How many items of clothing do I need?

[frenchfigs]

I am expecting my first baby in April, and was hoping to get some clothes during the Christmas sales.

Please may I have your thoughts on what and how many items of clothing I will need for 0-3 months? I think I just about know the difference between sleepsuits and vests (short- or long-sleeved)...

Thank you

NHS guidance:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/what-you-need-for-baby.aspx

My best friend has 3 kids - she normally goes for 8 of everything.

I think 8 is a good number for bibs, sleepsuits, vests. We had to buy more with dc1 as I just did not anticipate the sheer volume of poo and posset. Some babies seem much more polite, and their mums will be on shortly to tell you that you can bring 2 sets of clothes in your hospital bag etc. Just beware, you may have a leaky one....a

10 baby grows and 10 vests at least because that's 2 days worth if you've a leaky baby. And a lot more than 2 sets to hospital, I was really caught out and had to wait for partner to bring more. I just bought short sleeved vests and normal baby grows. The advantage of just buying 0-3 months is the baby gets plenty of wear out of them. Supermarket clothes seem to be a smaller fit than M&S/Boots/mothercare.

8 sleepsuits? You’d need to be on it with the washing to just have 8 surely? I get 14 babygrows, 14 vests and then 7-10 outfits + 2-4 cardis/coats. The early days for a first baby is a blur and the last thing you want to be worrying about it laundry.

Thank you everyone. Stupid question, please bear with me: do we mean [8] of each of sleepsuits, short-sleeved vests and long-sleeved vests? Or pick either short or long sleeves?

I've got a 7 week old who typically wears a sleepsuit and vest at night and then one 'outfit' or sleepsuit during the day with a fresh vest. So x2 sleepsuits and x2 vests per 24hrs, unless there is a leak or he throws up, which is rare.

He's in size 3-6 now, I think i have 10 sleepsuits and 10 vests. Then a few trousers and tops sets (think pyjamas) and some proper clothes like shirts, trousers and jumpers.

He was only in newborn stuff for a week. Then was out of 0-3 by 6 weeks so I'm glad i didn't go mad. It's not impossible to run the washing machine and drier once a day.

I was in hospital for 3 days with him. I took 8 sleepsuits and 8 vests and used them all.

I wouldn't go mad people tend buy you loads for your first in the 0-3 range.

I had a baby of the non leaky variety and could have got by with 3 - 4 of most things if I had to (I didn't, because as mentioned people get you loads and there were some things that never even got worn in the end)

They grow out of stuff so quickly too.

If you are sales shopping I would be keeping an eye out for the bigger stuff instead like cots, cot mattresses, baby monitors, prams etc.

I only use short-sleeved vests, never felt I've needed long-sleeved and don't imagine you would for an April baby. As PP said I wouldn't buy a lot, I totally underestimated the sheer volume of gifts we would receive, DD's wardrobe is overflowing 😳 and don't bother with outfits, faffing about with tights and leggings in the early days is one stress you don't need.

Re sizing I didn't buy any newborn, I went for up to 1 month and we got a lot of use out of that size.

Thanks all again :)

I've bought some sleepsuits from John Lewis but didn't go mad. Will head in-store in the new year for the big ticket items...

I’d go with 5 in Newborn/First, then 10 in 0-3. Our above average size DD was in Newborn for over a month. I really liked Boots and Sainsbury’s for cheapish sets, and Lidl (Specialbuys) for vests.

Actually, hummus is bang on. What you want to do is have another set of the next size up, so you have something when there is a series of poonamis, but you're not wasting money on unnecessary stuff in baby's current size either.