Best way to clothe babies - esp on a budget?

[BearMama]

Thoughts on this please...I plan to have my LO (due in March) in babygros and snowsuits for the first three months and am trying to resist the urge to buy all the cute clothes, even second hand as everyone says they grow out of it so fast.
I just found out today that there is a difference between "newborn" and "0-3". Novice mum alert!
Tell me your experience - what did you dress your LO in for the first year and what would you do differently?

Bearmama I didn't think anything of the sort, don't worry.

I'll email you asap, I only have hotmail at the moment and it is playing up.

I know you said you don't like 'outfits' but I have a fair few summer dresses and shorts/tops etc in 3/6 months and 6/9 if those will be any good?

Lots of girl babygros and vests too.

Don't underestimate how much people will give you once the baby is born, it's lovely how everyone seems to rally around a newborn. We had some fab stuff "passed on" to us, aswell as new things as gifts.

Agree with everyone else that sleepsuits are the best thing for day and night. It's too much faff to dress a newborn in cute co-ordinated clothing, you will be too tired and the baby might well hate being messed around. You will need enough to deal with poo explosions, but even so, you won't want too much (you won't want pooey vests lying around for more than a day or two so you'll be doing lots of laundry anyway).

Freecycle has been great for my limited budget- excepting the cat-pee raincover and useless buggy that prompted my rant a few weeks back! I just got a Primo Viaggio car seat for my Aria and was given a moses basket and baby bath - a Tummy Tub which DP refers to as "The Bucket" I should post a want ad for clothes really cos I's be happy to pass it on to others afterwards.

TDWP, thanks for that. Can you put a summer dress over a babygro or is that just daft? It would be lovely to have some clothes. I dont mind outfits, just didnt see the point of buying new when they might not be worn.
Hotmail is a pain IME.
MTM, re the pooey vests, I am hoping my ancient washing machine will cope lol.

I'll be hoping that your little bearcub doesn't do what mine did and projectile poo all down you at 4am. I was wearing nothing but my knickers and BF bra and I had a stripe of yellow right down me. Typically it was a night that DH wasn't there, she always had great timing!

I think that little sleepsuits are really cute, by the way - and you can put children in summer dresses at any age - all day sleepsuits are for little newborns and they grow up so fast.

It's fine to wash pooey vests by hand -- just get a little scrub brush to removing offending matter, use some mild soap and very hot water. Then hang somewhere they can dry within 5-6 hours.
If you're on a budget are you thinking to breastfeed (not trying to be congtroversial!). But it generally works out cheaper... and br'fed babies often produce fewer mucky blow-outs after a few weeks, which is handy.

What part of country are you in, Bearmama? (Wonders if I can easily pass u any clothes)

I am personally actually a fan of newborn size clothes, btw, even for my almost 9lb newborns, they were good for 1st 2-3 weeks.

we just went to our local charity shop regularly and tried to pick up anything cheap and plain plus we used freecycle (go towww.freecycle.org/ to find your local one) - got bags and bags of lovely almost brand new stuff from some very nice people on there. I am due in May and this is how we have got all our baby clothes - we have oodles of them ranging from newborn to 1 year and all for about £20 all told.
Another thing I've done (simply because I hate the light blue / pink which everything comes in) is to dye a lot of the stuff we got into funky bright primary colours using Dylon machine wash - they've come up really wonderful!

psml MTM - knowing me that would happen while out and about. For example the baby changing bit at the Gyle in Edinburgh is in the sink area of the loos, so everyone would see

Oops, just saw you're in Scotland, scratch the plan to pass you any of my stuff. Good luck!
I put dungarees over babygros, btw, don't see why you couldn't do dresses as long as the colours work.

BearMama - I've got a small boatload of baby-girl clothes that my DD has grown out of now. Some hasn't ever been worn, some was from e-bay. I live abroad but I've got a friend coming over from Edin at the end of march who could bring it back for you? Don't know if that's any good to you - when are you due? There are some "outfits" (not worn - way too much fuss!!), socks, hats, a lot of babygros (I'll count them later) and a ridiculous number of vests.

I was a first time Mum who did not ask the MN oracle before going shopping

Seasidemama, wow that would be great, I am due 23rd March so timing would be great! My email is [email protected]

Really touched at all the offers - I will of course pass on anything that gets outgrown.

MN Oracle is a good way to put it - the help and support I've had has been invaluable.

Vests, baby grows and cardigans - only the cardigans need to me in gender appropriate styles and colours.

You do need mittens, and hats. You DON't need pram shoes or 'proper clothes'.

Have mailed you bearmama.

Another good tip I read somewhere that if you're buying new, get all the same colour, or close, that way you're not always dividing loads of washing by light/dark. I remember ds1 had a couple of navy and red sleepsuits and they wouldn't get washed as quickly as the yellow and white ones!

Was talking to a friend recently who swears by Ebay - she would buy big boxes of stuff from sellers for a certain price and it would get her through entire sizes (ie 6-9 mos, etc) in one shot.

car boot sales

like ebay only MUCH cheaper, say £5 tops for an ebay £30 bundle

seasidemama - have emailed you
shubiedoo - good tip, I dont think I am brave enough to use "colour catchers"!
PrePG - thanks will have a look

most of my clothes were hand me downs charity shops are great i had my ds in babygros mainly for 3 mths had no other clothes for that age apart from vests

one trouser and i top rest are cardi's i think

i have 6 newborn vests 1 worn with small stain other never been worn and have a bag of scratch mittens and bag of bibs if you want them just pay postage i dont need them ds is 2.10 now

Thanks bubblagirl do you have paypal?

the supermarkets are fab, as is primark/matalan. lovely lovely clothes, esp asda. cheap too. personally i liked my ds in clothes and kept sleepsuits for night but still think sleepsuit and cardi looks soooo cute. esp if cardi hand knitted (another cost cutter if you can) you don't need much. other people will buy you loads so enjoy xxx

Agree on cardis. Found a lovely handknitted one in charity shop. A friend of mine knits and is making me an outfit so I will make sure DD at least gets to wear that.

I have only got 0-3 months stuff from ASDA and don't intend on getting anymore except something to bring him home from hospital in. That will probably still be from ASDA and will get newborn and first size - which ever doesn't fit can go back!

bearmama there is nothing more adorable than a baby in knits. some of it is so trendy, my mum done some lovely stuff, quite trendy chunky knits too. and hats with pom poms...i'm going all misty eyed. my ds was born sep 07 so i got to enjoy wrapping him up in winter. bliss!

by the way, boy or girl? or surprise?