Struggling to find clothes for big baby. Pls help!

[SaskiaP]

I'd love to hear from parents or carers of big babies about how they dress their generously proportioned little one(s)!

I'm struggling to find appropriate clothes for our 8 month old son who is off the charts length/weight/head circumference wise. Up until this point we've just bought larger baby sizes but as he's now the size of a 2 year old I'm noticing it's very difficult to find onesies past size 2 and certainly no reusable swim nappies. I'm also noticing the clothes marketed for older kids are (understandably) designed for this age group, not for babies who happen to be big, so don't take into account big enough neck holes, enough space for thighs, or that they're not running around and still need soft and not embellished fabrics.

Our baby has just started commando crawling but certainly isn't moving around enough yet to shift any of his lovely rolls so I anticipate finding clothes that are appropriate for his developmental ability will continue to be a problem for a while.

I think there may be a market opportunity to create clothes for the generously proportioned baby because I can't find what I need. I'd love to know from others in this situation if they think this is worthwhile or am I just not looking in the right places? I assume 3% of babies may have trouble with big enough clothes (based on the WHO 97 percentile chart) so I figure that's enough babies to warrant clothes that fit properly. What do you reckon?

But @canyouhelpfindthis there are loads of toddler clothes available without skulls or dragons on. I find the baby boy clothes in Zara particularly nice they go up to I think age 4. H&m also does nice toddler clothes without slogans etc.

I don't really see why babies cant wear dragons if toddlers can anyway?

Lol at the gp visits some babies are huge! My 6 month old is in size 18-24 months. He isn't ill he's just massive!!

Op I've had some recent luck with John Lewis. Their organic range have nice soft vests and leggings up to 2-3 years. I also have bambino mio swim nappies that are great.

@bitchfromhell

It's not funny. If the OP is struggling to fit an 8 month old into the clothes of a 2 year old, particularly their head, that is a reason to see a doctor. Even if it does turn out to be simply a big child, I don't think it's laughable to suggest getting the child checked over.

It sounds contradictory... He’s the size of a two year old, but the clothes for this age group don’t take into account the size of his neck and thighs. What size does he actually fit into?

Agree it's not funny. Some children are large but this is extreme. Of course it may well be that op and the baby's father are especially tall and sturdily built and this is his natural size, but it needs a check. It's entirely possible to significantly overfeed a baby with a bottle (strongly correlated with weight issues later), or there can be other medical issues with early overgrowth as a symptom.

I also had a massive baby. He was wearing 2 year olds clothes at 10 months old. Can't say I ever had a problem finding clothes for him though. I bought stuff mainly from Gap , Next and John Lewis. Baby grows and vests came from Mothercare and M&S.

Now it's a nightmare - trying to buy school trousers for a 6ft2 13 year old is no fun at all.

My disabled DS is 4yo and only recently mobile. I buy lots of his clothes from M&S, they do popper vests and babygrows into teen sizes - search the easy dressing range for lots of soft clothes and clothes in bigger sizes which have room for nappies. Definitely for nightwear M&S are good and their bigger vests still have the envelope necks so should be fine to go over a podgy neck.

They’re a bit more pricey than the high street shops but I find John Lewis and Mini Boden make lovely soft joggers (some even with reinforced knees!) in children’s sizes and lots of the prints on T-shirts are baby friendly. I also second the Scandinavian brands such as Frugi and Duns (I love Duns dungarees). Websites such as welovefrugi.com or www.babipur.co.uk have lots of soft clothes in child sizes perfect for daywear.

I have a small two year old and he's still bigger than every 8 month old I have ever seen, there is no way this can be a healthy baby if what you're saying is true.

Also my two year old is only ever in joggers and t-shirts, so is his 4 year old brother - no embellishments or uncomfortable clothes here.

Always found Sainsbury's, m and s & next reasonably sized for DD as she is 92nd centile for weight & 95th for height.

Still lolling at the pearl clutching over big babies
It's entirely normal for children to be different sizes to each other and have different clothing requirements! They are humans that come in many shapes and sizes, it's not one size should fit all!

Hardly pearl clutching when someone suggests their baby either has gigantism or is morbidly obese. Show me a healthy 8 month old the size of a 2 year old with a massive head.

Next baby clothes are also generous, especially in the width.
I have one completly average sized one, and one who is 4.5m, size of an 8.5m baby.
Now I'm worried about swim nappies...

Adults come in all shapes and sizes (which doesn’t mean that extremes either way are healthy) bitchfromhell, but a baby radically different from average needs checking out. Although presumably he’s already seen a health visitor at this point and been pronounced healthy, who knows.
I think an 8 month old who’s thighs don’t fit into two year old clothes (so is 3 year old size?) is very, very overweight.

Swim nappies go up to pretty big sizes. Many kids aren’t toilet trained until 3

My DD is 21 months and really big. She’s just in 2-3 size clothes, nothing she wears would be inappropriate for a baby. Mostly leggings and T-shirt’s. The only difference is things like vests with poppers, but you can definitely get them in size 2-3.

An 8 month old that needs bigger than 2yo clothing? Really?

@Caterina99 21 month old is almost two so that's not inconceivable an eight month old in 2yo is.

Yikes, what does the GP say? There's likely something amiss if your child is that large at 8 months

@babysharkah sorry yes I meant my daughter is regularly told she’s huge and she’s in size 2-3 at 21 months. An 8 month old must be enormous to be that same size

@Caterina99 😂 makes sense!

I’d say John Lewis too - my nearly 7 month old DD is wearing 6-9 month clothes mostly but some 0-3 months from JL still fit!

Could the neck thing be about getting the clothes on and off? Ie buttons at the side or envelope folds.

Still lolling at the pearl clutching over big babies

You are kidding, right?

Or just really ignorant?

Thank you for the suggestions of Splash Jammers, M&S, ASDA, Sainsbury’s Tu, Tesco and checking out Scandinavian brands (if you know any specific brands, please share!). I don’t actually live in the UK and had only tried Next (size 2-3 babygros I’ve found helpful) and M&S (hit and miss) so that’s also very helpful.

There were also a few people confused because I think I could have described the situation more clearly. What I mean by neck holes is I usually zip up zips not all the way to his neck, leaving a few cms open, on clothes that have this (like sleep suits) as he’s got a double chin and it seems too tight and uncomfortable.

I prefer to have him in an all in one suit/babygro because he’s always on the move and shirts can ride up, especially when he’s crawling or even just in the cot, he wriggles around a fair bit. I’ve found the Next joggers are good, but I have to constantly roll up the legs. Theoretically these will be great once he’s running around and slimmed down and grown taller.

To those of you who think I’ve never had him checked by a GP or likewise and want to know if he’s breast or bottle fed. How is this relevant? I read these comments and thought ‘Ouch’ and felt judged. He’s breastfed, the child of a tall parent, and perfectly healthy according to every health professional we’ve seen, but that’s not the point. There are parents/carers out there with kids who are morbidly obese, as you call it, or with syndromes such as Prader-Willi that mean they can struggle to find appropriate clothes to fit. I came on this site looking for advice on where I can find clothes and wanting to know if anyone else was having the same problem as me. For those of you who responded in kind I’m very grateful. To the other commenters, it’s possible you were trying to be helpful, but I didn’t experience it that way. It’s been my experience that people raising a child do much better with support, not judgement.

To those of you who think I’ve never had him checked by a GP or likewise and want to know if he’s breast or bottle fed. How is this relevant?

I suggested a visit to the GP. I thought it was relevant because the idea of an 8 month old not fitting their head into clothing for a 2 year old sounded extreme. I don't really know why you felt that was a judgement, or was just a thought.

He has a double chin and you can’t do babygros up because of this?!
It is a lot easier to take control of your child’s weight and health from babyhood than it is as he gets older.