What to dress baby in?

[HoneyMum21]

I'm sure this has been discussed before but as a mum-to-be to DC1 in december i'm getting somewhat overwhelmed with what i should dress the baby in.
I know they are supposed to be in one more layer than we are, so obviously a bodysuit/vest to start with. I then thought, at least for the first 2 or 3 months, they'll be pretty much exclusively in sleepsuits day and night (obviously with extra layers for going out etc.) However, we were looking in mothercare today and DH thought we should be going for outfits - like trousers and tops during the day and sleepsuits just for bedtiime. I had just assumed that sleep suits/all-in-ones were the done thing because they are easier to change baby in but am i going to be judged as a bad mother if i don't go for the little outfits?

Black long sleeved vest from H&M. I alsi got the black leggings from there (not worn together though!!)

Would advise all the way for the first three months. Easier to whip off than a two piece after the inevitable up-the-back poo explosions. You can get some very funky babygrows. Just make sure you have perhaps a larger size at the hospital (like 0-3 months rather than newborn) in case your baby is bigger than you thought, as mine was. Good luck HoneyMum :-)

Sorry baby grows all the way..x

I agree, a coupke of outfits in the first 3 months is more than enough.
I had both ds'l in babygrows only for as long as poss. I LOVE love love, babies in babygrows. I think they look like baby's. I don't like little ones in outfits much, they look too old, not like babies.
Plus outfits are such a faff. Fine for an occassional. But daily, babygrows are the answer.
Plus, mine only wore babygrows. no vests. I have no idea what time of year your children are born, or what temperature your house is , when these girls need a vest, babygrow ad cardigan. What a faff, to change. My MW keep telling me off, that ds's were too hot and all they had on was a babygrow in Feb !!
Babygrows with poppers from neck to feet and the easiest to change. And beleive me there are ALOT of changes.

Here's the law:

If it's dc1 you must buy too many outfits with too many fussy bits which make them hard to use and to wash and then put your baby into them daily for 'going out' or 'receiving visitors'

If it's your dc2+ you simply give all those to a friend and use babygros until at least 3m or 11m quite a lot with dc4

I am in agreement that babies in babygrows are the way to go, but even so I ust admit that my 8 week old does have a parka jacket!

My rule is babygrows night and day, unless we are going to see someone who has given clothing as a gift, in which case he wears that outfit (hence the parka!)

It is a whopping faff to get dungarees, jeans, coats etc on a teeny baby so babygrows make life much easier. Plus they come in so many colours that you can adapt them for the occasion - mine wore a red, white and blue babygrow to see the Olympic torch go by.

(oh dear, just realised I'm one of those parents)

Yep, babygrows til at least 3 months, Sainsburys and H&M do some lovely colours.

H&m after that for lovely soft joggers and tshirts. Some of the asda clothes are lovely but i found the tshirts lost their shape and went baggy after a couple of washes.

What do people think about the soft dungarees like this

Or do the straps end up by their ears and the front up somewhere by their chin?

Sleepsuits for the first few months. The clue is in the name.....that's all babies do in them!

I dressed DS1 in sleepsuits for the first six months, I got some lovely bright stripey ones from Mothercare and Next. In fact he looked like he'd been invovled in a paint factory explosion. They are fair easier to do up.

That being said, the soft dungarees from Next were one of my 'go to' outfits for special occasions.

Babygrows, lovely, comfy, easy, cheap!!!

Buy a couple of lovely cardigans and your sorted.

Babygrows all the way, although I do have outfits as well for going out and seeing people. For the person who said they don't distinguish between night and day, I still change her from her "daytime" babygrow into her "night time" babygrow (although they are interchangeable) and put her in a sleeping bag so she still gets the idea that we get changed for bedtime. We also only ever have the lights low for bedtime, never during the day so that perhaps helps too.

DD was 5-8 months during the winter months. I had her in tights everyday rather than socks, a vest and then her outfit which was mainly dresses. When outside she had a hat on and we were given a JJ Cole fleese liner for the stroller. We are in NJ, USA - it was between -10C and 1/2C for most of winter.

My little girl is 7.5 weeks old and she's just been in baby grows, but personally I hate little outfits on babies until they're about 6 months old, babygrows are the comfiest and thats the most important thing! I politely asked my friends and fam not to buy any outfits in newborn or 0-3, 3-6, a few ignored me and they've had to go in the charity bag unworn!

I was bought hundreds (literally) of beautiful little outfits for DTS, which I dutifully dressed them in once. DS3 spent most of the time till 6 months in vests and sleepsuits, just easier and he is a little baby, no one cares.

Currently he's in vest, t shirt and one sock.

Thanks for all the advice.We'll def be getting sleepsuits i think. Current plan is to get plentyof 0-3months as they will def get some wear and nearer the time get a couple of newborn ones that can be swapped depending on size of baby.

Being a December baby we'll def be getting a lovely cute little snow/pramsuit with paws and ears a snow/pramsuit (are these the same thing?) - but we're torn between a 0-3months or going a bit bigger as ideally we'd like to get awaw with not having to replace it after a few weeks. What would you reckon size-wise?

I found Mothercare sleepsuits fine - it was their other clothes which were a bit rubbish.

I actually wouldn't bother with a snowsuit type thing. They're way too bulky which makes them a pain to use. They're hard to thread little tiny limbs into, and you can't use them in a car seat as it's unsafe (makes the straps too loose). If you have the baby in a buggy and you're going in and out of shops, the baby will get overheated when you go indoors. The only situation they're useful in is if you're doing a long walk all outdoors e.g. school run or walking the dog (although even then I'd personally favour a sling! :))

If you want something with cute ears you can often get little fluffy cardigans or hoodies or fleecy hooded all in ones which are less bulky than the snowsuit and so avoid most of the problems with them. They don't kick blankets off when they're tiny so you can layer up if you're worried he/she will be cold and then it's much easier to adjust if you go into an overheated shop or house. Plus no car seat safety issues as the blankets go over the straps :)

Napdamnyou - me and DH have been giggling at the 'wet furry babies are not happy babies' comment. Although very practical and true, it still made us giggle! Also,wonderful tip bout cutting feet off sleep suits!

We got snowsuits for our November twins as we do a lot of walking so wanted to make sure they were nice and snug. Verbaudet do nice convertible ones

www.vertbaudet.co.uk/top/Recherche.htm?Search=Pram%20suit

Babygros for ages, then dungarees for ages...

The other thing about outfits is that all shops? sizing and shapes seems to be different, so until you know whether you have a long thin baby or a short wide one, it's hard to buy much that will fit and look nice. (Same applies to babygros, too!)

Think I am going to be a lone voice of dissent ...

Babygros are an utter PITA for middle of the night nappy changes. The last thing anyone wants at 3am is a popper-matching test. Pyjamas are much easier.

For daytime, babygros are fine , but we found that very soft tops (no back buttons) and leggings were best. Nappy leaks often avoided the vest, so we could change just the leggings rather than wrestling whole babygros on and off.

I would avoid jeans and dungarees (other than soft jersey ones) at least until baby can stand, and skirts / dresses get in the way when baby is learning to crawl.

We did have some babygros, the best quality were John Lewis, which just got softer the mire they were washed (same for cot sheets actually).

I'm a lazy mum and DD sometimes still stay in babygros all day now at 14mo . To my defense, she's still crawling, so technically not a toddler yet! If we aren't going out to see people, I leave her in her babygro. Sometimes we go to the shops in it too.

I just buy the nice colourful ones from asda and sainsbury. They look cute enough, in my eyes. And as others have pointed out, they are comfier that waistbands.

BTW I prefer sainsbos babygros. They have built in scratch mitts. The older ones also has little stud things on the soles for when they start cruising.

I was going to advise the bundler/bag nightie things as MsMarple suggested. They are the best for night time, and I have ones that drawstring at the bottom. They fit for aaages too so are well worth the cost (tend to be a bit pricier for some reason)

And agree with everyone about sleepsuits. After about 6m I have 'day' ones which are closer fitting and footless with nice stripes and patterns on them. I'll still stick DS2 (12m) in one occasionally and it's clear how much easier they are to move around in.

They will have their whole lives to wear jeans!

Inertia - not sure that every night time change resulted in properly matched poppers...

Snow suits are useful if you plan to walk outside in winter with baby in a sling, but in a pram it's easier to have blankets that can be lifted off in shops etc.