Is it wrong to dress baby in pink /blue based on their gender?

[gratefulmamatobe]

I have a little girl due soon and I have bought everything in pink. Clothes, nursery decor, teddies etc.

A week ago, a friend commented saying I should be more gender neutral...

Keen to know thoughts on this?

(Obviously as she grows up, I will greatly encourage her to find the style/ colours that she loves)

As long as you don't restrict or override her choices to wear anything other than pink as long as she's old enough to have and opinion (about age 2 I reckon) then it's fine. If you have a rigid idea that girls should only wear mainly pink and refuse to allow her to dress in a colours that work for her, then you're probably not ok. Wait for the phase where all she wants is black. Including her walls.

Honestly buy what YOU like as by the time they are 2 or 3 years old they will start having an opinion on it. I love bright colours on my son, his favorite colour is brown :P

I do find it a bit cringy tbh. Especially if everything is pink.

But I hate the stereotypical marketing around babies and children so actively push against it.

Pink for a baby girl is adorable. Blue for baby boy also adorable.
If it brings you joy then just ignore those weirdos.

My DD was a pink baby girl. Now 5yo, her favourite colour is blue because, Elsa!

I had a couple of really bright babygrows for Ds he looked awful.. He looked lovely in baby blue.

Someone will disagree with every decision you make.. trust your gut

Your friend sounds strange saying what you 'should' be doing, they are just coloured clothing do what you like.

It’s not just that it’s pink though: it’ll be flowers & rainbows & cute stuff, whereas the boys get rockets & cars & dinosaurs, and that sends the child a message.

You don’t need to change anything now, but just when you buy more stuff in the future, think about giving her the message that girls can be strong and brave and interested in science & technology. They don’t have to just be pretty and gentle and kind.

Dress your child how you want. I tried a mixture of boys/girls clothes....my girl found her love of all things pink and sparkly....her entire wardrobe was just pink, glitter, shiny sparkly clothes for a while 😂🤣

This.

You say your toddler will have a choice but if the only things in her wardrobe to choose from are feminine then the only choice she’ll have is to live up to stereotypes. Just be aware.

My mum dressed me in gender neutral colours and gave me all gender neutral toys including a large train set, she would even change the name of all the characters in books to the opposite gender - my favourite bedtime story was Cinderella, I only liked barbies and insisted on always wearing pink 😂

What are you like now though?

I see it really as just being for the benefit of strangers so they known whether to say he/she is so cute lol

And Cinderella was a victim of neglect, abuse, abandonment and suffered with poor boundaries, probably married the first bloke who came her way and was a massive people pleaser! 😂

Just playing @Blueberrywitch

It's up to you, I personally avoided things like that in their rooms when they were babies, one had yellow the other had pale green (both boys) if I had a girl I wouldn't be pink everything but I'm just not a fan, the same as I wouldn't buy them baby dolls just because they are a girl.

There will always be people giving you (unsolicited) advice about parenting decisions.

Sole and nod, then do what the fuck you like.

Works for me😁

This. You literally can't win so you may aswell dress her however you like! My DD gets called he constantly because she wears a lot of gender neutral hand-me-downs and people seem to assume not pink = boy 🙄

Gross in my opinion

Smile

Obviously
🙄

Meh parents buy what they like. A newborn doesn't have a preference. Pink doesn't kill.

You can do what you want with your baby, but yes, I would go a broader than just pink.

Pretty much all of the pink toys and clothes are doll based or about being "pretty". And people will treat her differently even as a baby because she's in pink instead of jeans and a dino t-shirt.

Safe warm and fed is a legal minimum. But saying that this thread does seem a bit faux naive like you're hoping to bring out some frothing and I'm not convinced this conversation with your friend ever happened!

Your friend is rude and as long as your baby is dressed in clothes which are comfortable and appropriate to the temperature it doesn't matter what colour they are.

However, aside from aesthetic preferences, the reasons I deliberately avoided gendering my children (one of each) through their clothes are:

• The messages your child receives directly from the clothing (imagery as a PP has mentioned, perception of clothing as something to be kept 'pretty' rather than simply functional, affirming the 'X is for girls, Y is for boys' message which they'll run across at nursery and school)
• The messages your child receives from other people when they read her as female and/or 'girly' (treated delicately, expected to be more placid or better behaved, complimented as "pretty" etc which is a weird thing to teach a small child to prize)
• The fact that clothes and shoes from the pink side of the shop are v often less comfortable and less hard-wearing than the blue side - less of a thing when they're small and just in cotton babygros either way, really crap when they get older and the tops have silly darts in them or the shoes are flimsy or the shorts are cut for style rather than climbing or the knickers are skimpily cut (yes, really - I was surprised by this when my daughter first started wearing knickers! After a couple of packs I realised and swapped to boys pants!).

It's personal preference but it is also political. Friend shouldn't be rude though.

This is my feeling too.

Pink doesn't bother me much, it's those bloody headbands with bows on bald babies. What's the point???