Baby vests necessary??

[brightstar1974]

Hello, I'm a FTM so excuse what might seem a silly question...

I've read lots of mums mentioning vests as an essential for babies. I've bought loads of clothes for our baby (due in Jan), but no vests as yet, though have bought some T-shirts for when he is a bit bigger.

My question, is are the vests necessary, and if so, how do you usually use them? I'm presuming it's for wear under a babygro thing? If it makes any difference, I live in a tropical country, so it's very hot all the time, though indoors it's much cooler as the aircon is often on, including during sleep as it feels unbearable without it. Do I need to buy vests too or is it ok just to have baby wear babygro/sleepsuit, and then either swaddled or in sleeping bag for when he's sleeping? For outdoors, I have plenty of sleeveless or short sleeved onesies.

I don't seem to have seen very many vests in the shops here so perhaps that's telling me something! Any advice welcome- including from any mums in Singapore.

Also how often in a day do babies (newborns to 6 months say) need their clothes changed?

Thanks!

Sounds fine :)

As for changes, on a good day they might keep the same thing on all day, other days they might be sick down one change, do an explosive poo all over and other, be sick again and they you'll drop chocolate crumbs all over them while feeding so you'll have to change them again. It really varies a lot!

I guess it's a weather thing. DD was a November (UK) baby and the midwives sent DH to buy vests because we were incompentent ill-prepared. I guess that, even with aircon, it won't be that cold. If Singapore doesn't stock vests, maybe they really aren't needed!

I think most people buy bodies, not actual vests for babies - i.e. onesies without legs.

Presumably room temps with a/c are no different to winter room temps with central heating here! With a room temp of 18C, you'd normally have the baby in a body under a sleepsuit.

Outside in the summer here, a baby might only wear a body during the day if its hot.

I think baby vests and onesies are the same thing, aren't they? Anything without poppers between the legs would never stay put on a wriggly baby.

DS was born in August in Tokyo (35 degrees or so - similar to Singapore?) and spent the first couple of months almost entirely in baby vests, ie the short-sleeved/sleeveless vests with poppers between the legs - he really didn't need any of the long-sleeved or bulkier outfits I had bought or been given.

But I did keep the air-conditioning on a less-than-frigid setting (didn't think strong air-conditioning was good for babies). Even so, Japanese friends kept wanting to put extra clothes and blankets on him - I think it's a cultural thing. But my feeling was that at room temperatures of 25-28 degrees, he didn't need many clothes.

a vest is a onesie :-)

a standard uk baby vest is short sleeved garment with poppers between the legs and essential in my opinion.

if its hot you can just popper the baby into the vest/onesie and nothing else and the nappy stays on nice and tight

Sounds like a 'vest' is the same as a 'onesie' then. That's good to know! As a FTM I keep thinking I'll miss something important when baby comes! Is a 'sleepsuit' the same as onesie too, except that it has legs/feet and maybe long sleeves? Are these generally used at night because it's often colder then, or are they better for sleep for some other reason?

I'm sure I'll look back at these questions in a year's time, and wonder how I could have asked such trivial/silly questions!

But grateful for the advice of experienced mums : )

My DCs have never actually slept in a sleepsuit. They are useful for day wear in the early days because they're plain and cheap and you don't mind (so much) when they're puked/pooed/weed on. Personally I don't like seeing babies in them (except for sleeping) after about 3 months old, but that's probably just me.

yes, vest and onesie are the same and sleepsuit is the one with sleeves and legs. It's only a matter of temperature to decide which is appropriate.
some people like to dress their babies in "real clothes" (jeans, etc.) from the beginning for day while other people are perfectly happy to keep baby in sleepsuits until they are much older.