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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Gender-specific baby clothing

16 replies

Miffster · 14/07/2010 21:16

My baby clothing obsession continues.

Am buying summer baby stuff in sales prior to move abroad next year, and don't know baby's gender yet, so am buying/eyeing up non-gender -specific clothing.

Quite a bit of it is blue: Now I like blue, I wear a lot of blue, so does DH. I happen to think think most adults and babies look good in blue - pale, dark, royal, navy, cobalt, whatever - whereas pink is harder to wear - especially if you are a portly red faced baby. Or middle aged stockbroker).

If I have a girl baby, and she spends much of the first year wearing blue vests or blue trousers or blue hoodies, are people going to give me grief over it/think she is a boy/blah blah? Is the real reason baby clothes are gender-specific to help strangers identify if the baby is male or female? Does it matter which they are, when they are just babies?
Do we treat babies differently if they are wearing blue to if they are wearing pink? Hmmm. It is my first so I don't know

Interestingly, I read somewhere that early Victorians put boys in pink - as it was a soft version of red, a manly, military, strong colour - and demure, quiet little girls were dressed in blue.

PS> The stuff may be blue but it doesn't have tractors or trains or what have you on. There are a few animals and dinosaurs knocking about, but I am a girl and I like animals and dinosaurs so i don't see a problem there.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Porcelain · 14/07/2010 21:19

I hate pink, my mother forced me to wear it as a kid!

To be honest though, all a new baby needs is vests and sleepsuits, and there are loads of neutral coloured versions as loads of people are in your position.

To answer your question, I wouldn't think there was anything wrong with a baby girl in blue at all.

onadietcokebreak · 14/07/2010 21:19

To be honest unless you are moving somewhere where baby clothes are not available easily I wouldnt go to OTT on buying any...save the shipping cost!

japhrimel · 14/07/2010 21:23

I'm doing the same and figure blue is fine for girls. If we do have a girl and people assume she's a boy because she's in blue AND this bothers me, I could always add a baby hairbow or something to make the outfit more feminine.

mum2oneloudbaby · 14/07/2010 21:27

i wouldn't worry too much about people assuming that baby is a boy just because a girl is dressed in blue even dressed head to toe in pink people still get the gender wrong!

Lionstar · 14/07/2010 21:29

People make odd assumptions about baby gender, based on ... well I don't quite know what ... a feeling in their waters maybe. Suffice to say DD could be dressed head to toe in pink and people would still say 'what a lovely boy' and vice versa!!!

I tended to use a lot of blue on her however as much of the stuff I was passed on came from boys. As long as you can smile and nod politely at the interfering old duffers then dress the baby however you like - it won't care.

RedCardinal · 14/07/2010 21:30

There are so many more colours in the world why not embrace green or orange...live dangerously and boycott pink and blue

www.nordickids.co.uk has some crazy multi colour suits

elportodelgato · 14/07/2010 21:33

buy lots of white stuff and dye it different colours - I did loads of bright yellow, green, red, purple - looked ace and totally gender neutral if that's what you want

shubiedoo · 14/07/2010 21:35

I also wouldn't go too crazy buying stuff in advance, as you may not use it much... babies get poo and sick on everything, you'll just be washing the same outfits over and over.

Also, they outgrow things more quickly than you think; if you buy too much, you may end up with a lot of the wrong season/size clothes.

strandedatsea · 14/07/2010 21:37

Yes - boo hiss to blue and pink!
H&M also do lots of gender unspecific wacky colours.

Lexilicious · 14/07/2010 21:42

My MIL did a lot of knitting in unisex colours as we didn't know the sex until DS was born. Lime green, lemon yellow, lilac etc., and one very memorable stripey creation...

Anyway, there I was in a shop with my chunky little 3 or 4 ish month old, wearing a blue cotton babygro and a lilac cardigan on top, and some old bat lady comments on my pretty little girl. I thanked her and not that it matters but corrected 'actually he's a boy' and she instantly berated me for dressing him in girls clothes, 'he'll grow up with a complex' I think were the words.

You can't win.

jjkm · 14/07/2010 21:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mamatomany · 14/07/2010 21:54

Baby's look lovely in white and lemon and mint IMO but the moment you have the baby you seem to go a bit mental and want it in the right colours, or that might just be me

MistyB · 15/07/2010 08:07

TBH, I'm not sure the gender neutral colours really work that well (except for white). We had a few items purchased before the baby was born and my DS looked like a girl in them and my DD looked like a boy!!

LauraKB · 15/07/2010 08:59

I have some little blue dresses/tops for my DD which are pale blue and have flowers on and are really lovely, but I do find I get annoyed if people thinks she's a boy - which is totally stupid and irrational cos I don't really care what they think.

Dress them in whatever you and they are happy with.

saltnvinigarcrips · 16/07/2010 17:31

Apparently there is a couple in Sweden who didn't want anyone to know the sex of their baby (I'm talking after it was born) as they didn't want it being gender influenced so they didn't tell anyone! I think that's kind of cool in a way as at the end of the day why should boys and girls be treated differently anyway. Needless to say it was dressed in neutral colours. I think the colour green is great and that is neutral so my baby will be wearing lots of green

notso · 16/07/2010 17:53

Hi Miffster.
I bought loads of blue clothes when I was pregnant with DD, blue is my favourite colour, only once did someone think she was a boy and that was because of a blue flowery hat one of her more girly items IMO.
I also bought lots of red and green and was told newborns should only wear white , on all the pictures of my two in white they look ill. I think buy what you like.

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