Help me navigate the sleep suit jungle...

[Cottagecosy]

Hey all. Our first DC is due end of December- so mid winter. I had assumed sleep suit & grow bag would be sufficient at night/ with a cards in the day but another thread on here has made me think we may need another layer.

So my question is which vests (I think that's what the legless ones are called!?) do I get? Do I go long sleeve, short sleeve or sleeveless?

Would they be too hot in a long sleeve vest & sleep suit and would this be awkward to get on and off (2 layers of sleeves)?

Our house isn't hot but not freezing either. Maybe 16-18 degrees at night?

I had planned to get 5 or so of each (vests and sleepsuits) in newborn and 0-3m sizes to begin with until we know what size we need. Is that about right?

Thanks all!

Oh and congratulations! I found late December a lovely time to have a baby; we got so much attention and had the ward to ourselves pretty much, not packed like it was for my Spring baby!

It was a lovely atmosphere.

We used a variety of hand me downs and gifts. Few items i remember being helpful were: thin cardigan - just tshirt material , was ment as a pj top but i often put it on her as a light extra layer to cover her arms ( double sleeves) and could leave it open. Its was v old and grubby but i used it loads! ( i really feel the cold myself so was always convinced her arms were cold..). We also had some actual vests- sleeveless and not button-under. Used them alot day and night for extra layer round the body.

I loved the idea of the fancy merino wool sleeping bags before DD was born but never quite could justify the cost... She's been in gro company grobags and supermarket gro bags and she's never been particularly sweaty. They are lined with cotton although the wadding/padding is polyester I'm sure. And they've all been passed on to my niece and have come back in good enough nick to use for a third child. I'm sure the merino wool ones are lovely but the bog standard ones are absolutely fine, too.
My tip is to look in TK maxx for them, especially in the opposite season (look for 1 tog ones in winter and the winter ones in summer!)
We had two in each size / tog combination in the 0-6 and 6-18m size, now she's in 18-36m and we just have one as if we need to wash one overnight she'd be OK with a blanket. (it's actually never happened so far, touch wood).

I was baffled by all this and bought bundles of combinations of stuff for my son from NCT/ Ebay.

yy to sleepsuits with built in sleeves, great for a scratchy baby with eczema.

yy to grobags

yy to short sleeved vest + babygro

yy to having a pile of secondhand or borrowed stuff as spares for days when baby keeps vomiting over their clothes or some such.

sorry I mean sleepsuit with built in mits

Our room is around 16-18 degrees and baby wears a vest, sleep suit and 2.5 tog gro bag. Google 'what to wear gro bag' and it will give some guidance.

For baby clothes I would suggest the following could been a good guide.

First size

10 vests/sleeveless/shortsleeved body suits
10 sleep suits with integral mitts and feet
Couple of hats
Warm pram suit
Cardigans
Mittens and booties

Upto 1 month

Same as above plus maybe some outfits for during the day

0-3 month size

Same as above

To give you an idea of sizes, my son was 8lb12oz and fitted into first size for 2/3 weeks. Fitted into 'upto 1 month' until 8/9 weeks and now at 10 weeks is in 0-3 size.

Grow snugs can be used from 5lbs to 12lbs as a gro bag would be too big on a newborn.

I hated long sleeve vest sunder sleepsuits, two sleeves are awkward. Onlybuse donce older under dungarees

Newborn
6 short vests
6 sleepsuits

0-3 months
10 short vests
10 sleepsuits
2 Cardigans ( can roll sleeves up and use from newborn)

2 large Muslin cloths to swaddle first 3 months.

2 merino wool sleeping bags. More expensive, but last 0-2+ years and can be worn winter and summer. So overall cheaper a shot buying new sizes and weighs every 6 months.

Never seen the point in 0-1 month size, either newborn fits, or if it doesn't then 0-3 does

Two sets of long sleeves on at once isn't fiddly. If you intend to use a gro bag double sleeves in winter is definitely a good idea.

I would have about ten long and ten short, and a few sleeveless to go with outfits that a vest sleeve would stick out of.

Babies often poo right through their nappy and onto clothes so having lots off vests is necessary!

Purple -20+ vests per size? Really? If mine vomited on all 6 at once I would just wrap them in a blanket until washed. But as newborn I would wash every other day as even if only 1-2 things dirty they might be vomiting so wouldn't want to save until all 10 were dirty. Put baby stuff in with ours anyway so washing little an doften meant not left With loads. Actually I don't think we would have the space, even now they have just two drawers of clothing

My baby threw up a lot and had exploding nappies most days so they came in handy!

They didn't even fill a drawer, they don't take up much space and are cheap! Around £10-£15 every 6 months or so when she outgrew them!