Newborn clothes amounts & washing

[Kt2108]

Hi all- couple of questions
Firstly which gets asked often I'm sure. How many of each item did you all have for example; vests for day time under outfits, babygrows, sleepsuits, hats, socks, bibs etc

Secondly did you all wash them before baby was here

And lastly- for washing: do you wash your babies clothes with your own clothes? If so what detergent/softener do you use? Or just keep everything separate?

Thanks! X

I had way too many clothes, but DD wore an outfit during the day with vest and socks as she was a winter baby and wore a baby grow with a gro bag for bed. I'd say you'd need no more than 6-8 of each. I also had two snow suits.

Now DD is teething and weaning I go through loads of bibs, probably 6 a day.

I never washed anything before she was born.

I switched to fairy non bio and use that for all our washing. I don't separate DDs clothes.

Yes but unless the baby is less than 6lb, up to 9lb includes those typical birth weights.

I bought everything on 0-3 and then lovingly washed it all. We were told I was having a big baby. DD then arrived weighing 7lb and DP had to do an emergency trip to the supermarket for 0-1 clothes. After spending weeks washing everything her first clothes went on her straight from the packet! We had about 20 in 0-1 which was a good number but could have got away with less and washed more often. She was in them for a month.

I find 6 bottles a good number. We have tommee tippee. We’ve also had mam and although DD liked them I hated them. Was a faff putting them back together and they sometimes leaked out of the points where they screw together. I have dyspraxia though and putting things back together is not one of my talents!

DH works in fashion and having seen how clothes are treated he would never wear anything without washing it first! During production clothes get handled by loads of people, piled on the floor or in warehouses, sprayed with chemicals to keep them smooth and prevent mildew etc. I'd wash enough basic vests/sleepsuits to keep you going for the first couple of days and then the rest once you know what size baby is.

Grobag make a 2 in 1 sleeping bag / swaddle suitable from birth (5-12 pounds) which was highly recommended to me by a friend.

Can I also suggest you buy a few newborn sleep suits . My friend recently had a baby in the 7 lbs weight 0-3 months swamped her baby as they did my Ds. If you just was one pack you can swap the others for a bigger size if you have a bigger baby.

Wash powder I have used fairy or Persia non bio my Ds reacted to shop brand . No idea why but I avoid now

With stuff like sleeping bags/grobags/etc I think the best thing to do is to go with the cheap option until/unless you know it doesn't work. So you'll always need cellular blankets and they're cheap - so try them first and go from there. We did that and around three weeks we realised that DS was sometimes kicking his blanket off and getting cold, so we switched to a sleeping bag. I was going to buy two groswaddles before he was born and never got round to it and I'm glad I didn't - they're expensive, we've never needed it and he'd have outgrown its weight limit by seven weeks (and might have even outgrown it quicker as he's a very long baby)! You can get them with free next day delivery on Amazon if it turns out your baby would clearly love to be swaddled. Similarly I think it's madness when people buy expensive sleepaids like a sleepyhead or a dream sheep for an unborn baby. You'll quickly figure out if what you have isn't working (DS started refusing to go in his Moses basket at night at about six weeks, so then we got a next to me) - don't spend so much money just in case! People act like the shops close when you have a baby, but especially in the age of next day online shopping then it makes more sense to get things when you actually know you need them, unless you live on a remote Scottish island or something.

I didn't wash any of dc1 or dc2 clothes...to me it's a first world problems that makes far too much unnecessary work. Seriously, the clothes aren't covered in some kind of acid like people would have you believe, they will be fine.

For dc1 I bought LOADS of newborn clothes, she was born 8lb14 and fit in them for approximately 30 minutes, so with dc2 I bought him a couple of newborn baby grows, and a couple of 0-3 month baby grows with the intension on doing a next day delivery order of extra once I knew his birth weight. Was the right decision as the beast was 9lb8, barely fit in 0-3 month as his length was 98th centile.

I guess my point is if you can resist it, and it is hard with dc1, don't over buy before baby is here. Get enough to see you through a couple of days so you can buy more according to actual birth weight and height if you don't have money to waste.

Thanks everyone. I have 5 sleepsuits in first size / upto a month / upto 9lbs. Various vests long and short in newborn and 0-3. Couple of first size knitted cardis and i think i will stop there or maybe get one more pack of sleepsuits.

Ill stock up on cellular blankets, seem a good price on asda and cross the bridge about grobags / sleeping bags if / when we come to it.

Have got the schnuggle bath. A few hooded towels. Two packs of muslims. A pack of tommee tippee bibs. Some dummies.

Will buy the mam bottles just because i like them and i'd really love to get some pink ones so will have them and tommee tippee. If i dont use the tommee tippee will donate them somewhere.

Anyone have thoughts on which formula is best?

Eeek so exciting. I know im a little early with everything but we are moving house soon then it will be Christmas then baby will be here.

Buy the bare minimum in first sizes, we were absolutely inundated with clothes in 0-3months by friends and family. But best to take a range of sizes/brands in hospital bag. We had an up to 1 month size that was far too small but newborn that fitted fine. Probably need about 6 in your hospital bag (dc1 was sick a lot first couple of days) then another couple at home to wear while you wash the first lot. Sleeping bags often have a minimum weight of 8lbs or so but if over can use from birth.

There's not much difference between a long sleeved vest and a baby gro - if it's cold enough that you need long sleeves on the vest, you will probably prefer to use a baby gro and cosy cardigan with a short sleeved vest on it. So IMO you can't have too many short-sleeved vests and some proper wool cardigans are invaluable.

White is always best because (a) milk is white (b) you can treat it for stains without ending up with faded colour patches (c) you can wash at very high temperatures to kill germs without worrying and (d) you can throw everything (cot sheets etc) in the same wash with no sorting. Yes, you will have to discard some poopy things but you probably would anyway. Babies clothes get put in a bucket containing Napisan and steeped to kill bacteria in the milk patches. Then put through the wash.

5 bottles is nowhere near enough IMO. The pressure of keeping them coming would be mighty! I had 12 and felt sort of safe with that number (though not so much when I left them everywhere). Get a couple of different sizes of teats.

Take the wrappers off everything and wash it. You don't want to be hunting for scissors and slipping on cellophane wrappers. Have everything ready to go. And have a go at learning to work the steriliser and making bottles up beforehand.

I'd get a temperature checker for the bath to spare the endless discussions about the temperature.

May I recommend a hammock.

under not on

And 20 muslin squares.
You can get little things that hold the socks on their feet. I'm rubbish with anything technical so I couldn't work them but they would have been very useful if I had.

We were told that formula really depends on the baby.

What's a hammock? What's it for? I mean i know what a hammock is like between trees but not a baby one

20 muslin squares? Wow. Are they the kind of things people buy as presents?

I think my dm is really looking forward to washing and ironing all the clothes so they will be. Any that aren't used will be given to friends / family or charity. Only bought supermarket brands so not much to worry about moneywise really.

I got the Shnuggle bath as well- it really is fantastic, I really recommend it.

Mam do pink, blue, white and purple bottles FYI- the bigger Boots and Mothercare stock them.

rarfy

It is actually great for a baby who can't deal with being laid flat. I know the guidelines say they must be laid flat and we were super paranoid but the incline is very small, the ventilation is great and a colicky baby can settle so well.

Rarfy
Would you believe it, having snazzy muslin squares is really important to some people and they swear they could never have survived without their aden&anais muslin squares. They are really, really useful because of all the baby mess - you might go through 3 in a disastrous feed. They also end up as swaddling in hot weather, tents and eventually dusters. I got mine from asda, obviously. DD called them her muslim squares very loudly.

@Rarfy yes people do give you snazzy muslims as presents.

Love the idea of getting snazzy Muslims as presents

No seriously though we are going through so many muslins, they are useful as you can wrap then around the head end of the mattress in cot, pram etc to save changing the lot when baby is just a tiny bit sick. Also for wee catching when nappy changing and general burp cloths.

We keep running out of bottles and we are only topping up so I agree more is good as you'll leave them in random places in the house in your sleep deprived state. I love the mam bottles but DH less keen. I recommend the skinny ones at first as you only give them tiny amounts. The premade bottles are great. But wide neck are better once they are drinking more.

Short sleeved vests and sleepsuits are the most practical clothing. I like colourful ones though and haven't had any issues washing them. If you are worried about colours running but your DH is not, buy some colour catchers and insist he uses them. This has helped me be grateful for him washing rather than feeling stressed about my clothes getting ruined.

Seconding the colour catcher sheet recommendation - never used them before the baby, now go in every wash! I'm not a fan of plain white baby clothes - I think they often look really cheap unless they're really expensive (I found some of the supermarket ones were a bit see through), and I love colour!

It does all depend on your baby though - we do use a lot of long sleeved vests and separate trousers (love the ones with feet from H&M) because two month old DS is very long (91st centile) but comparatively slim so baby grows don't fit him very well. Which is another reason not to buy much in advance - this is a baby we were told in a growth scan had 5th centile, ie potentially worryingly short, legs so we were not prepared for our lanky boy!

(And waves hello to Bertie - hope you both DSs are doing well!)

Thanks. I think i was on antenatal groups with lisa and bertie at some point under a different name (half of my office are mn'etters so had to rename as previous posts were very outing). This is my 4th pregnancy. Had a mmc. Stillbirth then a second trimester mmc. First pregnancy to get this far with no problems so it's all feeling a bit real now. Like we might get to the finish line.

Have never seen those hammocks before. Will do some research.

Surprisingly dp was straight into the pink stuff and dresses so only vests will be white really. Will stock up on colour catchers.

for what you've been through - I think I remember you but obviously won't guess previous username as you don't want them linked! So pleased that this pregnancy is going well for you and wishing you the absolute best for the future.

I had about a dozen babygrows and vests, and couldn’t have managed with less. We could quite easily go through 3-4 outfits in a day due to sick and #2 nappy leaks. Babygrows are much easier to wash and iron than proper outfits.

We found sleeveless vests the easiest as there were no sleeves to get rolled up under the outer layer of clothes. The only time we needed a long sleeved vest was when the weather was too hot to sleep in a babygrow.

Scratch mitts and socks are useless. You’ll spend half your life putting them back on, losing them, etc. Just get babygrows with integrated mitts and closed feet.

Oh and I always washed baby clothes on their own - washing them with adult clothes always seemed to wreck them.

I remember someone swearing by those hammocks when I had DC1, but I'm not convinced they are great if you're inclined to be a bit anxious as you can't see the baby in them. I prefer a co-sleeper cot.

Personally I'm loathe to get anything in wool because it all needs to be bomb proof in the wash. It's very rare I wash at over 40, though - I don't see the need.