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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To bring baby home from hospital in second hand clothes?

78 replies

Acunningruse · 17/08/2016 12:51

DC2 is due in 3 weeks and we have been given some absolutely beautiful clothes from a friends sister. Its outfits from Next and Jasper Conran which we would never be able to afford.
WIBU to use these for newborn DD as her first outfits? I know it shouldn't matter at all it just feels a little bit funny when DS haf all brand new clothes as he was the first.

OP posts:
LaraG13 · 17/08/2016 14:21

I've only bought second hand clothes for my (not yet born) baby. Mainly car boot sales and charity shops. Same with almost all the other bits and pieces I've got for my little one like toys, crib, pram. I prefer secondhand, not only because of the savings, but I also dislike the throwaway culture we have now. It seems wasteful to me, personally. I feel it's nice that the things I buy have been used by others before, and I'll pass them on to charity shops for more use after. I feel the same about my own clothes and belongings. Just my personal preference though - each to their own!

cherryplumbanana · 17/08/2016 14:29

Artandco

We got a lot of baby gifts, and even more hand me down from friends and family. I went to Primark, Next, Mothercare etc.. for what was missing and a couple of nice babygros. If I hadn't had any friend or family, I would have bought everything new.

I don't even know where to buy clothes that are ethically produced to be honest, when shops sell them for more money, they are just getting bigger margins. Life in clothes factories are not better because you spend more money on the finished items.

I sell back everything that hasn't been taken by friends or family, and I don't have any opinion on people buying second hand clothes! (actually, that's a lie, I do judge when I see requests for second hand items exclusively from a specific label)

itshappenedagain · 17/08/2016 14:35

Nothing wrong with second hand. My dd came home in the same outfit DS had come home in.

MrsBobDylan · 17/08/2016 14:40

My first born had secondhand everything, carseat, mattress, cot and clothes.

I couldn't afford anything new so if I wanted to have a baby, that was my choice.

However, he came into the world with two parents who are happy, calm and enjoy him immensely. Job done.

JemimaMuddledUp · 17/08/2016 14:45

Of course its fine. DD and DS2 both came home in DS1's hand me downs.

I would wash them again though.

Excitedforxmas · 17/08/2016 14:50

My dd,s wore stuff from car boot sales!

HughLauriesStubble · 17/08/2016 15:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 17/08/2016 15:20

Nothing wrong with 2nd hand - save the money for when they get older and a lot more expensive!

Quite apart from anything else, you are less likely to fret about 2nd hand things if they get poo-stained. As they almost certainly will!

My dd was given stacks of 2nd hand stuff by friends who'd had their babies earlier. My only minor peeve was that she had so much already - overflowing drawers and cupboards - I didn't feel able to go and buy all the lovely little things I'd have liked to.

(Did still buy a few, though...)

Amelie10 · 17/08/2016 15:32

Yanbu op, it's just down to personal preference. There's nothing wrong in using second hand clothes, as you say they are lovely outfits so why go buy more.

RainyDayBear · 17/08/2016 15:40

DD's coming home outfit was a beautiful sleep suit from Next with a little mouse on it. One of our friends had passed it on from her daughter. Doesn't matter in the least as long as they're nice and warm!

geekymommy · 17/08/2016 15:41

The baby won't know. Unless the clothes are stained or something like that, the nurses won't know unless you tell them.

I don't buy secondhand clothes for myself, but I do for DCs. Kids outgrow clothes so fast, so their secondhand clothes don't get as worn as adult secondhand clothes.

specialsubject · 17/08/2016 15:58

Baby clothes get either rapidly outgrown, covered in excreta or both. Spend as little as possible and reuse!

Your baby will be around when the climate and population shit really hits the fan. Start as you mean to go on by treadong lightly.

RaspberryOverload · 17/08/2016 15:58

Both my DCs came home from hospital in second hand clothes.

I'm the youngest in my family in my generation and the last to have DCs. We've had baby clothing moving around the family for years. We throw away the damaged or stained stuff and add new stuff as required, and pass it on to the next person who needs stuff.

In fact, I'm sure I dressed DD in a little suit that was 10 years old at that point and still in good nick!

Babies don't care what they wear, and as long as it's clean and fits, that's all that matters. Babies need lots of changing anyway, so having loads of new stuff seems a bit excessive to me.

Marmite27 · 17/08/2016 16:02

Goodness, are you me?

My mum text me yesterday to say a friend had passed on a bag of clothes for my DC and it's all Next and Jasper Conran! (Well she put Jasper Conrad, but you get the gist).

In answer to yourself YANBU at all, as long as the clothes are clean and in good repair, who cares.

(I'm quite excited to get hold of the bag meant for me and have a look, I was only moaning last week we never get any hand me downs passed on as mine are the oldest of our circle!)

twinmamma2b · 17/08/2016 16:14

My Chinese MIL has informed me that I MUST bring DT home in brand new outfit bought by one of the Grandparents. Superstition Confused. Thankfully she's not bothered about which grandparent buys it so I'll be having a shopping day with DM.

DesolateWaist · 17/08/2016 16:22

I think I speak for many when I say that I would happily bring them home in potato sack or even nude if I got the chance to bring home a live baby.

GrimmauldPlace · 17/08/2016 16:34

When my DS was born we had a mixture of new and 2nd hand. The babygro he came home in was kept and then when DD was born she came home in it as well.

I very rarely buy new for my DC unless it's in the sale. DD is 3 and for the past 2 years I order bundles from eBay twice a year for her winter and summer wardrobe. Used to do the same for DS as well but he's awkward in clothes size wise so generally have to buy new now for him to try it all on.

Absolutely nothing wrong with new or second hand. Once they've been washed once, what's the difference anyway? How many times have you seen a child and thought "ooh, look, they're in second hand clothes"? Not once, I should imagine.

twinmamma2b · 17/08/2016 16:36

Totally agree Desolate! Flowers

ridingaroundonmytrunki · 17/08/2016 16:40

I was eternally grateful for the binbag of baby clothes from one of my husbands colleagues
And the 10p baby clothes bin in my local charity shop
Because when you have a reflux baby like my youngest was even ASDA bags with arm and neck holes begin to look appealing
Dc2 came home wearing his sister's pink stripy babygro. Just for the photo opportunity

KP86 · 17/08/2016 16:41

Almost all of my DS's clothes have been second hand or gifts, and he is PFB. Even though I could afford to buy new, I don't often because I think it's a waste of money for things that will only fit for a short amount of time. I tend to buy bulk lots of high street labels from eBay or local FB groups.

I couldn't even tell you what he wore home from hospital. Blush

Do whatever you want to do, don't worry about what anyone else thinks! If it's something you think you'll care about in 10 years, buy new. Otherwise don't worry about it.

Also, I generally only rewashed second hand clothes if they smelled funny or had been in storage. If I could tell they'd been recently washed (some even ironed) I tended to leave them.

Artandco · 17/08/2016 16:44

But many have not friends or family with children to get clothes from. So second hand from anywhere else is exactly the same by the time they are washed

cherryplumbanana · 17/08/2016 16:54

absolutely not. I have no idea where the clothes come from, and what they have been in contact with. It's just me, I don't want second hand clothes for my babies. I know I could boil wash everything, but why should I.

I don't understand why anyone would want to wear 2nd hand shoes either, but I am very happy to sell my old ones. Again, I am not judging anyone, it's a personal choice. I waited to have kids until I could afford to buy them nice things, and I don't even do that (I mean, Primark? not really luxury). Other parents spend thousands in a nursery, luxury bed/ wall paper etc...that wouldn't be my choice, but again, why not.

Artandco · 17/08/2016 17:19

But new clothes are worse. Most new clothes from cheaper places like next/ primark etc will be full of chemical dyes and often will have been on factory floors, then just steamed flat and into packet. Just because they are new, they aren't actually clean. You should wash all new clothing before using.

Enidblyton1 · 17/08/2016 17:24

What are you worried about by using second hand clothes?
Nobody will know apart from you. If it makes you feel better to buy new clothes, then why not? Not every day you bring a baby home from hospital :-)
Personally I feel it's a waste of time as they grow out of things so quickly. Baby clothes are purely for the vanity of adults - the kids don't care! My 2nd DC definitely came home from hospital in second hand clothes and has been wearing them pretty much ever since.

Unfairestofthemall · 17/08/2016 17:29

I bought them both new snow suit things and sleep suits for first outfits because I'm a sentimental sod and have kept them for them to potentially put their babies in one day. Apart from that it's all been second hand, baby doesn't know any better and tbh kids are expensive enough without buying brand new.
Congratulations I'm sure the baby will lol gorgeous in whatever they were Flowers