What do newborn babies wear?

[highlander]

I KNOW this is silly, but my first due in 9 weeks and so far we've only bought 2 babygro things.

What on earth do babies wear? What should I buy at this stage and how much of it? As you can guess, I'm not naturally maternal, I'm overseas (no friends etc to advise) and we're on a budget (ha - who isn't!)

How do you know if they get too hot/cold?

gothicmama

did you really managed on 3 sleepsuits???

3 sleepsuits last me a day in hospital then I had to ask dh to bringmore as I'd run out of clean clothes for her!!!

What about laundering new baby clothes - I will be laundering it all so it will be difficult to return if I don't use it.

What did you all do?

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You can also get wee wrap over vests, which also solve the "over the head" problem. Difficult to get in the Uk - more common on the conitnent. Maybe you'll be able to find them in Canada (I think that's where you are).

My Mum also go me an old fashioned "gown" from Boden. it was actually more useful than I thought it would be, especially (bleary eyed) at night, as it meant that you didn't have any poppers to deal with, as you just had to lift it up to get at the nappy.

You've bought more than I did - I don't think I bought anything until about 2 weeks before the due date - and never did get round to making up the nursery! .

Ds slept in our room for the first 6 months, then was put into the junk room (ear marked to be the kitchen) for the next 2 years(I did tidy it a WEE bit).

He only got his own, properly decorated, room last summer - and he's 3y 9m!

dejags

I did not bother, we don't have a history of allergies and never thought it was necessary

Nike Trainers

grapes form the supermarket

Young babies wear vests and babygros most of the time and don't wear "proper oufits" so much.

The presents are nearly always proper outfits though, so no need to buy any of these. It is definitely sensible to exchange presents as mentioned before if you get too many the same size!

The more vests and babygros you have the less pressure there is to get things washed quickly, so it does make life easier. You could get loads very cheaply at a car boot sale.

0-3 months size drowned my 8lb baby & I was pleased to have smaller stuff, but of course it doesn't get worn for more than a few weeks!

Good ideas here. I also found a fleecy dungaree thing useful, not denim, just very soft with no feet and shoulder poppers, slipped over a plain babygrow and just made DS2 look a bit more dressed for day, without the need for socks, bootees iyswim. He was april baby and it was cold. Other 2 had been summer and just worn a vest! But highlander you are talking sept so it may be chilier. I think Gap do the kind of thing I mean.

We made sure both ours had one reasonable outfit which we took to the hospital and they wore for photos which we then used for passports. Loads of friends had probs getting passport photos done later when they need them and the photo has to last till they are 5 so I wanted them in something other than a baby grow (but thats what they wore the rest of the time!)

get some sleepsuits with no feet too, they last longer and we had to cut the toes out of some of ours as dd1 was sooo long.

Gothicmama - how on earth did you manage on 3 sleepsuits and vests??? I used to get through that much in one day. Newborn poo has a way of leaking out every nappy!

Why were you advised against scratch mitts? I'm interested as I'm doing the baby thing again.

I don't think I had that many babygros etc. I do remember buying them at about 7 months pg and washing them all and dh and I going "aaah" at all these little clothes on the line

Mind you dd was never sick and didn't have leaky nappies so I guess I was lucky (she is nearly 2 and has vomited about 3 times!)

I did find a big fleecy babygro good for going out. I think my nanny got it in asda, it kept her very snug and warm.

You can do without newborn sizes. We did, out of sheer inexperience (hey, they say 0-3 months, right?) and because everybody told us they grow out of 0-3 month sizes immediately. (I just put DD into a 0-3 month babygro to take a photo on her 4 month birthday. It's a little short, but not impossibly so. All the footed things are long, long, gone though.) If I were doing it again I'd buy 1 or 2 newborn sized things, just so she didn't look so puny occasionally. We got by on 8-10 babygros (onesies, here in the US) and 6-8 footed sleepers, but we did wash almost every day. Not a problem, as DH and I routinely went through 2-3 outfits a day also.

All sleepers are a pain; I kind of prefer zippers,
but then you have one leg with no opening of its own and you risk zipping baby skin (very traumatic, especially for the parent). DH prefers snaps, but admits to once having decided an outfit was defective because after 3 tries he still couldn't make all the snaps match up. And gowns have neither of these problems but just were hopeless on my wigglebug, especially since the one we had was elastic bottom instead of closed bottom. It took her roughly 30 seconds to end up with the whole thing under her armpits.

crikey, I'm really touched by the large response! (yikes, pregnancy wobbly chin alert)

I'd sort of thought just baby gros were the way to go but I was worried I was being a bit cruel not putting him in real clothes

Thank you all - now DH and I can have a bit of a laugh going shopping instead of being totally phased by what's on offer!

I liked the vests that wrapover - easy to get on, available from french catalogues Vertbaudet etc.

Also liked the french style of babygro fastening - poppers at the back although dp hated these!

Babygros, lots of them, vests lots of them as well buy white so you can wash them all together in a hot wash. Again don't buy too many in newborn size as they grow out of them so quickly. little tiny socks, oh so cute but always fall off and you spend half your time putting them back on again. My dd2 is now 7 weeks old and grew out of newborn sizes a lot quicker than her big sister did. maybe buy one nice little outfit to wear home from the hospital. People will buy you proper clothes after the baby arrives plus once you feel up to it you can go out shopping. we got loads but everyone bought newborn and I'm now struggling to find her something wear every day that fits, oh well we'll have to go shopping dd2 also has a hat that is too big for her but she doesn't need it at the moment as it's quite warm, we also got scratch mits which she's never even had on her hands. Muslin Squares are a godsend, saw them suggested on here and honestly don't know how we would have coped without them. Wish I'd known about them the first time. Oh and Bibs lots of them.

There is a shop in Canada called Roots that's sort of like the Canadian version of Gap, well we thought so anyway. Can't remember if they do baby stuff but they did do kids clothes in Roots Kids as we bought stuff for dd1 there when we were on holiday in Canada 2 years ago.

If you check the back of the babies neck you can feel if they are too hot or cold that's what I was told.

Actually Highlander,

I'm surprised that everyone has gone for babygro's. It's a pet hate of mine - my two were in proper outfits from about 2 days old! But I suppose I will concede that babygros are 'easier' when you haven't 'handled' a baby before.

Btw, did you know that you need to use non biological washing powder / liquid for baby clothes? Nobody told me and I found out belatedly when my baby got skin irritation...

Best piece of advice I got was to keep all the labels on all presents until the day that you are going to use it. I got soooo much that there was no way DD would ever have worn them all. If you are on a budget like you say then taking things back to exchange for a different size or for vouchers makes so much sense. DD is now 10 months old and I'm still getting by on vouchers and hand-me-downs.

Also (and this sounds so dreadful, don't mean it to be) some folk tend to buy the most awkward footery things for babies to wear. As a first time Mum I was terrified of hurting DD getting her into some of the outfits and being knackered for the first few weeks you just want something quick and simple. People will also buy things out of season. DD got lots of lovely summer frocks for 3-6 months at which time it was the middle of winter.

Ebay is a good source of bundles of stuff too.

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Properly fitting clothes insulate much better, too, if U live in a cold climate.

DD at 4.5 months has just spent all day in babygros. The morning one has colored animals on it, and the afternoon one I tie-dyed. DH dislikes the idea of ever putting two entire pieces of clothing on the baby. Yes that does include socks and yes I do periodically go for two or gasp three pieces of clothing at once, and once she wore four (dress,
diaper cover, socks -- I swore I wouldn't use diaper covers until I actually had a girl baby, and now I swear I won't use ruffly diaper covers. Some things do look better with a diaper cover. But I refuse to call it a "panty"

I think mine lived in babygros until they were about 4 months, regardless of the season. And a zip up all in one for when it was cold outside. Hell of a job getting them in it, though ...