Buying baby clothes before the birth

[TheHonGalahadThreepwood]

We don't know the sex, so I was thinking of just buying a few unisex clothes and things so as be prepared for our return from the hospital.

What do you think is the minimum we should buy in preparation for the actual birth and, say, the 1-2 weeks afterwards (until I can order some more things)? Due date is around late October/early November, so autumn moving into winter.

Also, do you think I can get away with buying 0-3 months or is newborn size really necessary...? I find the idea that 0 months is not the same as newborn hard to get my head around!

Have a look at the weights on the labels. 0-3 is usually over 10lb. I mistakenly thought that was what they wore and got told off by a midwife. Both mine needed tiny as 6lb and 7lb although growth scan said DS would be over 10lb!

I've bought a few packets of newborn size clothes from Asda as they seemed to be the cheapest around and the baby will either poo all over them or only be in them for a few weeks at the most (or perhaps even not at all if he's big). With Asda George you can take stuff back for up to 100 days so I have left some in the packets and if he's too big for them I'll just take them back.

My sister made do with the next size up (not UK so sizing is different, but equivalent to 0-3 months) DNiece did look a bit swamped, but only for a very short time. She was 7.3 at birth

I got a few newborn bits for DS. 0-3 babygrows were a bit long on the arms and legs when he was born, so newborn was useful for the first month.

Stock up on babygrows, vests, lots of muslin cloths, just basics that can be layered. You might also need some chunky cardies or hoodies for layering, although I doubt you’ll need bulky pram suits by that point. If it’s your first then you’ll probably get a load of cute outfits as gifts, so I wouldn’t bother buying loads of clothes.

I just bought a few packets of white sleepsuits and vests in newborn and 0-3. DD2 was 8lbs 8oz and still in newborn for 3 weeks ish.

I had my son on 28th May. He had 4 first size babygrows and 6 first size vests. I only had those as the vest and one grow was left over from my daughter and the babygrows were gifted. I don’t really find they are necessary to have, he’s been out of his first size for a week and the 0-3 although big (sometimes his leg stuck out through the gap between poppers) they grow so fast and it didn’t bother him in anyway.
I had in 0-3 8 sleepsuits and 14 vests when he was born and have since bought another pack of 7 vests and 6 sleepsuits, we probably wash twice a week and haven’t run out.
He was born at 1.25am and we left the hospital at 2pm in which time he got through 3 sleepsuits and vests (was all I took!) so I’d probably say take a few more than that (he was sick all over himself and the first nappy was dreadful which was 2 dirtied up!)
I bought so much when my daughter was born that wasn’t used so ive been a lot more careful this time and people will probably buy you some things (although with my son I’ve mainly had outfits in 3-6 months)
Good Luck with everything.

I bought a pack of vests and sleep suits, hat, and a tiny unisex coat (was winter) then did a massive order of clothes to be delivered on my phone while I was stuck on the labour ward while DH had cuddles with DS

My baby was 8lb 12 (75th centile) and still fitted newborn size for 3-4 weeks. We also didn't know sex before his birth. Think we had 6-8 sleepsuits and vests in white. We were gifted a lot of 0-3 and 3-6 so don't rush to buy too much in advance.

My babies were all 99th centile and definitely didn’t fit in newborn clothes . 0-3 all the way! For the first 2 weeks, provided you are washing and reusing, I’d go with a couple of packs of vests, couple backs of babygrows, some socks (for scratch mitts mostly), a couple of cardigans/jackets and a snowsuit incase it’s freezing.

My dd was 8lbs and didn't fit into 0-3 months until she was 6 weeks old (vests were OK but baby grows we're far too big). Before I had her I found a few newborn baby grows in a charity shop so I bought those but we had to go and buy her some more newborn clothes when she was 5 days old as 4 baby grows wasn't enough with a reflux baby!

I'd probably buy a couple of packs of newborn baby grows from your nearest supermarket close to your due date then if baby is too big you can exchange/refund them. Cardigans don't matter too much if they're big as you can roll the sleeves up.

My friend has a 9.5lb baby and she was straight into 0-3 month and nothing in her hospital bag fitted her!!

A good way to get a load of newborn clothes cheaply is to look on eBay. Lots of people sell bundles of used newborn clothes and 90% of the time it’s hardly been worn.