Clothes size for newborn

[breatheslowly]

Apologies that this has probably been asked lots of times before but...

What size clothes should a newborn have? We have borrowed lots of clothes in 0-3 months from friends, but don't have any newborn size clothes. Our baby was measured at the 36 week scan to be average but with off the scale long legs (I know these can be really inaccurate).

Looking at the 0-3 month clothes I can't believe that our baby will come out that big.

Should I buy a few newborn basics?

I bought a few basic newborn items and a whole heap of 0-3 as told by midwife at ante-natal class that it is not common for babies to use newborn for long and in some cases they skip them altogether. My dd was 5lb 13oz and we had to rush out and buy tiny baby clothes and many, many more newborn than we had, as she was in tiny for 3 months and then in newborn for 3 months.

With this one, I just have the basics of newborn and more 0-3 and a couple of tiny bits that are unisex from DD.

I think it is a case of stock a bit of everything but don't go overboard in the smaller sizes.

I have bought quite a few vests and baby grows in newborn this time. I remember when DS1 was born i only had 3 of each and by the time we got used to leaking nappies, fire hose winkies whilst changing and sick we used quite a few a day. This all depends on the baby though i suppose. DS1 was 7lb 9 and 0-3 was far to big. They grow so fast though, so it will only be a few weeks before they're out of newborn.

Don't buy too much

Both mine were in tiny baby stuff not even new born ( both less than 7 lbs)

In newborn size I've bought two packs of the white basic sets, and two little outfits.

Then in 0-3 I have not much more, but nicer stuff (ie not all plain white basics)

i got newborn and lots, and then a few tiny baby clothes as my belly looked so small, i thought my baby would be tiny, he wasnt that bad 2 weeks late and 6 and alf pound. all the newborn was massive, they also said at my 4d scan that my baby was small but had really long legs, he actually didnt have long legs, and was born less than 50cms

I'd get a few newborn bits if I were you (just basics like vests and babygros). Newborn goes up to about 10lb, so most babies start off in it. My DS was exactly average weight (7lb 7oz) and a little over average length, and he was in newborn for about 8 weeks, IIRC.

Not many babies come out and fit 0-3 [ winces ]

You will need some nb stuff e.g. vests and babygrows. My ds is 4 weeks and is only just now going into 0-3 babygrows and is not quite into 0-3 dungarees.

My advice would be to look at the labels for accurate sizing since it is not consistent across the stores. Personally I avoided Next newborn which only goes up to 7lb something and instead got their upto 1 month size or look at M&S, Mothercare, MiniMode etc as their nb sizes go up to 9lb something - M&S have been the best in terms of quality. Tesco baby clothing, if it has feet in it, is also on the small side imo for any child with long legs or long feet.

My first 2 were quite big - DD1 was 8 lb 2 and DD2 was 8 lb 12 and both of them were over 53cms long.

They both wore newborn things for at least a month, probably nearer 2 months.

I would have some newborn things, but don't go overboard. If you find you are running out of things because of leaky nappies or sick, you can always send someone out to get another pack of vests/babygrows etc. Or if you've still got time, check out ebay or local car boots and nearly new sales.

DC3 has been measured on the 97th centile (eek) but I'm still going to be taking mainly newborn things in my hospital bag!

Thank you all - glad to hear that babies don't come out that big. I'll try to find some newborn size stuff today.

Babies do come out that big in our family! My 3 dc and all 8 of their cousins wore 0-3 months straight away. DC3 is nearly out of 0-3 months at 6 weeks. This time I didn't buy any size 1 nappies, just size 2.John Lewis sell fab little things called baby bundlers which are a bit more size flexible than sleepsuits.

Sorry if this is not what you want to hear but I think I had the opposite experience to everyone else, DS was only 8 lb 14 so not enormous, but 59 cm long and so never fitted newborn clothes. In fact he was only in 0-3 for 3 weeks, by which point he needed 3-6 months just for the length. Just buy a few newborn vests / babygros, it's easy to pick up more if you need them, I have a heap of newborn stuff that never made it out of the packet, it was such a waste.

Newborn size is usually up to 10lb if the baby is in proportion. So if baby is big or has long legs, newborn size clothes may be used for a matter of days or not at all.

I'm getting a few bodies and basic sleepsuits in newborn but that's about it. Baby won't mind slightly big clothes after all!

Like adult sizes, there's real variation between shops, and shape as well as weight comes into it. So I'd suggest starting out with a small selection of tiny, newborn and 0-3, and seeing what you need.

DD is still in 0-3 at 9 months. But then, DH is still in children's sizes much of the time...

I would suggest looking at the weight as well as the size. Next and M&S newborn don't go up very big but they also do an upto 1 month size so that's probably why. Mothercare newborn are upto 10lb, DS was in these for about 3 weeks but he put on weight very fast- was 8lb 12 at birth and 9lb 5 days after!

The midwife told me he'd be 10lb + but I bought some newborn bits as I didn't want his first few pictures to be of him in massive clothes, not the best reasons! He did fit newborn when born and as other said you tend to change them a lot because of exploding nappies, large amounts of sick and mistimed wee's!

Being lazy has benefits - I haven't got round to getting any newborn stuff and having read the subsequent posts I have decided that our baby can just look a bit swamped if necessary. I spoke to DB who said that babies come out big in our family (or at least his did). I have no idea which shops our 0-3 month clothes came from as they have been lent to us, but there does look to be plenty of variation in there. Thanks for all your replies.

I find it so very worrying that Mothercare's newborn are up to 10lbs. Owwie.

I'm buying white, cheap newborn stuff and then going to see how much/fast DC grows. Assuming DC's long (DP and I both v tall), will just go straight to 0 - 3 months.

Although ... I did see the most amazingly cute fur-lined booties in M&S and almost bought them. A newborn doesn't need boots, it's not going treking!

My DC have all beeen between 7lbs and 8lbs at birth (7 5, 7 14 and 7 4), and have all worn the newborn clothes from mothercare or "up to 1 month" from M&S for around 6 weeks until they were roughly 10lbs in weight.

The 0-3 M&S stuff was far too big at birth.

The newborn M&S stuff would have fitted my DC for maybe the first week.

I suggest picking out the smallest of the stuff you've been given and taking that to the hospital.

Actually found it ok to have slightly too big vests is the big babygros that look a bit silly, so maybe just one pack smaller babygros would be enough.

When I was expecting dc1, we bought only newborn stuff, as we'd been told it would fit for a couple of months.
When he was born, at nearly 10lbs, they only fit him, and then snugly, for about a week!

With this one, I'll probably make sure I have a few, but mainly 0-3 month, and roll the sleeves up/stick socks over the baggy long feet!