Newborn clothes - size advice

[aliphil]

I've been lent a lot of newborn and 0-3 clothes for my LO due in about a month, which is great. (Unfortunately my MiL is going to give me a lot of hassle about putting our (probable) girl in "boy's clothes" - like it matters! - and will probably rush out to buy pink and frilly stuff that I will have to hope gets badly puked or pooed on. :() Anyway, I'd like to buy some clothes myself, preferably unisex just in case they were wrong at the scan, and I really like Next's Animal Brights range. But I'm confused about the sizing; instead of newborn and then 0-3 months, etc., they have first size, up to 1 month, up to 3 months, and I don't know what's best to buy. I had a scan this week and they reckoned LO will be about 8 lb, maybe a bit less, for what it's worth.

My 8lb4 ds was in newborn for about a month, up to a month to about 2 months and 0-3 up to 4 months.

If you've already got plenty of newborn sizes I'd opt for the 'up to 3 months'. You'll prob get more newborn size stuff bought when dc arrives and you'll then be set up for when dc is 1-2 months.

DD was 6lb 5oz and she was only in newborn and 'up to 1 mo' for the first month. Which makes sense as it was her first month iyswim but if your dc is going to be near 8pm or slightly over you might need the 0-3 size a bit earlier.

Congrats and hope all goes well with delivery!!

8pm??? Oops...8lb (bloomin iPhone!)

I'd look at the weight measurements then compare with what you have. Some shops eg baby gap come up much bigger than others eg Tesco

Other option is save the website and your choices in your faves and click buy when you have the baby in your arms. Mine was 8.2 and never fit in the new born stuff I had

I found when dd was born (6 years ago today!) that next came up pretty large. She was 6lb 12 oz and the early baby (up to 7.5lb) size was swimming on her! She moved up to the 1 month size at about 5 weeks and wasn't in 0-3 month until 3.5 months. She was on 25th centile for weight and length, so on the small side of average.

I agree with the poster saying wait til your baby comes - both mine were 8lb but dd fitted 'tiny baby' stuff and was still in newborn for weeks, ds on the other hand is 5 wks and fills 0-3 stuff.

Both times I bought one thing in up to 1m size that I really liked for a "homecoming" outfit, so why not do that and then you can buy more once you see your baby and get an idea of her size and what suits her :) congratulations!

(

My baby was 8lb exactly and the "up to one month" from Next and M&S, and the up to 10lb newborn size from Primark was perfect for the first three weeks. Don't buy a lot in that size though and really I would stick to the plain basic stuff, most of mine was white vests and sleepsuits from Primark/Asda.

The animal brights stuff is lovely, I just adore the multi stripe stuff, but don't buy much of it in newborn as it won't get enough wear for the money. 0-3 or 3-6 is a better choice for the pricier stuff. You will get loads of gifts in 0-3 but hardly anything in 3-6.

www.next.co.uk/x492886s2

this has been my very favourite baby outfit. It is comfortable and soft like a babygrow but looks that bit smarter. I got it in 0-3 and it has fitted well between 4 and 12 weeks but sadly will have to be retired very soon.

Get a few essential items in newborn as you won't know what size your baby is until he is born.
My 1st baby was 2wks late & was 5lb 11oz, my mum ended up rushing out for tiny baby stuff!
My dd4 was also small at 6lb 9oz yet midwife measured me as large so you will never know till baby is born

Thanks everyone! I think I will try to restrain myself for the moment and hope that either DH or I will manage to get to a computer at some point after DC is born! Might buy one nice outfit in newborn and/or 0-3; we probably have enough to get by OK, but I'd like DC to have something I've chosen as well. AIBU to want to buy something for my own baby? MiL has presented us with stacks of cotton wool, nappy sacks, baby lotion etc. - she even bought me maternity pads FFS! - so I can't even do that shopping!

OP - i hear you, but be grateful for her buying all that mundane stuff. It all adds up. Plus it leaves you to splurge on all the cool stuff!!!

DP's fathers wife (we don't call her stepmum...god forbid!) buys DD all kinds of clothes and knits incessantly. The clothes are really not nice (sounds ungrateful but I can't stand frills, gingham, broderie anglaise, Disney/Winnie the Pooh and stuff with frou frou bows!). And the knitting is always with that horrible scratchy wool and looks like school cardigans etc. I stick it all in the cupboard in case they visit but then give it to charity.They always ask how's DDs doing for clothes and I always say she's got loads but it keeps coming!!!

Wait till Saturday when the Next sale starts!!

Next sale! OMG! Probably not a good thing that I now know about that. Ooops.

Button, I see what you mean; it's just starting to feel like she wants to take over (plus she doesn't buy the same stuff I would, and she is so going to be like your DP's father's wife over buying clothes, but ...). She keeps saying she feels like she is the one who's pregnant and having this baby. She wanted more children after DH but had several miscarriages and it never happened, so I think she is sort of compensating. I am very sorry she had to go through this as I found one mc devastating enough, but nothing any of us do can change it and it doesn't make my child hers! I am slightly disturbed by how full-on she is and wants to be, not having had grandparents who wanted to (or could) be involved all the time. Plus it all has to be on her terms, e.g. she announces when she is visiting and assumes that because DH mostly works from home he can easily take time off, and she refuses to travel to any of our local stations so we have to pick her up from half an hour away.

Sorry. This is really getting to me, to the point that I lie awake at night worrying about it. DH is sympathetic and says he will try to get her to back off a bit, but I don't think it will be that easy. Calm. Must be calm. Now if only I could have a drink ...

Oh dear!! I think the way you're feeling is pretty normal. There was another thread about this a while ago. I was getting myself in a real state about people wanting to be round all the time, trying to give advice and watching me do it all wrong!! I even had tears over it. My parents and DPs parents are separated and the logistics of how they were all going ro visit in hosp and not bump into each other was a nightmare.

In the end, it all worked out fine. Although FIL and wife insisted the only day they could come was the day I came out of hosp. They were sitting outside in the car when we got home :-( I'd had an EMCS so was particularly fragile, hadn't had a shower for 3 days and just wanted to get DD settled...but no!!

Seriously, she'll probably quieten down after the first few weeks. She's just excited (annoyingly excited!). If it doesn't sort itself out then DP will just have to tell her to back off. Maybe see how it goes before he says anything. You don't want to fall out with a keen babysitter!!!

Next baby clothes are tiny. I got the 'new baby' and 0-1 month sizes when I was expecting DC1. DS was a 5lb-er and the 'new baby' size was just about perfect for him for two weeks. This time round I'm buying 0-3 month sizes from there on Saturday. Next sleepsuits have built-in scratch mitts, which are fantastic.

aliphil have you got my mil? Mine insisted that she was going to choose and make all the soft furnishings for the nursery and we could have no input or choose anything. It took us nearly 2 years to get pregnant with ds and I have dreamt of choosing all the decorations for so long. In the end we put out foot down she still bought the material even though we told her not too. She choose grey curtains which I wasn't having so she learnt if she didn't check it was just going to be wasted.
Do choose a few bits yourself especially the first outfit you dress them in-you will have the photographs of them in it forever. Even dh now loves buying ds things, when ds was Less than a day old we pushed him into town (5 minutes walk from home) to the nice baby shop to choose him a few bits. Anyway don't forget your mil has had her chance with your dh to do things how she wanted and choose things and now it's your turn. If she does give you things you hate just put them in a box and then swap them/eBay/charity shop them.
As for practical advice on sizes you won't know until you have your baby and see what size they are. My ds was 7lb13 he had some newborn babygrows which were already a bit tight as he has long legs and big feet whereas others have been big-mothercare seem big however trousers he had from there are too small. He is now 2 weeks old (last weighed at 10 days and was 8lb3) and is mainly in 0-3 stuff already. Another woman in my NCT had a baby born at exactly the same weight who is now 1 month old but is in some tiny baby stuff. Think it depends on baby's proportions. Have a couple of nice bits in different sizes and then see what you want for baby once they arrive. My ds is always hot so is not that keen on baby grows prefers trousers and no socks so you can buy clothes that work for your baby.

Op if you like the animal brights from Next (dd is currently snoozing in the stripey sleepsuit) try H&M. Better in store than the website but great clothes and they last yonks
6mo is a chunk and shes only just outgrowing her 2-4mo vests. lovely colours!

Agree with PP, H&M is great. Really bright and colourful and the sizes do seem to last ages.

Thanks for the advice everyone! It's nice to know I'm not the only one with a troublesome MiL. Telling myself to be calm didn't have much effect; I ended up crying over DH and telling him he needed to sort his mother out now. Which he won't, but he did explain what he's going to do to try and get her to back off more gradually. In my more rational moments this makes sense, as he doesn't want a big row with her (whereas I don't care if it would get her to leave us alone, but then she's not my mother).

I unpacked all the newborn and 0-3 clothes we've been lent and there are stacks of vests and babygros, so I have ordered one nice outfit in newborn for photos (which DC will probably throw up over, knowing my luck ) and decided to leave it at that for the moment. We also have cardigans, hats, scratch mitts, socks - and shoes. They're very cute but I thought you weren't meant to put shoes on newborns - anyone?

I like the look of the H&M stuff on the website so will have to work out where my nearest shop is. The store locator told me it was in Denmark - think I might manage to find one a bit nearer than that!

Anyone else having trouble viewing the Animal Brights range?

Have MNetters snapped up all those bright unisex clothes? Or have they just temporarily pulled them so they aren't available during the sale?

Hmmm....im certain Next take full price away during sale time then pretend 'everythings on sale'

Makes me angry.

No, don't put shoes on a newborn. The bones are so soft you could do permanent damage.

Agree ^^

No shoes necessary. Plus, nothing cuter than bare little baby feet.

Shoes not necessary, but they are usually v soft, so if they're not tight, I don't see how they could be a problem?