Buying clothes for 90th centile baby girl

[taylorwilde]

Hi everyone,

My first DD is 3 months old. She is in the 90th centile for size and growing so quickly!

She's already out of some of the smaller fitting 3-6 month clothes. She's a first grandchild so we were very lucky to be inundated with gifts after she was born. She's growing so quickly that many of them have barely been worn (or not worn at all) before she grew out of them.

So I wanted to ask any parents of larger babies, how did you approach buying clothes for your little ones. What size clothes were they in by the time they were about 5 or 6 months old?

Surely you just buy the size that they need/will fit them? It doesn't matter what the label says and how it matches their actual age, as long as they are following their line on the graph and no HCP has expressed a concern that they are too big/small. So if 3-6m is too small then just buy 6-9. If you're planning on having another DC, pop the too small clothes in the loft ready for #2 (ideally all one size together and well labelled!) and hope you get some more wear out of them that way. It is frustrating how little use they get from all the beautiful clothes in the first few sizes.
It is worth noting that different brands come up as different sizes though. I had/have one skinny DC and one average build, but both above average height. Many brands fall off the skinny one so I try to stick to the slimmer fitting labels (eg Joules or European names such as Zara or Verbaudet) and avoid average or wider fitting brands (eg Next) for her. Annoyingly, many of those clothes then look rather shrink-fitted onto DC2 once they fit for length, so quite a number of DC1's clothes aren't any good for her 😩

Either sell them or keep them for next baby. As the PP says just buy the next size up ? I have found H&M to come up huge, marks and Spencer's also on larger size.

I have a 98th centile boy who is now 19 months old. I just got clothes that fit so went a size up. At the moment hes in aged 2-3 years. It never occured to do anything else?

Our baby girl was in 6-9mth clothes before she hit 3mth and still growing fast. We have loads from her older sisters, also fast growers. I always bought the next size ahead as soon as they were in a new size.
Ours outgrow the body 1st so 2 piece sets last longer than bodysuits and sleepsuits.
Different retailers have different sizes for the same age, next, m&s & mothercare (sold at boots) are all quite generous fit whereas supermarkets are often a bit on the smaller side.
Our son was in 2-3 years stuff by 1 year old, most of his baby clothes look like they've never been worn because he outgrew them so fast.

I have just been putting her in the next size up or whatever fits her best. However, she often grows out of her current size within three weeks and it feels quite wasteful. I was wondering if I should buy even bigger?

I think I was just hoping to hear from other parents of 90th centile babies and hear what they did.

Marks and Spenser stuff runs quite large.
Try eBay and charity shops. Baby stuff is often very lightly worn.

Got bigger sizes and rolled up the legs/arms.

Try different shops. Next is good for longer length. Mothercare always used to be good for chunkier babies, not sure if you can still buy their clothes online maybe.

Never had that issue my baby's were both smurfs but I remember friends skipping 6-9 so going from 3-6 mths to 9-12 as they felt they could get away with skipping a size.

If you have stuff still with tags you could chance your luck with places like Next and M&S to either swap for bigger sizes or voucher. They will take stuff back without receipts but will only give you the last selling price.

@Chely - My DD also grows out of the body first so I'll definitely be buying lots of 2 piece sets! Thanks for sharing your experience :)

My daughter was off the chart by 4 months old. I just bought what fitted her.

Two 90th centiles here, I just put them in whatever size fits. It's a mix of sizes too as both of mine have long bodies but tiny bums and shorter legs. 11mo DS is in 9-12 trousers but 12-18 month vest and jumper. 3yo DD has gone to nursery in 4-5yo jumper & vest, 3-4 yo leggings and 2-3yo pants.

I use a measuring tape rather than age now when I'm buying new clothes and agree with PP that different shops vary massively - Tu and Matalan seem to be the biggest in my experience.

DS was a huge baby (99th centile); he mainly wore baby-gros until he got to 12 months.
I found the babygros (cotton and velour) ones kept him more mobile as he was a full of rolls. Also, much easier for changing and packets of babygros were super cheap.
By 12 months he was walking and his weight plateau'd...he's now 12yrs old and 25th centile for weight.

Oh yes, socks over the top of the babygro feet to help with the extra length...and provide floor grip

Sorry can't remember that far back but I do remember that my 95th centile DD started school having just turned 4 in age 7 school uniform!! I would just buy everything with some growing room so go up at least 1 or 2 sizes.

I bought larger so they would last a bit longer. That was 32 years ago couldn’t afford not to.
Also dresses with adjustable shoulder straps. Things with stretch to them.

Buy dresses, or vests and leggings. Use vest extenders to get more use out of them. Skip a size and just have them large for now

I kept tags on everything (inc gifts) until it was worn so I could exchange for next size up if needed.

If she outgrows quickly, then just buy fewer things. A couple of multi packs of sleepsuots and bodysuits wont cost much and can be bagged up for the next baby/sold on.

@taylorwilde look at makes like maxomorra that are a bit more expensive but do dual sizing (they have foldable cuffs at the hands and feet to make them bigger/smaller). Also go for footless baby grows and buy vest extenders to help make the vests last longer.

With DS we found that sleepsuits were always either too short in the torso or too long in the legs. His growth slowed down quite a bit after the first three months though. Baby clothes sizes aren’t standardised at all - I remember the days when DS was wearing 0-3 month (Primark) sleepsuits over the top of (Asda) vests that claimed to be 12-18 month size. When he was born the Lidl 2-6 month bodysuits were already too tight for him but he fit into most other manufacturer’s 0-3 month clothes. At 7.5 months he wears a mixture 9-12 months, 12-18 months and 18-24 months clothing.

Ds grew fast. The first 6 months was out of sizes quickly. Think we bought 3-6, then 9-12 mainly, skipped the 6-9month mainly as could just turn up sleeve etc if needed

He’s now 19 months, he’s been in same clothing sizes now for ages, and still fits mainly of the jumpers from last winter ( ie 7-9 months ago)

They usually slow down

Just keep buying clothes. Don't buy too many. Don't get relatives to buy loads until the moment you need them.

My DS are 6 and 8 and still grow literally overnight. My 8YO is almost as tall as I am.

I just bought clothes the next size up when she outgrew the old ones. I think there was a stage in toddlerhood when she got taller and slimmer and didn't outgrow her clothes for ages and then she went back to growing like a weed, only a skinny weed this time.

Mine were all big babies. It wasn't a problem except that it was a pity that the very expensive newborn size snowsuit DH's office bought as a joint present for DC2 wouldn't have even fit him on the day he was born, let alone for any length of time.

Otherwise just buy the size that fits obviously.

We moved to the EU where children's clothes are sized by length (height) in cm which is much more sensible - age sizes are nonsense all through childhood as children have their growth spurts at different times as well as the genetic predisposition to be tall, average or short...

My DD was a 90th centil baby until she was about 12 months but after that she was quite little compared to peers until she hit puberty at 12 - she's stopped growing now and is only just above average height at 5 ft 7.
Her two years younger brother was the same height or taller than her for a lot if her childhood, the only exception being when he was under 2 and when she hit puberty but he hadn't yet (he's 6 inches taller than her now they're both teens).

So your DD won't necessarily always be big for her age.

Frugi Parsnip Pants are great as they have foldable cuffs on the legs and waist so last a long time.