What clothes do I need for a newborn please?

[Missus2ndwife]

Hi there, FTM here at 36+5.

Lots of people have said don't buy a lot of newborn stuff as the baby will grown very quickly, but all I have is 5 baby grows and 5 long baby grows. What else do I need please?

Thanks

About 6-8 long leg/long sleeved baby grows, newborn size
The same of short sleeved/ no leg bodysuit vests
A couple of wooly hats
A couple of cardies

A all in one snowsuit/pram suit thing.

That'll get you started

Every first time baby I have ever known has been inundated with clothes as presents and hand me downs.

More babygrows and vests in that size.

I reckon around 8 vests, 8 baby grows, 2 cardigans, 2 hats, and an all in one fleece thing (I had a snow suit, but even for a November baby, it hardly got used as he got too hot in it).

Thank you!!

I will order a couple more baby grows etc and two cardies. I have hats and mittens already

Just don't do what I did with DD and buy loads of vests and babygros in 0-3 assuming that 0 = starting from birth. She was a bit of a tiddler at 6lbs 8oz and looked ridiculous!

I prob wouldn't buy a snowsuit. You can't use in car seats for safety reasons and baby gets too hot if worn in shops/ indoors and pain if baby has fallen asleep as will prob wake taking off. They are very useful but for babies of moving age ie 9months plus.

For a newborn in winter I would look at ' bug in a rug'. It's a blanket with legs that can be worn in sling/ pram or car seat, and you can just open up when inside without disturbing baby.

Otherwise what's mentioned above is fine

Agreed with the others that you are likely to be offered handmedowns and will get given stuff. (The brilliant thing about baby handmedowns is that because each baby is in them for a nanosecond, they can do the rounds for AGES!)

It also depends a bit what your washing facilities are like. I had a lot of newborn stuff (a ton of handmedowns) and used them all. Then I dogsat for someone with a much bigger flat than me, who had a fantastic washing machine and space to dry stuff quickly, and found I used and needed far less baby clothes than I had in my tiny flat with an awkward washing machine and hardly anywhere to dry stuff.

I bought mainly '1 month' size in Next (sleepsuits and vests) knowing he would get into them at some point and just 3 Newborn sleepsuits and vests (as well as a couple of hats, mittens and cardigans). DS was 7lb 8oz and needed the Newborn size so got DH to nip out and buy more. He was out of them in 2 weeks and at 6 weeks (and 10lb 5oz) he is still in the 1 month size.

You will need quite a few though.....most days I'm changing him at least once either due to milk vomit or poos that go up the back (although that's only been recently). Oh, some bibs would be handy too for the milk vomit!

I'm with artandco about not bothering with a pramsuit/snowsuit, unless you walk everywhere. They should never be worn in car seats (stops the straps correctly tightening and can overheat to easily), they need to be took of in shops/shopping centres, etc. Just use a cardi, mitts, hat and layer with blankets.

Then all you need is 8 long leg/long arm baby grows and 8 no leg/ short arm body suits/vests. If you have a particularly sicky baby you may want more, but buy them, if/when you actually need them.

Nobody bought us newborn clothes, they all bought 0-3, so we ended up with tons and tons in that size, so be wary of buying much in that size.

Oh and we still walked everywhere with no snowsuit, just add cardigan, hat and as many blankets as needed. And pram can have cosy footmuff. Easy to take blanket on/ off

There's a really good article on the NHS website that tells you what you need (www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/what-you-need-for-baby.aspx). I think it seems useful