Advice on baby clothes pleaseee!!

[Ozabet40]

I’m having a winter baby and wanting to start buying bits like baby grows, baby coats, hats etc

i really don’t know what size to buy. Midwives etc haven’t really had a convo with me to say whether baby is measuring small or big but on the 3 lines in my growth chart there is an X on the middle line? Not sure if that means anything to anyone on here ….

but anyway, I just have no idea whether to buy newborn, up to one month, or 0-3 months… especially with things like coats, hats etc to keep them warm in the winter…

any advice would be really appreciated

I assumed I'd have big babies as my husband is 6' 4" and over 100kgs and had two girls at 8lbs 3ozs and 8lbs 15ozs. I bought no newborn and all under 1 month and 0-3 months. Even my bigger girl wore the up to 1 month for a few weeks and then moved into 0-3 so that was perfect for me. But of course it's hard to judge as baby could come early or late and you're really only guessing on size! As PPs have said I'd get a few in each size (newborn, up to 1 month and 0-3) and then get someone to run out and get tiny baby if you need it. If you get cheap supermarket packs and keep the receipts you can always exchange for a different size or give any away that you didn't use.

I would avoid buying too many clothes before baby is born as we received soooo many clothes from friends and families as gifts that I didn't need to buy anything!

Get a pack of newborn sized vests and a pack of newborn sized sleep suits and take it from there once baby is born.

I got one of these for my winter baby. It was great, lightweight so great for folding away if not needed. Saved faffing with layers/snowsuit as I just lay baby on it in the pram, zipped it up and popped a hat on her.

Realistically you'll need vests and babygros.

Notes from our experience (have a 9 wk old):
The estimates based on bump size and scans are not particularly accurate.
Your baby may pile on weight fast or slowly
All brands are stupidly different shapes and sizes and it winds me up so much.

Agree with many above saying wait and buy as little as possible.

Agree also to put star wrap on registry - so handy for pram and so cute.

My last definite recommendation is the Love2dream swaddle ups, but buy them on vinted not new.

Winter stuff, cardigans, jackets etc in my experience come up big, my DD was 7lbs 10 at birth and she was still wearing her 0-3 jackets at 6 months, definitely wait until the baby is here and just get basics for now

For stuff like pram suits and hats, buy big to last the whole winter. I got 0-3 for my prem twins born at the beginning of November. Smaller twin was born 4lbs 11 and used the pram suit with arms and legs in the body part of the suit.
I'd buy nearer the time and maybe skip newborn if measurements say 50th centile and just get a pack of up to 1 month. Its tempting to buy loads but they grow rapidly in the first few months.
By 6 weeks my bigger twin was in 0-3 months and by 9 weeks so was the tiny twin. And I had tiny baby, newborn and up to 1 month clothes to find a home for. Luckily I got most clothes as second hand bundles so not much cost wise.

Oh yes definitely to don't buy fussy outfits either, you won't want to be messing about with fiddly things in the early days plus you will get some as gifts. People vary on when they move to tops and trousers, mine stayed in babygrows until they started crawling because the feet do get in the way. I wish I'd got more footless romper type of things as they were really versatile!

Oh on that note- you might want socks a bit earlier than you might think for a winter baby, you can put socks on under the babygrow feet if there's plenty of room. But when they've got socks on properly Sock Ons are amazing at stopping them coming off, and something I always give as a gift!

Oh I just read you are having a Oct baby - mine was supposed to be then too but born end of Sept. I'd recommend if you have anyone who knits they do cardigans for you
My baby lived in vest/babygrow/knitted cardigan until the weather was warmer. I wish I had more

Plus, a baby in knitting is just 😍

Oh and re a pram suit - like the baby pictures above my ds was exactly the same and didn't fit the smallest until 9 weeks . I don't know what babies they measure for them but they don't fit newborns 😂. Babies also like to fold their knees to their tummy and clothes with legs seem pointless for them
Another point I just remembered - my hospital said they recommend baby's don't leave the hospital in the pram suit if they are going in the car as they can slip out

My daughter was 16 days late and still only weighted 7lbs so she was in newborn for the first few weeks then up to 1 month for ages. Didn't even get to 0-3 until nearly 3 months. I would just buy a couple pack of vests each for now from the supermarket, should have you covered! Same for babygrows. Winter stuff such as pram suit I got a 0-3 I think as didn't really matter if that was oversized as it all zipped up anyway! We never really used outfits until after 3 months, plus you'll get loads as gifts anyway

Your baby will probably be in newborn for 2-4 weeks.

My daughter was born on 50th centile (40+2) and was in newborn for 4 weeks, up to 1 month for 2 weeks and then 0-3.

Perhaps scour vinted for a cheap bundle of bits.

I had 8 growth scans with my son and was told he would be tiny. He was born at 38+3 and was 7lb 15oz. He didn't even fit the lovely newborn items I bought!

I had a baby in Oct last year. I had loads of growth scans and it looked like I was having a big baby so we mainly got 0-3 stuff. He was born at 41+5 weighing 7lb5oz and all of that stuff was absolutely massive on him and so resulted in my husband doing a mad dash to Tesco for a pile of newborn stuff (thankfully we did have a couple of vests and sleepsuits packed, just in case). Definitely mainly need vests and sleepsuits for the first few weeks. They do grow quickly so don't buy too much in any one size but you will also likely have to do several changes at day for a while (leaky nappies, sick etc) so do still need to have a reasonable amount.

In terms of pramsuits/blankets etc, I wouldn't get too much of one thing or another until you know what your baby likes - my baby absolutely hated blankets from day 1 (refused to be swaddled at even 10 minutes old 😂) so we had to rely on pramsuits and sleeping bags (for nighttime). Oh and definitely don't buy any hats, you'll get given loads!

Another vote for the starsuit rather than a jacket. When they're so wee, you'll spend more time trying to wrestle their wee arms into sleeves than actually be outside with them because they're still all scrunched up!

My 6 month old struggled with weight gain in the first few months so we probably spent more time in newborn and 0-1 than other babies in our NCT baby group.

I'd suggest going to a supermarket and getting a multipack of short sleeved baby vests/tshirts with poppers and a multi pack of babygrows in all the sizes from newborn to 0-3 months. If you have family or friends, they'll all buy you cute baby things and your house will soon be overrun with tiny outfits!

Also, Tommy tippee does sleepbags for newborns that we found much easier than trying to swaddle them!

As a few people have said, just remember you will get gifts. We were given lots of clothes and 18 blankets with my first!! It was ridiculous.