To dress my baby in black?!

[ThePolishWombat]

But of a strange one.....

my mother thinks it’s “inappropriate” for me to dress my baby in anything black, and for me to dress any of my DCs (age 4, 3 & newborn) in band merchandise
This all stemmed from me showing her some things I’d ordered for Christmas, including a black babygrow with my baby’s name on it, and a Metallica T-shirt for my 3yo DS.

Personally I think her outrage and pearl clutching is a bit silly seeing as though DH and I wear band merch all the time. But then it got me thinking: what do other people think when they see babies/children dressed in black/band merch etc.
Is it weird??

Tbh I'd think you weren't out of your teenage phase yet. And I say that as someone who used to have pink hair and wear that stuff. You are a metallica fan, but is your baby?

I also wouldn't give it more than a second thought. It's not really important. I'm just here to answer your question.

I think it's weird, but they're your children I suppose.

Add a little moustache and call your little one Pubert.

Little Addams Family joke. Sorry. I'll get my coat.

Both of mine have a plethora of Star Wars vests, tshirts and jumpers thanks to their dad, uncle and numerous friends who gave us presents being fascinated by the films. They have Harry Potter stuff because I’m interested in it. They also have Bing and Hey Duggee clothes which is what the big one watches. I’m sure they’ll express an interest soon enough but while they’re still small (3 years and three months), I’ll choose their clothes!

I think it’s weird too tbh

I wouldn’t think anything of it. People put their babies in clothes with dumbo and Mickey Mouse on all the time. The baby hasn’t expressed a preference for these characters yet people don’t bat an eyelid. Band tshirts are the same imo.

Well it's obvious at that age thst even if thry jiggle around to the music tbe parents are the actual fans, so I could get pearly clutch and talk about how your child isn't an extension of you and shouldn't be used as a platform to air your views and tastes. But actually I don't care. EXCEPT the ones that say stuff like "F*k Jesus etc which are offensive and therefore I think tbry should be old enogh to understand. I'd feel the same about you dressing them in party political wear tho.

As for black, it wouldn't register at all as weord

I agree with pp. Nothing wrong with it as such but it’s a bit naff and a bit immature of you to be projecting your own fandom on to your child and using your child to express it. Maybe one outfit for fun but day to day your child is it’s own person, not a dress up doll.

I didn’t do merch, but had a couple of really beautiful quality baby grows in black that ds wore a lot. It must have had an effect because he’s now 12 and only wears black.
Fine by me.

Black is associated with power and sexuality - as well as lots of other things - where as , say ,pastels come across as soft and feminine. I suppose this is what your mum is objecting to. To her it’s unconventional and unacceptable.

She’ll probably get used to it, unless she likes finding problems with everything .

I'd think you were one of those parents determined to have a cool kid. To be honest, most parents try to turn out the type of child they want and this is just the same.

Also, at least it's not a bow.

@Gingernaut way ahead of you on that....Halloween 2 years ago we dressed up as the Addams Family and DC2 had a moustache and stripey babygrow

I don't care if other people do it, but tbh I don't think it looks nice. Babies and children look nicer in cheerful fun clothes. They've got their teenage years for goth gear.

I wouldn’t think it was a cool kid thing I’d think it was geeky parents bringing up a kid to be geeky thing?

I would love it if you could get black baby grows though

I think it’s epic! Go for it. If I’d known black babygros were available I’d have got them for mine. But sadly, 30 years ago, I suspect they weren’t.

Ok I get why people might think “projecting our fandom” into the kids is a bit - I’ll accept that.

But part of my reasoning for DC3 having quite a few black babygrows/vests etc, is because DH and I wear so many dark colours, it saves me having to separate washing too much!

Agree with pp, while they are young enough not to express an opinion, dress them in what you like! Although I suppose a 3 year old in a Metallica t shirt makes slightly more sense if they actually like the music.

I quite fancied a pair of these, but came across them too late for DC...

www.amazon.co.uk/Metallimonsters-Love-Hate-scratch-mittens/dp/B00PEXZIG4?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I don’t choose many of my kids clothes because we get so many hand me downs from family, but I put the black clothes and band t-shirts more than anything else. Yes, they don’t know the bands but they’ve also never read Winnie the Pooh or seen Mickey Mouse and nobody would judge anyone for putting their babies in those clothes.
Black is great for newborns because it doesn’t show those yellow poo stains.
I don’t care what other people dress their children in, and if people judge me I couldn’t care less. The judgy people are probably just expressing their own inadequacies.

Babies look lovely in dark colours, including black. My daughter had the loveliest black snowsuit, and my nephew a set of black sleepsuits as a newborn which he looked adorable in. I also love navy blue, bottle green, deep burgundies on tiny ones.

@OverthinkingThis DC2 (the 3yo) asks for “the loud guitars” when we are in the car

If it’s dark you want, navy blue suits a lot of babies. The washing machine dyes work great these days if you want to dye some tired looking ones you already have.

I think it’s perfectly fine. I’m always annoyed about how little black clothing there is available for babies and toddlers. It’s almost impossible just to find black vests.

Also agree with other pp who had mentioned that babies have no idea what they are wearing anyway so whatever you put them in is your preference and not theirs.

How is it 'weird'!? Its not that unusual. Lots of people have a novelty item of clothing for babies from the parents favourite football team for example and this is no different.

I wouldnt dress a young baby in black only because any milk stains will show up badly. But otherwise it's just a colour.

Kids in band t shirts the only thing I'd think is 'the parent is a big (whatever band) fan'.

Most parents dress their kids in their taste not their kids taste when they are little

Dame game changer!!!
Why haven’t I thought of dyes before?!!
I could have recycled so many of DC2’s clothes for DC3 that way 🤦🏻‍♀️

I'm all in favour of it, constant pastel colours get really boring.