I expect there will only be a couple of sizes between them so I won't need that storage any more.

I tend to sell anything in good condition and chuck away (recycle) if it's worn out, stained or broken.

If they get into a size and are lacking some kind of clothing that is when I go to a shop and buy new and that's when I'd look at sizes other than to check my stash to see what I've got enough or not enough of.

I love buying, sorting and organising their clothes and this system works well for me. I find I get the most wear out of things this way. I've used UK names for sizes here but I live in Germany and children's clothes are sold in centimetre height sizes which make a lot more sense anyway!

My 9 year old ds has only just finally grown out of some shorts that are age 2-3! 😂 It’ll be quite sad next summer when he’s not wearing all his old favourites…

At the same time, he has some age 8 trousers that are too short for him, such is the weirdness of clothes sizing.

His t shirts are anything from age 5 to age 9.

If he had age 9 everything, then his trousers wouldn’t stay up (most of his age 7 or 8 ones are still too big around the waist despite being too short), I dread to think what the shorts would be like, and the t shirts would mostly be hanging off him.

I have a couple of friends who have a big clear out / sort around their children’s birthday. I usually sort seasonally. Buying happens all year round and I try to get a head start on bigger sizes.

@user64323

I'm actually surprised that most people wait until their kids clothes are too small before buying bigger! Once they go into a bigger size I generally start to buy the next size. When I'm browsing sales I am usually looking for the next size up. Mine have all pretty much matched age labels, so do go into new around their birthday. For my summer borns this works well, it means that are new into a size for starting school in September. I struggled with my winter born starting school this year as 4-5 won't last long but 5-6 is too big.

I buy a few things in the sale in the next size up but my 5 year old is picky and may decide she doesn’t like something I bought 6 months ago in the sale so it would be a waste.

My 5 year old is about to have her second increase in clothes size in 9 months.

Also I've noticed that boys clothes often come up bigger than girls'. So if I buy dd something from the boys' section I need to buy a size smaller. Which is strange really because boys aren't generally bigger than girls at her age.

If I’m buying for next season in the sale, then yes you buy what size you think they will need in six months

@Changechangychange that theory doesn't work for every child though..mine don't have 6 monthly growth spurts and if they do I would end up with clothes that are the wrong season/not my child's taste.

@wallysally

If I’m buying for next season in the sale, then yes you buy what size you think they will need in six months

@Changechangychange that theory doesn't work for every child though..mine don't have 6 monthly growth spurts and if they do I would end up with clothes that are the wrong season/not my child's taste.

I was replying to someone who said that was what they do!

I tend to go by european sizing which is the actual height of the child.
but even then there is so much variety in width and arm length that it's a lottery.

I have skinny long dc, if I look at their height and the uk sizing they are 2-3 years 'out' and could wear adult ranges but children's ranges give smaller waist options.

When the clothes don’t fit anymore, I then pass them on to a mum from DS’ playgroup.

In my experience they do tend to wear clothes for about a year once they're past age 2, so you can definitely buy ahead since they will get used at some point.

I got caught out with seasons when DS1 was a baby and his rate of growth suddenly stalled (weaning, food allergies). I'd bought a load of 6-9m clothes thinking he'd need them soon then it was into winter before he needed them and many were rather light.

I have the twiggy length: waist ratio problem, but that buys them a bit more time as by the time things start getting short, they begin to fill the width. Tops tend to be older than bottoms, partly that they have longer bodies, partly that bottoms are useless when they fall off. Shorts last until they are fit for recycling only. I've just had to retire the age 2-3 PE shorts because they were rapidly begining to look like boxers, but DS (8) was happy with them.

I buy things as they need them. Some things like coats I'll buy bigger for two winters use... until they get to the teenage stage of growing like leylandii!

Using the height guide. The clothes usually have height in cm under the age on the label and hanger. Smaller than average so the age means nothing here.

Basically as and when an item needs replacing.we tend to do a holiday shop and school uniform shop in the summer but anything else is just when we notice. They don't grow out of all their clothes at any one time.
DS is 12, his clothes range from age 6-7 to age 10-11. The 10-11 clothes are still a bit large, the 6-7 shorts are almost hot pants but he loves them!

When they need new clothes.

I used to love it when they were babies and I could get the next size up clothes out and completely change their wardrobes. Even now my dc have way too many clothes but I just buy the next size up when I feel they need something and retire other things as they look too small.

7yo dd is wearing anything from 5 - 8 years, 9 yo ds has 7-11 stuff.

Also toddlers tend to go down a trouser size when they stop wearing nappies. The age 2-3 bottoms got about 2 years worth of wear because of this.