What do I need for a summer baby?

[Tors91]

Hi,
I’m 17 weeks pregnant with my first baby, due the end of may. We’ve just found out we’re having a little girl 💕
I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out what I need for a newborn the the summer months.
Will long sleeved sleepsuits/jammies be too warm? And what about sleep bags? Can these be used in the summer too or are they more for winter? Do babies need a hat to wear in the hospital or is this a winter thing too? 🤣
I know summers in the UK aren’t that hot but I don’t want to buy anything unsuitable.

Sorry if these are stupid questions but I have no clue 😂

@Tors91 joining as I have the same question - currently 19 weeks. They’re always so bundled up but then advice I’ve read is that it should be one more layer than you have on but May is such a weird month for weather I don’t know what to get!

I had an August baby. A couple of days she just wore short sleeved vest in the day but mainly short sleeved vest and long sleeved baby grow. They do 1.5tog sleeping bags for summer nights. You’ll probably still need that in May. A couple of hot nights she just wore a baby grow but it wasn’t really that hot….not sure what people did for the heatwave

I had DD in may 2014 when we were having a heat wave. Baby clothes are available easily everywhere so I would recommend buying the bare minimum to get you through a couple of days then stocking up once you know baby's size and the weather. Yo7 can look and find the styles you like so that if family or friends want to buy you anything you can ask them to get a voucher for a store you like, then just buy it once baby is here.

May 2014 temperature was mid 20s so DD spent days wearing just a short sleeve vest or short sleeve/leg romper. Nights she wore a baby grow over a short sleeve vest.

I had a July baby, hot days she was in a short sleeve vest or romper. Milder days just a babygrow/sleepsuit.

Nightwear really depends on how hot/cold your bedroom is. For us each side of the house is really different based on where the sun hits. On the crazy hot nights it was just a short sleeve vest but most nights a vest and babygrow worked.

DS was may baby and this time we are having a June baby, I would say leggings And cardi/hoodie are my go-to, I popped them in the car, changing bag...they usually get more wear out of them than footed suits (we are a tall family tho) and they work as layers with a vest and maybe a long sleeve on top.

It was a heatwave when my first was born, and was just in a vest for naps. We later used a gro bag 1 tog at night, and just moved up the sizes.

Yes to normally put baby in one more layer than you.

Pro tip. Even in heatwave weather, supermarkets can be extra chilly so carry a small blanket in your changing bag.

Agree with pp, not too many sets of clothes as you just don't know how long your baby will need them initially....I had 10 leggings and tops, about 20 vests and 4 hoodies and some sleep suits for spares (3 I think). But I was living in a flat with no drying space so I had to be minimal. You can get vest extenders (Amazon) which make vests longer, giving you more wears (might be helpful, my kids grow longer but don't grow outwards iyswim)

Borrow if you have friends with babies xx

Oh sorry one more thing, yes a hat (cotton) as some hospitals can be cold, and some summers can be chilly...(you never really know with english weather!!) I just got a pack from Asda and kept it in my change bag. you will lose all the hats, mittens and socks

I had my DS in a heatwave and I remember he only wore a nappy when he was a newborn. Trying to establish breastfeeding in a heatwave was… a challenge 😬 I literally had to peel him off me after feeds as our body heat made us even warmer When it cooled a bit he just wore a little all in one vest and an unfolded cellular blanket over him at night to keep his feet warm.

I don’t actually remember a summer being that hot since though so hopefully you won’t have to go through that! I would advise you buy a few decent fans though, the white noise helps them sleep too.

Ahh I remember feeling like this when I was due in June. My baby actually arrived early July right in time for the heatwave! It was tricky beforehand knowing what to buy as summer months are very changeable weather wise so you feel like you need to cover all possibilities. At least in winter you just know it's going to be consistently cold. What I would probably suggest is buy mostly 0 to 3 months stuff and get a mixture of summer and slightly warmer. My baby was close to 8lb born but her newborn/upto one month stuff fitted until she was about 5 weeks and I just kept reusing the same small number of bits we had in those sizes. And a lot of the time she was just in a nappy (As per pp establishing breastfeeding in a heatwave was.. slippery). We had so much more in 0 to 3 but it then felt like she whizzed through them and didn't really get chance to wear a lot of it because I'd kept her in the smaller sizes for too long. In hindsight she would definitely have fitted in the nice summer rompers and things we had in 0 to 3 way before she was 5 weeks old and they ended up mostly sat there unused in the end as summer was coming to an end. So buy 0 to 3 and use it unlike I did 🤦🏼‍♀️

My first was a May baby and I’m expecting another May one now. Ds1 was born during a very hot summer and things that helped us were-

Short sleeve and leg rompers or just a vest. On cooler days a long sleeve sleepsuit is fine. Wouldn’t get too many hats. Our hospital insisted he wear one (despite the ward being sweltering) but took it off when he got home and never wore one again.

0.5 tog grobag when it is hot (or just no grobag if it’s boiling) or 1 tog the rest of the time.

Tower fan for our bedroom. Bedroom got to 30 degrees and I was very paranoid about him overheating and sids and apparently having a fan circulating air helps reduce the risk.

I hav the same question, my second is due in July. My first was a winter baby and we just used lots of layers.

Oh sorry forgot to answer about gro bags. We had a 0.5 tog to use on really hot days and she just had a vest on underneath. We got a bundle from Tommy tippee which had various tog sizes so we had a few to change between depending on how hot it was.

I did take hats to the hospital and they made her wear a knitted red one until we were discharged as she needed monitoring. Not sure if they would have made us wear one if she didn't have that on. We put one on as we left but again not sure if this was needed. We had some frilly summer hats she wore a few times once we were home.

Thanks everyone 😊

I had late April babies. They lived in short sleeved vest & sleepsuits at first. On hotter days they wore a vest and little trousers. We had a few very hot days where I put them in romper suits.

At night they had a vest & sleepsuit and were wrapped in cellular blankets as needed during the summer. Some nights were hot so no blanket. By the Autumn they were in vest, pyjamas and a sleeping bag, but check the weights as babies should be a certain weight before using bags.

If you get some hats, short sleeved vests, sleepsuits, a few pairs of trousers and a couple of cellular blankets that should be fine for starting out.

My late May baby did wear sleep suits with short sleeve vests and cellular blanket. When it got very hot, we just did sleep suit over nappy and no covers. It rarely gets that hot over here and by July when it might be, you’ll be a little more confident with it anyway!

Just a word of caution on newborn size, we had an 8lb11oz baby who was quite long, she grew out of newborn size by the end of week 1.

If I were doing it again would get:

• pack of 5 newborn short sleeve vests
• pack of 3 newborn sleepsuits with the feet and integrated mitts/fold over sleeves

Same quantities in 0-3

Then I'd stock up on whatever size fits best after baby arrives.

Don't buy any outfits that need separate socks, socks do not stay on their feet, you are creating a never ending job of finding and putting back on the socks. I hated baby socks within weeks, they start of being the very cutest thing you ever did see and end up being 'those fucking socks'.

I really liked muslin cloths and had loads, Aldi did really big ones, great for draping over your shoulder when burping baby, or using as a bib, or as a thin blanket, I even fashioned a rather fetching outfit for DD out of a couple of them when we went out for the day and she managed several poo-splosions, vomiting episodes and weeing around her nappy so I ran out of actual clothes for her.

Top tip that I always like to share is that the envelope shoulders on vests mean that you can pull them down the body to remove them so you don't have to lift them over the head. This is particularly useful when they poo so hard it squirts up the back of their nappy to their neck 😂

Definitely make sure you have a room thermometer. We have a Tommee tippee egg one which is brilliant. If you google what to dress baby in different temperatures, there are really good guidelines. DD was born in an August heatwave. She wore a vest on really hot nights with a cellular blanket. We put a fan in the room too which was also great as a soothing noise.

I had a baby last June. They advise against the baby sleeping with hat on and so ours never needed one. We bought some sleep bags at the lowest tog but never used them. That’s not to say you’ll never need them. It’s just in our case the baby found them annoying and when he did fall asleep there was no point changing him as he’d wake up. So if you go for a sleeping bag I’d advise getting just one to see if it suits your baby’s needs.
As for clothes we often just had the baby in a sleep suit with no under vest. On hot days in the flat an under vest was fine.

This is particularly useful when they poo so hard it squirts up the back of their nappy to their neck 😂

OMG