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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu to want to buy unisex baby clothes?

134 replies

Cariadxx · 16/08/2018 10:36

DH and I don't want to find out the sex of our baby, partly because we want a surprise and partly because it's just not important to us either way. However the shops selling baby clothes seem to insist that everyone finds out! I can't find any nice unisex stuff ANYWHERE. It's either plain white and boring or is pink and floral or blue with cars. AIBU to think that the shops should have more unisex options? I feel like I'm being forced to find out because people keep telling me they want to buy stuff but can't because they don't know what it is. Angry

OP posts:
SoyDora · 16/08/2018 17:12

I can only apologise for rising to the provocation

Grin provocation?! You were the one who derailed it with your sympathy for people who find out the sex of their baby a couple of months earlier than others!

Bluelady · 16/08/2018 17:50

Really? I thought OP said she wanted a surprise before you all piled in on me.

SoyDora · 16/08/2018 17:54

She did say she wanted a surprise. Not sure why that warranted you declaring your sympathy for those of us who choose to have our surprise a bit earlier.
And piling in on you? I merely asked if you’d done it both ways so had something to compare it to, and also pointed out that I thought it was sad if people thought the birth of their child was any less special due to already knowing what genitalia is possessed.

PaperTrain · 16/08/2018 17:58

Boots has great multicoloured stuff in which is not overly expensive, has multibuy offers/parent club/Advantage Card bonuses.

Original poster
Cariadxx · 16/08/2018 18:32

I like the dinosaur one. I don't think I'd have thought to look in Boots. They're hardy as theres one near us for collecting/ returns unlike a lot of the stores

OP posts:
holidaycountdown54321 · 16/08/2018 22:35

I didn't find out the sex with either of my children (they are 2 1/2 and 1 now). All I bought was a few nice neutral, but colourful baby grows from next to put on when they were born, they had a matching hat, v cute. My mother in law bought quite a lot of stuff in m&s and asda, they were predominantly white, but were all newborn/0-3 months size, they were worn lots even though they were a bit "boring". We didn't buy anything ourselves bar the baby grows and a warm going home outfit each time.

As soon as each baby arrived we told friends and family and they were very kind and bought us gifts once the baby had arrived safely. There was no need for them to know before the birth or buy anything, I preferred it this way anyway. I had a girl and then a boy, I was hopeful I was going to be able to reuse some clothes, no such luck!

PaperTrain · 17/08/2018 13:44

This is part of my current Boots offering. Sort of wish my DD was younger Grin

Aibu to want to buy unisex baby clothes?
LilyChantilly · 18/08/2018 21:23

I love all the Scandi baby clothes. Wish I'd been able to buy some of this kind of stuff for DS when he was wee but we were skint and had no internet and lived nowhere near any shops that sold it. And very kind grandparents kept buying him loads of clothes which we felt we had to use even though they weren't to our taste at all but we didn't want to waste them or upset anyone. And he's our only child so guess I'll have to wait now to see if any grandkids appear in the furture so I can buy some then! Anyway, here's a link to a good source of gorgeous unisex baby clothes: funkylittlepeople.co.uk/collections/0-1-year

Tartsamazeballs · 18/08/2018 21:35

I quite like next. Just scrolled through their boys and unisex 0-2 stuff and there's not much I wouldn't have put my little girl in.

Parker231 · 18/08/2018 21:46

We didn’t find out the gender in advance and just knew we were having DT’s. We bought a selection of baby clothing. Sometimes DD worn pink and sometimes DS did. They both worn blue, green, yellow, apricot, pink and white babygrows. I didn’t check which colour I was dressing which baby in. You don’t need to buy gender neutral outfits - just buy the ones you like regardless of whether it has pink flowers or blue tractors on.

Happygummibear · 18/08/2018 22:03

We didn't find out.... my little girl was a storm trooper Smile

I was in hospital for a few days so family went out and bought some girl bits for me. But I was happy to put her in anything (including a rugby shirt)

Boots do some nice colourful things.

To be honest I just got plain stuff and then bought things once she was born. Hubby went out and bought her a coming home outfit. Everything we bought was too big too so make sure you get a range of sizes. I was massive but it turned out baby wasn't!

Spanglylycra · 18/08/2018 22:07

White M&S is your friend. I loved my babies in the pure white they looked so gorgeous.

Spanglylycra · 18/08/2018 22:08

Oh just realised you don't want plain white - sorry! 😂

Mumashark · 18/08/2018 22:13

I feel really sorry for all those people who miss out on that wonderful surprise at the birth.

Hardly a surprise really is it, it's either a girl or a boy Hmm

Op surely if you're that indifferent to the sex if your baby and really want to be gender neutral then you'd just buy clothes you like regardless of what section of the shop they're sold in?

I found out the sex during pregnancy but still bought neutral clothing and equipment as that's what I liked. It's not hard.

Original poster
Cariadxx · 18/08/2018 23:24

There's a difference between wanting to be gender neutral and not caring what sex baby you have.

And yes it is a surprise if you don't know the answer.... There's still a choice of 2 that it could be!

OP posts:
saratustra · 18/08/2018 23:32

Probably others have said this - H&M and John Lewis do unisex (or I think it's unisex) and good price

CrazyOldBagLady · 19/08/2018 00:19

We decided to prolong the surprise to the birth, and it did mean that we didnt end up buying a shit tonne of clothes (that would never be worn). We just bought sleep suits and vests mainly, with a couple of cardigans, and that's pretty much all our son wore for the first three months of his life.

We found some nice unisex stuff in Mamas and Papas, a few bits in Next. Since then I've found that M&S do a lot of lovely stuff, and some of the trendy organic brands like Frugi, Kite and all of the scandi brands are very good at clothing that looks great for boys and girls.

There are a few people saying that pink and blue is unisex on this thread and in practical terms, there's no reason why it shouldn't be but I wouldn't want to be the new mum fielding comments about why my son is wearing pink floral onesies covered in bows and sequins. I don't know anyone in real life who would do this.

Mumashark · 19/08/2018 00:19

Hmm to me a surprise is something you're not expecting so the fact that the baby is going to be a boy or a girl isn't surprising.

Also pretty sure in your op you said the sex is unimportant to you...

So is there any reason you can't just buy what clothes you like the look of? Or do you think dinosaurs are for boys and flowers are for girls? If so you're contradicting yourself.

At the end of the day babies don't care what they're wearing as long as they're clean, dry and comfy. So it's parental choice, put what you like on them they won't mind.

Also check out some of the kids clothing companies on insta, there's loads on there that sell handmade unisex clothing.

Ariela · 19/08/2018 00:20

I've bought a few of the Hooligans fairtrade range as presents. Obviously being fairtrade they're not as cheap as the supermarkets/big stores, but they're just different. When they first came out in this country DD was about 7 or 8 and had lots of nice stuff from them, she loved all the animals.
merrygorounduk.co.uk/product-category/by-brand/hooliganskids-fairtrade-range/

Ollivander84 · 19/08/2018 00:29

Haven't read the whole thread (sorry!) but TK Maxx online had nice grey/black/white and other unisex stuff

agnurse · 19/08/2018 00:55

There are two sides to this. I do agree that clothes for newborns should really be gender neutral. Babies don't like mountains of lace or frills on their clothes.

That said, girls especially can wear blue. My oldest brother is my parents' third child after me and my younger sister. My dad was a student when he was born so my parents didn't have a lot of money. My brother wore blue sleepers when we were in public but often wore purple and even pink ones at home. He didn't die and is certainly not gay - he and his female partner have a 6-month-old baby girl.

Interestingly, back in the day pink was the colour for boys and blue was the colour for girls. Pink is dilute red and it was thought to be "too strong" a colour for girls. All babies wore dresses at that time, so boys wore pink dresses and girls wore blue ones.

Original poster
Cariadxx · 19/08/2018 07:01

If it's never a surprise then why does anyone have a scan to find out? You know your having a baby. A kitten would be a surprise. But that's my choice not to find out so no idea why I'm being had a go at.
At no point did I say I wanted to dress my child as gender neutral. That's a whole other kettle of fish. I'm more than happy to go with pretty pink flowers or cars for a girl or boy respectively when u know what they are. Stops the endless what is it question when out with the pram for one thing. I just wanted to buy some nice non plain white unisex baby clothes for the first few days of life.

OP posts:
BlueBug45 · 19/08/2018 07:08

@Clariadxx apparently it doesn't. My friends' have told me even though their baby daughters have been dressed in pink some adults have decided the child was a boy because it was bald.

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