How many baby clothes did you buy ?

[bez]

Expecting my first baby next year and am feeling bad because I've spent so much money on baby clothes. I think I've really got carried away and bought far too many outfits.

remmeber you will be given loads - they live in sleep suits for the first month or so and they can be washed.

Most baby book ss have lists of what you need

If money is short then take them back. People will not like your baby more if he has the latest designer stuff.

I would say 8 sleeposuits

3 trousers sets?

lots

Its not that moneys short actually. Anyway I cant take the stuff back as Ive taken the labels out. I just keep seeing stuff I like and cant resist the temptation. Also do you think its best to go for 0-3 months rather than newborn?

Definitely go for the bigger sizes. ds1 went straight into 3-6 month sizes. ds2 had outgrown 0-3 month sizes within a month. I'm only small myself and didn't expect big babies.

First time around just a couple of Mothercare 3-pack white sleepsuits, same for all-in-ones and one special unisex cardi (it was very hot August 1995). THis time nothing as I had kept above AND an American friend threw a babyshower for me and I had SO much stuff she didn't even get to wear all of it. Maybe you know the sex of your baby in which case I can understand that it would make buying clothes before the birth more fun.

bez

I spent very little, we got given almost all of it.

wel still do get a lot of clothes from friends and my DD is 20 months old.

A load of hers are going to younger children soon.

If you think that you may have brought to much then you have without a doubt got to much. Babies don't really wear outfits, and you'll soon get bored trying to colour co-ordinate when you are in a hurry. Stick to sleepsuits for the first 3 months.

Bez - keep the clothes you have bought for now, but pick 2 or 3 items to wear first, see how long you can go without the others and then return some of the unused ones when the gifts come in!

I bought 1 long sleeved, long legged outfit for dd, some socks and two body/vest things (but I do consider myself a tightarse. The body things were £1 each in the C&A sale). After gifts, dd had more than enough!

Don't feel bad, because your baby is so special that they deserve it all. But I'd just stop now, because the big secret that no-one tells you is how utterly bored you will be. So you will need to go shopping when your baby is very small, otherwise you will go mad.

Hi bez, you cant have too many baby clothes,
dont feel bad
and
btw congratulations

ps I bought loads of them too

fisil,how true is that!! I spend more money shopping as a SAHM because it gets me out the house than I ever did when I was working.Drives dh mad!!

Buy as little as possible for a baby,you only have to wash it all anyway.

I was a bit worried because we dont have a tumble drier and thought if my baby is anywhere near as sicky and messy as I was when I was a baby I will run out of stuff but the main reason is I cant decide what outfits I like best so buy more than one and I keep seeing stuff I like and its so lovely I can't resist the temptation.

I have been given loads of vests and sleepsuits but have bought 2 newborn outfits and then me and husband both went out on our own and didnt know the other was buying stuff so we have got 6 outfits in 0-3 months and Im afraid to go out in case I get more.

Ive been warned that mothercares checklist on the back of their catalogue mentions loads of stuff you dont need to get you to spend loads of money but even they only suggest 2 - 3 day outfits!

Is six really really over the top?

yes.

Oh well I better not go out again then!

Bez, it depends on you and how sicky your baby is. My DD had severe reflux so 3 outfits a day was the norm, and unlike many others it was important to me that her clothes co-ordinated and were stain free! Also didn't take her out of the house in sleepsuits (did find skirts and dresses a bit weird on a tiny babe though) Sorry, I blame the Mediterranean/Welsh heritage for being extremely fussy about DD's clothes. Needless to say I am a bag lady myself DD is now 2.6y and wears school uniform all week; I still buy her loads of clothes, and they get worn. But then as I said, I'm fussy and that's my choice!

I'd second whoever said that you'll bored senseless with a newborn and need to shop then. We lived near the centre of Cardiff and i walked into town most days and there was always something...

bez, have you got all the other stuff yet? do some pram reasearch or cots or whatever.

Iwould spend a bit of money on you too - you wont ever gett he chance to shop leisurely again!

I think I spent about 3 months researching travelling systems, very complicated!

I used 5 sleepsuits in the first night of ds being home! I always dressed him in dayclothes as it encouraged me to get out of my nightclothes too (also both covered in sick by morning). He is now 8 months and still wearing 3-6 month day clothes so they were actually a bargain. Most of my presents were 6 months plus and therefore still unworn.

So an as aside - how about us making a better list than the ones they put into the mothercare catalogues, etc. What really is essential (and maybe isn't even on the lists), and what is on the lists but you could happily live without (the stuff you bought because it was "essential" but never used)?

Ds is now nearly 14 months and I'm still storing away unworn baby clothes. Having said that some presents we got last year were either truly hideous from well-meaning freinds of my grandparents or far too small. Ds was only just fitting into 3-6 mths clothes at 8 weeks.

Whatever you get Bez - buy Vest Extenders which are a little rectangle of white cotton with poppers at each end. Amazing invention if you actually want to get "wear" out of your bodysuits.

umm, never understood wrapover vests, it's not like baby vests are made to be lycra-tight. Never had any probs with cord-chafing. Didn't understand shawls for anything other than christenings either. As I've confessed I'm all for having vast wardrobes of clothes so the non-essentials i found were:
maternity knickers (what???)
baby bath
top and tail bowl
baby monitor
stair gates
expensive padded highchair
moses basket (but i did have a "proper" pram)
travel anything, even the cot could have been managed without
slings 9think it depends on how you see yourself as parent though!)

But I love my tumble drier. DH seriously thought it wouldn't be necessary (he gets a bit eco-friendly). He now admits how wronghe was.

I had a few wrapover vests which I found really useful in the very early days - you don't have to put the vest over the baby's floppy head, the whole manoevre can be done with babe lying down on the changing mat. Not essential, I grant you, but I did like them....

I actually found that I hadn't bought enough newborn stuff (complacently thinking I would be showered with gifts - unfortunately my sensible friends all bought toys or bigger size clothes!) but I was able to borrow enough to keep me going. He wasn't big enough for 0-3 months until about 6 weeks, I think (and he wasn't tiny, 7lb1oz at birth). In newborn size I ended up with about 12 vests, 2 'best' outfits, about 10-ish sleepsuits (I did tend to keep some for day use and some for night use, depending how much I liked them!), a couple of cardigans and an all in one fleece.

bobthebaby, sounds like we have a similar situation! ds is about 20th centile and has always fitted smaller aged clothes, with the result that many of the clothes we got as gifts in bigger sizes ended up being completely inappropriate, either season wise or too baby-ish (like the 3-6 month snowwhite all in one fleece he would have fitted as a 6-9 month old over the summer...!)

Don't be hard on yourself - if its your first baby its probably very tempting to have a spending spree!

They do tend to get through a lot of clothes however - especially if you have a sickie baby who possits a lot of milk