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?

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?

It's not judgement, it was just such an extreme case that people wanted to mention - as there was nothing in the op - that it might be worth checking.
I'm the one that asked about bottle or breastfed, not to judge (I've had exclusively FF and bf babies), but because it's much easier to overfeed by accident with a bottle. My friend's son had severe reflux and ended up with a very overweight baby, because the only way they could soothe him was with a bottle, as soon as he was on medication he was back on the percentiles again. She is a very caring mother, but until she saw her HV at nearly a year for his regular check, nothing had been said to her about it. That kind of scenario is why plenty of us mentioned going to the GP.

Sounds like your son is healthy and well, and that is great and I hope you can find things to fit. Personally we've had no luck with m&s, they have really short legs, next and gap have been much better.

Hi OP, I find Polarn O Pyret are generous (a Scandinavian brand). They also have arms and legs that you can turn over as part of the design and the child can grow into them as their limbs get longer.

Hi OP I know this post is a bit old but I have the exact same issue. 10 month old wearing 2-3 year old clothes (and has been for a month). I think some of the comments have been pretty unhelpful .
Doctors have said my gorgeous boy is perfectly healthy fat rolls and all! They say he has just inherited the big gene from my family.
I have the exact same issue with chubby thighs and neck that is not catered for in 2 year old clothes! I find M&S great for doing “baby” clothes in 2 year old sizes. But I agree this is a gap in the market! Did you find anywhere else to get clothes from?

Hi, another late reply but I had to comment to support the original poster. First, babies come in all shapes and sizes, dont be so judgemental. Second, 2 year olds are completely differently proportioned to babies with relatively longer legs and a slimmer, shorter torso and shoulders which are wider compared to head than babies. Of course there is much variety in this also. And no, they dont get smaller but the proportions change. When you have a very big baby (my now 7 year old was 15kg on his 1st birthday and beyond the 99th centile for height) clothes and shoes can be a problem. He wore size 2 to 3 but we had similar issues, legs/arms too long, or torso too tight. No envelope or poppers at neck or too short in the body. His first shoes were size 26 (euro) and we could only put them on when absolutely necessary (walking outside/cold) because they were not soft enough for an early walker.
Some of the suggestions were my go to; Next, Dunnes in Ireland, Polaryn Pyret (sorry for spelling). H&M, Zara are to be avoided along with all Italian and French brands.
BTW my son is now 35kg and 140cm, so well above average still yet can see his ribs.
I am now having a simialr issue with my 11month girl. Not as big as her brother but in 18 to 24 mth clothes. She is not walking yet so the dresses are all too long and cause a lot of problems when crawling! We avoid dresses mostly but we have a wedding coming up and am trying to find and elegant romper/onsie in her size.
For the original poster, if you are looking for carseats, Besafe extended rear facing were roomiest!