To think putting a baby boy in pink is a little odd?

[Reachout]

Hi, this post isn't to point fingers, I just genuinely want to know if I'm the only one who thinks like this.

A friend of mine is putting her newborn baby boy in his sisters old sleepsuites etc and says it's just newborn clothing, why does it matter.
I'm sorry but I wouldn't even think of putting a boy in girls things, and I don't just mean 'pink', I mean properly girly.

AIBU? I can't see why you'd do it, and she isn't strapped for cash by any stretch of the imagination. It just doesn't sit right with me.

Those of us who post on Mumsnet do also have real-world manifestations....

doesn't bother me.

My sister passed me all her daughter's old stuff (her daughter is 10 months older than my eldest son) and he wore quite the combination of stuff

Babies are shitting puking machines and it really doesn't matter if what they're crapping on or chucking up on is blue or pink. or white. or yellow. or green.

I once put him in a frilly pink frock and an orange head band just because I was bored and there was nothing good on telly.

Who says you can't play with babies...

Spent many a happy half hour explaining to total strangers that my dd was female when at 3 months, she was dressed in blue. ("Well if you put a bow on her we'd know it was a girl").

I think it's unusual in real life. Most people do dress their babies according to gender, at least outside of the home. I did and I don't see anything wrong with it. It wouldn't bother me if other people didn't.
My daughter was born last and I did enjoy dressing her in pink/girly clothes though she did wear some of her brothers' hand me downs as well.

As an early years teacher, gender specific toys etc REALLY bug me however as a mother of girls I have simply been unable to stem the flow of pink plastic sparkly tat in my house!! I know, I am not worthy to show my face on MN........

Considering how hated pink, girly clothing is on here I'm astounded as to how many people think it's ok to put a baby in it.

Of course I suspect some people just like to be contrary and it's only ok to put a baby in pink, girly stuff if baby is a boy.

If it's not 'real life' why do shops sells boys t-shirts/shirts in pink and lemon? And for men too?

They're not imaginary. They actually exist.

Do they sell pink flowery sleep suits or little tutus in the boys department?

And where does it stop, would you reuse your daughters school uniform? Swimsuit? It's all practical.

And if it's not okay to gender indenting babies, why did you buy pink in the first place? Why not buy her blue, or white?!

It wouldnt look so odd if society didnt swamp children with pink or blue clothes. I mean if everything was rainbow coloured then this would be even more of a non issue. But consumerism says we must buy the pink bike for girls etc etc. that way the firms make even more money.

As someone who regulalry dresses her DD in blue and boys clothes (I prefer the looser fit on trousers) I think its great that it also works the other way round.

I dress DS in DD's old pink bodies but I leave his penis hanging out. It's huge and very prominent so problem solved.

Booboostwo

Only slightly OT but I got pissed off at the weekend because I couldn't find a "neutral" New Baby card at our big Tesco.

They were ALL "pink and flowery" for a girl and "blue and car-y" for a boy.

WHY do they need to be pigeonholed from birth?

Going back to the OP, YABU. Why waste perfectly good clothes just because you don't like the idea?

And to whoever said "But what about the photos?" Well, what about the photos? Most people don't take repeated shots of a baby sleeping/every minute of the day/every outfit. And if the baby happens to do something cute/look cute enough to warrant a photo being taken, guess what, what you will see in the photo is a baby doing something cute/looking cute.

Also, that said; why not just buy gender neutral clothes if you want to reuse?

So do people reuse swimming costumes and dresses for their DS' then? Do you just actually not bother buying anything else? I'm interested, because that would surely be favouritism? Caring enough about gender to buy gendered clothes for one; but then just not bothering with the other at all? Seems a bit bizarre. I'm all for reusing, but then id just buy white/green/yellow stuff. Actually I did that a lot for DS as he lived in sleepsuits and I didn't know if I wanted another one or not.

Baby ds wear his sisters vests but not pink babygros , honestly he would look ridiculous.

My sons happily wore my DD's pink/flowery vests and socks and the more unisex items of clothing. I wouldn't go as far as putting then I head to toe in girly items but especially as an under one I can't see the problem.

My DD had some lovely clothes, but I wished more unisex clothes had been available.

BooChunky

I was responding to someone further up the thread who said that boys get mocked and teased by their peers for wearing 'girls' colours when that isn't the case.

And if it is it comes from children who've got gobshites for parents anyway, teaching their kids that boys who wear pink are 'poofs'.

And who the fuck dresses any baby, boy or girl, in a tutu? What kind of example is a tutu anyway? You know that male ballet dancers don't wear tutus, right?

sapat I agree. Gender neutral is the way forward. If you buy nothing but pink flowery shit for a DD; you obviously enjoy that kind of thing and that's great. But to then say 'oh I can't afford more clothes for a boy, I'll dress him in all of her old stuff' if you have a DS pop along seems a bit crap.

I used tutu specifically because some sleep suits aren't just pink, some in Next for example have a tutu attached (it's very cute!)... It came to mind as I was buying a baby gift there recently.

My brother has 5 sisters. He wore quite a lot of pink as a baby. He's now 35 and happily married, so it's clearly not had too much of an impact.

Well, a lot of people end up with pink flowery stuff for girls as presents rather than because they've bought it themselves, no? I know quite a few people with DDs who bought primary-coloured stuff etc. for them themselves but were then deluged with pink presents (which, well, if you need the sleepsuits you'll use). Definitely the most "gendered" boy clothes my kids had as babies were gifts.

Basically not quite getting the inarguability of AHA GOTCHA YOU HYPOCRITES, CLEARLY THE ONLY REASON YOU WOULD HAVE PINK CLOTHES TO HAND DOWN IS BECAUSE YOU PERSONALLY CHOSE TO DRESS YOUR DAUGHTER LIKE THE FRILLY TUTU-ED LOVE CHILD OF BARBARA CARTLAND AND JORDAN.

I used as many "hand me downs" as I could (especially from my friend who had completed her family). Some of the items had been "through" 4 kids (friend had 1 ds followed by 3 dds). It's rare for new born (or even

My 5 yo DS wears his sisters old pj bottoms. Some of them are slightly on the girly side but it doesn't bother him at all ! They fit him better as they have elasticated waists and I'm a bit skint so happy but to have to buy him boy specific pjs

Actually, I do think its odd. But then, Im one of those rare breed of MNetters who doesn't only dress my baby in a sleepsuit until they're 1. I handed down DS's neutral stuff to DD and that was it. A pack of 5 sleepsuits are £7 in primark.